Amanda’s Closet | From the History Room

By Jared L. Olar

Local History Program Coordinator

Since 2011, the Brawner family has been serving up music and drinks from the 500 block of Court Street. Their tavern, Rhythm & Brews, first opened in 2011 in what was then a 70-year-old building that they leased at 513 Court St. Then on 5 June 2014, the Brawners purchased the building at 519 Court St., where Rhythm & Brews has been ever since.

Those who patronize their business, however, can see the evidence of their building’s history every time they walk in or out of the front entrance – because the front porch still prominently displays the words “Jones Bros.” That is left over from the days when 517-519 Court St. was the home of Jones Bros. Jewelers, a name well-known throughout Central Illinois. Jones Bros. Jewelers was based at 517-519 Court St. from 1939 to 1997.

In this Google Street View image from Aug. 2022, the old “Jones Bros.” business name is still visible on the porch of Rhythm & Brews at 519 Court St.

The business history of 519 Court St. predates the arrival of Jones Bros. Jewelers by about 45 years, commencing with a harness and collar manufacturing shop owned and operated by Fred W. Reichel (1866-1959) that first appears on record in the 1895 Pekin city directory. City directories and Sanborn Fire Insurance Maps show that there was no structure located at 519 Court St. until after January 1892.

The March 1898 Sanborn map of Pekin shows Fred W. Reichel’s harness shop at 519 Court St. The 1898 Pekin city directory says John G. Albers, Singer Manufacturing Co. agent, was also at 519 Court that year. The 1885 and 1892 Sanborn maps, as well as the 1877 aerial view map of Pekin, show that the lot at 519 Court St. was then empty, and city directories do not show anything there until 1895.

Fred W. Reichel’s harness and collar manufacturing shop is shown at 519 Court St. in this detail from the Nov. 1903 Sanborn Fire Insurance Map of Pekin.

Reichel’s harness-making shop continues to appear at 519 Court St. until the 1908 Pekin city directory. He briefly shared his building in 1898 with John G. Albers (1861-1919), Singer Manufacturing Co. agent, and also rented the second floor in 1908 to Charles H. Haynes (1873-1919). Reichel closed his shop about the time of the 1908 city directory, as we can see from the following year’s directory, which shows the Schlegel & Linneman electrical supplies firm at 519 Court St., owned and operated by John O. Schlegel and Fred F. Linneman. The 1909 directory also shows that the 519 Court St. building’s second floor was the home of J. F. and Mae Richford – J. F. Richford worked at a liquor store at 309 Court St.

In this detail from the Dec. 1909 Sanborn Fire Insurance Map of Pekin is shown the electrical supplies business of John O. Schlegel and Fred F. Linneman.

It’s unclear how long Schlegel & Linneman occupied Reichel’s building, but by the time of the 1913 Pekin city directory we find the Rubart Bros. Bakery at 519 Court St., with Frank Conaghan living on the second floor. The Rubart brothers were Nelson Rubart (1888-1961) and John H. Rubart Jr. (1883-1953). The 1914 directory says Bert Cordin also had a butcher shop at 519 Court St. alongside the Rubart Bros. Bakery. By 1922, the Rubart brothers had moved their bakery across the street to 526 Court St., though their clerk Alma Rutledge (1871-1955) still lived upstairs at 519 1/2 Court St. The bakery was purchased in 1926 by Martin Nelson Larkin (1904-1987), who changed its name to Larkin Home Bakery, and kept Rutledge on as clerk.

Meanwhile, we find in the 1922 Pekin city directory that Fred W. Reichel, in partnership with his son Otto F. Reichel (1897-1940), had opened a grocery store at 519 Court St. that they called Model Grocery Co. The Reichels’ grocery store continues to appear in Pekin city directories at 519 Court St. (with Alma Rutledge still living upstairs) until the 1928 city directory. But beginning with the 1930 city directory, we find that Model Grocery Co. had moved to 523 Court St. As for 519 Court St., that address disappears altogether from Pekin city directories until 1939, which indicates that the Reichel Building was either vacant or had perhaps been destroyed in a fire.

The Oct. 1916 Sanborn map of Pekin shows a grocery store at 519 Court St. This must be the Model Grocery Co. of Fred W. Reichel and his son Otto F. Reichel. Two years earlier the Rubart Bros. Bakery was still located there.

The old two-storey Reichel Building at 519 Court St. is shown in this detail from the Sept. 1925 Sanborn Fire Insurance Map of Pekin. The building then housed the Model Grocery Co., owned and operated by Fred W. Reichel and his son Otto F. Reichel.

In any case, the Reichel Building at 519 Court St. was certainly replaced in early 1939 by a new structure known as the Kensey Building. That is the same building – albeit undergoing remodeling and expansion over the years – that still stands at that location today. The building’s lot covers the addresses 517-519 Court St.

The 1939 Pekin city directory heralded the arrival of Jones Bros. Jewelers, founded by Orville Ralph Jones (1906-1988) and Earl Edwin Jones Sr. (1909-1986) on 4 March 1939. The 1949 Pekin Centenary, page 16, includes the following historical narrative for their business:

Jones Bros. Jewelers was founded March 4, 1939, by Orville and Earl Jones. It was started after many years of preparation and study in all fields of the jewelry business.

The actual start was in 1928, when Earl started to study at Bradley Horological Institute. A short time later Orville took up the study of Horology. There followed years of practical experience in all fields of the jewelry business. Their combined experience includes watch and jewelry repairing, jewelry manufacturing, clock repairing, diamond setting, engraving, and jewelry designing.

Earl Jones took up the study of Gemology, and in 1936 received the title of Certified Gemologist and Registered Jeweler of the American Gem Society. He was president of the Northern Ohio Guild of the A.G.S. and has served as instructor at their annual Conclaves for many years. At present he serves on the Board of Governors of the Gemological Institute of America.

Earl was working as designer and sample maker of Orange Blossom rings at the Traub Manufacturing Company and Orville was managing the watch repair department at Wm. Taylor Son & Company in Cleveland when they decided to combine their talents.

In 1942 the Town and Country Gift shop was added, and 1947 the store was completely remodeled and enlarged to its present size. The remodeled store includes a large China and glass department in a separate room, a gift shop, a new silver department, and a much larger jewelry section. The repair department has grown to include four watchmakers and three jewelers. During the Christmas Season there are as many as 20 employees.

From a small beginning in 1939 their store has grown to the largest jewelry store and gift shop in Central Illinois.

A photograph of Jones Bros. Jewelers’ original storefront. When the jewelry store first opened, the business only occupied a third of a the Kensey building, but soon spread out into the entire building and even expanded the structure with rear addition.

Jones Bros. Jewelers first city directory advertisement, from the 1941 Pekin city directory. The business was found in March 1939.

In this photograph from the late 1940s that was reproduced in the Pekin Daily Times, Jones Bros. Jewelers co-founder Earl Jones uses a tool to measure ring size while Zillah Kriegsman (1907-1964) adjusts the focus on a gemscope.

A detail from the Jones Bros. Jewelers advertisement in the 1949 Pekin Centenary volume.

Further valuable details of the history of Jones Bros. Jewelers are provided by the 1974 Pekin Sesquicentennial volume, on pages 50-51:

In 1939 Orville Jones came to Pekin in search of a suitable location in which to start a jewelry business in conjunction with his brother Earl. Since he unfamiliar with the area, he stopped at the John M. Goar Agency to see if any useable sites were available. Much as Goar wanted to see a new business come to Pekin, he simply didn’t know of a good location at the time, but just as Orville was pulling away from the curb, Goar came running out of his office, having recalled a building under construction that might very well prove satisfactory. The Kensey building he showed them appeared to be the best location the Jones brothers had seen, and Jones Brothers Jewelers has been located there ever since.

With the aid of one assistant, Jane Prettyman Smith, Orville officially opened the business in March of 1939; in the fall Earl and his wife, Edna, moved to Pekin to help operate the enterprise, which at that time occupied one-third of the Kensey building. Today the store employs 21 people and has grown to fill the entire building as well as an 18-foot addition to the rear of the original structure.

From their first days in business, the Jones brothers have stressed good repair work and service. They were among the first in the area to offer the ‘Bride Has Whispered’ service, allowing prospective brides to register their silver and china patterns, as well as any special gifts they might choose from the store’s vast selection. A Certified Gemologist since 1936, Earl has held that title longer than any other living jeweler in the world; because he is especially interested in special order work, a number of loose stones are available at all times, making Jones Brothers Jewelers one of the more accommodating and respected firms in the area.

A Pekin Daily Times newsprint photograph of the Jones Bros. Jewelers storefront from Nov. 1954.

The Jones Bros. Jewelers storefront from the mid- to latter 20th century. The building, constructed in early 1939, is now the home of the Rhythm & Brews tavern.

Jones Bros. Jewelers final city directory advertisement under their original ownership, published the 1979 Pekin city directory. Orville and Earl sold their business to the Woolseys that year.

The Jones brothers remained the co-owners of their business until 1979, with Orville as president and Earl as vice-president and treasurer. They retired that year and sold Jones Bros. Jewelers to Robert Bennett Woolsey (1945-1989) and his brother E. Baird Woolsey, sons of Robert Baird Woolsey (1921-2003) of Woolsey Funeral Home. Bennett was president of Jones Bros. Jewelers until his death, and his brother Baird served as secretary-treasurer until the mid-1980s when he returned to the family’s funeral home business. In 1981, a second Jones Bros. Jewelers store was opened in the Metro Center in Peoria.

Many still remember Bennett’s whispered suggestion “Jones Bros. Jewelers” in his television commercials. Born in Galesburg in 1945, Bennett came to Pekin with his family in the late 1940s and grew up in Pekin, playing football at Pekin Community High School. Bennett was very active in the community, serving on the church council of St. Paul United Church of Christ and on the board of directors of First Federal Savings and Loan Association. He was also a member of the Boy Scouts, Pekin Elks, and Empire Lodge 126. Sadly, in the late 1980s Bennett’s tenure as company president fell under a shadow as he faced sentencing in federal court for sales tax evasion, and he took his own life on 27 Dec. 1989.

R. Bennett Woolsey (1945-1989), president of Jones Brothers Jewelers from 1979 until his death.

Jones Bros. Jewelers continued to prosper in Peoria and Pekin under the leadership of Bennet’s widow Betty Jo (Pratt) Woolsey. In the summer of 1997, however, the decision was made to close the Pekin store. Headed by Bennett’s and Betty’s son Bob Woolsey since the late 1990s, Jones Bros. Jewelers today continues the heritage of Orville and Earl Jones in Peoria at 7705 N. Grand Prairie Drive.

After the Pekin Jones Bros. Jewelers store closed, the 517-519 Court St. addressed disappeared from Pekin city directories for a couple years. Then in 2000, we find a listing for Pekin Bath & Body & Gift Shoppe, owned by Doris Gray. Her store was succeeded at 517 Court St. by a magazine dealership called Beers Direct USA (later called Magazine Yellow Pages), owned by Cathy Beers, a business that first appears in the 2004 Pekin city directory. Also listed in the 2004 directory in the 519 Court St. half of the building was DUI Countermeasures, with Colleen Moore as manager.

This Tazewell County Assessor’s photograph shows the storefront of 519 Court St. as it appeared in Dec. 2001, when Doris Gray’s Pekin Bath & Body & Gift Shoppe was located in the building.

One wonders if the fact that a business called “Beers Direct USA” was sharing a building with DUI Countermeasures may have influenced Cathy Beers’ decision to change the name of her business. Be that as it may, Magazine Yellow Pages last appears at 517 Court St. in the 2014 Pekin city directory, while DUI Countermeasures is last listed at 519 Court St. in the 2011 directory. However, from 2010 to 2014 we find Amanda Rogy’s consignment shop Amanda’s Closet at 517 Court St. Finally, beginning with the 2015 city directory, Rhythm & Brews is listed as the sole occupant of 519 Court St.