Quick Facts

NPS Description

114-118 South Main Street. Johnson Brothers Shoe Store, 1893. 

Contributing 

Description

Commercial Late Victorian two-story brick retail/mixed use building with a 44 foot frontage on South Main Street. The upper façade is brick painted different colors in the separate halves. The building is capped by a brick parapet with a raised center section containing a plaque displaying the number 89 (it appears this once read “1893” but the 1 and 3 are now missing). Pedestals top the ends of the center step and the building. Below the parapet is a cornice with modillions and below that brick corbelling. The second-floor windows on 114 South Main Street are replacement double-hung aluminum windows with stone trim above the bricked in original arched upper part of the window openings. The windows on 118 South Main Street are sliding aluminum windows with panels under the sill, rectangular panels above, and arched panel transoms with stone trim at the top. A rusticated stone string course separates the second floor from the first floor storefront. The storefront on 114 South Main Street has an aluminum and glass recessed entry with a wood panel transom. 118 South Main Street has an aluminum and glass storefront with a glass panel transom and rosettes above. A metal door with transom separates the two storefronts and leads to the second floor. 

The west (rear) elevation is of red replacement brick. 114 South Main Street’s second-floor windows are wood double hung windows while the second-floor windows of 118 South Main Street are double-hung aluminum replacements. Two glass block windows are centered on the west elevation first floor between the two points of entry from the back. No other elevation is visible due to adjoining buildings. 

History 

This building was constructed in 1893 on the site of two previous one-story frame buildings. It originally housed the Johnson Brothers Shoe and Clothing Store, founded in Mt. Pleasant in 1885. The Johnson Brothers store remained in the north side of the building until the mid-1950s. That side was then occupied by Mutual Savings and Loan (1960-1972), and the Book Mark (1973-1987); it remains a used book store. The south side was occupied by a furniture store in the 1890s and then H. H. Hunter’s bazaar shop from 1897 to 1908, when R. C. Damman purchased and continued the business. Other tenants of the building, either in the storefront or the upstairs offices, included Crapo Realty (ca. 1925-34), Leonard Donohue (ca. 1925-1936), the Michigan Hospital and Medical Society (1945-50), Scott and Son’s Hardware, 1941-1958, the Gambles Store (with the adjoining 120 South Main building), and Ace Hardware (1970s to present). *as of 2014

Integrity Analysis 

The building retained its original appearance into the 1940s, including the cornice, the original arched double-hung wood windows on both sides (with transoms), and the storefronts. A 1940s image shows the 118 side with a center recessed entry that extends all the way to the top of the transom. A “Johnson Shoes” sign is visible at 114 and a “Cut Rate Hardware” signt at 118. A large transom is still visible over the 118 storefront into the 1950s. Building department records note the replacement of the second-floor windows at 114 occurred in 1967, and a new storefront was installed in 1973. The upstairs was converted to apartments in 1967. The south side of the building (118) was heavily damaged by a fire in 1997 that began in the 122-126 South Main building to the south, spread to 120 (which housed half of the hardware store), and into 118. Repairs were carried out in 1998. 

Sources 

Sanborn Fire Insurance Maps (Mt. Pleasant: 1884, 1890, 1895, 1900, 1910, 1924, 1931, 1950); Mt. Pleasant City Directories, 1925-1998; Past and Present of Isabella County, 1911; City of Mt. Pleasant Building Permits; historic photographs.