By Jared L. Olar
Local History Program Coordinator
Since the early 2000s, the building at 337 Court St. has been the home of the 337 Court Street Law Offices, owned by Pekin attorney Dale Thomas and his wife Joy. This building at 337-339 Court St. is about 140 years old if not older, though it has undergone a lot of change and had to be rebuilt after it was almost completely destroyed in a fire 80 years ago.
Throughout its history, this structure has been the home of hardware stores, a department store, a restaurant, a tavern, and a Christian book store. But the history of 337 Court St. can be traced prior to the construction of the 337 Court St. building almost to the middle of the 1800s. The Tazewell County Assessor’s website says this structure was first built in 1910, but there can be little doubt that the original construction was during the 1870s and that the building as we have it today is the one that was rebuilt immediately after a fire in 1944.
Omi Root’s very first Pekin city directory in 1861 says that the establishment located on Court Street three doors east of Capitol St. was a hotel called American House, whose proprietor was Robert C. Stickley (1819-1907). Stickley also had a livery stable on the west side of Fourth St. two doors north of Court to serve his hotel guests and others in town. American House is again listed three doors east of Capitol St. on Court in the 1871 Sellers & Bates City Directory of Pekin, at which time the hotel’s proprietor was an otherwise unknown D. Martin.
American House disappears from Pekin city directories after 1871. The 1876 Bates City Directory of Pekin does not identify any specific Court Street business located three doors east of Capitol, but lists various businesses across from the Tazewell County Courthouse in a building or series of buildings known as the Roos Block. This city directory is unclear about exact address of the Roos Block, but it appears to have covered the area that today includes the 337 Court Street Law Offices.
In 1876, a prominent shoe and boot store then existed at 236 Court St., known as J. & H. Roos, owned and operated by John Roos and his brother Henry Roos (1845-1922), one or both of whom was the owner of the Roos Block building or buildings. Henry Roos’ biography in the 1905 History of Tazewell County says he was proprietor of the shoe store from 1865 to 1876, “when, on account of ill health, he disposed of the enterprise.”
Once his health had recovered, in 1879 Henry Roos opened a hardware, farm implements, and seed store in a building that was then numbered 405-407 Court St. (presumably part of the old Roos Block). This same store is shown in the 1885 Sanborn Fire Insurance Map of Pekin and the 1887 Pekin city directory. At some point in the early 1890s, Roos’ building was renumbered 337-339 Court St., and that has been the mailing address ever since. Roos’ hardware and agricultural implements store is listed at 337-339 Court in the 1893, 1895, and 1898 Pekin city directories.
Roos’ biography in the 1905 Tazewell County history says he retired in 1898. By the time of the 1904 Pekin city directory, Roos’ former hardware store had been acquired by three business partners named Philip M. Hoffman (1872-1936), Benjamin Strickfaden Sr. (1863-1949), and Ernest R. Peyton (1866-1954), who were co-proprietors of the Pekin Hardware Co. This hardware store operated from Roos’ old building at 337-339 Court St. until 1929, though Strickfaden is no longer listed as a partner from the 1913 city directory onward – he left Illinois and ended his days in New Mexico.
Hoffman and Peyton carried on the business at 337-339 Court St. until 1929, when Pekin Hardware Co. moved to the southwest corner of Margaret and Capitol streets for a few years. Hoffman was succeeded by his son Ernest P. Hoffman (1902-1974), who moved the business back to Court Street by the time of the 1939 Pekin city directory. The younger Hoffman moved the store to 341 Court St., because in 1929 the former location at 337 Court St. had become the home of Carp’s Department Store, owned by Bernard S. Carp (1895-1963) of St. Louis, Mo.
The 1930 directory says Carp’s Department Store’s manager then was Richard L. Joliff, but in the 1932 directory lists the manager as Jack W. Bennett. In the 1934 directory, Carp is shown as personally managing the store, but by the time of the 1937 city directory the store’s manager was Joseph J. Bottger (1897-1949), who remained in that position until his death on 4 Sept. 1949.
The 1949 Pekin Centenary, page 14, provides the following historical overview of Carp’s Department Store:
“For the past twenty years, Carps (sic) Department store has been serving Pekin and its surrounding communities. In 1929, its doors opened at its present address, 337 Court Street. At that time, the store consisted of only the main floor and a balcony for ladies ready-to-wear.
“To meet the demands of a fast growing community, Carps was in the process of remodeling and expanding when the building was completely destroyed by fire on February 9, 1944. Carps immediately began looking for a temporary location, and on March 9th business was resumed in the building which now houses the Court Motors, on the corner of Capitol and Margaret streets. Work began at once on erecting a modern building at the old site, consisting of a main floor, an enlarged balcony, and a full basement.
“Bernard Carp is well known in the Pekin community and his children attended the Pekin schools. His interest is always in the progress of the city.
“J. J. Bottger, the manager, has been associated with the Carps for the past fourteen years.”
The fire that destroyed Carp’s Department Store was the main front page story in the 10 Feb. 1944 edition of the Pekin Daily Times. News reports show that two Pekin firefighters were injured while fighting the blaze during that night’s bitter February cold. When the fire was extinguished, all that was left of Henry Roos’ old building were the front and back walls. But Bernard Carp had the store rebuilt with a wholly new interior and roof while retaining the original façade.
After Bottger’s passing, the next Carp’s store manager was James F. Harris, who stayed on until the late 1960s, last appearing in that capacity in the 1966 Pekin city directory. The 1968 directory shows Calvin Schermann as the store manager, but in the 1971 directory Schermann had been succeeded by Joe Gunn. The last manager of Carp’s Department Store is listed in the 1973 Pekin city directory as Robert Adams. The store closed around that time, a victim of the shift of commerce from Pekin’s old town to the eastern part of town.
City directories show 337-339 Court St. to have remained vacant until 1977, when the directory lists a restaurant and lounge at that address: Walt’s French Quarter, whose proprietor was Linda Fluegel. That business didn’t last very long, though, because the 1979 city directory again shows the building as vacant. Then in 1980, we find another restaurant and lounge there called The Courtyard, operated by Jack McCarty. In 1982, The Courtyard’s owner is listed as Janet L. Maile, but the restaurant closed about that time.
In the 1983 and 1984 city directories, we find John M. Lawson operating a tavern and diner at 337 Court St. called The Hideout and the Quick Stop Diner. But again that business did not last long, because the 1985 Pekin city directory once more lists 337-339 Court St. as vacant. In the next directory, a “youth center” known as Illusions, run by Linda M. Litterst and Larry Brown, is shown to have briefly occupied the 337 Court St. building. Illusions proved to be a disruptive presence in Pekin’s old town and did not last very long. The 1987 and 1988 city directories again list the building as vacant.
In the 1989 city directory, however, we find that Kenneth O. “Kenny” Crawford (1929-2022) and his wife Patricia J. (Spiesz) Crawford (1933-2018) had moved their business, The Christ Centered Store, from 317 Court St. to 337-339 Court St. The Crawfords sold Bibles and other religious books and articles. (My parents bought their children’s first Bibles from the Crawfords.) They operated their store there until their retirement in the mid-1990s. Kenny Crawford sold the store on 7 Jan. 1995 to Wiliam E. Hillegonds (1970-2020) and retired to call for his wife Pat, who had a rare form of Lou Gehrig’s Disease.
Hillegonds was listed as the owner of The Christ Centered Store until the 2004 Pekin city directory. The 2005 directory shows Connie Lennox only that year, as the store’s last owner. Pekin attorney Dale Thomas has had his law offices at 337 Court St. since then.
From the History Room 