Category:W H Appel Jewelers

Appel Jewelers was a jewelry store located at 623-25 Hamilton Street in Allentown. The store was opened by Wilson H Appel in June 1888, although the store had its origins in 1860. It closed in November 2002 when Kitty Appel, the wife of Carl Appel, son of Wilson Appel, retired and closed the business.

The store first opened in 1834 when Charles S. Massey opened a jewelry store at 625 Hamilton Street, in the year before the Union went to war with the Confederacy. Massey passed it to his son, Jacob, who sold it to Wilson Appel in 1897. The Masseys were maternal cousins of the Appels. Wilson Appel had opened his own jewelry store at 738 Hamilton in June 1888. Charles Massey had passed in 1895 and his son Jacob decided to sell the business two years later. Appel purchased the business, sold off the Massey stock and renovated the interior, transferring his stock of jewelry and watches from his previous location.

Carl Appel, son of Wilson was was born above the store in 1902, intended to be an electrical engineer. After graduating from Lehigh University, he gave up an engineering career to return to the family business in the early 1920s. taking over from his father. Carl turned it into an upscale business that attracted the likes of journalist Maria Shriver and sold jewelry that ended up in the collections of Joan Crawford, Jacqueline Kennedy-Onassis and Ronald Reagan. Appel's was among the founders of the American Gem Society in 1935. Carl Appel, was the first certified gemologist in the Lehigh Valley in 1950. In 1960, Apple purchased the 623, 621 and 619 properties adjacent to his store. A year later he expanded the store into the 623 building and totally renovated the property. He rented but retained ownership of the 619 and 621 properties as investments.

Carl Appel, was also an adventurer who went on safaris in Africa. He met his wife, Kitty, when she began working as an extra during the Christmas season in the late 1940s, and they married in 1952. She was involved in the store ever since and took over upon her husbands passing.

At the time of its closing in December 2002, Apple Jewelers was the third oldest jewelry store in in the United States. The property was subsequently sold. In 2020, the storefront is vacant.

Camera location	40° 36′ 09″ N, 75° 28′ 14″ W	View all coordinates using: OpenStreetMap	40.602500; -75.470556