The last Jew in Laurel:Attrition leading to extinction | Columnists

Skimming LL-Cs from 1948 to 1969, one sees Fine Bros-Matison Company and Carter-Heide Department Store ads. Also, Alex Loeb’s, Arthur’s Men Store and Marcus Furniture Store advertised. The Loebs arrived in Columbus in 1867 as merchants. Alex moved in 1874 and opened his first store in Meridian, where it was said, “… respectable railroad workers would only wear clothes from Alex Loeb’s store.” Years later, a store opened in Laurel across from Carter-Heide on the corner of Central and 5th Avenue.

Alex’s son, Alex Marshall Loeb, May 18, 1918-May 14, 2015, a member of Mississippi Art Colony, served on Lauren Rogers Museum Board. And, “Heide,” German, meaning “heath” —shrubland habitat — a town in Schleswig-Holstein, lends credence to it — like Loeb, Matison, Fine, Frohman, Marcus, et al. — being Jewish, whose cemeteries and centers currently are “vandalized amid mounting bomb threats and anti-Semitism in multiple states.”

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