(Click on images to enlarge)
At top is the Hobart House circa 1911; below is the Art Theatre, built on the site in 1941.
The Hobart House was built in 1870. It operated as a hotel and restaurant, with a banquet room; it also had a ballroom on the third floor. Behind it was a livery stable (partially visible in this circa-1910 photo) to accommodate travelers' horses. It ceased to operate as a hotel in 1918 and became a community building. Weekly dances were held in the ballroom; the banquet room was available for rental; other rooms were rented to businesses. In 1927, the tenants included Axel Strom's tailoring shop and Amlong's Restaurant.
The Hobart House building was torn down in 1940, and the Art Theatre built on the site in 1941.
In the basement of a building just south of the Art Theater, was an even older movie theater that showed silent films. My mother, Josephine Adams, played the piano to accompany the movies.
ReplyDeleteInteresting! Was that the Fiester Building on the NW corner of Third and Main? The pamphlet "Hobart's Historic Buildings" by Elin B. Christianson says that a series of movie houses operated in that building, including the Colonial, the Gem and the Strand.
ReplyDeleteI'm looking at what may be the same Christianson info you have. She describes the theaters as being just next to the Fiester building. A beauty shop is in the corner building now and a tavern where the theaters were.
ReplyDeleteI guess I was confused about what Christianson meant by the "236 store front." The picture in the pamphlet makes it look like one big building with several different entrances.
ReplyDeleteI'm going to have to take a better look next time I'm in downtown Hobart.
Supposedly my grandfather, Charles Lee had his plumbing shop in the basement of the Hobart House, but I can never find any reference to it. It was named Lee and Rhodes Plumbing and Heating. Ever see any reference to this business in your research?
ReplyDeleteJanice -- Well, I see in my notes that the Hobart Gazette of November 2, 1939, carried a story about the Hobart House being condemned as a fire trap, and it mentioned that one of the tenants was a plumbing shop in the basement. If the story included the name of that business, I didn't make a note of it. I will have to remember to check that story again next time I'm at the library.
ReplyDeleteThat would be the right time period.
ReplyDeleteMy grandfather would have been 64 in 1939--maybe he retired after he closed the shop. I only know Rhodes as "Dusty" Rhodes. (What a surprise!)
Family legend is that Charles Lee and Dusty Rhodes were returning to Hobart and were a bit tipsy and ran into the newly erected stop light installed at Third and Main. Don't know if it's true, but it's a good story!
As I keep reading the microfilm, I may come across the story about the stoplight! If I do, I'll put it in the blog. That's going to be a while, though, because I'm only at 1911 right now and I think stoplights are well in the future. (I don't know what I was doing in a 1939 newspaper -- looking for something else, I guess, and happened across the Hobart House story.)
ReplyDeleteThe 1930 census of Hobart shows a George A. Rhodes who gives his occupation as plumber. I'll keep an eye on the papers and may find out if George = "Dusty."
Charles' eldest son Frederick Lee died in 1911--he was killed by a train according to my Dad--a common occurrence in NW Indiana. He is buried in Crown Hill Cemetery.
ReplyDeleteDo you suppose Hobart's newspapers will ever be put online, maybe through Ancestry.com like Valpo's? I'm in Oregon now--microfilm just doesn't cut it!
I'm continually amazed by the number of railroad fatalities in that era.
ReplyDeleteThe Hobart Historical Society is just beginning to look into digitizing their microfilmed newspaper collection. At their meeting last Saturday, they decided to proceed with getting estimates for the work. They don't have a website yet, but they are thinking about that possibility too. If the website ever goes forward, it may include the digitized newspapers. So basically I don't know when or how the Hobart papers will become available in digital form, but I hope it isn't too many more years. I'm going to do whatever I can towards getting it done. Microfilm is hard to work with even when you only have to drive six miles down the road to get it.
That's good news! My great grandfather died in Delaware Cty--the Muncie Public Libary has a fantastic website.
ReplyDeleteThanks so much for the Then and Now pics--I absolutely love them!
I didn't see any photos of the brick schoolhouse in Ainsworth. Any reason you haven't posted one?
I haven't posted any photos of the brick schoolhouse because I haven't found any yet, which is pretty strange considering I've found several of the old wooden schoolhouse.
ReplyDelete