Grocers, butchers, liquors . . . and coffee: The story of the 404 Court St. Building

By Jared L. Olar

Local History Program Coordinator

Rivalling if not surpassing the Hamm’s Building for the title of most attractive and striking of the surviving buildings in Pekin’s historic Old Town is the 404 Court St. Building, which has been home to Dianna Howard’s popular Coffee Connections café since 2022.

Coffee Connections at the 404 Court St. Building is shown in this Aug. 2022 Google Street View image.

Although the Tazewell County Assessor lists 1901 as the date of construction for the 404 Court St. Building, in fact the building was probably built in the 1880s or 1890s. The earliest directories are imprecise in their building addresses, but it is probable that the grocery store of Nicholas Reuling (1832-1913) and George Ehrlicher (1824-1876) was located on or near the site of the present 404 Court St. Building. The 1861 city directory says the Reuling & Ehrlicher store was the 11th door east of Fourth Street on the south side of Court St.

Johann Georg Ehrlicher (1824-1876), a Pekin shoemaker and grocer, patriarch of the Ehrlicher family of Pekin.

Ten years later, we find Ehrlicher listed in the 1871 directory as sole proprietor of a store selling grocery, provisions, liquor, and queensware, located somewhere between Fourth and Fifth streets on the south side of Court. The same directory also shows Jacob John Woelfle (1826-1923) operating a watchmaking and jewelry shop somewhere between Fourth and Fifth streets on Court’s south side. Either Ehrlicher’s or Woelfle’s shops could have been at the future site of the 404 Court St. Building.

We reach firmer ground by the time of the 1876 Pekin city directory, which shows Adam Heilmann and Louis “Loue” Trinkaus (1836-1902) as co-owners of the Heilmann & Trinkaus grocery store at 500 Court St. Despite the number “500,” their store was not directly at the southwest corner of Court and Fourth – for that was rather the site of the Arbeiters Heimath boarding house – but instead Heilmann & Trinkaus operated from a building at the site now known as 404 Court.

At the center of this cropped detail from an 1877 aerial view map of Pekin can be seen the Heilmann & Trinkaus grocery store. The structure depicted on this map was replaced in the 1880s or 1890s by the current 404 Court St. Building.

Louis Trinkaus’ grocery store at 506 Court St. (i.e., 404 Court St.) is shown in this detail from the May 1885 Sanborn Fire Insurance Map of Pekin.

By the time of the 1887 city directory, Trinkaus was the sole owner of the grocery store, which by then was numbered as “506” Court St. – the same address that appears in all later directories as “404” Court. It is likely that the current 404 Court St. Building was constructed about this same period of time, being given a classic late 19th century American business façade. The same façade is still almost entirely intact today – the only visible differences being the removal of a decorative urn from atop the façade’s peak, and the removal of the building’s weather vane.

The Jan. 1892 Sanborn Fire Insurance Map of Pekin shows Trinkaus’ grocery store at 404 (506) Court St.

The Louis Trinkaus grocery store at 404 Court St. is shown in this detail from the March 1898 Sanborn Fire Insurance Map of Pekin.

In the 1898 Pekin city directory, we find Trinkaus’ son Martin Henry Trinkaus (1878-1942) clerking in his father’s store. When Louis Trinkaus passed away four years later, his son Martin succeeded him as head of the business. However, Martin H. Trinkaus sold the grocery store about 1908 – he last appears as owners of the grocery store at 404 Court St. in the 1908 city directory, and the following year we find Fred Herman Johannes (1864-1917) as proprietor of the store.

The detail from the Dec. 1903 Sanborn map of Pekin shows the location of Martin H. Trinkaus’ grocery store at 404 Court St.

The Dec. 1909 Sanborn map of Pekin shows the grocery store at 404 Court St., now owned by Fred H. Johannes.

The south side of the 400 block of Court Street — including Fred Johannes’ grocery store at 404 Court St. — is shown in this 1912 photograph. Note the decorative urn and weather vane atop Johannes’ building.

In the Oct. 1916 Sanborn map of Pekin, Fred Johannes’ grocery store is shown at 404 Court St. Johannes died the following year.

Johannes continued to run the grocery store until his death – the 1916 Sanborn Fire Insurance Map of Pekin still identifies 404 Court St. as a grocery store. But by the time of the 1922 Pekin city directory, Johannes’ grocery store had been succeeded by the Apollo Billiard Hall, operated by Henry Schroeder (1888-1965). Also in the 404 Court St. Building that year was Irve Hewes’ barbership. The 1924 directory also shows Schroeder’s billiard hall, but that year the barbershop was being run by Walter Harrison.

About the middle of the 1920s, William J. Moran of Peoria purchased the former Trinkaus-Johannes Building and opened Moran’s Market, a butcher shop that operated at 404 Court St. until about 1940. The manager and meat cutter at 404 Court St. was Henry Ulrich (1880-1955), who lived above the store with his wife Josephine. Moran also had a second Moran’s Market location at 321 Court St. that he ran personally. “Pekin: A Pictorial History,” page 119, includes the following personal memory of Moran’s Market:

“My dad was a butcher at Moran’s Meat Market where calves were butchered. I got a nickel a night to clean the butcher block using a wire brush. I stood on a three-foot ‘soadey’ case and cleaned that huge block seven days a week when I was eight years old in 1929.”

Moran’s Meat Market, 404 Court St., is shown in this detail from the 1925 Sanborn map of Pekin.

Moran also provided three apartments – called “Moran’s Apartments” – above his 404 Court St. business that saw a number of tenants over the decades. Another longtime tenant at 404 Court St. was the dentist’s office of Dr. Clyde H. Shawgo (1902-1980), whose office first appears in the building in the 1926 Pekin city directory. Dr. Shawgo maintained his dentist’s office at that same location until his death.

After Moran’s Market closed at 404 Court St. about 1940, Benjamin P. “Ben” Marcus opened Ace Liquor Store in its place. Moran’s former manager Ulrich continued to live in one of the building’s apartments until his death, and his widow Josephine also continued living there for some years after his death. Ace Liquor Store continued operating at 404 Court until the early 1950s, when it moved to 14 N. Fifth St. After Ace’s departure, we find in the 1955 Pekin city directory that Edward Achenbach (1913-1991) had opened Pekin Venetian Blind & Shade Service in its place.

An advertisement for Ben P. Marcus’ Ace Liquor Store from the 1941 Pekin city directory. Ace Liquor had opened at 404 Court St. about a year before, succeeding Moran’s Market which had been there for about 15 years.

This photograph from the late 1940s shows the 404 Court St. Building, then home to Ben P. Marcus’ Ace Liquor Store.

Achenbach’s business is listed in city directories at that location until the 1970 directory. The main business area of the building was then vacant for a couple years, until Weisser Jewelry & Optical Co. moved in about the time of the 1973 Pekin city directory. Weisser remained at 404 Court St. until the latter half of the 1980s, last being listed there in the 1987 Pekin city directory. During its time at 404 Court, the business had seen a fairly frequent turnover of managers or optometrists. The first manager, Matthew Ondrey Jr., appears in the directories from 1973 to 1975, after which we find a rapid succession of five optometrists: Bernard Stern in 1976, Lawrence S. Scott in 1977, Ernest C. Erickson in 1978 and 1979, Roger C. Croland in 1980, and finally Henry C. Paweske (or Paweski) from 1981 to 1987.

The building again went vacant (except for its residential apartment dwellers) for the rest of the 1980s, but in the 1990 Pekin city directory we find DUI Counter Measures Inc. and Developmental Services Group, both of which were served office manager Lorraine M. Comstock (1933-2016), operated from the ground floor of 404 Court St. By the time of the 1992 directory, however, DUI Counter Measures had moved across the street to the 405 Court St. Building, and then in 1993 Developmental Services Group had also crossed the street to 405 Court. (Comstock was office manager for DUI Counter Measures from 1987 to 1996.)

Once more the building’s main business area went vacant, as shown in the 1993 and 1994 city directories. Annette’s Fashions, a women’s apparel store, made a go of it at 404 Court St. in the mid-1990s, being listed at that address in the directories from 1995 to 1997, but yet again the building is found vacant (except for its upstairs apartment residents) in the 1998 and 1999.

With the 2000 Pekin city directory, however, we see the debut of the business that has fixed the association of 404 Court St. with coffee in the minds of Pekinites:  CJ’s Café. Year by year, city directories consistently show CJ’s Café at 404 Court over the course of two decades. Beginning in 2007, the directories also show the business’ owner Mary Smith. Tazewell County Assessor’s records show that she and her husband Michael Smith acquired title to the building on 30 Aug. 2013. However, CJ’s last appears in directories in the fateful year of 2020 – and in the 2021 directory, 404 Court St. is not listed at all. That was, thankfully, but a brief hiatus, and the arrival of Dianna Howard’s Coffee Connections was heralded in the 2022 Pekin city directory.

A photograph of CJ’s Cafe, 404 Court St., taken 7 Feb. 2002, from the Tazewell County Assessor’s website.

Another photograph of CJ’s Cafe, 404 Court St., this one taken 5 June 2013, from the Tazewell County Assessor’s website.

#404-court-st, #ace-liquor-store, #adam-heilmann, #annetts-fashions, #apollo-billiard-hall, #ben-p-marcus, #benjamin-p-marcus, #bernard-stern, #cjs-cafe, #coffee-connections, #developmental-services-group, #dianna-howard, #dr-clyde-o-shawgo, #dui-countermeasures, #edward-achenbach, #ernest-c-erickson, #fred-h-johannes, #fred-johannes, #fred-johannes-grocery-store, #george-ehrlicher, #hamms-building, #heilmann-trinkaus-grocery-store, #henry-c-paweski, #henry-schroeder, #henry-ulrich, #irve-hewes, #jacob-j-woelfle, #jacob-john-woelfle, #johann-georg-ehrlicher, #john-j-woelfle, #josephine-ulrich, #lawrence-s-scott, #lorraine-m-comstock, #loue-trinkaus, #louis-trinkaus, #martin-h-trinkaus, #martin-henry-trinkaus, #mary-smith, #matthew-ondrey-jr, #michael-smith, #morans-market, #morans-meat-market, #nicholas-reuling, #pekin-history, #pekin-venetian-blind-shade-service, #reuling-ehrlicher-grocery-store, #roger-c-croland, #trinkaus-grocery-store, #walter-harrison, #weisser-jewelry-optical-co, #william-j-moran, #woelfle-watchmaker-and-jeweler

Once Jones Bros. Jewelers, now Rhythm & Brews: the history and prehistory of 519 Court St.

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.

In this Google Street View image from July 2011, Amanda’s Closet consignment shop is shown at 519 Court St.

A Tazewell County Assessor’s photograph from June 2013 shows an estate sales business at 519 Court St. Pekin city directories do not identify this business, however.

The old “Jones Bros.” business name can be seen on the porch of Rhythm & Brews, 519 Court St., in this Google Street View image from July 2018.

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