Marcus Barshay was a successful entrepreneur who started several department stores, a cotton and tobacco farm and a tobacco warehouse in Summerville in the early 1900s. A Jewish man who emigrated from Eastern Europe, Barshay helped shape the town of Summerville in its early days.
For years a painted portrait of Barshay was on display inside of Barshay’s Department Store in downtown Summerville. Today the restored portrait of a middle-aged Barshay hangs inside Summerville’s Old Town Hall alongside other paintings of local landmarks and artistic renderings of historical events.
On March 21, several of Barshay’s grandchildren joined members of the Summerville Preservation Society gathered in the Old Town Hall to celebrate the Barshay family’s legacy.
A self-made man, Barshay’s story begins many years before he set foot in the area dubbed "Flowertown Beneath the Pines."
He was born and raised in Riga, Latvia. According to Max Brener, Barshay’s grandson, during Barshay’s youth, the Russian empire was ruled by Alexander III, who was unfriendly toward Jewish people.
“He really cracked down on (Jews) and limited their opportunities for education, employment and housing,” Brener said. “He made life pretty miserable for the Jews all over the Russian empire.”
The harsh conditions drove Barshay and two of his brothers to emigrate to the United States in the late 1800s.
“The 40-year period 1880-1920 was the largest international migration of people the world has ever seen,” Brener said. "Twenty-five million people during that period came to the United States.”
Brener said the Barshay brothers were motivated to emigrate by “opportunity through hard work.”
Not having enough money to travel all at once, the brothers emigrated one by one. Barshay was the third to arrive in New York City, where his brothers had found jobs making buttons in the garment industry. By 1897, all three were naturalized citizens.
“I can tell you (that) was a great day in their life, because that was their dream,” Brener said.
After they were naturalized, for unknown reasons, all three brothers decided to move to South Carolina.
Marcus Barshay opened a general store in Orangeburg, and then another one in Summerville.
“It was a typical, old-fashioned store,” said Barshay’s granddaughter, Jane Barshay Burns.
Summerville’s Barshay’s Department Store sold “a little bit of everything,” Burns said, including clothes, shoes and a large selection of fabrics. It was located on the square in downtown, near where present day Wigger Law Firm, Inc. sits. Barshay’s was not far from another department store belonging to Saul Alexander, another influential Summerville resident and Barshay’s close friend.
Burns said her grandfather was well respected in Summerville partly because he was known for putting the town’s best interest first.
At one point, Barshay had an opportunity to buy the electric company that supplied the town. However, he chose not to because he felt it should be a public utility, Burns said.
“He was interested in helping Summerville grow and become a successful town,” Burns said. “He was very mindful of the community. He loved the people of Summerville more than I can express.”
When Barshay died at age 78 in 1950, two of his sons, Samuel and Aaron, took over the business until the 1970s when it was sold.
