(59) 301 – 305 Main Street (southeast corner of Main and Third Streets)

"George Stocker built most of the buildings in the 300 block of Main Street. The building on this corner was erected in 1888. It housed the First State Bank when it was organized in 1899. Scheidt and Keilman's "Bee Hive" was in the south room. They also had a front on Third Street. The First State Bank was closed in 1929 and Gary National Bank opened a Hobart branch here. When they built on the old mill site, Lincoln Loan opened offices. Now Knight Coin & Stamp (301 Main St.) uses the rooms. Dr. Weisjahn had a dental office upstairs. Now the upstairs rooms are residences. Where Scheidt and Keilman had the Bee Hive, a restaurant later opened. Marshall Parry moved his "Royal Blue" store here from Third Street. Leonard Blair succeeded Parry in the grocery business and Hobart Fetterer followed Blair. Later a shoe store and a carpet store were here. And it is now the Craft Corner."

Images (links open in a new window):
♦ The "Stocker block" circa 1898.
♦ An undated photo of the First State Bank and the Bee Hive.
♦ A couple views of this corner from around 1919 and 1908.
♦ The Royal Blue Stores sign is partially blocked by the hat of the guy driving the car in this parade photo. (Photo undated, but judging by the fashions I'd guess, roughly, early 1930s.)
♦ A circa-1940 view of Main Street that includes this corner.
♦ An undated photo showing the H.C. Tabbert Shoe Store at 305 Main, and Jake Kramer's saloon(?) in the north side of the building. Another undated photo of the Tabbert shoe store looks like the same location.
♦ Inside the Carpet Cottage, 305 Main Street, in 1971 and 1972.
♦ The Craft Corner display window in 1980; two interior shots of the Craft Corner in 1979.