Of hotels, hardware, Bibles, and law: the history of 337 Court St.

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.

The 337 Court Street Law Offices, shown in this Google Street View image from Aug. 2022, is owned by Pekin attorney Dale Thomas and his wife Joy. In this past, this building has housed Henry Roos’ hardware store, Philip Hoffman’s Pekin Hardware Co., Carp’s Department Store, and the Christ Centered Store.

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.

This advertisement for Robert Stickley’s hotel “American House” and his livery stable appeared on page 73 of Omi Root’s 1861 City Directory of Pekin. “American House” on Court Street was the third door east of Capitol Street, apparently on the site of today’s Dale Thomas law offices.

In this detail from an 1877 aerial view map of Pekin, the site of Robert Stickley’s and D. Martin’s American House hotel is indicated by the blue arrow, while the site of Stickley’s livery stable is indicated by the black arrow. But by 1877, the building indicated by the blue arrow was the hardware store of Henry Roos

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.

The first Sanborn Fire Insurance Map of Pekin, dated May 1885, shows 405-407 Court St. (later renumbered 337-339 Court St.) as the location of a hardware store and tin shop. The 1887 Pekin City Directory shows that this store was owned by Henry Roos, who continued to operate his business there until 1898.

Henry Roos’ hardware store is shown at 337 Court St. at the time of the Jan. 1892 Sanborn Fire Insurance Map of Pekin.

Henry Roos’ hardware store at 337-339 Court St. is shown at the time of the March 1898 Sanborn Fire Insurance Map of Pekin, the year that Roos retired and sold his business to Philip Hoffman, Benjamin Strickfaden Sr., and Ernest R. Peyton.

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.

Philip M. Hoffman, Benjamin Strickfaden, and Ernest R. Peyton, co-owners of Pekin Hardware Co., stand with their employees in front of their business at 337-339 Court St. in this vintage photograph from circa 1900.

This Pekin Hardware Co. advertisement ran in the 1908 Pekin city directory.

The Nov. 1903 Sanborn Fire Insurance Map of Pekin shows “Hardw.” and “Tin Shop” at 337-339 Court St. The building was then still the home of the Pekin Hardware Co.

The Dec. 1909 Sanborn Fire Insurance Map of Pekin again shows the Pekin Hardware Co. at 337-339 Court St.

The Oct. 1916 Sanborn Fire Insurance Map of Pekin again shows the Pekin Hardware Co. at 337-339 Court St.

337-339 Court St. appears in the Sept. 1925 Sanborn Fire Insurance Map of Pekin. Though the map does not identify the business at that address, city directories show it was still the Pekin Hardware Co.

The Pekin Hardware Co. at 337-339 Court St. can be seen in this Christmas-time photograph from the early 1920s.

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 main front page story in the 10 Feb. 1944 Pekin Daily Times was of the devastating fire that night before that destroyed Carp’s Department Store at 337 Court St., leaving nothing but the front and back walls.

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.

Carp’s Department Store at 337-339 Court St. can be seen on the right edge of this cropped detail of a Ralph Goodwin photograph taken in Nov. 1966.

Carp’s Department Store, 337 Court St., is shown in this cropped detail of a photograph from the 1974 Pekin Sesquicentennial. Also shown is Pekin Hardware Co. at 341 Court St., which formerly was located in the 337 Court St. building from circa 1900 until 1929.

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.

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History of the Pekin Hardware building – soon to be Olivia’s Playhouse

By Jared L. Olar

Local History Program Coordinator

Though Pekin has already lost much of the buildings lining its Courthouse Square, and a whole historic side of the square will soon be lost as the Tazewell County Board seeks to make room for a proposed new county courthouse, the Upper 300 block of Court Street still remains intact.

Older Pekin residents will recall the names of businesses that have operated in the buildings of the Upper 300 block – names such as Herget National Bank (where Yesterday’s Bar & Grill is today), Farmers National Bank, Reuling’s, McLellan’s Five-And-Dime (now Asher’s), Central Book & Toy, Will Harms, and Pekin Hardware Co.

The former Pekin Hardware Co. building at 341 Court St. has stood vacant since the early 1990s, but its new owner, Lisa Fuller, is restoring and remodeling the building with plans to open Olivia’s Playhouse, a toy and book store for young children and their parents.

In this Pekin postcard image from circa 1910, the J. W. Harmel Book Store at 341 Court St. is shown on the east side of the Pekin Hardware Co., which in turn is on the east side of C. Kraeger’s Drug Store. Harmel bought the store from John Oberly by 1907. Later on, Ernest P. Hoffman acquired the Pekin Hardware Co. and moved it into the former Oberly/Harmel building by 1939.

Wishing to highlight her building’s history for her customers, Fuller recently asked me to help her research the story of 341 Court St. Utilizing information from the old Pekin city directories and the Sanborn Fire Insurance maps of Pekin, I have been able to reconstruct a narrative of this building’s life and times.

The evidence provided by the earliest city directories can be difficult to interpret, since most buildings on Court Street did not have numbered addresses until the 1880s, and the present numbering system does not appear until the 1890s. The 1870-71 Sellers & Bates Pekin City Directory, however, shows Dr. W. E. Schenck, well-known Pekin physician and surgeon, with his office on the north side of Court St., four doors west of Capitol St. That seems to be the same location as the present 341 Court St. building, though may be adjacent to it.

Though our path of research is uncertain in the early years, we reach firm ground with the 1887 directory, which shows John Oberly (1860-1926) operating a store at 409 Court St. – an address that a few years later was renumbered as 341 Court St. John Oberly appears again in the 1893, 1895, 1898, and 1903 city directories, operating the same store at the same location. Oberly probably was already operating his business there in May 1885, the date of the first Sanborn Fire Insurance Map of Pekin.

The first Sanborn Fire Insurance Map of Pekin, dated May 1885, shows 409 Court St. (later renumbered 341 Court St.) as the location of a first floor store selling books and toys, with dentist’s office and a business selling musical organs on the second floor. The 1887 Pekin City Directory shows that the book and toy store was owned by John Oberly, who continued to operate his business there until the early 1900s.

An advertisement for John H. Oberly’s store from the 1893 Pekin City Directory. Oberly’s store was located in the building now numbered 341 Court St. and appears in city directories from 1887 to 1903. Oberly sold his store to J. W. Harmel by 1907. Current building owner Lisa Fuller was delighted to learn that the store she will soon open at 341 Court St. in some ways will bring the building full-circle, back to Oberly’s original toy and fancy goods store.

Advertisement for John Oberly’s book and toy store from the 1895 Pekin city directory.

In this detail from a vintage 1890s photograph, the black arrow indicates the location of John H. Oberly’s book and toy store.

John Oberly’s book and toy store continued to operate out of 341 Court St. at the time of the Jan. 1892 Sanborn Fire Insurance Map of Pekin.

John Oberly’s store selling art and sheet music was located at 341 Court St. at the time of the March 1898 Sanborn Fire Insurance Map of Pekin.

The Nov. 1903 Sanborn Fire Insurance Map of Pekin shows “Art & Music” was then being sold at 341 Court St. The building was then still the home of John Oberly’s book, stationery, and sheet music store.

In 1907, however, the city directory shows that John Oberly had sold his business to John Wesley (“J. W.”) Harmel (1862-1937).  Harmel is listed in the city directories as the business owner at 341 Court St. in 1907, 1908, 1913, and 1914.  In addition, in the years 1908, 1913, and 1914, we find the Central Union Telephone Co. upstairs, at 341 ½ Court St.

A close-up of the Harmel, Pekin Hardware Co., and Kraeger drug store buildings from the above shown postcard image.

By the time of the Dec. 1909 Sanborn Fire Insurance Map of Pekin. J. W. Harmel had purchased John Oberly’s business at 341 Court St.

The Oct. 1916 Sanborn Fire Insurance Map of Pekin shows a book and stationery store at 341 Court St. – that was the J. W. Harmel book store.

We have a gap in the library’s collection of city directories – our next one is for 1922, when we find that J. W. Harmel’s store had been replaced by Louis Hoff Books, operated by Louis O. Hoff (1883-1939). In addition, the Central Union Telephone Co. upstairs had been replaced by (purchased by?) the Illinois Bell Telephone Co. Also upstairs at 341½ was Dr. Gilbert C. Cleveland, dentist.

341 Court St. appears in the Sept. 1925 Sanborn Fire Insurance Map of Pekin. This was about the time that Louis Hoff Books was replaced by Unland’s Book Store, run at 341 Court St. by Otto H. Unland.

The arrow points to 341 Court St. in this Christmas-time photograph taken during the 1920s.

A closeup crop of the above photograph.

The 1924 city directory shows the same thing as in the 1922 directory, but in the 1926 directory, Louis Hoff Books had been replaced by Unland’s Book Store, run by Otto H. Unland at 341 Court. However, the Illinois Bell Telephone Co. was still upstairs at 341½, along with Dr. Cleveland, dentist. Oscar W. Friederich (1879-1934) also had an office upstairs for just that year. (O. W. Friederich was a former vaudevillian, but is better known in Pekin history as erstwhile Grand Titan of the Illinois Ku Klux Klan when the Illinois Klan’s headquarters in Pekin during the 1920s.)

The 1928 directory shows that Unland’s Book Store had been replaced by (bought by) Eugene F. Lohnes’ Central Book & Toy. Upstairs at 341½ was Dr. Cleveland, dentist, and Clifford I. Martin, lawyer. We find the same entry in the 1930 city directory.

But in 1932, Central Book & Toy is shown to have moved to 345 Court St.. Instead, we find Hartley W. Walker, physician, at 341 Court., while Dr. Cleveland, dentist, and Wayne R. Walker, physician, had their offices upstairs.

The 1934 city directory shows Berty C. Allen’s Pekin Market groceries and meats at 341 Court St. Hartley W. Walker had moved upstairs to join Wayne R. Walker and Dr. Cleveland.

In 1937, we find that Pekin Market had become Poppen’s Market grocery store, Karl W. Losch, manager. Upstairs we find the same tenants as in 1934.

In 1939, the Pekin Hardware Co., owned and operated by Ernest P. Hoffman (1902-1974) – a merchant and store still well remembered by older Pekin residents – makes its first city directory appearance at 341 Court  St. Pekin Hardware is listed as sharing the same building with Poppen’s Market, and upstairs are still the same tenants as in 1934 and 1937.

Ernest P. Hoffman’s Pekin Hardware Co. at 341 Court St. is shown in this photo from circa 1960.

Ernest P. Hoffman continued to operate the Pekin Hardware Co. at 341 Court St. until 1972, the last time he and his business appear in Pekin city directories – two years before Hoffman’s death. But the tenants upstairs changed somewhat during those decades. In 1941, the upstairs tenants were Aug. L Lauterbach, justice of the peace, Glen Hayes, constable, and a certain Jesse Kollman also had an office up there. The tenants were almost the same in 1943, except James M. Rahn had replaced Glen Hayes. In the 1946 directory, we find Orville A. Smith, lawyer, and Louis A. Lynch, dentist, upstairs instead of either Hayes or Rahn. Smith and Lynch were still up there in 1948 and 1950 – but in 1950 the U.S. Army Recruiting Office was also upstairs.

In 1952, however, the upstairs tenants were just Smith and Lynch, just as in 1948. Then in 1955, we find Ward A. Justi, dentist, and the Bargain Nook alteration shop as the upstairs tenants. The next year, Ward Justi is gone but the Bargain Nook is still up there – we find the Bargain Nook there also in 1958.

In 1959, the address of 341½ Court St. is listed as “vacant” – no upstairs tenants, just Pekin Hardware Co. on the ground floor. In the 1961 directory, the address of 341 ½ Court St. is not even listed – and so it has remained to the present day’s directory.

As I mentioned above, Ernest Hoffman’s Pekin Hardware Co. last appears in the Pekin city directories in 1972. In 1973 and 1974, the address of 341 Court St. is listed as “vacant.”

In 1975, we find Ronald J. Tindall operating two businesses at 341 Court – J & K Furniture (discount new & used), and Joe’s T.V. Service. Those businesses didn’t last long, because in 1976 we find the World of Wheels used motorcycle shop, operated by Steven L. Budisalich and Paul Dowl. That, again, was a short-lived business, because the 1977 directory lists the address as “vacant.”

Continental Cablevision of Pekin (with Gilbert Nichols, manager) moved into the building next, as we see in the 1978 city directory. Cablevision’s service office operated out of this building until 1987. In 1988 and 1989, 341 Court is listed as “vacant.”

The last business that tried to make of go of it at 341 Court St. was Mrs. Cynthia Pruett’s “Pruett’s Gallery of Flowers & Gifts,” which appears in the 1990 city directory. From 1991 to 1997, the address of 341 Court is listed as “vacant,” and after 1997 the address doesn’t appear in Pekin city directories at all. That is soon to change.

The final version of the logo of Lisa Fuller’s Olivia’s Playhouse, which will open at 341 Court St. in the near future. IMAGE COURTESY LISA FULLER OF OLIVIA’S PLAYHOUSE LLC

Fuller says she’s made great progress in her preparation to open Olivia’s Playhouse. “I have been successful with installing all-new plumbing, new electrical, new heat and A.C., as well as installing a new roof, front door and transom, new glass in one of the display windows, new ceiling and lots and lots and lots of other necessary renovations.  All that’s left now is basically finishing work.

“Otherwise, I’m still so in awe of this gorgeous, historical building. We have become very good friends, my building and I. It’s a friend that has taken lots of my time, money and emotional ups-and-downs to restore, but I love it, and know it will all pay off in the end,” Fuller said.

An earlier version of the Olivia’s Playhouse logo. IMAGE COURTESY LISA FULLER OF OLIVIA’S PLAYHOUSE LLC

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