Quick Facts

NPS Description

122-124 (126) South Main Street. Neff and Keenan Building, 1903. 

Contributing 

Description

One of the more unique buildings in downtown Mt. Pleasant, this two-story retail/mixed use building has a 44 foot frontage on South Main Street. The east façade is a highly inventive design that freely uses large-scale elements of Classical derivation. The red brick upper façade is divided into three bays with a single arched window in the center flanked by tripartite, almost Palladian windows. The brick piers that outline each window have rock-faced stone trim blocks at the base and smooth-faced stone trim blocks at the top. The center window is flanked by Ionic metal columns that are carried on oversized rock-faced stone blocks and support the outer corners of the smooth-faced stone blocks at the top. The piers and columns support a Classical entablature consisting of a plain frieze and a slightly projecting cornice with a dentil course below. The entablature spans the flanking openings of the tripartite windows and serves as the impost for the oversized brick arches above each arched window. Each brick arch features an oversized stone keystone with decorative cap and is outlined with a double line of molded brick. The curves of the stone arches are echoed in panels of decorative sawtooth brickwork in the upper portion of the façade, and the façade is capped by a series of stone blocks and metal sunburst square medallions at the cornice line. The second-story windows are aluminum double-hung replacements. The center arched opening has been infilled with wood paneling, as have the transoms above the double-hung windows. The arched transoms of the two tripartite windows have been replaced with two-paned aluminum replacement windows. 

The storefront is painted brick, covered on the transom and north side with vertical board wood panels. The center entry features limestone Ionic columns resting on rock-faced stone blocks and supporting a stone entablature and oversized brick arch with stone keystone (similar to the arches on the second floor) spanning the recessed entry. The retail storefronts to either side are aluminum and glass and there is a recessed side entry at the north end of the storefront. 

The west (rear) elevation is of red brick that is painted on the first floor. Arched second-floor window openings with stone sills are filled in. Four out of the six arched openings have rectangular vinyl double-hung replacement windows inset. The first-floor arched door openings are infilled and have replacement doors. The arched window openings on the first floor are infilled as well. No other elevation is visible due to adjoining buildings. 

History 

This block was built in 1903 and was a joint project of Jacob Neff and the grocers Keenan and Sons. Keenan and Sons had opened their meat and canned goods business in 1893 and built a brick block at this location during that year. Jacob Neff, a native of Lorain County, Ohio, made his fortune in the lumber business before moving to Mt. Pleasant in 1891 to deal in real estate. In early 1903, Neff and the Keenans demolished the market and Wood’s restaurant to commence building the new structure, which was completed in late 1903, with Keenan and Son’s occupying the south half and P. Corey Taylor in the north half, where it had moved from 110 South Main). A 1904 photograph shows the installation of Mt. Pleasant’s first concrete sidewalk in front of this building. By 1910 the grocery remained in the south half but a dry goods store was located in the north storefront. City directories list at 122 (the north storefront) the following businesses: Mead’s Barber Shop, 1934-36, Gamble Stores, 1939-1962, no listings to 1986, and the Hobby Shop from 1986 to the 1990s. 124 South Main apparently was used up to the early 1930s for the upper tenants, but disappears after that. Tenants in the south half (126) included Keenan and Sons to 1940, Maxim Dry Cleaners in the 1940s, Water Shoe Store, ca. 1950s to 1976, the Hobby Shop, 1976-1984), and the Little Dickens Book Shoppe, 1986-early 1990s. By 1997 the Hobby Shop had taken over most of the storefront. It currently houses Edward Jones Investments and the Upper Cut Salon. *as of 2014

Integrity Analysis 

Early photographs show this building with a large projecting cornice that was divided in the center. The cornice remained in place into the 1950s. In 1997 the building was severely damaged by a fire that also affected the Brass Café and Saloon next door at 128 South Main and Ace Hardware at 120 and 118 South Main. The city issued a permit for demolition of the building, but instead the owners decided to salvage the exterior and reconstruct the interior. Although the original brick façade with decorative brickwork and stone trim remains today, the cornice is gone and the windows and storefronts have been altered. 

Sources 

Isabella County Enterprise, January 23, 1903; February 27, 1903; August 7, 1903; and November 6, 1903. 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.