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.
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.
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.
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.
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 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.
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.
From the History Room 