dolf Bernard Loveman (1844-1916) was a grandson of Izsak and Suve through their eldest son Bernard (1800-1887) and his wife, Esther Wirkman (?-1852). He was born in the town of Györke and emigrated to the U.S. in about 1865. He reportedly passed through Tennessee before settling in 1867 in Greensboro, Alabama, where he opened Loveman's, a general merchandise store. He moved to Birmingham in 1887, opening A.B. Loveman's Dry Goods Emporium at 1915 Second Avenue in 1887 .

According to a 19 Jun 1930 article in the Birmingham News, his "energetic and farsighted methods won the confidence of the public," and in the spring of 1888 he took a partner in the person of Mr. M. V. Joseph of Selma, Alabama. The business expanded and soon occupied double quarters at 1915-1917 Second Avenue, and a third partner joined the growing business in 1889, Emil Leo Loeb. The organization then became known as Loveman, Joseph and Loeb.

Loveman's sold “merchandise that merits confidence.” In 1890, a building was constructed at 12 North 19th Street; it was enlarged in 1898 and again in 1916.

Above: Adolf B. Loveman, founder of Loveman, Joseph & Loeb.

Click to enlarge.

At right: The original Loveman building on Second Avenue in Birmingham. Click to enlarge.

Loveman, Joseph & Loeb company letterhead , 1908.

Adolf died in 1916, shortly after the store expanded to become the largest in the city, After the death of Moses V. Joseph, Adolph's adopted son Joseph Herman Loveman  (1881-1951), the biological child of the sister of Adolf's wife, Minnie Weil (1851-1931) , took the reigns in 1925. City Stores had acquired the business in 1923, but Joseph, who had grown up in the store, led it until a brief retirement in 1931, followed by a return to management the next year.

A 1934 fire gutted Loveman’s, causing $2 million worth of damage to the store. It continued doing business in another location, and built a new up-to-date structure on its old site in 1935.
	After a fire gutted the old building, Loveman's was rebuilt on the same site in 1935. Click to enlarge.

Joseph H. Loveman, adopted son of Adolf, took the reigns in 1925. 

The new department store was one of the first in the nation to be air conditioned, and the first in Alabama to feature an escalator. Business continued until City Stores declared bankruptcy in 1979, and Loveman’s, which had added five other branch stores in the Birmingham suburbs and in Huntsville and Montgomery, was closed in 1980.