Alisa Corrine Armer paints an unforgettable picture of the fashion era in Hannibal’s short residence.
The Kansas, 37-year-old Corrine Armer came to Hannibal in 1913 and settled as a state manager and scientific assembler for Corset USA. She established her office (and residence) at 607 Broadway, just across the street from Grand Federal Street in town. put up.
On the first floor of the building is a painter, painter and wallpaper called Leonard and Son. Upstairs, in her office, Mrs. Almer meets women in secret, assuring them that they can customize fits from quality underwear.
the company
The American Corset Company, the American queen corset manufacturer, touted its products:
“You want the corset you wear to be correct in every respect. The designer of the “Queen of the United States” is considered to be the most important corset artist in the country, and the details of the corset are correct. It is the most Stylish and at the same time the most comfortable bodice.”
The company is headquartered in 411 S. Sangamon St., Chicago, Illinois.
Instead of selling its products through local businesses, the company seeks to sell women’s corsets to other women. In order to recruit women for this task, in 1912, advertisements were placed in targeted newspapers and exposed to men who could in turn recruit women.
Such an advertisement was published on the Topeka State Journal on June 1, 1912:
“Overnight, salesman
“Travelers hire women to sell Queen’s corsets. The best corsets, the best terms. Free wages and fee allowances. Additional commissions and bonuses. Permanent positions. Corset, USA, Chicago, 16th.”
Before coming to Hannibal, Mrs. Alme visited Waterloo, Iowa. On August 15, 1913, Mrs. Almer presented the Queen’s Corset at the Lewis Millinery store at 517 Lafayette Street.
Interesting development
Just as Mrs. Almer (Elmer’s widow) is starting an independent corset business, her plans are also undermined.
The story says that Mary Phelps Jacobs wanted a comfortable replacement dress when she wore one of her prom dresses. She tied two handkerchiefs together, added some ribbons, and made a bra. In 1913, she obtained a patent for invention, and her actions quickly led to the decline of the more restrictive corset.
The presence of Mrs. Amer in Hannibal made her only recorded in the 1914 Urban Catalogue published in 1914.
Kansas’ daughter
Corrine Armer was born in Cora Irene Hey, circa 1876, and grew up on a farm in Fairfax, Osage County, Kansas. Her parents are Jacob and Marthia Hey, and her father is a veteran of the EFF civil war.
Her brothers and sisters include a sister and brother, Mary D. and William. She was born in 1876. Two years later, her brother Clarence was born in 1878 and was born in 1878. Anne M. was born in 1884.
Sadly, Marthia Hey died between 1884 and 1885, leaving her children without a mother. Cora is only 8 years old.
In May 1885, Jacob Hey married Rosamond L. Frazier of Carbondale, Kan., and gave birth to a son, Roscoe E. Hey, in April 1893.
Young bride
When the tender (and estimated) was 15 years old, Cora Hey married Thomas Michael in August 1891. He is seven years old. Son Lionial was born in 1893 and daughter Zelda was born in 1894.
They lived in Colorado Springs, Colorado, until early 1901, when John T. Michael proposed divorce his young wife and sought custody of both of their children.
Cora moved to Pueblo, Colorado, where she worked as a servant of a boarding house for a while. On September 19, 1903, she married the interior designer Elmer Armer of Pueblo. She returned to Kansas to see her father and stepmother often noticed by Overbrook Herald, who served in Kansas’ hometown. For a while, Almers lived in Wichita, Kansas, and moved to Montana, where they lived in 1910. Elmer Almer was listed in the census as the interior of the Montreal Helena furniture store.
When she came to Hannibal in 1913, she listed herself as a widow.
