Reeves Building Then and Now

210 Walnut / Gunsmoke Street

At the risk of making this weird, I must admit I’m a bit obsessed with this building. The decorative accents are understated and it’s just a symmetrical little gem. I always assumed it was built by Albert B Reeves but I was wrong.

There wasn’t much going on at Lot 13 in the early days. The 1887 Sanborn Fire Insurance Map shows a tin shop in the middle of the 200 block of Walnut Street. The alley separating Lots 12 and 13 hadn’t yet been established.

That tin shop was vacant by 1892 and the frame building had disappeared by 1905. The 1918 Sanborn shows the street numbers had been standardized and the alley had been marked. Lot 13 was still vacant at that time.

Riley Reeves, whose given name was Darius Norris Reeves, previously had a butcher shop right around the corner at what was then 606 Second Avenue. Construction of the building at 210 Walnut Street was underway in September of 1925. Interestingly, Reeves never intended to occupy the building himself. It was always meant to be a rental property.

The 1926 Sanborn was the first to show the current brick structure, which had a wooden awning at that time. Maddens Tailors occupied 210 Walnut for most of 1926. Richards Paint and Paper Company of Salina then leased the Reeves Building in December of that year.

Riley Reeves moved to Wichita not long after construction was completed. He owned property in Dodge for several years afterward but I’m not certain when the building was sold. Regardless, this building was a paint and wallpaper store for ages.

Rogers Paint Products, Inc. was formed in Kansas on May 29, 1935 as Detroit White Lead Works. This ad from 1947 shows how the company name was beginning its transition. The 1947 directory listed the business as Rogers Paint Products and it appears the Richards corporation was dissolved in the process.

You can see the Acme Paint sign in this parade photo from 1958. This was when the street name was changed from Walnut to Gunsmoke Street.

I believe the longtime manager referenced in the July 1961 ad was Fred Swart.

Rogers was later technically merged out of existence in March of 1968 in a deal with Acme Quality Paints from Michigan. Acme was a division of Sherwin Williams and in those days, Dodge had several paint stores. Sometime after 1973, our cute little building stopped being one of them.

By 1980, 210 Gunsmoke Street was home to Carousel Gift Shop. You’ll recall it was also the south entrance for Dodge City Office Equipment. After heavy snow damaged the roof of the building on Second Avenue, customers were directed to the Gunsmoke entrance.

The building went up for auction in 1995.

After it was sold, 210 Gunsmoke was home to a variety of businesses including a prominent attorney. I’ve been told he actually lived in the upstairs apartment for a while. It has also been an insurance agency, a nonprofit, and a bail bonds company.

Here are some photos I took a little over a year ago:

And these are from last week:

The owner of the Reeves Building has done quite a bit of work and it’s in really great shape. You can take a look at the upstairs apartment by checking out the Airbnb listing. If you see a strange person staring intently at the building while walking down Gunsmoke, don’t be alarmed…it’s just me.

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