Looking for history on BeeKay Saint Louis Menswear

T

ThisBlueBird

Registered Guest
I have a 1917 to 1920 men's Chesterfield coat from BeeKay Saint Louis.

I have plenty of info about the specific coat, its age, the Chesterfield style, and the general era of menswear... but I would like to have some historical information about the BeeKay company itself.

I know there was a Bee Hat Co. and a King Bee Co. (also hats), but so far I cannot find any connection between either of them and BeeKay. It may have been a brand name owned by another company or it may have been a clothing retailer's name where the coat was sold.

A trade mark search turned up nothing apparel related for either BeeKay or Bee Kay.

Any help would be appreciated!

Attached is a photo of the tag.
 

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Beekay has been a challenge for me, too, but I found a few things:

-- This is the earliest reference I found:
1911BeekayClothingCoRef.jpg


-- In a Missouri paper I found this 1925 Beekay overcoats ad:
1925BeekayOvercoatsAdClip.jpg


-- I found about 30 generally similar 1920-1927ish ads that mentioned Beekay men's and boy's clothing


However, I didn't find:

-- any trademark information for Beekay

-- any Beekay Clothing Co/Bee Kay Clothing/Kay, Bee/etc. in any of the St. Louis city directories I found from 1919-1923. I am completely confused as to why there is no company by that name in any of the directories, unless it is because Beekay is something like, say, a "Brookline" line of clothes by Brooks Brothers would be. Assuming it is a line of clothes by a clothing company, we wouldn't expect to find anything in the directory by that name...EXCEPT that the 1911 ad mentions a Beekay Clothing Co., so, I don't have an answer...
 
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Thanks Lynne! At least you found it mentioned somewhere, I have found nothing! I was also beginning to think it was a brand or some derivation of a parent company name.
 
OK, I think I have the company now. The part of the 1927 ad you see here seemed to me to suggest there was a connection between the Beekay and Korrect/Korrekt lines of clothes ("The All Guaranteed Line"), so I started searching for those two names together, but other than this ad I found nothing. I then went back again to the St. Louis city directories and quite by accident I found an entry in the 1922 directory for the Bettmann-Kleinhauser Clothing Co. I could understand why that company might go to something like "Beekay" as it is less of a mouthful. I then found the second mention you see HERE (click the Search button if the Page 182 results--or whatever page it is--don't show up automatically), which ties Bettmann-Kleinhauser and Korrekt, so I think that is the parent company of Beekay.

1927BeekayKorrectAd.jpg
 
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And with that info I just found them still in business!!

Their current name is M.H.K. Company. Here is their corporation listing: https://opencorporates.com/companies/us_mo/00027798
Shows all previous names including Bettmann-Kleinhauser and Korrekt. This says incorporated March 1912, but clearly they were in business before 1909. Also appears in a reference book of garment manufacturers listed by city and published in 1909. And in a St. Louis Who's Who's book under Irvin Bettmann's name.

Thank you so much for your help with this investigation!
 
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