Institution

By 1898 Pollard had Carthage "architect J A Prather draw plans for a substantial addition (2)" to the back end of this building, to serve as a store room for Ramsay Dry Goods Store. Other additions and improvements continued through the years to as Ramsay eventually occupied the entire building and expanded its showrooms..In 1917 the Ramsay store building underwent a $12,000 remodeling. A "dark brick front, trimmed in Carthage stone (3)" was added, and "an elaborate system of show windows (4)" was installed. The windows were "lighted by the most modern method (5)."  An original sign for the Ramsay store can be found at the left side of the first floor level at a door that gives access to the second floor.Note name of building/store has varied through the years as Ramsay and Ramsay's.Text by Megan Bever, Powers Museum Board Member, summer 2017.

Ramsay's Brothers Dry Goods Company pre-1917 facade of the second Pollard Building. Note, two storefronts have been united into one store.

Ramsay Department Store 73rd Anniversary commemorative hankie featured in the 175th Anniversary of Carthage exhibit at Powers Museum in 2017.

More Info

Ramsay Brothers Dry Goods history from Dry Goods Economist magazine, Oct. 23, 1920, pg. 20.

National Register listing for Carthage Courthouse Square District.

Ramsay Brothers Dry Goods Store opened its first location in Pittsburg, Kansas, in 1890. The Carthage, Missouri, store opened on February 23, 1895 as one of two stores occupying the second downtown commercial building built by W J Pollard. Ultimately, the Ramsay retail company would take over this entire building as well as grow to seven branch stores in the tri-state region of Kansas, Oklahoma and Missouri. Early in its history, the company maintained its own office in New York City (1).

The structure is in the Carthage Courthouse Square National Register District.

Pollard Building #2 (Ramsay Brothers Dry Goods Store, later Ramsay's Department Store), 307 - 315 South Main Street

Director

This "Neighborhood of History" tour features selected addresses on East 4th, Grant, East 3rd and South Main Streets that face the 1894-95 Jasper County Courthouse, the tour's starting point. The addresses featured here (along with the remaining buildings surrounding the courthouse and extending for a couple blocks) are listed on the National Register of Historic Places and citations to those nominations are cited as links in the Clio listings.

Most of the buildings or sites featured in this tour were selected because they were locations of objects displayed (whether manufactured, sold and/or used at a particular location) in the Powers Museum's 2017 exhibit focusing on businesses and industries of Carthage. It was the intent of the original project to create a vehicle that could show those objects as they related to physical locations that current residents and tourists can view by walking or driving by today. 

The digital sites on this Clio app were originally created by a special grant project funded by the Missouri Humanities Council and the National Endowment for the Humanities in 2017-18 as part of the Powers Museum's observation of Carthage's 175th anniversary. Other addresses around the courthouse square may be added in the future by volunteers. Contact the Powers Museum for further information. www.powersmuseum.org

Jasper County's roots go back to 1841 when the county government was established in a&nbsp;log structure in an early village called Jasper (not location of current town of Jasper, MO). Carthage was chosen as the county seat a year later and a two-story brick building was constructed in 1851. It served as a hospital during the Civil War and fire destroyed it in 1863. The county government used other buildings around the courthouse square in the following decades until&nbsp; the current one was opened in 1895. The building is constructed of local limestone. At the&nbsp;time of the courthouse's construction, there were many quarries surrounding Carthage. Carthage Stone Company, owned by Curtis Wright and William Logan (1), supplied the stone for this structure. (See Clio entries for Wright House, 304 West Macon, and Logan Building, 301 East Fourth),&nbsp;&nbsp;

Constructed in 1894-95, the Jasper County Courthouse is located in Carthage, Missouri in the town's center square. It was designed by M.A. Orlopp in the Richardsonian Romanesque style. It is the third courthouse of the county. The building was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1973. Its first floor lobby area houses historical displays, murals painted by local artists, and a Route 66 exhibit modeled after Boots Drive-In (see Clio entry for same on South Garrison Avenue). 

Jasper County Courthouse, East Third and South Main Street

"Built in 1887 by W. P. Miller, this building held the Miller Grocery on the street-level storefront and the Ideal Restaurant in its basement when it opened. The original cornice work is beautifully intact as are the iron pillars" on the building's first floor. (1) 

Ideal was replaced by an apple packing company and the Miller Grocery gave way to I. F. Garner's harness and saddle shop then S.W. Knepper's Music shop in 1895. Eventually the storefront was returned to the grocery business for most of the first half of the 20th century including Osborne-Fox Grocery, McCormick Grocery, Atlantic and Pacific (A&P), Economy Food Market and others grocery owners. By the 1940s Firestone Store had opened in this space for a many years. Page Wagner moved his family's jewelry business (established in 1924) to this address in 1973 and operated until 1999. Today most of the building is a private residence.

This property is within the National Register of Historic Places Carthage Courthouse Square Historic District (see link below).



Miller Building, 110 East Fourth Street

Like many other multi-storied buildings in Carthage, the third floor of this structure was removed in the 20th century and the entire front front of the building was remodeled with dark red brick similar to Pollard Building #2 and Center Building on South Main (see Clio entries for each). The first floor was occupied by small storefronts and the entrance to the Delphus Theatre, later renamed the Roxy theatre. Both the Delphus and the Roxy were movie houses. Local Ragtime composers Clarence Woods and James Scott, Jr. both were known to play "the keyboard at the Delphus, providing background for the earliest silent films while both were teenagers (1)." (See Clio entries Lincoln School #1 for further information on Scott). The building was destroyed by fire in the 1970s ﻿The Mattenlee Sanitarium, operated by Dr. J M Mattenlee at the turn of the twentieth century, treated "alcohol, opium, morphine, and tobacco addictions (2)." Patients boarded in a home located at 1133 South Main Street.

Once a three-story brick and decorated press metal front building, the Cassaday structure served the community in many ways. The first floor storefronts during the 1880s to the early decade of the 20th century housed various stores such as Kurtzeborn and Marker, Palace Dry Goods and the Campbell-Wright Mercantile Company. The second and third floors housed several business schools including the Carthage Business College, professional offices and medical institutions such as the Mattenlee Sanitarium. 





Cassaday Block (no longer standing), 120 East Fourth Street

The brick building pictured here first replaced Griswold's original frame structure constructed in 1868 (latter seen after the project's logos) the year he came to Carthage (2). The second building was built prior to 1884 and used by the Griswold Wholesale Grocery Company into the twentieth century. Among later occupants of the building were the Karbe Grocery and Jed Brown's Meat Market in the 1930s and from the 1940s until the 1972 fire, Western Auto occupied the building. If you walk around the new professional office building on this site today, you can see a mural on the wall of the former Burlingame and Chaffee Opera House that was painted by Webb City, Missouri, artist John Biggs in 2006 for the former Main Street Carthage organization (3). The scene features a Victorian ball at the opera house (see Clio entry for same) and was created by a grant from the Helen Boylan Foundation. The Bee's Old Fashion Variety Store and Ben Franklin, owned by Sue and Jack Vandergriff, was occupying the opera house building at the time of the mural's painting.

Selden B. Griswold operated a long-time grocery business at this location in a brick building that was destroyed by fire in 1972, along with three other structures to the west on the south side of the square.  Griswold, a Civil War veteran of the 53rd Illinois Infantry, was one of Carthage earliest merchants as the town rebuilt from its Civil War destruction. He hauled his first store goods himself by wagon from Sedalia, Missouri, the nearest railroad point (1).  In 1882 his company focused entirely on the wholesale grocery trade in the region and continued that practice until the late 1920s. (Griswold died in 1918.)

Griswold Grocery Building (no longer standing), 130 East Fourth Street

In the twentieth century, the second floor was used for storage while the first floor and basement commercial spaces were used by long-term occupants such as Turner Carriage, Harness &amp; Furniture Company, Woolworth's, Burr's Department Store, Belk's Department Store, and the Bee Discount and Variety Store. There is over 30,000 square feet in this building making it one of the largest buildings on the courthouse square. The building was damaged by a fire that destroyed the structure next door in 2013. Its current owner Keith McBride remodeled his building and operates McBride's Antiques on the first floor while continuing to restore the upper floor that once housed Carthage's early opera house.

This structure was constructed in 1877 with two storefronts on the first floor and an opera house on the second story (entered from a stairway on the right side of the building, see wooden door). W. L. Burlingame and Dr. J. B Chaffee were the original owners. The opera house opened in February 1878. In 1893 after another opera house opened two blocks to the east, the opera house closed and the second floor was used by Jasper County officials prior to the Jasper County Courthouse being built in 1894-95. 

This structure is within the National Register of Historic Places Carthage Courthouse Square Historic District (see link below).

Burlingame and Chaffee Opera House (former),136 East Fourth Street

Destroyed by fire in 2013, the former building on this site was built as a hardware store in 1885 although early prints of the building show 1883 on cornice (1). Built by brothers John D. and Frank McCrillis, they had conducted their hardware business on this same corner as early as the 1878 in a two-story frame building. 

Many other occupants have served this community from this structure including Payne Brothers People's Store, Kearney-Damon Dry Goods, McMurtry's Department Store and others in the first half of the 20th century.


McCrillis Brothers Building (no longer standing), 146 East Fourth Street

Many grocery stores have operated from this location since its first occupant, McDaniel and Ruffin, opened a mercantile here after the Civil War. Economy Clothing Company and other dry goods businesses were located here in the 1890-1910 period. In 1915, Union Trust Company, organized in 1913 by J. H. Staley, manager of the McDaniel Milling Company, opened at this address catering to farmers, agricultural interests and other small businesses. Late in 1931 the Bank of Carthage took over Union Trust assets. In subsequent years, various stores have occupied the first floor, while offices have occupied the second floor. Recently, the second floor was converted to apartment use.

McDaniel Building, 346 South Grant Street

Other late 19th and early 20th century stores occupying this portion of the square's east side were: Deal Drugs, Edel Drugs, W. T. Roach China and Queensware shop, Fitzer's General Store and Francis Variety Store. One of the later twentieth century occupants of this structure was the C &amp; W Cafe (1963 - 1980) later becoming the Gaslight Restaurant. Still visible on an interior wall of #342 is a mural painted by Richard Rhine for the C &amp; W Cafe with the theme of Victorian Carthage and its local trolley system. Once the Gaslight closed, other retail stores were located at these addresses including today's two merchants in the two storefronts.

This building began as several wooden commerical structures constructed in the 1870s and early 1880s. These were destroyed by fire in 1892 and Walter Smith announced construction of two adjacent brick buildings on the site. Early occupants were The When Shoe Store and Smith's own drug store.  An additional building was built next to Smith's structures by Alonzo Parkell for his tailoring company. Multiple stores came and went through the three storefronts and second story offices until Frederick W. Steadley bought all these properties by 1927. A year after his death in 1928, the three buildings were refaced in buff brick for a unified facade and the structure was renamed the Steadley building in honor of the one-time Carthage jeweler, limestone quarry owner, spring bed manufacturer (under name of Carthage Bed Spring Company, later Steadley Manufacturing) and one of the town's largest real estate investors. 

This building in within the Carthage Courthouse Square District of the National Register of Historic Places.


Steadley Building, 336 - 342 Grant Street

For ninety six years, the former Myers and Garland building at this location housed a multitude of businesses. The Carthage limestone facade carried both surnames of its owners Thomas Garland and William Myers (the latter a former Carthage mayor). One popular early occupant at this address was Roach's Queensware and Jewelry Store that sold domestic goods to many Carthage households including a variety of Jasper County Courthouse souvenirs once the courthouse opened in 1895.  By 1960 the building housed the Apartment Hotel and two first floor stores - Brown's Tavern and Ernie Williamson Music Store (1).  Williamson who had acquired the building that year, also operated a music store in Joplin, Missouri. In 1980 the structure became known as the Garland Center when it was re-purposed into several shops and the Belle Starr Restaurant on the third floor. The project was developed by Robert DeBaca, Lowell Davis and Tom Kingsbury. Myrabelle Shirley (aka Belle Starr) lived in Carthage prior to and during part of the Civil War years (her father John Shirley owned most of what is now the northside of the square). The building was occupied by Mostly Books and The Lilly Pad when the fire occurred in 1988. That summer there were two other fires in the downtown district that damaged or destroyed historic commercial buildings. Police vacations were cancelled that summer in order to perform extra patrols of the area until those responsible for the fires were caught (2). Although City Hall is not a historic building, it is located within the Carthage Courthouse Square National Register District (see link posted here). Text for this entry written by Michele Hansford, 2018, Powers Museum Volunteer.

After being located within the Jasper County Courthouse since 1895, the current Carthage City Hall was built after the former Myers and Garland building (built in 1892) and two other adjacent smaller historic buildings were destroyed by fire May 29, 1988. (Note: Myers and Garland names were used interchangeably throughout this structure's history.)

Today's City Hall lobby contains a unique display of ancient Carthage, Tunisia, artifacts from a former sister city relationship in the 1960s. Also on display is a series of works by Carthage artist Andy Thomas comparing ancient Carthage to Carthage, Missouri, during different periods of time. 

Carthage City Hall, 326 Grant Street (former site of Myers-Garland Building, no longer standing)

The First National Bank was established in 1872 by Jesse Thacker, President, and several other board members and operated at this location in a two-story brick building. In 1891, the bank built one of the first large-scale commercial buildings constructed entirely of local limestone. (Grace Episcopal Church at 820 Howard Street was the first all-limestone church structure built in 1890.) After the bank's construction project, the quarrying of local stone escalated and was used for more than just ornamental details on homes and commercial buildings. The structure was designed by Carthage architect C. W. Terry and built by the McNerney Brothers who were contractors and quarry owners. Terry's other designs in Carthage were the 1st National Bank board member Eugene O'Keefe's Cassil Place home on West Central (see Clio entry for Cassil Place), Dr. D. F. Flower's home at 901 Grant and Curtis &amp; Nira Wright's Home at 304 West Macon Street (see Clio entry for this address). The O'Keefe home was moved late in the 20th century to the Precious Moments complex southwest of town but is not open to the public any more. The Flower's home still stands. The Wright home was moved in the late 1980s to Eureka Springs, Arkansas. Terry had worked in Rochester, New York, and Wichita, Kansas, prior to moving to southwest Missouri.  In 1924, 1st National Bank expanded its banking facility south from the original building and erected a four-story commercial structure designed by George Hulin and constructed by J. L. Berkebile. Exterior and interior limestone and marble was provided by the Consolidated Marble and Stone Company of Carthage. It was this set of buildings that Central National Bank took over in 1931. These structures and other historic buildings to the south were torn down for the current structure much to the lament of many Carthage residents at the time and still today. However, the building has started to be noted for its modern exterior (missing original decorative metal screening between the limestone columns) and its almost pristine Mid-century Modern interior.

This corner has been been home to a succession of banks including the current United Missouri Bank (UMB), Central National Bank (CNB), and First National Bank (latter established at this site in 1872).  First National's 1891 building was torn down in 1963, along with other historic commercial buildings to the south, to make way for a new facility for CNB that had bought out 1st National Bank operations in 1931 (CNB formerly located at 149 East Third Street - see Clio entry for that address).

This structure is within the Carthage Courthouse Square Historic District on the National Register of Historic Places. Although this Mid-century Modern building was a non-conforming structure when the district was first added to the National Register, it now is well over fifty years old itself.

Central National Bank Building (former), now United Missouri Bank, 300 South Grant Street

Central National Bank operated on the first floor storefront of this building while the second floor was occupied with professional offices such as the McReynolds law office and the medical office of Dr. Everett Powers. In the latter half of the 20th century, the former bank area was used as the business office of Carthage Water and Electric Plant. Like other buildings on the north side of the square, this structure has more than one storefront. The left one was occupied by various stores including, Foster's Grocery (1884), H. M. Cornell's Agricultural Implement store (1888) and Boston Clothing House (1895). But for parts of three decades at the start of the 20th century, this storefront was devoted to music with Dumars and Gammon Music and L. H. Beck Music Company. It was Charles Dumars' store where James Scott, ragtime music composer and performer, was discovered. Scott would demonstrate any sheet music sold in the store and eventually Dumars heard some of Scott's original compositions and began to publish them. Scott also framed pictures while working for Dumars. A 1975 limestone marker in the sidewalk (in front of the storefront to the left in image) jonors Scott's achievements before moving on to Kansas City.

Central National Bank received its charter July 1, 1890, and opened for business on October 14. Founders were  Dr. Amos H. Caffee [druggist], President; J. P. Newell, Sr., Vice-President; J. E. Lang, cashier. In 1906, the bank put a local limestone stone front on its 1880s brick building and extended the stone around the Grant Street side of the building as it appears today. The interior was remodeled at this time, too. 

On December 11, 1933, the Carthage Evening Press reported that a CWS (Civil Works Service) project would employ 52 women "on the Carthage relief roles (1)." The women were to  make "comforts [bedding] (2)." The factory was located in the Central Bank building at the northeast corner of the square. The paper refers to the building as the "former" bank building and reported that it had been housing Red Cross supplies. 

This building is within the National Register of Historic Places Carthage Courthouse Square Historic District (see link below). Introduction text written by Dr. Megan Bever, Powers Museum Board Member and Missouri Southern State University Professor, summer 2017.

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Central National Bank (former), 149 East Third Street

By the late 1920s, more remodeling was done to this structure to create a totally new storefront for the J. C. Penney store from part of this building and part of the building next door in the Central National Bank structure. This store served the community for many decades. The Front Page store featured in the Google view closed in late 2018. The property currently is being developed into offices, an event center and a fitness center associated with the Fair Acres Y.M.C.A. (see Clio entry for same on south side of town). In 1975 a Carthage limestone marker was added outside the J. C. Penney store in the concrete sidewalk that acknowledges former local resident James Scott, ragtime composer (see Clio entry for former Central National Bank building located next to this property, 149 East Third Street).

Another example of older commercial buildings built in the 19th century being updated in the 20th century with a new "modern" facade treatment. Two 1880s commercial storefronts were united with a new brick facade after a fire in late 1917. The left store was the long-time home to A. B. Deutsch's Clothing Company and the right store was an even older establishment belonging to J. M. Whitsett's Dry Goods Company. Both Deutsch and Whitsett served the public into the 1920s. In 1922 Whitsett claimed to have "shipped the first car load of merchandise ever sent west of Springfield on the new [rail]road." (1) The goods were "bought from Samuel C. Davis, the oldest wholesale dry goods merchant in St. Louis. Carthage was a small town then, but a prosperous and growing one." (2) This was in 1870. His store at the time was at this location but in a frame building.

This structure is within the National Register of Historic Places Carthage Courthouse Square Historic District (see link below).

Deutsch Clothing Co. and Whitsett Clothing Co. (former), 141 East Third Street

Eventually three storefronts were created in the former mercantile space and offices were opened on the second floor. During the remainder of the twentieth century, among the various occupants of these spaces included the following: Reynolds Hardware, Edmiston's Department Store, Wallingford Shoe Company, Barnes Jewelry, and Baird News. In the1980s, the Flatlander Gallery was located here and sold artwork by Carthage artist Lowell Davis, creator of Red Oak II village located northeast of Carthage.  The first floor of the historic front facade was covered in the 1970s but the western wall of the building still exhibits Carthage limestone keystones above the bricked-in windows on the second floor and many Carthage Foundry-made cast iron pillars on the first floor.

This property's early owner, Robert McFarland, sold this parcel in 1851 to John Shirley who eventually owned most of the property that comprised the north side of the square. He operated a hotel and livery stable until he and his family, including daughter Myra Belle Shirley (later known as Belle Starr), left town for Texas during the Civil War. (A marker in the sidewalk further down the block at 119 East 3rd, notes Shirley's ownership of the square's north side.)

R. H. Rose was one of the Carthage's early settlers after the Civil War and opened a dry goods store. His first location was one of the storefronts below the Burlingame & Chaffee Opera House (136 East 4th Street, see Clio entry for address). A few years later, H. G. Damon began construction of a new commercial building across the Carthage square at Third and Main Street and R. H. Rose moved to that location. His store was a large establishment and had over thirty employees.Through good marketing and managing, Rose and son G. A. Rose after him, managed to survive the fierce competition of Carthage dry goods stores (at any one time numbering at least a half a dozen similar stores) and continued operations until the early years of the Depression. 

The building is in the Carthage Courthouse Square National Register Historic District.



Damon Building (former R.H. Rose Mercantile), 101 East Third Street

This building is also known as the Jasper County Courthouse Annex II as seen on the facade. Entrance for other county offices housed on the second floor in this building&nbsp;is found on the back of the building.

Looking to expand its banking facility in 1959, the Board of the Bank of Carthage (301 South Main Street) swapped properties with the heirs and owners of the Caffee Building located across the street to the north. The new Bank of Carthage facility was built in 1960 and featured limestone from Carthage Marble Corporation on its exterior facade and various foreign marbles on the interior that were supplied by Locarni Marble Company. Most notable on the building's southern facade along West Third Street are the round sculptures featuring coins from Carthage, Tunisia. 

This address is within the Carthage Courthouse Historic District on the National Register of Historic Places. 

Bank of Carthage Building #2 (former), now Jasper County Sheriff Office, 231 South Main Street,

When the Bank of Carthage wanted a new facility in the late 1950s, the board of directors exchanged property across the street (see Bank of Carthage #2, 231 South Main Street entry) and built a new building. Gray-Seaver Drug Store that occupied the 231 South Main Street building moved into the old Bank of Carthage Building and operated for many years.  The current business on site, Carthage Deli and Ice Cream, displays many items of Carthage memorabilia and advertising pieces including those related to the Bank of Carthage. Inside the deli visitors also can see early H. E. Williams fluorescent light fixtures in the ceiling that were manufactured up the street when the Williams factory was located in downtown Carthage (see Clio entry for Carthage Shoe Manufacturing, later H. E. Williams Products, 106 South Garrison). The bank structure offered its second floor for professional offices, while the third floor served as the Independent Order of Odd Fellows (I.O.O.F.) lodge hall. The Knights of Pythias, the Grand Army of the Republic, Stanton Post (G.A.R.), the G.A.R. Auxiliary, and many other local organizations have used the hall as well. While the major portion of the first floor was occupied by the Bank of Carthage, two other small storefronts were located on the first floor as well. Among those occupants were various jewelers and shoe stores (Steadley Brothers Jewelers in 1900 and Haight Shoes in 1927, for example). Later occupants included Eaker's Shoe Company and Van Perk's Ladies Wear store. Among the second floor offices in the building over the years was Dr. Everett Powers' second medical office. Many other doctors, lawyers, insurance people and other professionals were located in the second floor offices. Among these were Cecil Miles Insurance, William Wright Insurance and Real Estate, Frieze &amp; Crandall &amp; Crawford Law Office and the Carthage Loan and Investment Company. (The Powers Museum archives holds limited records for the latter along with its Bank of Carthage holdings.)

The Bank of Carthage was established by G. A. Cassil and began in a modest frame building on this site in 1868. The building that stands today was expanded in 1890 from a two story 1884 brick structure into a three story building and much of the facade was refaced at this time, too, especially the main entrance on the corner of the building. Additional exterior and interior alterations happened throughout the 20th century including removing the third floor lodge hall by mid-century.

The bank's of founder was G. A. Cassil but other partners when the bank was started were R. W. Hall, E. W. Harper, M. G. McGregor, D. S. Thomas and John Ruffin. Cassil had arrived in Carthage in 1867 and according to one bank history, before establishing the bank and acquiring a safe, he conducted financial business informally and hid his business resources on the person of his wife and wives of other friends (1).  Bank of Carthage operations originally opened on the east side of the square in the "Variety Store" but soon a lot was purchased on the north west corner of the square and the bank moved there and stayed at 301 South Main Street until 1960.

This structure is included in the Carthage Courthouse Square Historic District of the National Register of Historic Places.



Bank of Carthage Building (former), 301 South Main Street

By 1898 Pollard had Carthage "architect J A Prather draw plans for a substantial addition (2)" to the back end of this building, to serve as a store room for Ramsay Dry Goods Store. Other additions and improvements continued through the years to as Ramsay eventually occupied the entire building and expanded its showrooms.. In 1917 the Ramsay store building underwent a $12,000 remodeling. A "dark brick front, trimmed in Carthage stone (3)" was added, and "an elaborate system of show windows (4)" was installed. The windows were "lighted by the most modern method (5)."  An original sign for the Ramsay store can be found at the left side of the first floor level at a door that gives access to the second floor. Note name of building/store has varied through the years as Ramsay and Ramsay's. Text by Megan Bever, Powers Museum Board Member, summer 2017.

Timothy Regan was a lumberman and real estate developer in Carthage and oversaw several other businesses elsewhere in southwest Missouri. He also was the second mayor of Carthage. One of the earliest and largest buildings built after the Civil War when Carthage was reconstructed, this structure first housed three merchants on the first floor, professional offices and sleeping rooms on the second floor, and a third floor meeting hall used by lodges, churches and other organizations including Jasper County officials for temporary courthouse quarters in the 1870s. Susan B. Anthony presented her lecture "Good Women and Bad Men" in 1875 in Regan's Hall as the third floor was called. Carthage's Post Office was located to the rear of this building in the 1880s when the building was owned and expanded by Timothy's son Samuel. Among early occupants were S. B. Corn's Champion Store (1870s), Yergin &amp; Hurty Drugs (1870s; later just A. M. Hurty in 1880s), Anti-Monopoly Drug Company (1890s-1900s), and "Colonel" John and son William Dent's Grocery Store (1880s). (John Dent was President U. S. Grant's brother-in-law. At John's death in 1889, Mrs. Anna Dent and her son moved away, but years later she returned to Carthage to live until her death in 1932. She is buried in Park Cemetery.) James Luke and Samuel Boggess purchased the building in 1915 and began planning for the removal of the third floor and the refacing of the building to its current appearance but work was not completed until 1921 when the structure was renamed the Center Building. Among the twentieth century merchants at this address were Marks &amp; Milton men's Shop (later Milton's Men's Shop), Murray Drugs (later Murray-Duncan Drugs expanding into two storefronts), Tiger Theatre and Jaffe's Shoe Store. Two major fires in 1936 and 1954 required the reconstruction of this building each time.

Originally built as a three story building in 1868-69 by Timothy Regan, this structure was remodeled (including removal of its third floor) in the second decade of the 20th century and renamed the Center Building because it sat in the middle of the block. This property has always been a mixed use building with storefronts on the first floor, offices and rooms on the second floor, and a large public meeting hall on the third floor (removed in 20th century). 

This location is within the National Register of Historic Places Carthage Courthouse Square Historic District (see link below).

Carthage Courthouse Square Tour (Wards 1 & 2)

Pollard Building #2 (Ramsay Brothers Dry Goods Store, later Ramsay's Department Store), 307 - 315 South Main Street

Introduction

Images

Backstory and Context

Sources

Additional Information