Filed Under Businesses

The Sapirstein Family

A Greeting Card Company Grows in Glenville

In 1930, a year after the start of the Great Depression, 21-year old Irving Sapirstein, oldest son of postcard jobber Jacob Sapirstein, came to the conclusion that the Sapirstein family could make more money manufacturing and selling their own greeting cards rather than only selling those manufactured by others. To help make his point, he wrote some greeting card verses and then had printing plates made for them. When he approached his father and began telling him his idea, his father grabbed the metal plates from his hands and smashed them on the ground, declaring, "We're jobbers, not manufacturers."

The website of the American Greetings Corporation contains scant information — more corporate legend than historical fact — regarding the founding of the company by Jacob Sapirstein, a Polish Jew who immigrated to the United States in 1906. A review of news articles, deeds, directory listings, census sheets, and other records available online, provides a fuller view into the early years of the business that, in Cleveland's Glenville neighborhood, began to grow into the world's second largest manufacturer of greeting cards.

Jacob Sapirstein was born in 1884, in the village of Wasosz in northeastern Poland. His parents were Rabbi Isaac Sapirstein and Marion (Mollie) Berenson. He grew up in nearby Grajewo, which, like Wasosz, was located in a region of Poland that had been seized by Russian Empress Catherine the Great during one of the partitions of Poland in the late 18th century. When he was 21 years old, Jacob decided to leave the village and his family, and immigrate to the United States. Sources differ as to exactly why he decided to leave Poland when he did, but they all agree that it was related to the harsh conditions to which Jews were subjected while living under Russian rule.

With financial assistance from the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society, Jacob booked passage on a ship bound for America. He landed in Boston in late December 1906 and then continued on to Chicago where he had been offered a job as an apprentice tailor. However, he found that the job was not at all to his liking, and, within days after starting, he made the life-changing decision to quit the job and head for Cleveland where another job, and another future, awaited him.

Jacob's new job in Cleveland was working in the card shop at the Hollenden Hotel. For many years, this legenday hotel stood on the southeast corner of Superior Avenue and East 6th Street where the Fifth Third Center stands today. The card shop in the hotel was then operated by Moses Fenberg, variously described as a relative or friend of the Sapirstein family. He not only gave Jacob a job, but also a place to stay—in Fenberg's house on the West Side. As it turned out, Sapirstein wasn't very happy with the card shop job either, and complained to Fenberg that he wasn't making enough money. Fenberg responded with what Jacob Sapirstein later said was the best advice he ever received — "If you want to make more money, become a postcard jobber." And so that was exactly what he did.

In the early twentieth century, postcard jobbing — wholesaling cards of manufacturers to retail stores — was a tough job with long hours. In his early years of jobbing, young Sapirstein used streetcars to travel to the commercial areas of the east and west sides of Cleveland, carrying with him boxes containing an assortment of postcards. At each stop near drug stores, candy shops, and other retail businesses that he thought might buy his cards, he got off and peddled them. Then, after he had visited all the stores in one area, he caught another streetcar that took him to the next commercial area of the city. And so his work days went, traveling the streets of Cleveland, peddling from the time stores opened in the morning, until they closed in the evening. And when he returned home in the evening, he spent more hours doing the work necessary to fill the card orders he had procured that day.

In time, just as Moses Fenberg had told him, Sapirstein was making more money than he had at the card shop — in fact so much more that, by 1908, he could afford to marry Jennie Kanter, a young woman from his home village in Poland. After they married, they moved out of Fenberg's house and into a Woodland Avenue apartment in the East Side's Cedar-Central neighborhood. At the time, it was a working-class neighborhood and home to many Jewish immigrants. Jacob and Jennie's first son, Isaac (later known as Irving), was born there in 1909. Their second son, Moses (later called Morris) was born there two years later. Both sons, as well as third son Harry (born in 1917), would come to play important roles in the early growth of the company that eventually became the American Greetings Corporation.

In 1914, World War I began. Soon after the start of hostilities, the United States imposed an embargo on the import of German goods, including the then-popular German-made postcards and greeting cards. This embargo, as well as the increased demand for cards that occurred during the war years, benefitted not only America's domestic card manufacturing industry but also jobbers like Jacob Sapirstein who sold those cards to retail businesses. Soon, Jacob could afford to purchase a horse and wagon with which he could more easily travel the streets of Cleveland peddling his cards, especially the new folded greeting cards which had become popular during the war. In time, as his jobbing business grew, Sapirstein exchanged that horse and wagon for a new Ford automobile.

With the growth of his business, Jacob and his wife and children were also able by 1918 to move out of the Cedar-Central neighborhood and into the more upscale Glenville neighborhood, one in which they would live for the next two decades and during which time Jacob's jobbing business would see substantial growth before transforming into a card manufacturing business. The first house the Sapirsteins bought in Glenville was a two-family house at 856-858 East 95th Street, near St. Clair Avenue. However, after living in this house for only a year, they sold it and purchased the house right next door — also a two-family — at 852-854 East 95th. Why the family would sell the first and buy the second is somewhat of a mystery, but it may have been related to the so-called first business expansion of the company described below.

As earlier noted, Jacob Sapirstein's jobbing business now included the new and popular folded greeting cards, as well as the more traditional postcards. As a result of this enlargement of his inventory and other growth in his jobbing business, Sapirstein at some point found it necessary to move all of his inventory out of the house and into the family garage. Different articles published by different newspapers in different years assign different addresses and dates to this first so-called expansion of the business, but the article that was published in the Cleveland Jewish News on May 24, 1985, which was based on an interview with Jacob's son Irving, is the most detailed and convincing. It also featured a photograph of Irving standing in front of what is clearly the garage at 852-854 East 95th Street. The caption below that photograph reads: "The company's first expansion — in 1917 — to Jacob Sapirstein's garage on East 95th Street." (The expansion at that address actually most likely occurred not in 1917, but instead in 1919 when the Sapirsteins purchased the second house on E. 95th Street.)

It was not only the expansion of the business into the family garage that was a marker of the growth of Sapirstein's jobbing business in the early years of the family's residency in Glenville. During the Influenza Pandemic of 1918-1920, Jacob Sapirstein contracted the virus and became so ill that he couldn't work. According to several articles, his sons Irving and Morris — though then not yet even teenagers — had to perform many of their father's jobbing duties, including jumping on streetcars in order to deliver cards to customers and keeping the books of the business at home. This inevitably led, in the decade of the 1920s, to both Irving and Morris becoming jobbers like their father. This, in turn, likely resulted in a large increase in the customer base of the business. Notable of the sons' early efforts, in 1928, Irving and Morris successfully procured a large order of postcards and greeting cards for Euclid Beach Park. This sale produced $48,000 in revenues for the family jobbing business — the equivalent of almost one million dollars in today's money.

By the time the Great Depression arrived in 1929, both Irving and Morris were jobbing full time with their father in the family business that was now known, according to Cleveland directories, as "The Sapirstein Greeting Card Company." It was at about this time, according to Jacob's son Irving, that he had the conversation with his father about going into the greeting card manufacturing business that led to his father shattering Irving's printing plates. However, while, according to Irving, Jacob (who later became known at American Greetings as "J.S.") was a hard sell, he "finally came around." While the exact year that the Sapirstein family began manufacturing their own greeting cards is difficult to determine, it may well have been in 1932 when, for the first time since 1919, the family business address was listed not at 852 East 95th Street but instead at 9313 Yale Avenue, then the site of a brick commercial building located less than a quarter mile from the Sapirstein home.

In 1934, the Sapirsteins incorporated their new manufacturing business under the name of the Sapirstein Greeting Card Company, and, in 1935, Jacob's third son Harry joined the company as a full-time employee. Meanwhile, his oldest son, Irving, who exhibited an artistic bent, became involved in the creation of the company's first greeting cards. His most notable early verse, which became the company's slogan, was: "From someone who wants to remember someone too nice to forget."

In 1938, the Sapirsteins changed the name of their company to the American Greeting Publishing Company, after expanding outside the Cleveland area by opening a manufacturing facility and branch office in Detroit, Michigan in 1936. (The company name would later be simplified to the American Greetings Corporation.) Several years after this, in 1941, the Sapirsteins moved their company out of Glenville and into a large commercial building complex on West 78th Street on Cleveland's West Side. And, several years after the business left Glenville, Jacob and Jennie Sapirstein left too, selling their house in the neighborhood and moving to University Heights.

Since the 1940s, American Greetings has grown and expanded numerous times, and now has manufacturing facilities and offices in many locations across the United States and around the world. Its headquarters today are located in Westlake. It is unlikely that many current employees of American Greetings are even aware of the company's humble beginnings in the Glenville neighborhood. Nevertheless, this is exactly where, over the course of more than two decades, that the Sapirstein family grew Jacob Sapirstein's postcard jobbing business into the second-largest manufacturer of greeting cards in the world.

Images

The Jacob and Jennie Sapirstein Family
The Jacob and Jennie Sapirstein Family Pictured in this photo are Jacob and Jennie Sapirstein and their three sons, Irving, Morris and Harry. The photo was taken at 856 East 95th Street in Cleveland's Glenville neighborhood. (Not included in the family photo is daughter Bernice, who was born several years later.) This house, in which the Sapirsteins lived from 1918 to 1919, is no longer standing. Source: Cleveland State University Special Collections Date: 1918
Hollenden Hotel
Hollenden Hotel When he arrived in Cleveland in 1906, there was a job waiting for Jacob Sapirstein at Moses Fenberg's card shop in the legendary Hollenden Hotel, located on the southeast corner of Superior and East 6th. This photo shows the buildings at that intersection, including the Hollenden on the left, as they would have been first seen by Sapirstein when he traveled—most likely by streetcar—from the west side to the east side to start his job at the Hollenden. Source: Cleveland Public Library, Digital Photo Collection Date: 1902
Earliest Photo of the Sapirsteins
Earliest Photo of the Sapirsteins Taken in circa 1910, the photo includes, clockwise, Jacob Sapirstein, an unidentified sister-in-law from Chicago, his wife Jennie, and first son Irving, who was born in April 1909. It was possibly taken on the grounds of the apartment building in which the Sapirsteins lived in 1910. No longer standing, was located at 3510 Woodland Avenue in the Cedar-Central neighborhood of Cleveland. Source: Cleveland State University, Michael Schwartz Library, Special Collections Date: 1910
An early postcard that Jacob Sapirstein peddled.
An early postcard that Jacob Sapirstein peddled. This postcard of the Superior Viaduct was created in circa 1913. It was created no later than that year, because it does not have the white border that was added to postcards produced after that year. The next photo in this array identifies Jacob Sapirstein as the publisher of this postcard. Source: Cleveland Public Library, Digital Photograph Collection
Reverse side of Superior Viaduct Postcard
Reverse side of Superior Viaduct Postcard Note the stamp of "J. Sapirstein" on the left side of the back of the circa 1913 Superior Viaduct postcard. Source: Cleveland Public Library, Digital Photograph Collection
Jacob Sapirstein as a postcard jobber
Jacob Sapirstein as a postcard jobber This artistic depiction of Jacob Sapirstein with his horse and wagon, and three young sons, appeared in the September 25, 1970 edition of the Cleveland Jewish News. Note the address on the wagon—2169 East 70th Street. The Sapirsteins lived at this address from 1917 to 1918. Source: Cleveland Public Library, Digital Newspaper Collection
Revisiting the First Business Expansion
Revisiting the First Business Expansion This photo appeared in the September 25, 1985 edition of the Cleveland News as part of a story about the history of the American Greetings Corporation. The photo, which was likely taken for the newspaper story, shows Irving Stone—Jacob's eldest son legally changed his last name from Sapirstein to Stone in 1943—standing in front of the garage behind the former house of the Sapirstein family at 852 East 95th Street. Source: 2021 NRQ submitted to City of Cleveland by Henry Shepard, Jr. Date: 1985 circa
Success at Euclid Beach Park
Success at Euclid Beach Park This photo is of Morris (left) and Irving (right) Sapirstein. The photo was said to be taken shortly after their successful sale of $48,000 worth of postcards and greeting cards to the famed Cleveland amusement park. Source: 2021 NRQ submitted to City of Cleveland by Henry Shepard, Jr. Date: 1928
Last American Greetings Building in Glenville
Last American Greetings Building in Glenville This building at 11800 Superior Avenue was the last business presence of the American Greetings Corporation in Cleveland's Glenville neighborhood. The company left the neighborhood when it moved its facilities to West 78th Street in 1941. The building was later razed. Source: Cleveland Public Library, Digital Photograph Collection Date: 1943
Visting the Parents
Visting the Parents This photo taken in 1943 is of Irving Stone (taller man in photo), his children (l to r) Neil, Myrna, Hensha and Judy, and his parents Jacob and Jennie Sapirstein. It was taken in front of Jacob and Jennie Sapirstein's house at 823 East Boulevard in the Glenville neighborhood. The Sapirsteins moved from their two family home at 852 East 95th into this single family house in 1936. Source: Cleveland State University, Michael Schwartz Library, Special Collections Date: 1943
It's all in the cards
It's all in the cards Jacob Sapirstein (left) discusses greeting cards with his sons Morris (middle) and Irving (right). The photo was taken in an American Greetings office at 1378 West 78th Street. Source: Cleveland State University, Michael Schwartz Library, Special Collections Date: 1945
American Greetings Workers
American Greetings Workers In this photo, American Greeting employees are seen boxing cards at the company's West 78th Street facility. Source: Cleveland State University, Michael Schwartz Library, Special Collections Date: 1945
Printing Greeting Cards
Printing Greeting Cards The photo-mechanical reproduction depicts one man running a large printing press, while another works with oversized sheets of paper with multiple prints on each sheet. Source: Cleveland Public Library, Digital Photograph Collection Date: 1947
Berea Road Plant
Berea Road Plant This photo presents the manufacturing plant of the American Greetings located on Berea Road near West 114th Street. Source: Cleveland Public Library, Digital Photograph Collection
Date: 1947
From the Air
From the Air An aerial view of the principal offices of the American Greetings on West 78th Street at the mid-twentieth century mark. Source: Cleveland Public Library, Digital Photograph Collection Date: 1947
The Founder of American Greetings
The Founder of American Greetings Photo of Jacob Sapirstein at age 72. Source: Cleveland Public Library, Digital Photograph Collection Date: 1956
Groundbreaking
Groundbreaking In 1964, Jacob Sapistein, accompanied by his sons (l to r) Irving, Morris and Harry, broke ground for a new American Greetings facility to be built in the westside suburb of Brooklyn. The company had moved its main offices to the suburb in 1954. Ameican Greetings main offices would remain in Brooklyn until 2014 when the company closed them and moved to Westlake. Source: Cleveland Public Library, Digital Photograph Collection Date: 1964
The past and future at American Greetings
The past and future at American Greetings In the center of this photo is centenarian Jacob Sapirstein, the founder and first president of American Greetings Corp. To Jacob's left is his son, Irving Stone, who served as president of American Greetings from 1960-1978. In the blue sweater (with right hand on son Jeffrey's shoulder) is Morry Weiss, Irving's son-in-law, who would become the third president, serving from 1978 to 1990. From 2003 to 2018, Jacob's great-grandsons, Jeffrey and Zev Weiss (to extreme right of photo) served respectively as president and CEO of the company. Source: Cleveland State University, Michael. Schwartz Library Creator: Fortune Magazine Date: circa 1985
852 East 95th Street
852 East 95th Street The house where Jacob and Jennie Sapirstein lived while Jacob's postcard jobbing business grew into one of America's largest greeting card manufacturing businesses still stands in Cleveland's Glenville neighborhood. Source: Google Map Photos Date: 2022

Location

852 E 95th St, Cleveland, OH

Metadata

Jim Dubelko, “The Sapirstein Family,” Cleveland Historical, accessed June 8, 2025, https://clevelandhistorical.org/index.php/items/show/1035.