1004 G Street
Also formerly known as Court Street
Address: 1004 G Street
Legal Description: Lot 89 West ½
Building: Martin Building
DATE State of Nebraska sold Lot 89 to Fred Heiderstadt.
DATE Fred Heiderstadt sold Lot 89 to H. H. Martin.
1878 H. H. Martin had a carriage and wagon factory.
1882 H. H. Martin had a carpenter shop and Nick Longly’s wagon shop.
1885 T. L. Williams had a shop here at the corner of Court and Main Streets, over Martin’s carpenter shop. He painted and specialized in house, sign and ornamental painting.
1891 H. H. Martin leased Lot 89 to E. M. Billings.
1891 H. H. Martin raised the building standing on the corner of his lot, put in a glass front, put in a new floor, new siding and new foundation.
1891 In August, Mr. Young moved the Racket Store to the Martin building.
1891 In September, Mrs. E. A. Young opened a millinery goods store.
1891 In October, Grand Opening of the Millinery Goods at the Racket Store.
1891 In August, G. H. Palmer had clothing here.
1892 Sanborn Maps indicate there was a 2 story frame building on this lot. The first floor was occupied by Bartz & Son’s boot and shoe store. The second floor front was used by Mr. G. H. Palmer for his tailor business. S. S. Walker had a paint shop on the second floor at the back of the building.
1892 In April, Mr. Bartz rented the Martin building at the corner of Court and Main. He opened an exclusive boot and shoe store.
1892 In November, the Martin building on the corner of Court and Main Streets was destroyed by fire. No information as to where any of the tenants of the building relocated their businesses after the fire. The lower story was occupied by W. A. Bartz shoe store. The second story was occupied by G. H. Palmer, merchant tailor. All was a total loss.
1892 In December, H. H. Martin removed the wreck of his building on the corner of Court and Main Streets, and planned to start the erection of a large brick block as soon as the weather would permit.
1893 In February, H. H. Martin finished his business house on the corner opposite the Jameson Hotel. The building was 24 x 48 and was finished up in good style. Mr. Martin showed some of his former vigor in completing this building in two weeks. Sprague & VanNice occupied it with their stock of groceries. They moved here from the Jameson block.
1893 In March, Sprague & VanNice dissolved their partnership by mutual consent. H. A. VanNice purchased his partner’s interest and continued to operate the business.
1893 In May, C. Glass opened up a stock of notions at the Corner Grocery. In the same issue of the newspaper, the New York Store was advertising notions for sale. Their business was located opposite the Jameson Hotel. It is probable that C. Glass was the proprietor of the New York Store. The last advertisement found in the newspaper was November.
1896 Corner Grocery was located here, H. H. Martin, proprietor.
1896 Lot 89 was sold on sheriff’s sale to George Simpson.
1897 Sanborn Map records show the building was a one-story frame building. It was occupied by a grocery store.
1897 The Corner Grocery of VanNice & Morrow appeared in advertisement. Apparently H. A. VanNice had taken on a new partner, his brother-in-law S. F. Morrow.
1901 George Simpson and wife sold Lot 89 to Louis W. Thompson.
1902 Sanborn Map records show no change to the building and it was still occupied by a grocery store.
1902 In April, the firm of H. Albert Van Nice & Stanley Morrow was dissolved by mutual consent. The business was sold and both partners retired.
1902 In April, Van Nice & Morrow sold the Corner Grocery to Frank D. Crawford and Clyde Propst. They operated the business under the firm name of Crawford & Propst.
1902 In July, Crawford & Propst dissolved their partnership. Frank D. Crawford sold his interest in the Corner Grocery to his partner Clyde Propst. Mr. Propst continued the business at the same stand. Mr. Crawford relocated to Salt Lake City.
1903 Corner Grocery was located here, C. A, Propst, proprietor
1903 In November, J. W. James purchased the Corner Grocery from C. A. Propst. He named it J. W. James’ Cash Store, but there were also advertisements still using Corner Grocery.
1904 In April, J. W. James sold his Corner Grocery stock to J. H. Novak. Mr. Novak was a resident of Western, but moved his family to Geneva. They resided in the residence once occupied by Mr. James. Mr. James expected to leave the city, but had not announced further plans.
1904 In May, J. H. Novak & Co. moved their stock of groceries from the room occupied by the Corner Grocery to the room in the Brown annex three doors south of the fire bell and opposite the city scales (116 No. 9th).
1904 In May, L. W. Thompson of the Corner Grocery, announced he was “In Business Again!” He was to have a brand new stock of groceries, notions, fruit and confectionery.
1905 In November, the Thompson Grocery was purchased by E. T. Puleston and his brothers, J. S. and W. H. Puleston from Madison township. They paid $1,300.00 for the business and good will. The building remained the property of Mr. Thompson. The name of the business was changed to Puleston Bros.
1906 The Puleston Bros. rented the room adjoining their store formerly occupied by W. T. Thomas. They sublet the front of the building to Al Ewalt who moved his plumbing business from Matt Youngers building. The Puleston Bros. cut a door into the rear of the room and used the room for storage. This gave them the entire space in their old store for the display of goods.
1907 In February, the Puleston Bros. grocery sold their stock of goods back to L. W. Thompson. Mr. Thompson owned the building. The Puleston brothers had not made definitive plans, but contemplated removing to Colorado. M. V. King assisted Mr. Thompson in the store.
1908 Thompson Grocery was under the management of A. E. Weber for a considerable amount of time. Mr. and Mrs. Thompson were going to Arkansas for the benefit of Mrs. Thompson’s health.
1909 Sanborn Maps indicate the building was still a one-story frame structure occupied by a grocery store.
1912 Bailey’s Quality Grocery, F. S. Bailey proprietor, took charge in April.
1914 In December, F. S. Bailey sold an interest in his grocery store to Ivan Ertel. The firm name was to be Bailey & Ertel. Although several advertisements in the paper were run as Bailey & Ertel, the partly completed sale was declared off and Mr. Ertel did not become a partner in the business.
1916 The Corner Grocery, owned by L. W. Thompson, but occupied for several years by F. S. Bailey, decided to build a modern brick store room to replace the old frame building. The new structure was to be 24 x 70 with a full basement. The old frame building was moved west into the street and then to the rear of the lot.
1918 Bailey’s Cash Grocery and Meat Market, Frank S. Bailey, proprietor.
1918 Bailey’s was closed several days in order to prepare for opening the business as a self-service groceteria.
1919 In October, Bailey's advertised that they were selling fresh milk and cream from the Geneva Dairy.
1919 L. W. Thompson sold the old store building that formerly stood on the corner to Grant Otis. Mr. Otis tore the building down and used the lumber to construct a residence on north Main street.
1922 Sanborn Maps showed that the building was brick.
1922 In November, Bailery Grocery began selling milk from the Sole Dairy because the Geneva Dairy went out of business.
DATE Louis W. Thompson sold the north 102 feet of Lot 89 to Standard Oil Company.
1925 Louis W. Thompson died January 15, 1925 at Denver Colorado. He was buried in the Geneva Cemetery.
1925 The estate of L. W. Thompson sold Lot 89 to J. J. Lightbody.
1925 There was a sale held at the north front door in the courthouse about the brick building occupied by the Bailey Grocery store and the Ashton Produce station.
1926 The frame building that was on the east side of Bailey’s grocery was no more. The space was ready for the construction of the addition to the grocery store building that J. J. Lightbody built and that Mr. Bailey would occupy as soon as it was completed.
1929 Bailey Grocery was closed and Mr. Bailey retired. The stock of groceries and store fixtures were offered for sale at auction.
1931 F. L. Blankenship was stocking his groceries in the room formerly occupied by the Bailey grocery. The east end of the room had been partitioned for the use of Mrs. Iva Tharp who moved her café into the new space (1008 G Street). Frank Murphy was the carpenter doing the remodeling.
1932 Blankenship’s sold their stock of groceries to Lynn Ellsworth. The store was called the Korner Kash grocery store.
1933 Sanborn maps showed a one story brick structure on lot 89. It showed that the east side of the room was partitioned off to create another store.
1933 Korner Kash Grocery was located here. The proprietor was Lynn Ellsworth.
1934 Lynn Ellswoth, proprietor of the Korner Kash Grocery, died of typhoid fever.
1934 Ray Willy and Fred Underwood purchased the Korner Kash grocery stock from Mrs. Lynn Ellsworth. They named the store the Public Market. Mr. Underwood previously ran the butcher shop in the Korner Kash building.
1935 Richard Smith of Lushton, purchased the grocery department of the Public Market from Ray Willy and Fred Underwood. Willy & Underwood continued to operate the meat department of the Public Market. They found they could not handle the business in both departments, so they disposed of the grocery department. Mr. Smith was connected with a grocery store at Lushton for twenty years. He was a brother-in-law of Iryl and Paul Shaner.
1943 Sanborn Map records showed the structure was unchanged since 1933.
1962 Smith Public Market celebrated 27 years in business. Richard Smith and Richard Smith Jr. were the proprietors.
1963 Richard Smith Sr., retired and moved to York.
1964 Andrews Electric relocated their business from the Gambles back room to the former location of Smith Public Market. They had a stock of new, used and rebuilt electric motors. They also had a full line of high quality electrical supplies.
1966 Andrews Electric moved their business from G Street to the building formerly occupied by Bob & Jerry’s OK Tire Store at 905 F Street.
1966 Coast-to-Coast, Mr. and Mrs. Milford Scarlett proprietors, moved their store to this location from 854 G Street. Coast to Coast got a new store front.
1973 Milford and Josephine Scarlett sold the Coast-to-Coast store to Gary and Carol Gorton and retired.
1986 The Coast-to-Coast store was changed to Gorton’s True Value Hardware.
1991 Gorton’s True Value Hardware had a quitting business sale. Carol’s Upholstery continued business at this location.
1993 In November, Carol Gorton closed her business in Geneva. Carol and her husband Gary moved to Superior, Nebraska.
1994 The Gorton’s sold the property located on Lots 89-90 to Dr. Nancy Dob. She named her business Mid America Vision Center. The business was moved here from 141 North 9th Street.
This was ongoing as of the last posting.