212 West Chestnut Street / Wyatt Earp Boulevard

Goddard’s was a Dodge City institution and I was shocked when it closed. I was also shocked to find out what the building actually looked like once that horrible metal siding was removed. It’s true…I do reject much of modernity.

Because of its historic location, I wondered what had been in that spot before Goddard’s. The county website shows the current building was constructed in 1909. I’m no expert but I don’t see how that can be possible. It just looks very frail. I’m sure the bricks were damaged by the siding but they really look old and worn down, especially when you compare them to the Mosher & Cochran building to the west, which received a new brick veneer after the Bee Hive was sold.

When I started looking at the Sanborn Fire Insurance Maps, I had to remind myself that this block was renumbered a few times. For context, the 1884 Sanborn shows a wood frame dwelling with an address of 305 Chestnut.

Former Chalk Beeson business partner and postmaster James A Arment had a paint shop in the future Goddard’s location that burned in December of 1885.

By 1887, there was a brick building in that spot that was numbered 301 Chestnut. At that time, there was a drug store and a jewelry store on the main floor with offices above. After studying every map available, I’m saying the structure was built between 1886 and 1887 and would love it if one of you could fact check my amateur assessment.

The real estate office of E. T. Brockman and Co. moved into an upstairs office in April of 1887 and the jeweler referenced on the map was H. J. Dunlap. The architectural firm of Weston & Manning occupied Room 4.

Cash O Waring and his family moved to Dodge from Cardington, Ohio in 1888 and their shoe store was initially called J. B. Waring and Son. They apparently had a giant boot outside their store that was painted bright red.

Dr. S. Jay Crumbine’s office was located above the shoe store beginning in May of 1891.

J. B. Waring’s health wasn’t great and Cash took over a few years before his father died from “sugar diabetes.”

The 1892 Sanborn shows “B & S” on the main floor and offices above still with an address of 301 Chestnut and the 1899 map showed the same. It wasn’t until I started reviewing the newspapers that I realized the maps were saying “Boots!” and “Shoes!”

I noticed an interesting detail on the 1905 map. There is a notation near the northwest corner of the building that it was “badly cracked.”

The Waring and Miller families were related by marriage and William B Miller joined the store as a junior partner.

The 1911 map shows both the old address of 301 Chestnut and the new/current number of 212 West Chestnut, still home to “B & S.”

Will Miller sold his interest in the store in January of 1914 and moved his family to San Diego. Three months later, Cash Waring put his house on the market. Waring sold the business to J. P. Holbert in May of 1914. Actually, Waring traded the store and his residence for Holbert’s place in California.

Hardin Ebey’s law office was located above the shoe store in 1916 along with the Fashion Shop, which did cleaning, pressing, and tailoring. Leave it to our good friend, Frank Locke, to save the day.

J. P. Holbert sold the shoe store stock in October of 1916 and Southwest National Bank opened at 212 West Chestnut Street on November 20. Fixtures from the old Kansas State Bank building were purchased and moved into this new location. As an aside, the Holbert affair was quite interesting. He also sold his house and everything in it so he could take his family on a tour of the western US for a few months before resettling in California.

Interestingly, B. F. Zimmerman (the O. G.) was Assistant Cashier at Southwest National Bank prior to accepting the same job at the Kansas State Bank, which later became Fidelity State Bank and Trust Company. Fidelity currently owns the building we’re studying. It’s a small town, y’all.

Numerous articles about these changes listed the address as 214 Chestnut but none of the early maps or directories show this address ever existing. Troy Robinson’s former photo studio directly to the west has 214 on the door. I believe Troy wrote about the weirdness of the addresses for the first floor of that building being on Second Avenue but the upper floor is assigned to Wyatt Earp Boulevard because of the side door.

The 1918 Sanborn shows a bank on the main floor with a sign painting business (Dodge City Sign Works) above. The bank later moved to the corner of Second Avenue and Chestnut Street. The Hub Clothing Store, which had been around forever, moved into the bank’s old spot in July of 1918.

A. G. Triplett (manager for several years) and Earl Gardner of Salina purchased The Hub in September of 1919. After a fire at the previous location in the Gwinner Building, Aikin’s Studio began occupying the entire second floor in January of 1920.

Earl Gardner died in March of 1924 and William H Gardner assumed his spot in the partnership. Triplett sold his interest in The Hub to Gardner and R. D. Barekman (Gardner’s son-in-law) in February of 1925. A. L. Lyon bought into the business in August of 1925.

A fire which originated in the furnace room caused smoke damage to their entire stock in 1926, which appeared to be the end of The Hub Clothing Co. The 1926 Sanborn simply shows a store at the location. By 1928, the space was home to Miller Clothing Co.

In January of 1931, The Pollock, Mapel & Beck Shoe Company was formed with $7,000 of capital by John Pollock and his son-in-law, Frank Mapel. Their shoe store was located at 212 W Chestnut Street but they had previously operated a grocery store in Greensburg.

I’m finally able to share an item of interest from The Dog Robber! Lee Lippmann was previously manager of Levinson’s Ladies Ready to Wear and Shoes at 502 N Second Avenue. Levinson’s was a small Kansas chain that started in El Dorado. This will be relevant later.

I never did see anything about the Beck referenced in the company name. Perhaps the Beck was silent.

Regardless, the shoe store remained in the same location until at least 1937.

So back to Lee Lippmann. He worked at Levinson’s as early as 1930 and his wife, Jeannette, also worked there. Herman Levinson died in August of 1939 and the 1940 Federal Census shows Lee Lippmann owned a ready-to-wear ladies store so I’m guessing Levinson’s became Lippmann’s at that time. Mrs. Levinson initially put out a statement regarding the Hutchinson store saying operations would continue after Herman’s death but that location was sold within a year or two. Jeannette was the buyer for the Lippmann’s store.

I’ve read in a couple places that Earl Goddard bought Lippmann’s Ladies Ready to Wear in 1945 but I also found ads for Lippmann’s from 1947 to 1949. It’s entirely possible that the name was changed later and I do know the Lippmanns relocated to Baltimore.

I started seeing directory listings for Goddard’s in 1950 and the newly released Federal Census from that year does show Earl Goddard owning a clothing store.

Apologies for the crappy angle on this one but you can see the Goddard’s sign on the left where the metal storefronts begin.

Earl Goddard died in 1997 and his wife, Sue, died in 2002. Their daughter, Carolyn, ran the store until it closed around 2005. From what I can recall, there hasn’t been a retail store in this location since. The display windows usually contain tourist information and exhibits.

Here’s a photo I took of the store a while back. You can still see the Goddard lowercase logos in the storefront.

I would love to know the story behind those art deco-esque accents and how anyone would consider covering them up with metal. These old buildings need to be allowed to show their age.

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