(55) 230 Main Street

"The three-story and basement Hobart House was built in 1867 by Edward Roper. On the third floor was a ballroom. Hotel rooms were on the first and second floors and a kitchen and dining room in the basement. William Jahnke and later C.E. Fraley operated a livery stable on the alley. Later Charles Bradley ran a machine shop in a building along the lake. This building has since been used by Tucker Iron Works and other concerns. In the basement of the Hobart House at one time was a Chinese laundry. Manteuffel also had a saloon here. In the 1920s the Hobart House was no longer a hotel. In the early 1920s Hobart schools were so crowded first grades were taught in these rooms. During the Depression years the township trustee housed welfare families in the building. The building was condemned and razed and Ed Prusiecki built the Art Theatre in 1941."

Images (links open in a new window):
♦ A then-and-now post showing the Hobart House around 1911 and linking to a slightly earlier view.
♦ This undated view of the Hobart House is probably about a decade earlier.
♦ Two side views of the Hobart House, circa 1905 and 1910.
♦ A collection of Hobart House images, mostly dating to the early 20th century.

(56) 232 Main Street

"The small building Mr. Prusiecki uses for his office was built in a walkway space between the theater and Mellon's Insurance office (232 Main St.). Mellon's office was first the Hobart Bank. When the bank moved to the Strattan building Estil Pearson had his law office here. Joseph Mellon opened his real estate and insurance office which was taken over by his son, Byron, and now operated by Byron's son, James."

Images (links open in a new window):
♦ The Mellon insurance office in 1961, 1966 (featuring "Bud" Mellon himself, though I don't know which one is "Bud") and 1988.

(57) 236 Main Street

"The building just south was the Colonial Theater owned by Ed Spencer who sold to Pliny J. Truesdell who sold to H.T. Coons of Chicago, August 19, 1913. The Theater was called "The Gem" until Sam Routes bought it and renamed it "The Strand." In 1913 the program listed three one-reel movies and two acts of vaudeville. Prusieckis took over The Strand in 1939. It is now a saloon. This building and the next one on the corner were built in 1893."

Images (links open in a new window):
♦ A Dash to Death, which came out in 1909, was playing at the theater when this photo (otherwise undated) was taken.
♦ An early-20th-century postcard that takes in the northwest corner of Main and Third.
♦ You can see the Gem Theater with its elegant arched entryway in this undated image at Third and Main Streets, and this 1913 image.