Jefferson-Arkansas County ArArchives Biographies.....Bloom, Simon 1861 - 
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Robert Sanchez lmu567@gmail.com May 25, 2009, 8:16 pm

Author: S. J. Clarke (Publisher, 1922)

SIMON BLOOM.
    Intense business activity and marked devotion to the public good, through
his terms of office and as a private citizen as well, have placed Simon Bloom in
the front rank of the representative residents of Pine Bluff. He rendered
valuable aid to his city for several years during his mayoralty service, giving
a businesslike and progressive administration that brought about various needed
reforms and improvement. His life history stands in contradistinction to the old
adage that a prophet is not without honor save in his own country, for Simon
Bloom has won distinctive preferment in Pine Bluff, where his birth occurred in
the year 1861. He is a son of John and Fannie (Aschoffenberg) Bloom, both of
whom were born in Alsace, now a part of France. They were reared and married
there and on coming to the new world settled at Arkansas Post, being among the
pioneers to establish homes in that locality. About 1857 they removed to Pine
Bluff and here John Bloom entered business circles, but during the period of the
Civil war his losses were very heavy, for his goods were confiscated and his
cotton burned. He reestablished business following the close of hostilities
between the north and the south and again he won a substantial measure of
success through his wise and capable management of business affairs. He died in
1878, having for two years survived his wife. He, too, was prominent in the
public life of the community, serving as one of the first aldermen of Pine Bluff
and giving his aid and support to every plan and project for the city's
upbuilding and advancement. He was a man of determined purpose, whose well
formulated plans were carried forward to successful completion, while his
personal qualities made for popularity wherever he was known. To him and his
wife were born seven children: Moses, deceased; Theresa; Charles, who was a
banker of Pine Bluff for thirty years but has passed to the home beyond; Sallie
and Emma, also deceased; Simon, of this review; and E. B., who at one time was
county clerk of Jefferson county and lives in Pine Bluff.

    In the public schools of his native city Simon Bloom pursued his educatiou
and afterward became secretary to Congressman Clifton Breckenridge. At a
subsequent period he was with the Iron Mountain Railway as commercial agent at
Pine Bluff and in 1904 he became associated with the W. R. Kirby Company at
Varner, Arkansas, continuing in active connection with that business for a
period of eight years. In 1912 he again came to Pine Bluff and the following
year was elected mayor of the city. So efficiently and capably did he discharge
the duties of the position that he was reelected at each biennial period until
he had served until 1919—retiring from office as he had entered it, with the
confidence and goodwill of all concerned. He is now fiscal agent for the city
and again he is proving his loyalty and fidelity to the interests and welfare of
the district which he represents. He is, moreover, known as one of the most
prominent representatives of cotton raising in the south. He has thirty-two
hundred acres of cotton land and he is now actively interested in securing a
cotton spinning plant for Pine Bluff, acting with the same determination and
energy that have always characterized him. There is little doubt as to the
success of his efforts in this connection. Situated at Pine Bluff, he is in the
midst of a great cotton growing district and there is no doubt but what such an
enterprise could be made a splendidly paying investment here.

    In 1888, Mr. Bloom was married to Miss Sophia Rhine, a daughter of Sol and
Fredericka Rhine of Memphis, Tennessee. They have one child, Sol N., now living
at Varner, Arkansas, where he is engaged in merchandising and cotton raising. He
was a second lieutenant, serving at Camp Pike during the World war. Mr. Bloom
belongs to the Independent Order of B'nai B'rith and is also identified with the
Benevolent Protective Order of Elks, the Fraternal Order of Eagles and the
Ancient Order of United Workmen, loyally following the teachings and purposes of
these different societies. He is an alert, energetic, progressive man and one
whose contribution to Pine Bluff's upbuilding and advancement has been of most
substantial and valuable character.


Additional Comments:

Citation:
Centennial History of Arkansas
Volume II
Chicago-Little Rock: The S. J. Clarke Publishing Company
1922


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