|
|
Albert W. Gregg and John
F. Ackerman opened the Hoosier Store in 1901 in a small building on
the northeast corner of Sixth and Main Streets. Just next to it was
the Phillips Theatre, which had been a theater since before the Civil
War.
In 1910 a young merchant
named John F. Bartel bought into the Hoosier Store. That same year
the partners bought part of the theater, which had closed in 1908,
and expanded the business into that building.
|
Hoosier Store after expanding into
the old Phillips Theater
From the Evening Item, 1912 |
The new Hoosier Store under construction
in 1927. |
|
John's
son, Emmett, graduated from Richmond High School in 1908 and
moved to Chicago for his training, for a time working at famed
Marshall Field & Co. department store. In 1913, he returned
to Richmond and joined his father at the Hoosier Store. In
the years that followed the Bartels bought out the remaining
partners and became owners of the business.
In 1927, the Bartels
decided to tear down the existing building and build an entirely
new steel and reinforced concrete structure in its place.
|
|
|
The Hoosier Store
became a three generation company when Emmett's son, Clayton,
joined the business. |
Bartel’s
ad in the 1956 Sesquicentennial program and Clayton Bartel,
who was the president of the Sesquicentennial Committee. He
is sporting the facial hair that men were encouraged to grow
during the celebration. |
|
Bartel's Hoosier
Store was a center of downtown activity. Unfortunately, it was
located directly across the street from the massive 1968 explosion
and sustained considerable damage.
John had died in 1947, and Clayton
was in poor health, so Emmett decided not to reopen the Hoosier
Store. Years later he said it was one of the hardest things
he ever had to do. |
|
|
The building was renovated into
an office building and renamed the 600 Building. In 1973 its owner,
Leo Weiss, gave it a new exterior of white onyx with accenting
green marble columns. |
|