"On the corner Vossberg's Clothing Store with residences upstairs was once Cully Swanson's General Store. John Fiester succeeded Swanson here and also ran a bowling alley and pool parlor in the basement. Then it was a drugstore and proprietors were McComber, Penneman, Mr. and Mrs. Dyche, Badanish and Scholl. Dr. Brink and later Dr. Ader, then Dr. Kraft had offices upstairs. In the rear was a building Leon Calvert used for his tin shop."Images (links open in a new window):
♦ A circa-1907 view of this building from the west side of Lake George.
♦ Evidently Dr. Gordon also had an office upstairs in this building around 1909.
♦ An early-20th-century postcard that takes in the northwest corner of Main and Third.
♦ A circa-1940 view of Main Street that includes this building.
♦ Two posts with side views of the 238 Main Street building.
♦ Around 1898, this building was occupied by the general merchandise establishment of Fiester & Killigrew.
♦ 238 Main Street housed the Fiester Ice Cream Parlor when this circa-1917 image was photographed.
♦ Dyche's Drugstore appears in this undated image at Third and Main Streets; here it is again in 1947, as a parade celebrating Hobart's centennial turns onto Third Street from Main. (Remodeling work on this building in September 2013 brought to light once again the old "Dyche Drug Co." sign on its façade.)
♦ Inside Main Drugs in 1968.
♦ This photo of the Rexall Drugstore is undated, but that car down on Third Street is a 1971 Buick LeSabre.
"Next was a little frame building where the Hobart Gazette was published for so many years. These buildings were razed and Jacob Ittel built a warehouse-type building and Consumers Chain grocery (later to be called Kroger's) moved from across the street to Ittel's building around 1940. When Krogers left, Vossbergs moved their clothing store from the west side of Main and just recently traded locations with Scholl Pharmacy."
"Strattan's Opera House, a two-story building, was built by George Stocker in 1876 and sold to B.W. Strattan. On the second floor was a theater with a stage, seating area that could be converted to a ballroom, and a balcony. At one time a superstructure was used to store scenery so it could be rapidly pulled up and down. Hobart was to Chicago what Philadelphia was to New York. Plays were tried out in Hobart before being put on in Chicago theaters. In 1923-24 Hobart High School used the theater as a basketball court. Many exhibitions and dances were held here before it was condemned. The second floor on Main Street front once housed the Hobart telephone exchange. Offices were used by various concerns — Strom's Tailor Shop (300 Main St.), Findling's Insurance Office, Calumet Finance and JP office. Other rooms were residences. Hobart Art Guild is now upstairs. The Hobart Bank was moved to the corner room on the first floor. Stocker and Strattan both operated general merchandise stores in first floor rooms. The A&P Store was here at one time, also Mundell's Flower Shop and a pool hall. Hobart Hardware now uses all the first floor. Rexall Drug Store once used the middle store and the third room on the east has been an ice cream parlor, bakery and newspaper store. Vossberg's Clothing also occupied the middle store at one time."