Kauffman, Boots and Saddles, 139-141 E. 24th St. between Lexington and 3rd Aves. (1994)

In 1899/1900 Herman Kauffman, Harness became H. Kauffman's Sons, Harness. Herman Kauffman (born Prussia 1841, immigrated to U. S. 1867?, died ca. 1930) founded the company in the late 1870s. His sons were Isidor Kauffman (1875-1947) and Jacob Kauffman (1876-1958). The first listing in New York city directories appears in Trow, 1880, as "Kauffmann Herman, harness, 23 Canal, h 3 Essex." The Kauffmans are recorded in the U. S. Census of 1880 at 3 Essex St., Manhattan. Herman was "40, born Prussia, Harness Maker," and his sons were Isadore, 5, born New Jersey, and Jacob, 3, born New York. From 1881 to 1888 the business was located at the family home, 3 Essex St. Then from 1889 to 1902 there were several locations on Division St., from 1903 to 1906 at 316 Rivington St., from 1906 to 1919 at 206 Division St., and from 1919 to 1922 at 193 Division St. In the late 1900s they became known as H. Kauffman & Sons Saddlery Co., which was the company that moved to 139 E. 24th St. in 1923. Click here for Kauffman ad from the 1925 Manhattan telephone directory.

Isidor Kauffman's obituary (New York Times 16 Jan. 1947, p. 25) reads in part: "Isidore (Ike) Kauffman of 800 East Seventeenth Street, Brooklyn, president of the H. Kauffman & Sons Saddlery Company, Inc., one of the largest retailers of riding equipment of all sorts in the country, died yesterday at the company's store, 139 East Twenty-fourth Street. Mr. Kauffman had been connected with the firm, which was founded by his father, Herman, in 1875, for his entire career. The firm sells riding equipment and all sorts of other material connected with riding and horses in general and has boasted as customers some of the most prominent families in the nation."

In 1975 a story in the New York Times celebrated the company's 100th anniversary, reporting, "The air at H. Kauffman & Sons was redolent with saddle soap and nostalgia yesterday as Mayor Beame presented the city's Citation of Business Merit to the saddlery that has catered to New York's horsey set for 100 years... Together with the Miller Harness Company, an equally well known and well stocked tack shop and horse haberdashery a few doors down, Kauffman's has made the block on East 24th Street the equine epicenter of New York... When [Kauffman's] was first launched by Herman Kauff-Mann, a German immigrant, in 1875 most of its business was supplying the harnesses for the teams that pulled fire wagons and police carts. During World War I, the firm made saddles and saddle blankets for the Army, and Bernard Kauffman, the founder's grandson, and the current owner, keeps photo albums of those days on hand... In World War II, the Kauffmans bought up hansome [hansom] and victoria carriages, from farmers, remodeled them, and sold them to customers eager to escape the stricture of gas rationing."

Bernard Kauffman (1905-2004), mentioned in the story above, was the son of Isidor Kauffman and constituted the third generation in the business. Bernard Kauffman's son, Charles Kauffman, was head of the business in 1991 when Kauffman's left their 24th St. location. The following was reported in the New York Times (3 March 1991): "One of New York City's oldest specialty retailers, H. Kauffman & Sons Saddlery Company, is continuing a long evolution uptown and upscale. The purveyor of saddles, boots, riding crops and other equestrian goods, which opened in 1875 on Division Street on the Lower East Side, plans to leave its current 24th Street location and open a new store by May 1 at 419 Park Avenue South, at the corner of 29th Street. Charles Kauffman, chief executive of the family-owned retailer, said the move has been prompted in part by the uncertain future of stores [the store's] current location, a two-story Beaux-Arts building at 139 East 24th Street, between Third and Lexington Avenues. Although preservationists have begun a campaign to have it protected by the city as an historic landmark ... it has been slated for demolition by Baruch College, which has its main campus on the same block and wants to expand. Kauffman & Sons has leased space since 1925 in the building, which is currently owned by the L. B. Oil Company of New York. L. B. Oil has agreed to sell it to Baruch..."

The location at 419 Park Avenue South seems to have been short-lived. By 2002 Kauffman & Sons Saddlery was listed in the Manhattan telephone directory at 200 E. 64th St. In Dec. 2008 the successors to Kauffman's were a mail-order and internet business (the website is under construction).

An image dated 1928 on the New York Public Library's Digital Gallery shows Kauffman's Saddlery at that time. Just west of Kauffman's is the Gramercy Hotel (137 E. 24th St.) and Miller Harness Co. (ground floor, 137 E. 24th St.), a Kauffman competitor.

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