700 N Second Avenue
Do you ever look at a building and wonder why it looks the way it does? Same! And in case you haven’t noticed, the Modern Movement isn’t my cup of tea. So, imagine my surprise when I discovered this building is a surviving victim of Urban Renewal.
The lot at the northeast corner of Second Avenue and Spruce Street was empty until the Baptist Church was built there in the 1890s. The 1899 Sanborn Fire Insurance Map shows the Baptist Church on that corner with a couple frame dwellings to the east along Spruce.
The church lot plus the two lots at the east end of the property were sold to Harry A Hart in the Summer of 1929 and the church was moved off-site. The First Baptist congregation met in the Junior High Auditorium until their building at 1310 N Second Avenue was ready.
Plans were announced in September of 1930 for a nine-story, 128-room hotel on this corner. The hotel entrance would be on Spruce with storefronts along Second.
Clearly, those ambitious plans never materialized. Instead, the 1932 Sanborn shows a tiny structure positioned diagonally on that corner.
In the 1930s, 700 Second Avenue was home to Coney Island Cafe, not to be confused with the Coney Island Lunch, which was located at 201 Second Avenue. By the end of 1939, the building was vacant.
The McLellan Stores Company was founded by William McLellan in 1917. McLellan’s had moved into Kansas by 1921 with a discount store model similar to Duckwall’s. A new McLellan’s location at Second and Spruce was operational by the Spring of 1942.
In 1958, the McLellan Stores Company merged with McCrory Stores and the new McCrory-McLellan Stores Corporation continued operating in Kansas. Aside from heavy management turnover, the store maintained a consistent presence in Dodge City until the mid-1960s. Many stores closed around this time and the Dodge location was vacant by 1967.
By now, you may be wondering what this has to do with Urban Renewal. Scores of business owners were forced to decide whether to relocate or cease operations when the decision was made to destroy downtown. Occupying the old Post Office at Second and Wyatt Earp was Sam’s Shoe Store.
Sam Allen chose to relocate. He settled on the vacant building a couple blocks north at Second and Spruce. The old McLellan’s store was remodeled extensively, with the windows along Spruce infilled with brick. The original façade was replaced with a rounded metal slipcover. When the renovation was completed, Sam’s Shoe Store occupied the south storefront with House of Fabrics on the north side. By 1980, chiropodist Glenn A Shipe had also moved into the building.
After Sam’s retirement, sons Jim and Virgil Allen assumed management of the store, incorporating in 1984. Sam’s Shoe Store, Inc. was dissolved on February 24, 2014.
Since Sam’s closed, the building has had a series of tenants with confusing signage on the windows, which are often dark. That rounded slipcover remains.
These photos have been taken over the past couple years:
Everyone loved Sam’s so I’m trying to be gentle here. That metal slipcover needs to be drop-kicked off the edge of the Earth. Since the renovated exterior has passed the 50-year mark, it is eligible to be reassessed as a contributing structure in the Downtown Historic District. That sounds wonderful when you think about grant opportunities, but it also means that slipcover could be here to stay.
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Once again Anna, you have helped to conjure up several remembrances of my youth while growing up in Dodge City. While shopping at McClellens with my grandmother Downey, I remember seeing the lever action rifle that fired a cork attached by a string . It wasn’t Ralphie’s Red Rider BB-gun as in the movie “The Christmas Story” but to me, just as desirable. Once I saw that cork gun I believed my life would be complete. YES, the phrase “YOU’LL SHOOT YOUR EYE OUT” and was told I couldn’t have it. (In reality, I most likely would have used it on my older mean brothers who always picked on me.) Convinced I would never get that gun I resolved that I would just receive the customary underwear and socks. LOW and behold on that Christmas, I got that lever action gun but the cork originally attached by string had already been removed. A few years later,
McClennen’s was the go-to place for a 10-year-old boy to purchase Christmas gifts. I remember purchasing my mother’s favorite perfume (at least what she told us boys) – “Evening in Paris” with its distinctive cobalt blue bottle.
I’m glad you enjoyed it. Thanks so much for reading!
Is this the same Jewish owned Mclellan’s that had a synagogue over the shop?
Thanks for your help, Michael Brasky
If there was ever a synagogue in Dodge City, it was very much under the radar. I’ve never seen any mention of one.
I thought more about your question am wondering if it’s Levinson’s Ladies Ready to Wear (later Lippmann’s). That building had a proper second floor with plenty of space. Depending on the era, they may not have publicized services being held.