(37) Southwest corner, Center and Front Streets

"This corner once boasted a small store or trading post. When George Earle came to the locality to establish the town of Hobart he bought all the land nearby, built a log house and, with Henry Sylvester Smith, a sawmill. In 1847, he built a grist mill on the site now occupied by Gary National Bank (66 Main St.). Another Earle building was Earle's Art Gallery, built in 1858. St. Bridget's purchased this for their first church in 1874. This area, block 35 and 36 on the town plat, was called 'Earle's Reserve.'"

Images (links open in a new window):
♦ The Catholic parsonage, previously the home of the Augustus Wood family, stood on this corner before the present St. Bridget Church (image undated, but probably circa 1907-1912).

(41) Northwest corner of Main and Front Streets

"This is known as the Hobart Mill site. Here George Earle, who had come from England to the Liverpool area, built a grist mill, damming Deep River to form Lake George. He moved his interests to the Hobart locale including the federal post office. Liverpool is in the western part of Hobart and part of it north in Hobart Township. The mill passed through a number of ownerships. In the 1880s William Ballantyne owned it and other owners were Roper and Brown, Frank Brown, and Lake County Co-op. After the mill burned in 1953, the Gary National Bank (66 Main St.) bought the property and built a branch office. A plaque memorializes the site."

Images (links open in a new window):
♦ The old mill on a postcard postmarked 1908.
♦ Cows grazing near the old mill in 1909.
♦ A set of undated images of the old mill, ranging (as best I can judge) from near the turn of the century to perhaps the early 1950s.
♦ A then-and-now post with a circa-1939 view of the old mill.
♦ The mill circa 1940 and 1945.
♦ The mill and its associated buildings circa 1947, when it was owned by the Lake County Farm Bureau Co-op; and here you will find a few details about the mill buildings, by someone who worked there in the 1940s.
♦ This picture of the "old mill" ran in a newspaper shortly before the opening of Hobart's centennial festivities in 1947.
♦ In this view of the dam from Lake George (postcard postmarked 1949), the mill building is at the right edge of the picture, partially cut off.
♦ The still-smoldering ruins of the old mill in February 1953, and a commemorative postcard printed the same year.
♦ Two photos of the construction of the Gary National Bank at 66 Main circa 1954: looking north from Front Street and looking east toward Main Street.
♦ The Gary National Bank in 1965; inside the bank in 1975.

(54) 216 – 220 Main Street

"Frame homes were razed when the Ben Ack Building was erected in the 1920s. All of Downtown Hobart was once owned by Chief Ben Ack of the Potawatomi Indians. This area was one of the floats awarded him when the U.S. Government purchased Northwest Indiana from the Potawatomi in the 1832 Treaty of Tippecanoe. Most of his land was bought by George Earle. The second story of the Ben Ack building is apartments, three stores make up the first floor. These stores have been occupied by various businesses. NIPSCO's first business office used one, Dick Wheaton sold TVs before he moved to Third Street. An auto agency, a chicken franchise, a newspaper store, Mundell's Flower Shop (1940-1947) (218 Main St.), a realty office and a children's wear shop were briefly here. Now Henri's Dress Shop (216 Main St.) has two rooms, and Nawrocki's Hobart Liquor Store the third (220 Main St.)."

Images (links open in a new window):
♦ In this 1913 photo, you can see a frame building just north of the Hobart House that may be one of the "frame homes" razed to make room for the Ben Ack building.
♦ In July 1947, the Ben Ack building housed Mundell's Flower Shop and the Jack & Jill Juvenile Shoppe.
♦ This 1957 street scene catches an oblique view of the Ben Ack building (with the Coca-Cola sign).
♦ Apparently the chicken franchise alluded to above was Chicken Delight.
♦ Henri's, at 216 Main, in 1964 and 1970; inside Henri's in 1971.
♦ By 1984 Henri's was out and the Brickie Photo Center was in at 216 Main.

(66) 339 – 341 Main Street

"Next was a two-story brick building put up by the Earle family. This was purchased by Attorney Ray Kostbade and remodeled to one story. Mrs. Charles Lee and Mrs. George Watkins had a restaurant here. Dr. Richard L. Mayer has his offices (341 Main St.) in the building with Abbott's Restaurant (339 Main St.) on the east side."

Images (links open in a new window):
♦ The caption of this photo gives the address of the Stevens Bakery and Lunch Room as "about 335 Main," but the building resembles the one that later housed the Christian Science Reading Room (see below in this list). The photo is undated, but judging by the women's fashions, I'd guess it to be just after the turn of the 20th century. This photo of the same location appears to be a few years later (1. Mate Stevens; 2. Irene Stevens; 3. Willard Stevens; 4. Cora Ragen (Mrs. Louis Maybaum); 5. Harriet Stevens; 6. Edith Busse; and 7. Lena Busse.)
♦ I have no information on the bakery/restaurant operated by O.J. Coppins, but, once again, the building it occupies resembles the Christian Science Reading Room (below), so I'm provisionally placing it here. Don't ask me why the Tabbert shoe store is next door. (Photo undated and I'm tired of guessing.)
♦ Handwritten notes on the original of this photo identify its subject as the "Christian Science Reading Room on Main Street" (undated; by general appearances I'm guessing, roughly, circa 1930). I suspect the photo shows the original two-story building at this location, but for the moment that's only a guess and further research is needed.
♦ A couple street scenes that happened to catch oblique views of Abbott's Restaurant in 1965 — from the north and from the south — and if you look carefully in this photo, you can see the Abbott's sign circa 1969. Abbott's neon window sign made it onto this site (scroll to the bottom of the page).
♦ Interior shots of Abbott's: the staff and owners in 1966; Sarah and John Abbott in 1968.

(78) 405 Main Street

"Odd Fellows Hall was built on land donated by the Earle family. In storerooms downstairs various businesses have been — Calvert and Ittel's Hardware, Hobart Hatchery, furniture store, an appliance store and now a craft shop. In the one-story part was there the Hobart News was printed. Mrs. Sohn had a dress shop here and the Hobart Herald had offices around 1953. Kentucky Fried Chicken was here and now it is Ginter Realty (405 Main St.)."

Images (links open in a new window):
♦ At left in the background of this parade scene is Waldo S. Liechty's hatchery, 401 S. Main (the photo is not dated, but the clothing worn by the marchers suggests to me that it was taken during the 1947 centennial festivities).
♦ A photo of the Loyalty Day parade, April 28, 1968, shows 401 Main occupied by the Everhardt appliance store, 405 Main by Ginter Realty, and the second floor housing the Independent Order of Odd Fellows.
♦ Ginter Realty in 1973; inside the office in 1972.
♦ Hobart Furniture occupied 401 S. Main in 1983.