Bakeries and barbershops, and local theatre – the story of 407 Court St.

By Jared L. Olar
Local History Program Coordinator

Since the spring of 2022, the historic 407 Court St. building has been the home of Artistic Community Theatre, a local theatre troupe with about four decades of history. ACT was founded in the 1980s in Bartonville as the Campus Players, changing its name to Artistic Community Theatre during the 1990s. ACT formerly had its theatre in the former Pekin Mall and presented plays at the Mineral Springs Park Pavilion and various other locations. In 2022, James and Nona Buster of Reprise Productions Inc. acquired the 407 Court St. building and extensively remodeled it, turning it into a theatre building for ACT.

Artistic Community Theatre’s storefront and sign at 407 Court St. are shown in this recent photograph. The ACT building has been extensively remodeled and refurbished, but in the past has twice housed popular downtown bakeries. PHOTO COURTESY OF NONA BUSTER of REPRISE PRODUCTIONS INC.

Artistic Community Theatre’s storefront at 407 Court St. featuring ACT signage is shown in this Aug. 2022 Google Street View image, but before the installation of the prominent oval ACT sign.

For the greater part of Pekin’s history, however, the address of 407 Court St. has been better known for bakeries and barbershops than for community theatre. Though Artistic Community Theatre’s building has undergone extensive changes throughout its history, the building and the building’s site have a remarkable business history reaching back to the mid-1800s.

“We wanted to save a building in downtown Pekin to renovate and house Artistic Community Theatre before they disbanded after 20 years without a home base. The building is original to the block but through the years things have changed,” said Nona Buster of Reprise Productions Inc.

The most notable change was the removal of the building’s third floor, which seems to have occurred about the mid-1990s. The 407 Court St. building also received a new facade in or about 1994, and that facade, along with the rest of the building, was refurbished about 2015. Extensive repairs were also necessary after the structure’s back wall collapsed by the alley about 2010.

“We decided that ACT deserved a beautiful space to perform in, and Pekin deserved a beautiful space to visit and be entertained,” Buster said. “It took almost a year to do extensive renovations and now we have a theatre designed with Pekin’s river town history in mind.

“We’re small and intimate with cabaret seating for 50, with a stage, snack bar and comfortable lobby to meet friends, enjoy a beverage, and discuss the evening’s performance,” Buster added. “We are coming to the end of our second sold out season, and we are so grateful for all the love and support of our community. My husband and I are so proud to be able to help preserve a part of Pekin’s history and support live theatre in the Art Block of downtown Pekin. Check out our lighted sign after dark!”

It is also very appropriate that the Artistic Community Theatre building has an unexpected and very tangible continuity with the building’s past: Nona Buster’s own godmother belonged to the Nedderman family who previously owned the 407 Court St. building from the late 1800s until the early 1950s.

“Imagine my surprise when I found out that the building my husband and I bought in January of 2022 was the same one my godmother and her sisters’ family owned way back when!” Buster said.

“My godmother’s name was Minnie Nedderman Wiemer. Her husband William (my godfather) owned and operated Noel Funeral Home until his death in the mid 1960s when Mr. Henderson bought it. Aunt Minnie’s two maiden sisters, Emma and Frieda Nedderman, were my sister Karen’s godmothers. They also had brothers, but by the time I was old enough to know the family they were all older. They always talked about the family bakery when we got together. My dad grew up across the street from the Wiemers and they were members of St John’s Lutheran Church in Pekin.

“I was baptized there as an infant and we became members. My grandfather Frankenstein died of influenza in 1918 and the Wiemers helped my grandmother who spoke very little English with her three small children. We always visited the Wiemers on Christmas Eve and Santa came too. The Wiemers and the Neddermans were a big part of our lives. That’s why it thrills me to own their building now. I hope they are proud!”

Before the Nedderman family began their long tenure at 407 Court St., we find that the first Pekin city directory in 1861 shows two businesses that appear to have been located at or very close to today’s 407 Court St. One was a barbershop operated by a German immigrant from Hesse-Darmstadt named John Monath (born about 1834), located on the north side of Court Street three doors east of Fourth. The other was a store that sold dry goods, clothing, and hardware, operated by Abner Seelye and located on the north side of Court Street four doors east of Fourth.

Ten years later, the 1871 Sellers & Bates City Directory of Pekin shows another Hesse-Darmstadt immigrant named Henry Reinhart (born about 1850), barber and hairdresser, located on the north side of Court Street six doors east of Fourth. That appears to be the same site that came to be numbered 509 Court St. (later renumbered 407 Court St.). The 1876 Pekin city directory shows a saloon at “509” Court St. operated by Adam Reinhardt (1824-1886), who lived upstairs above his saloon. It is unknown if Henry and Adam were related, though it’s quite possible. Adam’s will, dated 8 Dec. 1885, says his building was located “on the West part of lot fourteen and on the East half of lot fifteen in Block number Seventy two (72) in the original town now city of Pekin.” That places his building precisely on the site of today’s 407 Court St. building — and a close examination of an 1870s photograph of Adam Reinhardt’s saloon, comparing it to other photos and records, shows that it is the very same building that is now the Artistic Community Theatre building. Adam left his building to his widow Elizabeth.

The area of 407 Court St. is shown in this detail from an 1877 hand-drawn aerial map of Pekin. At that time, the site today known as 407 Court St. was the location of a saloon operated by Adam Reinhardt, but just a few years prior it had been the site of Henry Reinhart’s barbershop.

An 1870s photograph of the saloon of Adam Reinhard (or Reinhardt) at 407 Court St. Despite much remodeling, and the addition and later removal of a third floor, this same building still stands today as the Artistic Community Theatre building.

At the time of the May 1885 Sanborn Fire Insurance Map of Pekin, the building numbered “509” (i.e. 407) Court St. included Adam Reinhardt’s saloon, a barbershop, and the Moenkemoeller & Schlottmann cigar factory (but the cigar factory was later renumbered 409 Court St.).

The 1885 Sanborn Fire Insurance Map of Pekin shows a saloon and barbershop at 509 Court St. (todays’ 407 Court). The proprietor of the saloon is unknown, but the barber at the time of the 1885 map was almost certainly Charles Traub (1847-1898), who is listed in the 1887 Pekin city directory as owner of a barbershop at that address. Besides Traub’s barbershop, the 1887 directory also says John Moenkemoeller and Henry Schlottmann had their cigar factory at 509 Court St. – however, that section of the 509 Court St. building was afterwards renumbered as 409 Court, the address that the Moenkemoeller & Schlottmann cigar factory had in later city directories.

The Jan. 1892 Sanborn Fire Insurance Map of Pekin shows Wessle B. Weimers’ bakery and a barbershop at 407 Court St.

By the time of the 1893 city directory, Wessle B. Wiemers (1854-1897) had established a bakery and confectionary at 407 Court St. In the 1887 directory, Wiemers’ bakery had been at “513” Court, two doors east of “509” (407) Court St. Besides Wiemers’ bakery, the 1892 Sanborn map of Pekin also shows that a barbershop was still located at 407 Court., though the identity of that barber is unknown. Wiemers’ bakery is listed in both the 1893 and 1895 city directories.

In 1896, Wiemers sold his bakery to two men: one of his employees, Edward J. Kunkel (1870-1949), and a former employee of prominent Pekin baker and confectioner Albert Zerwekh (1859-1908) named Reinhardt John Neddermann (1876-1939). They carried on the business under the name Kunkel & Neddermann Bakery, under which name the business is listed in the 1898 Pekin city directory. Besides the bakery, the 1898 directory also shows Charles Lohnes (1869-1906) as a barber at 407 1/2 Court St. After selling his bakery, Wiemers moved in March 1986 to Toulon, Illinois, where he died 28 May 1897. His body was brought back to Pekin and interred in Lakeside Cemetery.

The Kunkel & Neddermann bakery and confectionary at 407 Court St. and Charles Lohnes’ barbershop are shown in this detail from the March 1898 Sanborn Fire Insurance Map of Pekin.

On 22 March 1899, Reinhardt Neddermann bought out Kunkel, and Reinhardt’s younger brother John Engelbarth Neddermann (1874-1951) came on as partner to found what was originally known as Neddermann Bros. Bakery at 407 Court St., later Neddermann’s Sanitary Bakery, and finally just Neddermann’s Bakery. Following is a brief account of the Neddermann brothers’ bakery from the 1949 Pekin Centenary, page 52:

“Their only machine was one used in making cookies, and the ovens were fired with coke. Neddermann’s bakery is still in the same location, and bakes from some of the same recipes used before the turn of the century. The Pumpernickle bread which is a favorite of customers is prepared from the recipe that delighted purchasers in 1899.

“In the days of the horse and buggy, Neddermann’s was a favorite gathering place of farmers who came to Pekin to shop. Many customers of today are the third generation of their families to enjoy ‘Neddermann’s’ delicacies.”

“Pekin: A Pictorial History” (1998), page 126, also hands on the Pekin old-time memory that Neddermann’s was “famous for aromatic Redskin peanuts and the Neddermann brothers always in starched French cuffs (and the Neddermann sisters in gingham aprons).”

Nedderman’s Sanitary Bakery & Confectionary, 407 Court St., is shown as it appeared about 1910.

The Neddermann brothers are shown in this vintage photograph of the interior of Neddermann’s Sanitary Bakery. Shown at left is Reinhardt J. Neddermann (1876-1939) and at right is his brother John E. Neddermann (1874-1951).

The detail from the Dec. 1903 Sanborn map of Pekin shows the location of Neddermann’s Sanitary Bakery at 407 Court St. and the Fuchs & Zillion barbershop at 407 1/2 Court St.

The Dec. 1909 Sanborn map of Pekin shows Neddermann’s Sanitary Bakery at 407 Court St. and William J. Solomon’s barbershop at 407 1/2 Court St.

Neddermann’s Sanitary Bakery at 407 Court St. and W. M. Beal’s barbershop at 407 1/2 Court St. are shown in this detail from the Oct. 1916 Sanborn Fire Insurance Map of Pekin.

An advertisement for Neddermann’s Sanitary Bakery, 407 Court St., from the 1924 Pekin city directory.

In this detail from the Sept. 1925 Sanborn map of Pekin, Neddermann’s Sanitary Bakery and Robert England’s barbershop are shown at 407 and 407 1/2 Court St.

Reinhardt lived in an apartment above the bakery at 407 Court St.  When he passed away in Sept. 1939, his younger brother succeeded him as head of the business and also moved into Reinhardt’s residence above the bakery. Their younger sister Emma S. Neddermann (1880-1971) assisted John in running the business. Neddermann’s did not long survive John’s passing on 9 Feb. 1951, however, and the 1952 Pekin city directory listed 407 Court St. as vacant.

A black arrow touches the top of the old Neddermann’s Bakery building a 407 Court St. in this detail from a late 1940s photograph of downtown Pekin.

Meanwhile, the barbershop at 407 1/2 Court St. had seen a long succession of owners. After Lohnes in 1898, the 1904 city directory shows William M. Fuchs and John Zillion as co-owners of the Fuchs & Zillion barbershop. By 1908, Zillion had been replaced by William J. Solomon (or Soloman) in the barber firm of Solomon & Fuchs – but in the 1909 directory it is just Solomon alone. Then in 1913 the barber was Joseph M. Whistler, followed in 1914 by W. M. Beal, then Robert England in 1922 and 1924, Earl E. Champion in 1926 and 1928, Roy L. Bailey in 1930, Arthur E. Bailey in 1932, and William M. Weeks in 1934 and 1937.

The 1939 city directory heralded the arrival of the Boston Barber Shop at 407 1/2 Court, with barber Russell G. C. Beaver. He is again listed as owner of the Boston Barber Shop in the 1941 directory, but Arthur E. Bailey returns as owner of the barbershop in the 1943 directory – because Beaver had sold his business and enlisted in the U.S. Marines to fight for his country during World War II. Bailey continued as barber at 407 1/2 Court until the early 1960s, last appearing there in the 1962 city directory.

After Bailey, in the 1964 directory we find Roy Carr of Creve Coeur as owner of Roy’s Barber Shop at 407 1/2 Court St. Carr sold his business to Mack Simpson, who opened Mack’s Barber Shop at that location, as indicated in the 1965 city directory. Mack’s Barbershop continued until the early 1970s, and is last listed in the 1973 Pekin city directory.

A black arrow indicates the old Neddermann’s Building at 407 Court St. in this detail from an aerial photograph of downtown Pekin taken about 1950.

After Neddermann’s Bakery went out of business in 1951, it was not long before a new business moved into the former Neddermann’s Building. The 1955 Pekin city directory shows that Bard Optical Co. had opened a branch at 407 Court St., operating there until the mid-1960s and lasting appearing at that address in the 1965 city directory. During that time, Pekin’s Bard Optical saw a rapid series of managers: Willard Benson in 1955, then Earl Goin in 1956, then Stuart S. Levine in 1958, then Leonard Greenberg in 1959, and finally Bernard Stern, who is listed as Bard Optical’s manager from the 1961 to the 1965 directories.

The former Neddermann’s Building at 407 Court St. is shown in this March 1958 photograph. At the time, the building was the home of Bard Optical and Arthur E. Bailey’s Boston Barber Shop. Compare the second floor windows here with the second floor windows of Adam Reinhardt’s saloon shown above.

After Bard Optical’s departure from 407 Court St., the 1966 directory does not show a listing for the address, only for Mack’s Barber Shop. In the 1968 directory, however, we find Ferdinand’s Wigs, owned and operated by John F. Hawkins until the time of the 1971 city directory. We then see a quick succession of ephemeral businesses at 407 Court St. In the 1972 directory, none other than Jay Goldberg is listed as trying his hand at a record store in the old Neddermann’s Building, calling his shop Ian’s Music Parlor. Goldberg’s shop was succeeded in 1973 by Kevin Diekhoff’s The Freak Boutique, which was in turn succeeded in 1974 by Ora Logsdon’s Headquarters Boutique beauty shop.

The 1975 Pekin city directory shows 407 Court St. as vacant. This was the start of a long hiatus at 407 Court St., because by the time of the 1978 directory the address had completely disappeared from Pekin’s directories. It did not reappear in city directories until the mid-1990s. It was evidently during that hiatus that the old Neddermann’s Building underwent extensive modifications that included the removal of the building’s third floor and the installation of a very different façade.

The 400 block of Court Street is shown in this detail from a 1988 aerial photograph of downtown Pekin. The site of the former Neddermann’s Building is generally indicated by the black arrow.

The Tazewell County Assessor’s website says the current 407 Court St. building was constructed in 1994. Significantly, the 407 Court St. address reappears in the 1995 Pekin city directory, which lists Larkin’s Home Bakery & Café at that location, owned and operated by John Martin Larkin (1944-2010) and his wife Jeanie Kristin (Sinn) Larkin. The history of Larkin’s Home Bakery long predates this business’ arrival at the former site of Neddermann’s Bakery. The Larkin Bakery got its start in 1909 as Rubart Bros. Bakery, 519 Court St. (later at 526 Court St.), which was purchased in 1926 by Martin Nelson Larkin (1904-1987) and his wife Lillian Darlene (Schuetts) Larkin (1910-1995). They moved the bakery to 1211 Court St. in 1968, but they closed their business and retired in 1975. Then in 1988, their son John reopened the bakery at Eighth Street Plaza, and in 1994 moved the bakery to 407 Court St.

The former Larkin’s Bakery & Cafe stands vacant in this Tazewell County Assessor’s photograph from Feb. 2002, a year after John Larkin had sold the building to MTCO Communications.

John and Jeanie operated Larkin’s Home Bakery & Café until 2000, and sold the 407 Court St. building in Feb. 2001 to MTCO Communications. The address again disappeared from Pekin city directories after 2001, not to reappear until the 2017 directory. It was apparently during 407 Court’s second hiatus from Pekin city directories that the building suffered the collapse of its back wall. But the building was saved by Todd Thompson of 353 Court LLC, who purchased the former bakery building in Jan. 2015 and refurbished it.

The former Larkin’s Bakery building at 407 Court St. is shown in this July 2011 Google Street View image. The building was then vacant.

The former Larkin’s Bakers & Cafe building bears “for sale” signs in this Tazewell County Assessor’s photograph from June 2013. By that time the building had stood vacant for about a decade.

The building next appears in the 2017 directory, which lists Kevin Stark as the owner of Will Harms Office Supplies at 407 Court St. (Will Harms had formerly been located at 345 Court St.). Other recent directory listings for 407 Court St. include Cindy Bonnette’s Vinyl Art Studio (beginning with the 2018 city directory) and The Dewitt HQ Inc., owned by Chris Dewitt, consultant (beginning with the 2019 city directory). Finally, on 7 Jan. 2022, the building was acquired by Reprise Productions Inc., and Artistic Community Theatre moved in that spring.

A Google Street View photograph of 407 Court St. from July 2018, after Todd Thompson of 353 Court LLC had refurbished the building.

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Ashers, Kresge, The Model – the history of the 353 Court St. building

By Jared L. Olar

Local History Program Coordinator

In 2019, Ashley and Russell Spencer opened a bar and grill in Farmington, Illinois, that they named “Ashers,” the restaurant’s name formed from the first half of Ashley’s name and the last two letters of Russell’s surname. Unfortunately, a fire destroyed their restaurant in Nov. 2021, but the following year they reopened in Pekin’s old town in Todd Thompson’s historic 353 Court St. Building, which Thompson had restored and refurbished in 2010. Ashers quickly established itself as one of Pekin’s most popular eateries. (The Spencers’ bar and grill was featured in a restaurant review by William Furry of the Illinois State Historical Society in the March-April 2024 issue of “Illinois Heritage” magazine of which Furry is the editor.)

The historic 353 Court St. building is shown in this photograph taken last month. Ashers Bar & Grill, owned and operated by Ashley and Russell Spencer, opened at 353 Court St. in 2022 and quickly established itself as one of Pekin’s most popular eateries. PHOTO BY PEKIN PUBLIC LIBRARY STAFF

Look back at the history of the 353 Court St. Building, it seems to have been in existence since at least the 1880s, and perhaps even the 1870s. As far as we can tell, the first business that may have existed at the present site of Ashers Bar & Grill could have been Schilling & Bohn, a firm owned by Conrad Schilling (1821-1895) and Andrew Bohn (1821-1891) that sold furniture, beds, mattresses, and coffins. The 1871 Sellers & Bates City Directory of Pekin says Schilling & Bohn’s furniture store was on Court Street across from the courthouse, four doors west of Fourth Street. That would place it either at the site of the Hamm’s Building or the site of the 353 Court St. Building. An 1877 aerial view map of Pekin shows a structure in this block of Court St. that may well be the same one that still stands today at 353 Court St.

This advertisement for Schilling & Bohn’s furniture and undertakers business comes from the 1871 Pekin city directory. Schilling & Bohn seems to have been located either at the site today occupied by the Hamm’s Building or by the 353 Court St. Building, but it is unclear whether it was in the same structure that exists today.

At the left of this 1870 photograph is the building the preceded today’s 353 Court St. Building.

In this detail from an 1877 hand-drawn aerial map of Pekin, the black arrow indicates the location that is today the 353 Court St. building, showing a structure that was then a part of Roos’ Block. It is uncertain whether or not the building indicated by the arrow is the same as today’s building at 353 Court.

The history of this part of Court Street becomes clear in the 1880s, when city directories and maps show a hotel called Planter’s House or Planter’s Hotel, with the Irish immigrant Thomas Donegan Conaghan (1847-1922) as its proprietor. Conaghan previously appears in the 1871 and 1876 Pekin city directories as the proprietor of City Hotel at the northeast corner of Ann Eliza and Third streets. Planter’s Hotel is shown in the 1885 and 1892 Sanborn Fire Insurance Maps of Pekin as well as the 1887 and 1893 Pekin city directories.

An advertisement for Thomas D. Conaghan’s Planters Hotel from the 1893 Pekin city directory. Planters Hotel first appears on record in the 1885 Sanborn Fire Insurance Map of Pekin. Despite expansion and extensive remodeling over the time of its existence, it seems the Planters Hotel building is the same structure that is still there today at 353-355 Court St.

At the time of the first Sanborn Fire Insurance Map of Pekin in May 1885, T. D. Conaghan was operating Planters Hotel at what was then numbered 421-423 1/2 Court St. (today 353-355 Court St.).

The Jan. 1892 Sanborn Fire Insurance Map of Pekin again shows T. D. Conaghan’s Planters Hotel at 353-355 Court St.

Depicted in this drawing by Henry Hobart Cole is the Upper 300 block of Court Street — including the old Herget Block, the Odd Fellows Hall, and Planters Hotel — as it appeared during the 1880s and 1890s.

This detail from a Henry Hobart Cole photograph taken in the early 1890s shows 353-355 Court St. Note that the facade is almost identical to what may be seen today, apart from a peak and a pole atop the 353 Court St. structure. In the early 1890s, these adjoining buildings were the Planter’s Hotel, Thomas D. Conaghan, proprietor, but by the mid-1890s a number of businesses were sharing the building, including the Schradzki & Sklarek clothing store, Day Carpet & Furniture, and the Knights of Pythias Hall.

By the time of the 1895 city directory, however, the Planter’s Hotel building had been remodeled into business and office space to become the Kuhn Building. The Kuhn Building’s tenants that year included a clothing store operated by Leopold Schradzki (1833-1902) and Joseph Sklarek (1856-1940) at 353 Court St. (the western half of today’s 353 Court St. building), Day Carpet & Furniture operated by Edward O. Deuermeyer (1860-1931) at 355 Court St. (the eastern half of today’s Court St. building), M. Bayne & Son highway bridge builders operated by Milton Bayne (1830-1910) and his son William M. Bayne (1860-1924), and the insurance agencies of Martin J. Heisel (1857-1909) and Rudolph Velde (1875-1947).

Edward O. Deuermeyer (1860-1931), who operated Day Carpet & Furniture at 355 Court St. during the 1890s. Portrait shared at Ancestry.com.

An 1894 portrait shared at Ancestry.com of Illinois bridge builder Milton Bayne (1830-1910) whose firm’s office was in the 353 Court St. Building during the 1890s.

A group of advertisements from the 1895 Pekin city directory for three businesses then located in the Kuhn Building (353-355 Court St.) The firm of Schradzki & Sklarek at 353 Court (the western half of today’s 353 Court St. Building) was succeeded by Salzenstein & Co. clothing, which was in turn succeeded by The Model clothing store.

A full-page advertisement for the Day Carpet & Furniture Company from the 1895 Pekin city directory. This business occupied 355 Court St., which is today the east half of the 353 Court St. Building.

An advertisement for Rudolph Velde’s insurance agency from the 1895 Pekin city directory. Velde’s office was in the Kuhn Building, 353-355 Court St., the building that is today the home of Ashers Bar & Grill.

At the time of the March 1898 Sanborn Map of Pekin, 353-355 Court St. was known as the Kuhn Building or Kuhn Block, which housed the Knights of Pythias Hall on the third floor, the clothing store of Schradzki & Sklarek and the bridge-building firm of M. Bayne & Son on the first floor, and various other offices.

The 1898 Pekin city directory again shows the clothing store of Schradzki & Sklarek and the bridge-building firm of M. Bayne & Son in the Kuhn Building. According to the directory, by this time Milton Bayne was living in Chicago while his son William ran the firm in Pekin. The Kuhn Building in 1898 was also the home of the Knights of Pythias Hall, and also housed the offices of Charles L. Morgan (1868-1965) and his brother Robert Morgan (1866-1935), real estate and merchandise exchange, Dr. Edward F. Pielemeier (1874-1953), physician, and G. A. Pielemeyer, dentist.

The Model clothing store at 353 Court St. is indicated in this hand-colored photograph by W. Blenkiron taken circa 1900.

Around the time of Nov. 1903 Sanborn Fire Insurance Map of Pekin, the Schradzki & Sklarek clothing store had been succeeded at 353 Court St. by another clothing store called Salzenstein & Co., owned and operated by Albert Salzenstein (1878-1931). The Kuhn Building also housed several other offices and a third-floor Assembly Hall.

Six years later, the 1904 Pekin city directory shows that the Schradzki & Sklarek clothing store had been succeeded at 353 Court St. by another clothing store called Salzenstein & Co., owned and operated by Albert Salzenstein (1878-1931). Also located at 353 Court St. or 353 1/2 Court St. were Tazewell County judge and attorney Jesse Black Jr. (1870-1935), attorney Edward Reardon (1851-1923), and George W. Seibert (1839-1915), justice of the peace. Meanwhile, at 355 Court St. we find the Smith & Frey five-and-dime store, operated by Thomas B. Smith (1866-1946) and Walter U. Frey (1875-1956), Abraham Lincoln “A. L.” Champion (1860-1945), abstract and real estate, Jacob Rapp (1845-1910), justice of the peace, the Prudential Insurance Co. office with Louis Heimbach as assistant superintendent, and an Assembly Hall on the third floor.

An advertisement for the Smith & Frey five-and-dime store from the 1908 Pekin city directory.

The 1908 Pekin city directory heralded the arrival of The Model Clothing Co. at 353 Court St. The Model was one of the prominent fixtures of downtown Pekin during the first decades of the 20th century, operating from 353 Court St. until the end of the 1920s, when it seems to have fallen as one of the early victims of the Great Depression. Curiously, city directories do not identify The Model’s managers until the 1926 directory, when The Model’s listing showed it with a secondary name of “The Nusbaum Co.,” and the manager was listed as Henry Ehrhardt. Then in the 1928 city directory, The Model, a.k.a. The Nusbaum Co., was listed with M. S. Chamberlain as its manager. The Model went out of business after that, and the 1930 Pekin city directory lists 353 Court St. – that is, the western half of today’s 353 Court St. Building – as “vacant.”

Meanwhile, the 1908 city directory again lists the Smith & Frey five-and-dime store at 355 Court St., with A. L. Champion’s office on the second floor of the Kuhn Building, and the Prudential Insurance Co. office (J. F. Mang, superintendent), over 355 Court. The same directory again lists Jesse Black Jr. and Edward Reardon in their offices in the Kuhn Building, along with Dr. R. C. Horner, dentist. Smith & Frey is again listed at 355 Court St. in the 1909 city directory, but in the 1913 and 1914 directories the store is listed as the Smith Department Store. During these years we continue to find anywhere from four to six offices in the 353-355 Court St. building being occupied by attorneys, dentists, etc., including A. L. Champion and the Prudential Insurance Co. The Modern Woodmen Hall is also listed on the building’s third floor in the 1914 and 1922 Pekin city directories.

At the time of the Dec. 1909 Sanborn Map of Pekin, 353 Court St. housed The Model clothing store, while 355 Court St. housed the Smith & Frey five-and-dime.

An advertisement for The Model clothing store at 353-355 Court St. from about 1910.

Another view of The Model store front at 353 Court St., from a W. Blenkiron photograph taken in 1910.

The Oct. 1916 Sanborn Map of Pekin again shows the storefront space of The Model clothing store at 353 Court St. and the Smith Department Store (formerly known as Smith & Frey) at 355 Court.

The sign of The Model clothing store at 353 Court St. is seen in this Christmas-time photograph from the early 1920s. About this time, the east half of the building — 355 Court St. — housed John Walter, jeweler, Pekin Music House, the Prudential Insurance Co. office, and the Modern Woodmen Hall on the third floor.

A Christmas advertisement from The Model clothing store, from the 25 Dec. 1920 edition of the Pekin Daily Times.

In the 1922 city directory, we find that the Smith Department Store had been replaced by John Walter, jeweler, who along with the Prudential Insurance Co. and four other offices occupied rooms at 355 Court St., while The Model occupied 353 Court. After the departure of The Model from 353 Court at the end of the 1920s, the 1930 city directory again shows John Walter, jeweler, at 355 Court St. However, Walter that year shared 355 Court with the S. S. Kresge Co., a five-and-dime that would soon become a successful downtown department store and ancestor of Kmart.

By the time of the 1925 Sanborn Map of Pekin, the Smith Department Store at 355 Court St. had been replaced by John Walter, jeweler, while The Model Clothing store was still at 353 Court St.

The S. S. Kresge department store at 353 Court St. can be seen in this photograph from the late 1940s.

John Walter, jeweler, continues to be listed at 355 Court St. until the 1939 Pekin city directory, but beginning with the 1932 city directory we find S. S. Kresge Co. occupying both 353 and 355 Court St., and after 1939 Kresge is the sole occupant of the building. The Kresge department store thrived at 353-355 Court St. until the late 1960s. Pekin’s city directories show a succession of 10 managers throughout the store’s existence at 353-355 Court St: Elwood F. Harr (1932), Ernest Arfsten (1934), Leslie L. Jones ( 1937, 1939, 1941, 1943, 1946), Ancil M. Scheiderer ( 1948, 1950), Curtis T. Mullen (1952, 1955, 1956, 1958), Russell Hansen (1959), John E. Curtis (1961), Donald J. Schroeder (1962), Warren Larson (1964, 1965, 1966), and Mark D. Heine (1968, 1969). Heine was Kresge’s last manager in downtown Pekin, and at that time the S. S. Kresge Co. nationwide became Kmart, and built a store at 2901 Court St. Kresge disappears from Pekin directories in 1970, then reappears as Kmart in 1971 with Robert P. Matheny as its manager.

Shown is an S. S. Kresge advertisement from the 19 Dec. 1964 Pekin Daily Times.

After Kresge, the next store to occupy the 353 Court St. Building was a 5-cent-to-1-dollar store, or variety store, called The Jupiter, which is listed at that address in the Pekin city directories from 1970 to 1974, changing managers about once a year. Jupiter’s succession was managers was: Robert Ruhl, Richard Swank, Phillip Brandis, Thomas Hallett, and Larry Rutledge.

353 Court St. is shown toward the left of center in this early 1970s photograph of downtown Pekin. The building then housed the Jupiter variety store.

The storefront 353-355 Court St. is shown in this 1977 Pekin Daily Times photograph. At the time, the building housed the S & H Green Stamp Redemption Center, Joyce Dentinger, manager.

Pekin directories show the 353 Court St. Building as “vacant” in 1975 and 1976, but in 1977 we find the S & H Green Stamp Redemption Center there, managed by Joyce Dentinger. She remained as manager of the Redemption Center for as long as it operated from that storefront, with the Redemption Center and Dentinger last appearing in the 1983 Pekin city directory.

The 1984 directory does not have a listing for 353 Court St., but in 1985 we find a restaurant called Coles Open Hearth, operated by John M. Lawson. Coles Open Heart reappears in the 1986 directory, but with Russell Boger as owner. He changed the restaurant into a night club called Bogey’s Emporium, under which name his business appears in the 1987 directory, but the business quickly failed there.

From 1988 to 1992, Pekin directories list 343 Court St. as “vacant.” In 1993’s directory we find a brief and obscure listing for something called “Visions Onie” — a typographical error for “Visions,” a teen hangout that was not there for very long. In 1994 the building is again listed as “vacant.” Then in 1995, we find Gerald W. Adams’ Bangkok Restaurant, which only lasted about a year.

The 1996 directory lists 353 Court St. as the location of Joseph M. and Penny M. Berardi’s Peek-In Ceramics & Gift Shop. The Berardis continued to operate their business there up to and including the 1998 Pekin city directory. That year we also find Wayne Wilton Thompson Jr., retired, and Ruth P. Thompson, occupying and working out of the building alongside the Berardis. The 1999 city directory again shows Peek-In Ceramics & Gifts, with Joseph Berardi, president, along with a business called Ceramic Treasurers, run by Ruth Thompson; with Wilton W. Thompson Jr. listed there as well.

From the 2000 Pekin city directory until the 2009 directory, we find Ceramic Treasurers, owned by Ruth P. Thompson, as the only business in the building, with Wilton W. Thompson Jr. and Ruth P. Thompson also listed apparently as residents. But Ceramic Treasurers disappears from Pekin city directories after 2009. That is because it was in 2010 that Todd Thompson and his partner Steve Foster refurbished the 353 Court St. building – and it is from this building that Todd Thompson’s 353 Court LLC derives its name.

Ruth P. Thompson’s Ceramic Treasures at 353 Court St. is shown in this Feb. 2002 photograph from the Tazewell County Assessor’s website. Ceramic Treasures operated from that location from the late 1990s until 2010, when Todd Thompson and Steve Foster refurbished the building and brought in the Speakeasy Art Center.

This June 2013 photograph from the Tazewell County Assessor’s website shows the Speakeasy Art Center, which was located in the 353 Court St. building from 2010 to 2016.

After restoring the building, Thompson and Foster turned the building in the Speakeasy Art Center, which from 2010 until Fall 2016 was the home of the Pekin Academy of the Fine Arts, directed by Shannon Cox. The art center’s name harks back to tales that the building had once had a speakeasy hidden there during the Prohibition Era. Curiously, the Speakeasy Art Center never appeared in any Pekin city directories, which instead continued to list only Wilton W. Thompson Jr. and Ruth P. Thompson until 2017’s directory. The 353 Court St. building disappeared from city directories in 2018 and 2019, but the directories from 2020 to 2023 list Kindermusik and Ruth P. Thompson as the only occupants of 353 Court St. The most recent directory listings for this address are probably only “ghost” entries, though.

After the Pekin Academy of Fine Arts moved in late 2016 to the old Rupert Mansion on Walnut, Travis Guthman of Lacon, Illinois, owner of Pizza Peel in Lacon, in late 2019 proposed opening a second Pizza Peel in the 353 Court St. Building. However, Guthman’s plans never came to fruition. But with the arrival of Ashers in 2022, this historic structure has again come to life and does much to to draw customers and community activity to Pekin’s old town.

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The building of the builders: the history of the Lampitt Building

By Jared L. Olar

Local History Program Coordinator

The buildings in Pekin’s historic downtown range in age from about a century and half or more to less than 50 years. One of downtown’s structures that is about in the middle of that age range is the former Lampitt Building at 217 Court St., which is about 125 years old. The 217 Court St. building is currently vacant, but in recent years has benefited from extensive restoration and revitalization by developer Todd Thompson’s 353 Court LLC.

The 217 Court St. building, formerly known as the Lampitt Building, is seen in this Nov. 2022 image from Google Maps Street View.

A review of Pekin’s early city directories and 19th century Sanborn Fire Insurance Maps shows that the lot on which 217 Court St. now stands was empty from 1885 until the about 1900. An 1877 aerial view map of Pekin shows a structure on the site, but it is unknown who or what was in that structure, which in any case was gone by 1885.

This detail from an 1877 aerial-view map of Pekin depicts the 200 block of Court Street. The building numbered “18” was on the site of what is today the 215 Court St. building, and on the left of that is a smaller building that then stood on the site of 217 Court Street. It is unknown who or what may have been in that building, which had been razed by 1885.

The lot at 215 Court St. was still vacant at the time of the 1898 Sanborn Map of Pekin, but by the time of 1903 Sanborn map the 215 Court St. building had made its debut. The Tazewell County Assessor’s website says the structure was built in 1900, which is no doubt correct. The 1904 Pekin city directory shows that the very first businesses at 215 Court St. were Lampitt & Co. and Lampitt Bros. The structure was built specifically to house the businesses of the Lampitt family, who were masons, brick-makers, and general contractors. Prior to locating at 215 Court, the Lampitt firm had been founded in 1888 by a Pekin native named Edwin Forrest “Ed” Lampitt (1865-1950), son of an English immigrant to Pekin name Edwin Daniel Lampitt, who served as a First Sergeant and Lieutenant in the 85th Illinois Volunteers, Co. F.

Edwin Forrest Lampitt (1865-1950), from a Lampitt Family Ancestry.com tree.

The first Pekin city directory advertisement for Lampitt Bros., from the 1904 city directory.

The 1903 Sanborn Fire Insurance Map of Pekin shows the newly-built Lampitt Building at 217 Court St., how of Ed F. Lampitt’s brick, masonry, and general contracting business.

Eugene L. Conklin (1870-1965), founder of Conklin Lumber Co., was an early business partner of Ed F. Lampitt.

The proprietors of Lampitt & Co. in 1904 were Ed Lampitt and Eugene L. Conklin (1870-1965), while Lampitt Bros. was run by Ed Lampitt and his brother Herbert A. Lampitt (1868-1941). The name of Eugene L. Conklin is well remembered in Pekin, for he was the owner for several decades of the Conklin Lumber Co. For his part, Lampitt made his permanent mark on Pekin’s history by brick-making (including road-paving bricks that were used for Pekin’s streets), and by building many of Pekin’s houses and notable structures. For example, the original part of Pekin Community High School’s old West Campus was built by Lampitt & Lampitt Contractors in 1916, and two years later they built Pekin Public Hospital.

Other structures built by Lampitt, according to the 1949 Pekin Centenary, page 54, include the former German-American National Bank (today called The Tazewell Building), the Bristow Motor Company (today the Corner Curio), the Carpenters Union Hall, the Farmer’s Automobile Insurance Association building, the Pekin Finance Co. building, the Pekin Loan & Homestead Association building, the Pekin Water Works office, the old downtown J. C. Penney Co. building, St. Paul’s Evangelical Church’s parish house, Vogel’s packing plant, and the 1922 Schipper & Block building. Lampitt also built four of District 108 nine public school buildings that were in use in 1949.

Most of Pekin’s prominent Lampitt buildings are gone now – the most recent one to be lost being the historic Schipper & Block building, which was just torn down by the Tazewell County Board to make way for a planned new county courthouse – but a few are still standing.

E. L. Conklin did not remain as Ed F. Lampitt’s partner for very long. By the time of the 1908 city directory, the Lampitt family’s operation had been consolidated as just Lampitt & Lampitt, operated by Ed Lampitt and his son Edwin Arthur Lampitt (1886-1964). By 1922, the firm had become Ed F. Lampitt & Sons, which included the senior Lampitt and his two sons Edwin A. and Benjamin Elmer (1895-1975). The senior Lampitt retired in 1925 after about 38 years in the contracting business.

The 1924 Pekin city directory advertisement for Ed F. Lampitt & Sons, about a year before Ed Lampitt’s retirement.

The Lampitt Building at 217 Court St. is unchanged in the 1909 Sanborn Fire Insurance Map of Pekin.

217 Court St. as it appears in the 1916 Sanborn Map of Pekin.

Though the Lampitt Building’s neighborhood changed significantly over the years, the 1925 Sanborn Map of Pekin shows the Lampitt Building again little changed.

For a few years in the mid-1920s, the upstairs of the Lampitt’s building at 217 Court was the office of John E. Zimmer (1879-1951), architect, who is listed there in the 1924 and 1926 Pekin city directories. But in the 1928 directory we find that General Progressive Mercantile Service, with Daniel L. Latham (1864-1937) as manager of collection, is listed as the occupant of 217 Court’s upstairs space. By 1930, however, 217 Court’s upstairs was vacant.

The 1922 Pekin city directory advertisement for Pekin architect John E. Zimmer, whose office was in the Lampitt Building during the early to mid-1920s.

City directories continue to list Ed F. Lampitt & Sons General Contractors as the sole occupant of 217 Court St. until the 1958 Pekin city directory. For most of those years, Ed Lampitt himself resided at 217 1/2 Court St., being listed at that address from the 1939 directory until his death on 9 May 1950 following a stroke.

In the 1959 directory, we find that the firm’s name had changed to Lampitt & Associates structural engineers. Lampitt & Associates continued to operate from 217 Court St. until the time of the 1964 Pekin city directory, which shows both 217 and 217 1/2 Court as vacant. That year, Benjamin E. Lampitt is shown as secretary-treasurer of Lampitt & Associates, while his brother Edwin A. Lampitt is listed as vice president of the Pekin Loan & Homestead Association. Two years later, the 1966 directory shows a phantom entry of “Lampitt Ed F & Sons” at 217 Court St., but the building was in fact still vacant. Benjamin E. Lampitt was retired by then, while Edwin A. Lampitt was deceased.

The Lampitt Building at 217 Court St. is indicated in this aerial view of downtown Pekin from circa 1950.

The Lampitt Building is indicated in this crop from a 1966 photograph by Ralph Goodwin.

217 Court St. is listed as the offices of the Edwin A. Lampitt Estate in the city directories from 1970 to 1974. Then from 1975 to 1977, there was a rapid succession of businesses in the former Lampitt Building. In 1975, we find an antiques store had moved into 217 Court – The Treasure Haunt, owned and operated by Nora B. Carter. The following year we find Etta Antiques, owned by Etta Dalcher. Then in 1977 we find Ruth’s Used Furniture, owned by Ruth Crull – but her store also closed after about a year, because the 1978 directory again shows the building as vacant.

The black arrow indicates the Lampitt Building in this 1976 aerial view of downtown Pekin.

After remaining vacant for a few years, 217 Court St. is listed in the 1981 city directory as additional space for Mack and Louise Dison’s L & M Sale House, which was located at 225 Court St. By 1983, L & M was also using 219 and 219 1/2 Court St. as additional space along with 217 Court. The 1984 directory again shows 217 Court as part of L & M Sale House’s additional space.

Then 1985 Pekin city directory shows the debut of Adolph “Ade” Antonini’s Little Ade’s Bicycles, which was originally located at 217 Court St. Little Ade’s didn’t stay there long, though, because the following year they had moved to 319 Court St., leaving 217 Court vacant again.

The Lampitt Building can be seen in this 1988 aerial view of the 200 block of Court St.

Zion Baptist Church, 1320 S. Fifth St., used 217 Court St. as additional storage space from 1987 to 1989, around the time that the structure was acquired by Milton G. Christy (who also owned 215 Court St.). However, the former Lampitt Building was again vacant at the time of the 1990 and 1991 city directories. From 1992 to 1997 the directories list 217 Court merely as “storage.” In the 1998 directory, All Occasion Video briefly operated from 217 Court, but after that year this address disappears from Pekin city directories. It does not reappear until the 2014 directory as the home of Thompson Bros. Inc., about the time that Todd Thompson’s 353 Court LLC set about restoring and revitalizing the historic structure, which he had acquired on 1 June 2011 from Byron D. Oesch.

In the 2016 directory, Jakes Place barbershop makes its debut at 217 Court St. and continued to operate there for the next few years, last appearing in the 2022 directory. The building is again vacant and 217 Court St. is not listed in the 2023 directory.

This Tazewell County Assessor’s photograph shows the Lampitt Building as it appeared in 2002.

A Tazewell County Assessor’s photograph of 217 Court St. from 2013.

Basic plan of 217 Court St., from the Tazewell County Assessor’s website.

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The story of 215 Court St.

By Jared L. Olar

Local History Program Coordinator

Among the historic buildings in Pekin’s old downtown is a structure at 215 Court St. that was first built around 125 years ago – though it has undergone a lot of remodeling and expansion since then. In recent years, this building was beautifully restored and revitalized by Todd Thompson of 353 Court LLC.

215 Court St. is the home of Aerial Athletics. Over the years, 215 Court St. has seen businesses as varied as boarding houses, bicycle repair, automobile garages, used and antique furniture stores, and residential apartments. For about 25 years it was also the home of the Pekin Moose Lodge No. 916.

This Nov. 2022 Google Street View image shows 215 Court St., location of Aerial Athletics, and 217 Court St., currently vacant.

Before the construction of the 215 Court St. building, an earlier and smaller building occupied the site  during the latter decades of the 1800s. The 1871 Sellers & Bates City Directory of Pekin lists a boarding house called Washington House, located somewhere between Second and Third streets and operated by a German immigrant named Charles Bross (1832-1920). An 1877 aerial view map of Pekin shows a structure at about that site, called the “L. Boss Boarding House.” The 1876 Bates City Directory of Pekin identifies that building as the St. Louis Exchange, with the proprietor as Louis Boss.

It is unclear whether Bross’ boarding 1871 boarding house is the same as Boss’ St. Louis Exchange. In any case, Washington House does not appear in the 1876 Bates City Directory of Pekin. Instead, the 1876 directory shows not only Boss’ St. Louis Exchange, but also a building then numbered 219 Court St., which was then a saloon and boarding house operated by Florence Barrett. In the 1870s – when Pekin still had much of the character of an “Old West” kind of town – keeping a saloon was commonly viewed as a very inappropriate occupation for a woman, and Barrett’s cause and place of death in Nov. 1879 that are listed in the 1880 U.S. Census Mortality Schedule strongly indicate that Barrett was running a house of ill-repute.

This detail from an 1877 aerial-view map of Pekin depicts the 200 block of Court Street. The building numbered “18” was on the west side of the lots now occupied by the 215 Court Street building, and is identified on the map as the boarding house of “L. Boss.” Florence Barrett also ran a saloon and boarding house at that time, at what was then 219 Court but is today 217 Court, shown as the smaller structure second from the left (east) of Boss’ boarding house.

In this detail from the 1885 Sanborn Fire Insurance Map of Pekin, the building that then stood at the site of 215 Court St. (previously numbered 219 Court) is shown. The map shows the east half of the building occupied by an unidentified machine shop. The 1887 Pekin City Directory shows Carl Weibezahn, gunsmith, operating his firearms business and residing in this building. Also shown on this Sanborn Map detail is a saloon at what was then “215” Court — that was Louis Boss’ boarding house, today a vacant lot between Aerial Athletics and the Union Mission.

It’s unknown what businesses were located at 219 (later 215) Court St. in the early 1880s, but the 1885 Sanborn Fire Insurance Map of Pekin shows a machine shop in the eastern half of the building. The 1887 Pekin city directory tells us that another German immigrant named Carl Weibezahn had a gunsmithy there — perhaps the 1885 machine shop was Weibezahn’s. Tazewell County marriage records tell us that Weibezahn had married Lena Meyers on 11 June 1881.

City directories and Sanborn maps show Weibezahn’s gun shop at that same location for the remainder of the 19th century, and like many downtown business owners he had his residence in that same building. The 1893 directory is the first one to list this address as “215” Court St. In the 1895 city directory, we find William F. Linnemann’s Pekin Steam Dye Works sharing 215 Court with Weibezahn, whom the directory identifies as a gunsmith and general repairer.

The 1892 Sanborn Fire Insurance Map of Pekin shows 215 Court St., then the site of Carl Weibezahn’s gunsmithy. The map notes that the building was “old,” and that the machine shop in the eastern half of the building was then relocating to 232 Court.

Advertisement for Carl Weibezahn’s gunsmithy and repair shop from the 1893 Bates City Directory of Pekin.

Advertisements for the shops of Carl Weibezahn and William F. Linnemann at 215 Court St. from the 1895 Pekin city directory.

In this detail from an 1890s photograph of Court Street looking west toward the river, the black arrow points to 215 Court (formerly numbered 219 Court), which then was the location of Carl Weibezahn’s gunsmithy. In the early 1870s this building was known as Washington House, a boarding house run by a German immigrant named Charles Bross. Later in the 1870s it was briefly a house of ill-repute until Weibezahn moved his business there.

A close comparison of the 1892 and 1898 Sanborn Fire Insurance Maps of Pekin seems to indicate that the building at 215 Court St. was replaced or at least extensively remodeled. The 1892 map notes that the structure was “old” (and thus more of a fire risk), while the drawing of the building at 215 Court on the 1898 map has a somewhat different shape and is no longer marked as “old.” The Tazewell County Assessor’s website says that the building that today stands at 215 Court St. was built in 1900, which may be related to the changes at 215 Court St. that the 1898 Sanborn map reveals.

By the time of the 1898 Sanborn map of Pekin, the old structure at 215 Court St. appears to have been either extensively remodeled/expanded or else torn down and replaced with a newer building. At this time the building housed C. Weibezahn & Son (operated by Carl Weibezahn and George Jerger) and Central Bicycle Works. Weibezahn and Jerger manufactured and repaired firearms and bicycles.

The 1898 directory says Weibezahn’s business was then called C. Weibezahn & Son, and says Weibezahn then had a partner named George Jerger (1875-1916), a Pekin Spanish-American War veteran whose business was called Central Bicycle Works. This remarkable combination of gunsmithing and bicycle repair seems to have continued for a few more years, but by the time of the 1904 Pekin city directory Jerger is listed as the sole proprietor of a bicycle and general repairing business at 215 Court St. Weibezahn had either died or moved away. The 1904 directory also lists an Albert A. Breaden, machinist, living above Jerger’s business.

The 1903 Sanborn Fire Insurance Map of Pekin shows the bicycle and gun shop of George Jerger, who is listed in the 1904 Pekin City Directory as the sole proprietor of the business he’d previously shared with Carl Weibezahn.

Although the 1909 Sanborn Fire Insurance Map of Pekin continues to show a bicycle and gun shop at 215 Court St., the city directories show that in fact the Lohnes Bros. barbershop and Moses A. Odom, cobbler, had replaced the George Jerger’s bicycle and gun store.

Jerger’s repair shop was gone by the time of the 1908 Pekin city directory, which shows the Lohnes Bros. barbershop at 215 Court St., owned and operated by Hugo C. Lohnes (1868-1936) and his brother August Lohnes (1876-1955). The Lohnes Bros. barbershop is again listed at 215 Court in the 1909 Pekin city directory, which also shows Moses A. Odom (1851-1918), cobbler, at 215 1/2 Court St. By the time of the 1913 directory, though, the barbershop at 215 Court was being run by Otto B. Scheidekat (or Scheidukat) (1889-1918), while Odom still had his shoemaker’s shop at 215 1/2 Court. The 1914 directory again shows Scheidekat’s barbershop at 215 and Odom’s shoemaking shop at 215 1/2.

The 1913 and 1914 Pekin city directory also show people living in upstairs apartments at 215 Court. However, that arrangement did not last for long, because at some point between the publications of the 1916 Sanborn Fire Insurance Map of Pekin and the 1922 Pekin city directory, the building at 215 Court St. underwent extensive remodeling and expansion in order to turn the structure into an automobile garage. The 1922 Pekin city directory shows 215 Court St. as the location of Supreme Garage, owned and operated by the brothers Earl K. Smith (1896-1972) and Lloyd F. Smith (1898-1984). The 1925 Sanborn map shows that their garage had a 50-car capacity.

The 1916 Sanborn Map of Pekin shows a barbershop at 215 1/2 Court St., but mistakenly continues to show a bicycle repair shop at 215 Court St. City directories at this time, however, show no bicycle repair business here, instead showing that the barbershop, operated by Otto Scheidukat, was at 215 Court, while 215 1/2 Court St. still housed Moses A. Odom’s shoemaker shop, while John McCabe, painter, lived above 215 Court.

By the time of the 1925 Sanborn Fire Insurance Map of Pekin, the previous building at 215 Court St. had been extensively expanded and remodeled to make way for Supreme Garage at 213-215 Court. Though it has undergone extensive remodeling since then, this structure still stands on the site today.

On the 1926 city directory, we find that Supreme Garage at 215 Court St. had become the Hamann Bros. garage, operated by Julius J. Hamann (1900-1966) and William Hamann (1897-1949), with Henry S. Lang (1891-1966) as their auto dealer. The Hamanns didn’t have the garage for very long, because in the 1928 directory we find that Samuel J. Robinson (1877-1934) was selling used cars at the former Hamann Bros. garage. Robinson, who also had a furniture store at 305 Court, is again listed in the 1930 Pekin city directory as operating an auto garage at 215 Court.

An advertisement for Hamann Bros. Garage from the 1926 Pekin City Directory. The brothers Julius J. Hamann and William Hamann operated their garage at 215 Court St. for two or three years in the mid-1920s. The business was originally Supreme Garage, owned and operated by Earl K. Smith and Lloyd F. Smith, but afterwards was a used car dealership and garage operated by Samuel J. Robinson.

Robinson’s business was probably hit by the Great Depression, because in the 1932 city directory we see that Robinson’s garage had become the Pekin Army Store, operated by Thomas J. Dwyer (1899-1963). This same directory also shows at least 10 people living in upstairs apartments at 215 1/2 Court St. The building’s upstairs space would continue to be used as apartments for the rest of the 20th century.

The 1934 Pekin city directory shows 215 Court St. as vacant, but the upstairs apartments at 215 1/2 Court were still occupied. In the 1937 directory, though, James P. Yiakos was operating the Bell Army Store at 215 Court St., but soon after that Yiakos moved his store a short distance east to 221 Court St. After Yiakos’ departure, Pekin city directories have no listing for 215 Court St. until 1971.

Meanwhile, in 1937 there were five apartment units occupied upstairs at 215 1/2 Court, while the 1939 city directory lists 10 apartment units with five of them vacant. The 1941 directory lists a total of 11 apartment units.

In the 1948 Pekin city directory, we find for the first time that the 215 1/2 Court St. apartments had acquired a name: Moose Apartments. The Tazewell County Assessor’s website shows that at this time, the 215 Court St. building was owned by the Loyal Order of Moose, who thus were the landlords for the building’s 11 apartment units. The Moose Lodge, No. 916, occupied the ground level of the building, with the address of 213-215 Court St. The upstairs dwellings continued to be known as Moose Apartments up to the 1980 city directory, which is the last directory in which they bear that name.

The black arrow indicates 215 Court St. in this detail from a circa 1950 aerial view of downtown Pekin. City directories show that about that time, the ground level space of 213-215 Court was then the Pekin Moose Lodge, while the upstairs space of 215 1/2 Court consisted of the 11 units of the Moose Apartments.

This detail from a 1966 photograph by Ralph Goodwin shows buildings on the north side of the 200 block of Court Street, with the arrow pointing to 213-215 Court St., which was then the Pekin Moose Lodge 916 and the Moose Apartments.

The 1971 Pekin city directory shows that the Moose Lodge had relocated to 2605 Broadway, where they have been ever since. In its place, a new business had located in the 215 Court St. building for the first time since James P. Yiakos’ Bell Army Store in the 1930s. That business was L & L Auction, whose proprietors were Larry Biddle and his wife Linda S. Biddle. L & L Auction didn’t last very long there, though, because in the following year the directory shows Mrs. Wilma Thomas’ Capitol Used Furniture at 215 Court.

Thomas’ business also didn’t stay very long in the building, for in the 1973 Pekin city directory we see that the U.S. Social Security Administration had set up its local office at 215 Court St., sharing the building with the State Vocational & Incentive Program. The Social Security Office remained at 215 Court St. until 1989.

A black arrow points to 215 Court St. in this detail from a 30 June 1976 aerial view of downtown Pekin. 215 Court St. was then the site of the U.S. Social Security Administration office and the State Vocational & Incentive Program, while 215 1/2 Court housed the nine units of the Moose Apartments.

In the 1980 directory, we read that the old Moose Apartments upstairs at 215 1/2 Court St. had acquired a new name: Pekin Downtown Properties, managed by Mrs. Edith P. Lough. That was the year Milton G. Christy (1924-1987) purchased the 215 Court St. building. In the 1982 directory, Pekin Downtown Properties becomes “Christy’s Apartments,” still managed by Mrs. Lough. Following Christy’s death, his apartments at 215 1/2 Court St. went vacant and remained so until the early 1990s, about which time Greg Ranney acquired the 215 Court St. building.

This detail from a 20 Sept. 1988 aerial view of downtown Pekin shows the north side of the 200 block of Court Street, with the black arrow indicating 215 Court St., then the location of the U.S. Social Security Administration office.

The 1989 city directory is the last one to list the Social Security Administration at 215 Court St. The following year, we see that the Senior Citizens Downtown Drop-In, directed by Elizabeth C. Lenington (1913-2003), had moved into 215 Court, while the 215 1/2 Court St. apartments remained vacant. The Senior Citizens Downtown Drop-In appears again in the 1991 and 1992 city directories, but the 1993 directory listing for 215 Court says “Not Verified.”

That same year, Greg Ranney’s Court Street Apartments make their first city directory appearance at 215 1/2 Court St., with five apartment units occupied. Then in the 1994 directory, we find that Cliff’s Used Furniture, owned and operated by Cliff Manuel, had moved into 215 Court St. City directories continue to list Manuel’s store at that address until 1998, when we find Ricky J. Woith’s Rick’s TV & Appliance listed at both 215 and 300 Court St.

The 2000 and 2001 Pekin city directories show a used merchandise store called Red Door Reproduction at 215 Court. In the 2002 directory, however, we find Edward Manuel’s Pekin Used Furniture at that address, where it continued to be listed until the 2014 city directory, the last time Manuel’s used furniture store appears at 215 Court. On 4 March 2015, the 215 Court St. building was acquired by 353 Court LLC, the company of developer Todd Thompson, who restored and revitalized the structure. From 2015 to 2019, the directories list Pekin Insurance at 215 Court. Curiously, the most recent city directories do not have a listing for 215 Court St. at all. Even so, Aerial Athletics has been operating from 215 Court for the past several years.

Edward Manuel’s Pekin Used Furniture store at 215 Court St. is shown in this 7 Feb. 2002 photograph from the Tazewell County Assessor’s website. City directories from that time show nine apartment units in the upstairs space of 215 1/2 Court.

Edward Manuel’s Pekin Used Furniture store at 215 Court St. is shown in this 5 June 2013 photograph from the Tazewell County Assessor’s website. Manuel’s store closed about a year later. City directories show there were still nine upstairs apartment units in the building at this time.

The layout drawing of 215 Court St. from the Tazewell County Assessor’s website.

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History of the Maquet’s Rail House building

By Jared L. Olar

Local History Program Coordinator

Those who patronize Maquet’s Rail House at 221 Court St. not only enjoy a popular downtown Pekin bar-and-grill, but they also get an in-person experience of a success story in efforts to preserve and maintain Pekin’s historic downtown buildings.

Several of the buildings in the 200 block of Court Street – including 221 Court St. – have been standing for nearly a century and a half. By the early 2000s they had begun to suffer the advanced wear and tear of their age, but were subsequently stabilized and saved through the efforts of Todd Thompson. Maquet Inc. moved into 221 Court St. about eight years ago, and Dustin Maquet opened his bar-and-grill a few years after that, expanding into the adjacent building in 2019.

One of the success stories of efforts to preserve and revitalize Pekin’s historic downtown, Dustin Maquet’s popular bar and grill Maquet’s Rail House at 221-223 Court Street is the latest in a long line of businesses to operate out of this building, beginning with an 1880s barbershop. PHOTO COURTESY OF DUSTIN MAQUET

Dustin Maquet recently asked me to do a deep-dive into the history of his building to find out the businesses that have operated out of that location. The following account has been constructed from sources such as Pekin city directories and the old Sanborn Fire Insurance Maps of Pekin.

The black arrow in this vintage photo from circa 1895 points to 221-223 Court. During the 1890s, a barbershop occupied the east half of the building, while in the late 1890s Charles A. Hoheimer operated his Pekin Electric Supply Co. out of the west half.

The Sanborn maps indicate that the buildings that historically have been numbered as 221 and 223 Court St. were already standing by the mid-1880s. The maps show that there was a barbershop in the east half of Maquet’s building in 1885, 1892, 1898 and 1903. Unfortunately, I have not been able to identify the barbershop. Old city directories mention several barbershops in those years, but none have addresses that match this building.

In 1898 we see the Pekin Electric Supply Co. had moved into the west half of the building – that company was owned by Charles A. Hoheimer.

The earliest Sanborn Fire Insurance Map of Pekin was published in 1885, at which time the building that is today the home of Maquet’s Rail House was already standing. The map shows that this building, which then had the address of 227-229 Court St., housed a saloon in the west half and a barbershop in the east half.

The 1892 Sanborn Fire Insurance Map of Pekin shows that a barbershop was still in the east half of the building at 223 Court St., while the west half was used as storage.

The 1898 Sanborn Fire Insurance Map of Pekin shows that the east half of the building (223 Court St.) was still a barbershop, while the west half was an electric supply business. City directories show that was Charles A. Hoheimer’s Pekin Electric Supply Co.

In 1903, the city directory shows that the west half of the building was the site of the Vienna Bakery, owned and operated by Mrs. Alma Neuhaus (widow of Ernest Neuhaus). The 1903 Sanborn map says it was a “Confy,” that is, a confectionery, a bakery that made cakes and sweets.

The bakery didn’t last long at that site, because in the 1907 directory we find that H. A. Hovenden, a machinist, was making use of the whole building, perhaps as an office or for storage. The 1908 city directory then says it was the site of C. A. Hardt & Co., an advertising agency, also known as the Hardt Bill Posting Co., where one could order handbills to be posted around town.

Again, that business does not seem to have lasted long at that address, because the 1909 Sanborn map says only that the west half was an “office” and the east half was the site of a plumber’s business.

In 1903, the Pekin city directory shows that the west half of the 221 Court St. building was the site of the Vienna Bakery, owned and operated by Mrs. Alma Neuhaus, widow of Ernest Neuhaus. The 1903 Sanborn map says it was a “Confy,” that is, a Confectionery, a bakery and sweets shop. The east half of the building was still a barbershop.

The 1909 Sanborn Fire Insurance Map of Pekin shows that 221 Court St. was then the location of an unspecified “office,” while at 223 Court St. (the east half of the building) the barbershop had been replaced by a plumbing business. It is possible that the office” was that of C. A. Hardt & Co., an advertising agency also known as the Hardt Bill Posting Co.

The 1913 and 1914 city directories say the Maquet building was then owned by John Jansen of the Jansen & Zoeller general contractors. My guess is that Jansen & Zoeller were using the building as a supply shop for their business, which helped to lay many of Pekin’s old brick streets.

The 1916 Sanborn map says 221 Court St. was then the site of a clothing store. That was T. J. Dwyer, a clothing store owned and operated by Thomas J. Dwyer. The store is listed in the Pekin city directories beginning in 1922. By 1926, Thomas J. Dwyer and Theodore J. Dwyer were operating the “Pekin Army Store” at 221 Court.

This 1916 Sanborn Fire Insurance Map of Pekin shows that a clothing store was then operating out of 221 Court St. That would have been the T. J. Dwyer store. Note that the building’s length had been extended toward the back.

Thomas J. Dwyer owned and operated a clothing store at 221 Court St. beginning around 1915. About the time of this 1925 Sanborn Fire Insurance Map of Pekin, Thomas and Theodore J. Dwyer were operating the “Pekin Army Store” at 221 Court St.

From 1928 to 1932, the Nash Garage dealership was operated by Rudolph E. Joerger (whose wife was Nellie T. Joerger). The Depression years were hard on the businesses at 221 Court St., for the city directories show a rapid succession of businesses there during the 1930s: in 1934 it was Samuel Adler, brewers agent (wife Mary); in 1937 it was the Pekin Bakery owned and operated by Mrs. Cora Thompson, widow of Edward T. Thompson; and from 1939 to 1941 it was the Bell Clothing Store (men’s clothing) owned and operated by James P. Yiakos.

The city directory record for 221 Court St. was fragmentary during the early 1940s, but the 1943 directory says the building was then vacant.

Mrs. Cora (Oates) Thompson and her husband Edward Thompson of Pekin are shown in this vintage photo uploaded to Find-A-Grave by Rand Veerman. Cora is listed in the 1937 Pekin city directory as owner and operator of the Pekin Bakery at 221 Court St.

However, beginning with the 1946 directory we see that the building had become the home of the Railway Express Agency, which is listed under that name at that address until 1959. William O. Toler (wife Myrtle) was the agent from 1946 to 1950, and Harold G. Stone (wife Ruth) was the agent from 1952 to 1958; and Russell T. Wieburg (wife Emily L. Wieburg) was the agent beginning in 1959, with Horace A. Wieburg (wife Alberta) serving as the agency’s driver that year. Starting in 1961, however, the Railway Express Agency bore the new name “REA Express,” with Russel T. Wieburg continuing as agent there until 1964.

The black arrow points to 221 Court Street in this circa 1950 aerial view of downtown Pekin. At the time, 221 Court Street was the home of the Railway Express Agency, where William O. Toler is listed in city directories as agent from 1946 to 1950, and Harold G. Stone is listed in city directories as agent from 1952 to 1958.

The following year, in the place of REA Express Agency we find Pekin Auto Sales Used Cars, operated by Frank D. Wrhel Jr. (wife Barbara) – the city directory misspells his surname “Urhel,” though. He ran his used car business at 221 Court St. until 1968.

In this Ralph Goodwin photograph from 1966, the arrow indicates 221 Court St., which was then the location of Frank Wrhel’s Pekin Auto Sales.

Korean War veteran Frank D. Wrhel Jr. (1930-2000), shown here in a photo uploaded to Find-A-Grave by Janie Johnson Wrhel, ran the Pekin Auto Sales used car dealership at 221 Court St. from 1965 to 1968.

The final longstanding business to operate from 221 Court St. prior to Maquet’s Rail House was Pekin Plumbing & Heating Co., which first appears at that location in the 1969 Pekin City Directory. The directory entry for the business that year says: “Pekin Plumbing & Heating Co., Russell H. Riedlinger, Pres., A. Dean Riedlinger, Vice Pres., Carroll A. Haueisen, Sec.-Treas., Plumbing and Heating Contractors, Supplies, We Sell and Install, Service Guaranteed, 221 Court St., Tel. 346-9644.”

An advertisement from 1969 for Russell Riedlinger’s Pekin Plumbing & Heating Co., which is listed in Pekin city directories at 221 Court St. from 1969 to 1987. The Riedlinger family kept up their plumbing business even after Russel’s death in 1972.

This cropped Pekin Daily Times image from a 1976 aerial view of downtown Pekin shows the north side of the 200 block of Court St. The site of Pekin Plumbing & Heating Co. is indicated by the black arrow.

Russell H. Riedlinger passed away in 1972, so after that we find that A. Dean Riedlinger becomes President of Pekin Plumbing & Heating Co., with Carroll A. Haueisen as Vice President and Sarah Riedlinger as Secretary/Treasurer. The directories show that the Riedlingers continued to operate Pekin Plumbing & Heating Co. at 221 Court St. until 1987, which is the last year that business appears in Pekin city directories.

In the 1988 directory, it just says the address is “Vacant.” In 1989, however, it shows the “Plumb Pretty” craft shop at 221 Court, operated by Mrs. Doris J. Riedlinger, with same phone number as the former Pekin Plumbing & Heating Co. The shop apparently was not successful, though, and in 1990 the building is again vacant.

The crop from a 1988 aerial view of Pekin shows the north side of the 200 block of Court St. The black arrow indicates 221 Court St., which was either vacant at the time or the location of Mrs. Doris Riedlinger’s “Plumb Pretty” craft shop.

Then in 1991, Doris Riedlinger reappears at this address. From 1991 to 1997, the directories say 221 Court St. was the “private office” of Doris Riedlinger. In 1998, the directory shows the Riedlinger Gift Shop at 221 Court St.

And that is the last time any of the Riedlingers appear in association with 221 Court St. From 1999 to 2005, this address is not even listed in the directories, nor does Doris Riedlinger appear. She apparently had died, because her husband Albert D. Riedlinger continues to appear in the directories without her.

In 2006, the directory merely says “No Current Listing” for 221 Court St. Then from 2007 to 2014 this address again does not appear anywhere in the directories.

At last in 2015 we see Maquet Inc., at 221 Court. That same listing is repeated until 2021, when we find “Maquet Inc computer software.” It is not until the 2022 Pekin city directory that we at last find an updated entry for “Maquet’s Rail House” restaurant at 221 Court St.

221 Court St. can be seen in this detail of a Jan. 2011 Pekin Daily Times photograph by Joni Andrews.

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