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The History of Miss Jackson's
In the summer of 1907, Mrs. J. H. Evans (a pioneer Tulsan) went shopping in the McCreery and Company Department store in Pittsburgh, PA. As usual, the sky was dark with coal smoke and the sun was hidden from view. Mrs. Evans remarked to the personal shopper who was helping her, “You should come to Oklahoma.” The sales woman responded with a question, “Does the sun shine there?” “Not only does the sun shine all day long” Mrs. Evans answered. “but you should see our glorious sunsets!” The personal shopper was Nelle Shields Jackson, and that chance conversation was the beginning of a Tulsa legend.
Nelle Shields Jackson, born July 13, 1872 in western Pennsylvania, attended college in the east then returned home to live with her widowed mother, the late Mary Jane (Middleton) Jackson, in Beaver Falls, PA. The stores in Beaver Falls were far below caliber of those in Pittsburgh, so Nelle commuted to the larger city by train – a long and tiring ride for a young woman, especially at the turn of the century.
Her skill as a milliner and her insistence on serving patrons personally and individually helped Miss Jackson build a loyal clientele at McCreery’s. Her sister Edna recalled, years later, that Nelle “never stood behind the counter, but stood with her patrons and told them what they should have and what would be the most becoming on them”. Nelle dreamed of opening her own shop – a fine shop that she could operate according to her own standards of beauty and excellence. So in 1907, at the age of 35, Pittsburgh had become so polluted and crowded Nelle Shields Jackson, acting against the advice of all her friends, came west to Tulsa accompanied by her mother.
Unlike Pittsburgh, Tulsa in 1907 was a new town, part of a new state. Both town and state were just beginning to realize their potential with the Glenpool oil strike of 1905, bringing undreamed of wealth to Tulsa and many of its citizens. Nelle Jackson started working as corsetiere at the Beane-Vandever Dry Goods Company for two years. Late in 1909 Nelle announced her intention to start a shop of her own.
The Vandever brothers gave her encouragement and advice. In 1910, she opened the first Miss Jackson’s Shop (a lingerie shop) on the balcony of a jewelry store, and within a few months had done well enough to move into larger quarters – a building in the 300 block of South Main that she shared with Mrs. Dehaven’s Flower Shop. The added space allowed Miss Jackson’s to become a full-fledged millinery shop with hats, gloves, and some jewelry, as well as lingerie. During the early years, Nelle Jackson and her most loyal employee, her mother, became well known for their exquisite taste – both women had an almost uncanny knack for knowing what was exactly right. They sold only the highest quality merchandise and quickly established a clientele that included all the wealthiest Tulsa families.
