Snakenberg

Snakenburg’s Tailors was listed in the Green Book as “Snakenburg—123 So. Salisbury st.” under “Tailors” in Raleigh.¹

Snakenburg’s Tailors was owned by John Donald Snakenburg, a white tailor who learned the trade from his father, William W. Snakenburg. John D. Snakenburg operated his tailoring business at 123 S. Salisbury Street around 1949. Prior to that, he operated a tailoring business with his father at 220 ½ Fayetteville Street (over Briggs Hardware) in the 1930s and early 1940s. The Snakenburgs specialized in fur work, repairing, alterations, and reweaving. William Snakenburg established the family’s tailoring business in 1914.²

Snakenburg’s Tailors at Fayetteville Street closed following William W. Snakenburg’s death in 1943.. John D. Snakenburg moved to Vogue Tailors. He remained there until 1949, when he opened his own tailoring business, also called Snakenburg Tailors, at 123 S. Salisbury Street. He continued to operate from the space until 1952, when he moved to 15 W Hargett Street. He briefly returned to Vogue tailors then resumed operation of his own tailoring shop by 1956, located at 6 E. Martin Street.³

John Donald “Buster” Snakenburg was born around 1914. He married Marie Finch in 1938. He was a well-known men’s tailor who counted Governor James “Jim” Hunt among his customers.⁴

Essay by Brandie K. Ragghianti, 2024

Notes

1.  Victor Green, 1950 Green Book, 63; Green, 1951 Green Book, 54; Green, 1952 Green Book, 54; Green, 1953 Green Book, 54; Green, 1954 Green Book, 53; Green, 1955 Green Book, 54. 
2.  Hill’s Raleigh City Directory, 1933-1938; “Snakenberg’s Tailors” (advertisement), Zebulon Record, October 2, 1942, p.2, accessed from https://newspapers.digitalnc.org/lccn/sn92073191/1942-10-02/ed-1/seq-2/print/image_555x817_from_842,668_to_3175,4100/.
3. “W.W. Snakenburg, Sr.” (obituary), The News and Observer, October 3, 1943, p. 8, accessed from www.newspapers.com; “For Sale,” The News and Observer, February 11, 1945, p. 11, accessed from www.newspapers.com; “Announcement: Snakenburg’s Tailors,” The News and Observer, December 14, 1947, accessed from www.newspapers.com; “Busy men’s tailors want nothing less than perfection,” The News and Observer, August 17, 1980. P. 119, accessed from www.newspapers.com; Hill’s 1948 Raleigh City Directory, street listing, alphabetical listing; “Suits made to pleasure.” (“Snakenburg’s Tailor” (advertisement), The Carolinian, April 2, 1949, p. 2, accessed from https://newspapers.digitalnc.org/lccn/sn80008926/1949-04-02/ed-1/seq-2/…; Hill’s Raleigh City Directories, 1948-1956 and 1960, alphabetical and street listings; “Male Help Wanted,” The News and Observer, October 11, 1950, p. 22, accessed from www.newspapers.com.
4.  “Busy men’s tailors want nothing less than perfection,” The News and Observer, August 17, 1980. P. 119, accessed from www.newspapers.com;  “W.W. Snakenburg, Sr.” (obituary), The News and Observer, October 3, 1943, p. 8, accessed from www.newspapers.com; “John D. Snakenburg” (obituary), The News and Observer, February 16, 1988, p. 24, accessed from www.newspapers.com.