101 Walnut/Gunsmoke Street

We’ll be here forever if I try to tackle this entire building at once. Since Sandy’s Cafe had a cool sign at one point, I thought I would start with the back side of the building.

The 1884 Sanborn Fire Insurance Map shows a wood frame icehouse at the southwest corner of Walnut Street and Railroad (Central) Avenue. This icehouse sat behind George Cox’s livery stable and wasn’t assigned a street number.

Ham Bell’s Elephant Livery took up the entire lot on the 1899 Sanborn. The north end of the building had been assigned an address of 217 Walnut Street and the east side was assigned 606 and 607 Railroad Avenue.

This lot was completely empty by 1905. By 1911, the streets had been renumbered (some renamed) and the lot was assigned addresses of 101 Walnut Street and 509 Central Avenue.

The county website says the current structure was built in 1938, which is impossible. The correct answer is 1915.

George Cochran teamed up with the Kennedy family to build a large reinforced concrete structure to house auto sales and repair as well as a machine shop and event hall. The original plans for the building did not include an opening on the Walnut Street side.

The interior plans changed during the process, however, and the hall became a rooming house to be run by Nate Reese.

The 1918 Sanborn is the first to show the current structure. At this time, the building had street addresses at 101-103 Walnut Street and 100-102 Chestnut Street. You’ll notice the map lists a garage capacity of 90 cars and 8 Pyrene extinguishers. Those were probably products of the Pyrene Manufacturing Company.

This is the earliest photo I’ve found of the building but it only shows the Chestnut Street side. Since we learned in this post the Popular Cafe moved into the Gluck Building across the street in March of 1919, it was taken some time between then and 1923.

George Cochran bought the Kennedys’ half-ownership of the building for about $20,000 in April of 1923. Archie and James Owings and partner T. B. West moved their Buick dealership to the old Kennedy Brothers Garage.

Although “Kennedy Siblings” doesn’t have quite the same ring, it would have been more accurate. Sister Lucille Kennedy was involved in various businesses with her brothers Henry, William, Frank, and Ben until Henry died in May of 1930.

The Owings and West Building was completely remodeled at the beginning of 1930 by Parham Construction at a cost of approximately $15,000. The stucco was replaced by red brick with decorative florets spaced along the exterior. The Dodge City Journal made a fact error in their original reporting, which was corrected below. Harris Sporting Goods Company was next door to the appliance store at 103 Walnut Street.

Though this listing ads little value, I can’t help but include everything I find in The Dog Robber.

The 1932 Sanborn shows the building had been broken up into several different retail spaces.

Holt’s Cafe was located at 101 Walnut Street as early as 1932.

The photo below was taken in April of 1939.

Sometime between 1942 and 1945, the cafe became Miller’s Lunch.

By 1953, the business had been purchased by Howard and Bessie Sanders, who renamed it Sandy’s Cafe. They also owned Sanders Liquor Store. Gwinn Title and Investment Company was located at 103 1/2 Walnut Street.

The cafe was sold to Gene Davis sometime before 1959 and he had an unfortunate incident with an exploding oven.

Davis hung in there, however, and reopened Sandy’s in the same location.

103 1/2 Gunsmoke Street was vacant by 1961, as were several of the upstairs apartments.

This color photo was taken just prior to the demolition of the O’Neal Hotel.

John Schafer bought the restaurant in 1970 and sold all of the old equipment.

Schafer’s Cafe held a liquidation auction in April of 1974.

I’m not completely clear about when the storefronts on Gunsmoke were combined into one space. But they definitely were! The US Army Recruiting office was there from about 1975 until at least the early 1990s.

Muller/Jacobs Computer Services held a grand opening at 103 Gunsmoke in July of 1999.

Nancy Churning had Data Supply of Dodge City on that corner from around 2000 until about 2005 . You can still see a ghost sign on the east door and I’ve included a photo in the slide show below.

The location was home to Fashion Corner from about 2007 to 2012.

Fruteria Laguna Grande is currently located in that spot. Their Facebook page has a bunch of interior photos so you can see how it looks inside. Most of the shots are tight on the food but if you scroll down, you can see the displays and some interior features.

Here’s how the exterior looks now. Some of these pics were obviously taken before the road construction! The gray winter skies were regrettable.

Dodge traditionally had several grocery stores spread out all over downtown and it’s wonderful to see them return. People still live downtown, in case you didn’t know, and it’s awesome to have groceries within walking distance.

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201 West Chestnut Street/Wyatt Earp Boulevard

Dodge City had an opera house at least as early as July of 1878 when the frame building G. M. Hoover constructed for the Dodge City Varieties was remodeled by Ben Springer into a hall suitable for “first-class entertainers.” The popularity waxed and waned over the years and several locations boasted an “opera house,” although that description may have been somewhat exaggerated.

In July of 1879, Chalk Beeson’s orchestra played at the “Fireman’s Fourth” celebration in the New Opera House at the northwest corner of Front Street and First Avenue. Locals most often associate James Kelley with the Opera House, initially because the hall above Beatty and Kelley’s restaurant was used for performances. It opened and closed fairly regularly and Straeter’s Opera House reopened above the restaurant in December of 1881.

The 1884 Sanborn Fire Insurance Map shows a wood frame saloon and opera house at the northwest corner of First Avenue and Front Street. The address at that time was 223 Front Street. In those days, Chestnut Street hosted the back sides of the businesses.

Mysterious Dave (Dave Mathers) operated the saloon back then. For whatever reason, he shot and killed Marshal Thomas Nixon on July 21, 1884. Nixon had shot at Mysterious Dave the week before, but the cause of the dispute remains…a mystery.

Dr. T. L. McCarty planned a new opera house and skating rink on Second Avenue between Walnut and Spruce Streets in early 1885. That was a very good thing because the Beatty and Kelley building burned in November of 1885.

James Kelley hired Weston and Trost to design a beautiful new opera house that would take up the entire parcel with frontage on First Avenue. The door to the upstairs opera house was at the west end of the building on Chestnut Street.

Weston and Trost also designed the Union Block just to the west.

The 1887 Sanborn Map shows a brick opera house taking up the entire west side of First Avenue between Front and Chestnut streets with the stage and scenery at the south end of the second floor. The main floor housed five storefronts from 705 to 709 First Avenue. This was before staggered odd and even street numbers. There were also businesses in the basement rooms.

W. J. Fitzgerald bought the opera house in July of 1898 but it turned out to be a quick flip.

The following month, Fitzgerald sold the building to former Dodge City Mayor, Adolphus Gluck for a modest profit.

Here’s a photo my great-grandmother had in the Beeson Museum collection:

Although the ordinance passed years before, the block was finally renumbered in April of 1909 and the storefronts were found at 401 to 409 First Avenue. The 1911 Sanborn shows both the old and new street numbers.

In February of 1912, Gluck hired an architect to make some design changes which included plans for a new roof. Before those plans could be finalized, the building burned to the ground. An explosion occurred in the early morning hours of March 10, 1912 and witnesses reported seeing the roof of the building blown several feet in the air.

Gluck hired architect Reuel A Curtis to design the new building that summer. Kansas building codes had changed and new opera houses were prohibited above the ground floor. Gluck believed that Dodge could no longer support a dedicated opera house so he instructed Curtis to design a commercial building instead.

However, Gluck abandoned his original plans in October of 1912 when it was determined that the west wall of the building, which was the only one remaining, couldn’t handle the load of the new structure in addition to supporting Carrie Bainbridge’s building next door to the west. Gluck immediately put up For Sale signs on the lot.

Ultimately, the opera house replacement was designed to rest on a steel framework rather than on the walls and the For Sale signs were removed.

L. L. Taylor leased the northeast corner for his offices in September of 1913. This was the same spot he occupied prior to the fire. Hiram T Burr and Walter L Bullock followed in October.

The Santa Fe Railroad offices moved to Gluck’s building in March 1914 and occupied 15 rooms on the second floor.

The Bedell and Son Jewelry store moved to the spot at 203 West Chestnut Street in April of 1914.

H. W. O’Neal opened the Past-Time Barber Shop and Confectionery at 403 First Avenue in June of 1914.

Ross King and Jack Thomas opened the King-Thomas Tailoring Company at 201 West Chestnut Street the same month.

Frank Bangs bought the Bedell jewelry store in January of 1915. His brother, Ross, moved to Dodge to manage the store.

Bangs and Company went on to operate several locations in Kansas.

In October of 1915, the King-Thomas Tailoring Company became The Fashion Shop. Frank Finklestein took Ross King’s place in the partnership.

The Fashion Shop was sold in July of 1916 and it became the Sample Clothing Company.

Jack Thomas continued his tailoring and dry cleaning business in another location. Sample Clothing Company was owned by J. B. Fractman and managed by W. B. Appell. The new store opened on July 22, 1916.

The barber shop changed hands a couple times and expanded to include a smoke shop with billiards and snacks.

William Warshaw of Kansas City arrived in Dodge in March of 1917 when he purchased the Sample Clothing Company. Appell continued managing the store, which reopened under new management on March 17, 1917.

The 1918 Sanborn is the earliest available online to show the new fireproof building.

Around May of 1919, Sample Clothing Company became Warshaw’s Clothing Store.

Taylor and Millikan had moved to the Cochran Building at Central and Chestnut by 1920. The smoke/barber shop continued its revolving door of owners and was refinished in white enamel in 1920.

The Amy Supply Store moved to the corner space at 401 First Avenue in 1923.

The 1926 Sanborn shows an added street address of 202 Front Street. In the post card below it looks like there’s a door at the west end along Front Street which could possibly coincide with that number.

Warshaw’s moved to the corner of Second Avenue and Walnut Street in October of 1930. Dodge City Music Company moved into their old space at 201 West Chestnut Street.

The 1932 Sanborn shows a couple awnings had been added along First Avenue and Front Street.

By 1937, the spot at 201 West Chestnut was occupied by the Lore China Shop but I was unable to find any additional details. At some point, the second floor was remodeled into apartments.

In this post card from around 1938, you can see the building hadn’t changed much.

Argus Natural Gas Company occupied the spot at 201 W Chestnut by 1942. At that time, it appeared the storefronts on First Avenue were both vacant.

By 1947, Farm Electric Supply Corporation was located at 401 First Avenue and the Club Bar was next door at 403. Argus Natural Gas had become People’s Natural Gas.

Ross Bangs died in 1951 followed by Frank in 1952. Frank’s son was Frank Simrall Bangs and he continued the family business.

By 1953, Howard and Bessie Sanders had opened Sanders Liquor Store at 401 First Avenue. 201 West Chestnut became home to Securities Acceptance Corporation and that’s where my grandmother, Ann (Hemphill) Holladay, worked in 1954.

The apartments upstairs were occupied into the mid-1950s. By 1955, Earl Kay had bought the liquor store and renamed it Kay’s Liquor Store.

Bangs and Co. closed sometime between 1957 and 1959 after operating more than 40 years in the same location.

Remember that little door on the Front Street side? That space was also turned into an apartment and a residential listing popped up in 1959. John J Cox bought the liquor store around 1960 and it became known as Cox Retail Liquor Store.

The former Bangs location was vacant until George King, Jr. opened King’s Boys Wear around 1961. By that time, the upstairs apartments and the apartment on the Front Street side were vacant.

The neighborhood was becoming very seedy and by 1967, the King’s Boys Wear location at what was then 203 West Wyatt Earp Boulevard was vacant, as was the former liquor store spot at 401 First Avenue. The Club Bar Tavern was still holding on, however. The name of the loan company had changed to Associates Finance Company and it was still operating at 201 West Wyatt Earp.

You know what happened next…progress.

The photos below were taken just prior to demolition. The doorway in the middle of First Avenue still looked like something special, even with the building in such a sorry state.

This is how the opera house lot looks today from what would have been the Chestnut Street view:

Pretty much everyone from Dodge hates what happened to downtown during Urban Renewal. The good news is we seem to have learned from our mistakes. I’ve been walking around downtown a lot lately and there aren’t very many vacant storefronts. Remember when your grandparents told you to take care of what you have if you want it to last? It appears the message has finally been received.

If you like what you see, be sure to subscribe (way at the bottom of the post on mobile devices) to receive an email each time a new post is published and share on social media. You can also buy me a cup of coffee using the donation form. Thanks for reading!