Franklin Fireproof Warehouses / Century Moving & Storage, Offices, 225-235 E. 38th St. (1987)

Franklin Fireproof Warehouses was founded in Brooklyn in 1924 by Bernard Francis Lenihan (1888-1959). Bernard F. Lenihan registered for the World War I draft in 1917 when he worked as "Superintendent Delivery, Pioneer Storage Warehouse, 47 Flatbush Ave. Bkln." At a later date he moved to East Rockaway in Nassau County. Find A Grave records his final resting place in Cemetery of the Holy Rood, Westbury, Nassau County, NY.

One of the early locations of Franklin Fireproof Warehouses was 84 Rockwell Place. Click for ad from 1930. Another Franklin ad appeared in the 1933/34 Polk Brooklyn Directory. This one specified B. F. Lenihan, Pres. Franklin Warehouses remained in Brooklyn until the mid-1940s, when they merged operations with the Century Moving & Storage Co. on East 38th St. in Manhattan. Century Moving and Storage dates from the mid-1930s. They were located at 233 E. 38th St. from around 1941. Click for Century ad from 1946. Click for Franklin ad from 1948. The two companies continued their joint operation until the late 1980s.

The form of the telephone number MU 7-9100 indicates a time frame of approximately 1970-77. The sign could be older, but earlier they would probably have used the form MUrryhill 7-9100.

This sign was located off 38th St. between 2nd & 3rd Aves. at an exit road from the Queens Midtown Tunnel. The wall was still there (in Jan. 2003) but the sign has been obliterated.

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