Tuesday, April 26, 2016

Hobart Harmony House

Here is the southwest corner of the intersection of 7th and Lincoln, in 1970:

Henry and Anna Harms house in Hobart.
(Click on images to enlarge)
First two images in this post courtesy of Eldon Harms.


Henry and Anna Harms house in Hobart.

As we can tell from the signs, this was the Hobart Harmony House Conservatory of Music. Here is a listing for that business in a 1962 Hobart directory:

Hobart Harmony House ad

The house had been built long before, however, on a farmer's town lot, and for many years was the home of Henry (Sr.) and Johanna Harms.

How long before, I do not know, but I did find this intriguing item in the "Local Drifts" of the Hobart Gazette of Nov. 15, 1901: "Paul Newman is building a brick foundation for Henry Harmes' new house that will be built next spring just west of Main street and south of the 'J' railroad." If the Harmses had previously built a house on that lot, you would expect that item to describe the new house as being next to the present house. Early in March 1902, the Gazette mentioned that the house was nearing completion, and the Harmses planning to move into it soon.

The 1901-02 house is no longer standing. The house that now occupies that corner was built in 1970, according to the county records, so perhaps the two photos above show the old Harms house in its last days.

The second house from the corner was built in 1925, per the county records. That one, I believe, the Harmses built so that they could live in one and rent out the other … but I haven't got that far in my newspaper reading yet.

The records give 1918 as the building date of the third house from the corner; that's the one that Fred and Mayme (Harms) Harney moved into in July 1920.

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As for the Hobart Harmony House, I don't know much about it, except that if you went there seeking to learn to play the bagpipes, you were out of luck.

7 comments:

Suzi E. said...

During the 1950's and maybe late 40's the building on that site was a little grocery store. I think the owner's name was Furtek, not sure of exact spelling. I want to say the outside was dark in color, either brick or dark shingles, and there were steps in the front. Bought a lot of penny candy there, as it was in walking distance of my Grandma's house!

Anonymous said...

After the whip factory was gone, the Jewel Tea company put up the building just across the doughboy triangle sometime in the mid 50s that would have put Purtek's store under. In the same timeframe, A & P Tea company put up a store the same size on the bend of third street, just west of the trolley barns by the bridge.
I think the A&P gave up about 68, the Jewel went just a few years longer.

Anonymous said...

Suzi, if your brother is a carpenter who built the shop class house on Lincoln St, now in Portage, I look forward to being back...

Suzi E. said...

I do remember "picking" the Jewel construction site for pop bottles to take across the triangle to turn them into the store for the refund. Banana flavored Popsicles were a fave, too. I do have a brother who is a carpenter!

Eva said...

I remember both A & P and Jewel quite well, for some reason I frequently have dreams about shopping at Jewel! At A & P, though, I remember being embarrassed waiting for my mother grinding what I believed to be "poor people's coffee" back then - 8 O'Clock brand! Boy did I have a lot to learn!

Unknown said...

Is this house still there at this location?

Unknown said...

My Mother worked for the Hobart Harmony House back in 1968 till at least 1974 or1975. I took accordion lessons there. My Mom was the person who called homes and offered 6 weeks of free lessons for children. After the house had a fire in 1970 she started working from home for George & Eunice Phoram.