954 G Street

Address: 954 G Street

Legal Description: Lot 85 West 1/2

Building: Woodworth Building

1872 Vacant Lot

1882 J. H. Dempster advertised the first door east of the Putnam House. Mrs. Dempster ran a bakery here.

1883 In January, J. H. Dempster announced that he and his brother, James A. were going into business together, Dempster Bros. at 972 G.

1883 In March, C. E. Lewis moved into the building occupied by J. H. Dempster and started a bakery.

1883 In June, C. E. Lewis, of the Geneva Restaurant and Bakery advertised warm meals at all hours and boarders taken at reasonable rates.

1883 In September, D. W. Harwood rented the building next to the Kellogg House and opened a bakery business.

1883 Harwood furnished warm meals at all hours of the day to boarders and furnished a limited number with sleep accommodations.

1884 Harwood added a confectionery in connection with his bakery.

1884 David. M. Flora (Flory) of Logansport, Indiana and a relative of the deputy county clerk Francis M. Flory, opened a news stand in front of Harwood’s Bakery and Restaurant. He sold the latest and most popular periodicals. He also purchased a peanut roaster and served hot peanuts.

1884 In April, D. M. Flory closed out his stock and retired from business.

1884 D. W. Harwood retired and left for David City.

1885 In February, the Cash Store, J. A. Dempster and Stewart, were the successors to Dempster Bros. They carried dry goods, carpets, and clothing, hats, caps, boots and shoes, and groceries.

1886 In June the firm of Dempster & Stewart was dissolved. Mr. Stewart took his stock to Strang. Mr. Dempster started a new gent’s clothing store in Geneva at this location.

1886 In November, F. G. Limback moved his stock of drugs and medicine to J. H. Dempster’s store.

1886 In November, Frank Held was in the employ of J. H. Dempster.

1887 In August, J. A. Dempster moved the building occupied by J. H. Dempster and F. G. Limbeck to the lot north of the Republican office at 129 No. 10th.

1892 The Sanborn Maps showed an empty lot here.

1892 Lou S. Fiegenbaum sold west ½ of lot 85 to Anna S. Dworak.

1894 Anna Dworak sold the east 21’ of the West ½ of Lot 85 to E. B. Woodworth and J. B. Sexton. They intended to erect a brick building on the lot between Alexander & Webb’s meat market and the Fillmore house.

1895 J. B. Sexton and wife deeded their interest in this lot to Frances Woodworth.

1895 W. I. Carson was assisted by his son, W. H. Carson

1898 The W. I. Carson and Byron Mershon stores were entered by burglars. Tools taken from Shuster’s blacksmith shop were used to break in.

1901 In February, W. I. Carson took a lease of the storeroom occupied by Mohrman & Arends at 966 G. He moved as soon as Mohrman & Arends vacated the building.

1901 In February, Flora Houchin moved her millinery and art store into the building.

1901 In August, E. B. Woodworth and wife Frances contracted with H. H. Martin to begin construction of a one story brick building on this property. The building was to be 80’ deep on their lot located between the Fillmore Hotel building and Alexander & Webb’s butcher shop.

1901 In October, W. I. Carson moved his grocery stock into the new Woodworth building.

1897 Sanborn Maps indicate a general merchandise store was located here.

1897 In March, the Thompson Bros. Co. leased the room recently vacated by Mr. Carson for The Farmers Exchange Store.

1902 The Sanborn Maps showed a general merchandise store here.

1902 In February, Thompson Bros. of the Farmers Exchange Store sold their stock of shoes, groceries and other staples to L. J. Dittmar and W. H. Sisler who remained at the same location under the name Dittmar & Sisler. They employed J. C. Bender to be in charge of the shoe repair department.

1905 The Geneva State Bank used the building while their new one was being built.

1906 In January, Manning and C. E. Hyde arranged to use the Woodworth building for a newsstand and bakery.

1906 In February, Dittmar & Sisler moved to the new Geiselman building at 884 G Street.

1906 The space was then occupied by the Kelly restaurant. The Kelly restaurant was to move into the Goodrich building as soon as it was vacated by the Geneva State Bank.

1906 E. C. McPherren recently moved back to Geneva from Iowa and opened a real estate office in the Woodworth building over the Kelly restaurant.

1906 In May, M. W. Dinneen opened a new restaurant in the Woodworth building, first door east of Spear & Co.

1908 In October, The Woodworth building occupied by A. W. Phillips Racket store was damaged as a result of the fire that destroyed the Fillmore Hotel building.

1909 The Sanborn maps showed this property as vacant.

1909 In March, the A. W. Phillips Racket store sold their entire stock at auction. Theinhart & Nutter of Seneca, Nebraska traded western land for the store. In April, the remnants of the store were packed up and shipped to Seneca.

1909 The Sanborn maps showed this property as vacant.

1909 In July, Jack B. Strong opened a bakery in the Woodworth building recently occupied by the Racket store. Jack returned to Geneva from running a bakery in Mankato, KS. (In 1906 his bakery on south 10th burned.)

1911 In December, Jack Strong quit the bakery business and stored his equipment in the old laundry building.

1912 In January, A. Butler & Co. moved their grocery store here, a new location in the Strong’s Bakery building.

1912 Also in January, P. H. Kuhl’s men’s furnishings was located at Butler’s grocery store. Mr. Kuhl’s stock of clothing was turned over to a company representing his creditors in a bankruptcy proceeding. The stock of P. H. Kuhl was purchased by the Globe Clothing Co. and was closed out in a special sale.

1912 In March, P. H. Kuhl was back in business with tailored-to-measure suits located at Butler’s grocery store.

1912 In June, E. H. Vawter & Co. moved their racket/variety store here, the east side of the room occupied by A. Butler & Co. They were previously located at 974 G, but that room was leased by a man from the northern part of the state who intended to open a shoe store (R. H. Holbrook of Creighton, Nebraska).

1912 In July, Mr. Kuhl stated that his headquarters were at Butler’s store.

1914 A fire broke out in the store room shared by Vawter’s stock on the east side of the room and Butler’s stock on the west side of the same room. As a consequence of the fire, Mr. Butler auctioned off the remainder of his stock and fixtures and retired from the grocery business. Vawter & Co. moved their belongings out of the building so that the damage caused by the fire could be repaired by the building owner, Mrs. E. B. Woodworth.

1914 E. H. Vawter & Co. moved their racket store stock to Shickley. As they had bought considerable quantities of holiday goods, they were anxious to get their stock back on sale without delay. The family also moved to Shickley.

1915 Edward Taborsky moved his hardware stock into the Woodworth building in the east block. He had much better quarters and more space.

1917 E. Taborsky purchased the stock of A. W. Moon hardware. The two stocks were consolidated and a special sale was held at Taborsky’s old stand.

1919 In June, Edward Taborsky traded his hardware store to Henry Gewecke for a farm east of Hebron and another in Colorado.

1919 Just a week or so later, Henry Gewecke traded his stock of hardware to L. E. Willard of Alexandria for real estate.

1919 In July L. E. Willard had a special stock reducing sale at Willard Hardware. In the same edition of the newspaper he had another advertisement about the same sale calling his business Farmers Mercantile Co., L. E. Willard Manager.

1920 In October, the stock of merchandise, formerly the Taborsky stock that was being operated as the Farmers Mercantile Co., L. E. Willard as manager was sold. F. B. Mitchell and F. J. Armstrong of Thayer County traded land for the stock.

1920 In November, Mitchell & Armstrong sold the stock to J. C. Goodbrod of Utica.

1920 In December, J. C. Goodbrod had a big closing out sale.

1921 In January, J. C. Goodbrod sold his hardware stock and business to Mr. L. Norval Pearce of Osceola.

1921 L. Norval Pearce Hardware, located first door east of the picture show, sold all of their stock. The building had been rented and they were forced to vacate the property by June 4. Mr. and Mrs. Pearce moved to Denver.

1921 William Ralston bought the building from E. B. Woodworth and moved his photograph studio here. It was located one door east of the Grand Theater.

1922 The Sanborn Maps showed a photography studio here.

1929 William Ralston sold the business building which he occupied with his photography studio to Fred Picard. Mr. Ralston expected to move to some other location and continue his business. Mr. Picard was not ready to announce what the building would be used for.

1930 In January, William Ralston sold his photo gallery to G. W. Godding, formerly of Fairbury. Mr. Ralston purchased a studio in Nevada, Missouri.

1930 Fred P. Picard sold the building in the east business block that had been used for a number of years as a photograph studio to W. P. Hourigan. Mr. Hourigan still had his business in the W. L. Spear building leased for another year. “He may eventually remodel the structure to accommodate his restaurant.” February 11, 1930

1930 G. W. Godding who had set up a photography studio here was having a removal sale. G. W. Godding who purchased the Ralston Studio purchased a studio in Fairbury.

1930 In November, the rooms formerly used by the Ralston Studio were being used by the Geneva American Legion post and auxiliary as their headquarters. This location gave them the advantage of a first floor place for their meetings, room for entertainment and was also centrally located.

1930 In November, Eduard Davis of Wilber opened a photographic studio in the building previously occupied by the Ralston Studio.

1931 The Maryland Café, operated by W. P. (Stub) and Mabel Hourigan, relocated here from 860 G Street.

1933 The Sanborn Maps showed a store here.

1941 The Maryland Café was closed indefinitely because of Mr. Hourigan’s poor health and also because of the shortage of help.

1943 Mr. and Mrs. W. P. Hourigan sold the Maryland Café to Mrs. And Mrs. J. A. Hoffman of Chicago.

1943 The Sanborn maps showed a restaurant here.

1944 The Maryland Café was reopened by new owners, Jim and Loretta Willy.

1948 The Maryland Café had new owners, Mr. and Mrs. Ralph Kinder and Mr. and Mrs. Woodrow Kinder.

1950 Hazel Hiatt took over the Maryland Café.

1957 Leo Rush took over the operation of the Maryland Café.

1959 Earl Jacox moved the Vogue Clothing/ Jacox Jewelry business to this location from the building west of the Rialto Theater at 942 G Street.

1966 In March, while at this location, Earl Jacox filed an application to the Nebraska State Department of Banking for a license to lend money. The Jacox’s conducted this business as First Credit Co.

1968 The Vogue Clothing/Jacox Jewelry store moved to the west business block at 860 G Street.

1968 Vaughn Fulton of Gambles/Fulton Furniture purchased the building and moved carpet and window coverings into this area.

1994 Vaughn Fulton closed the doors of Fulton Furniture after 47 years of business. This building housed Gambles paint department along with housewares.

2007 Gambles carpet and window coverings were here.

2012 Gambles built a new building at 1121 G and changed their name to Geneva Home Center.

2012 NAPA Auto Parts used the building.

This was ongoing as of the last posting.