201 W Water Street

It wasn’t long ago that I learned Dodge City once had a Nash dealership. What can I say? It was before my time. Imagine my surprise when I dug a little deeper and learned we had several Nash dealerships, going all the way back to 1919.

Homer W (Jack) Voorhies of Kansas City moved to Dodge in the Spring of 1917 and opened the Dodge City Auto Top and Painting Company at 109 W Chestnut Street. In the beginning, it was simply a small repair shop. Voorhies moved to Second and Maple the following year. By September of 1919, Voorhies had secured the Nash agency for Ford and Gray Counties.

In July of 1920, Deacon Godfrey, Jr. and Clarence Yuncker bought the machine shop and auto repair portions of the business. Voorhies retained the Nash dealership as well as the painting and trimming departments. Godfrey bought out Yuncker in January of 1921 and later acquired the Nash dealership as well.

C. R. Hill began selling Nash autos around 1932.

Hill’s dealership occupied the former Parkhurst Motors building at 405 W Chestnut Street until around 1939, when he relocated to 92 N 2nd Avenue.

If the 1942 directory is to be believed, Hill moved his Nash dealership again, this time to 50 N 2nd Avenue where Carquest is today.

Perry Kirkhart and Roy Mace announced they were building a new Nash dealership at First Avenue and Water Street in early 1946.

Dodge City Nash Co. held its grand opening on November 2 of that year.

This photo appears to have been taken between 1947 and 1953, based on other businesses included in the set. Unfortunately, Uncle Red didn’t include any notes on the backs.

I’m just not sure about this styling, you guys. It seems a little extra.

I am not certain when G. M. Bailes bought the dealership from Roy Mace but it appears Bailes sold it to Melvin Dawson and Robert Burns in October of 1952.

Nash merged with Hudson Motor Car Company to create American Motors Corporation in 1954.

A fire caused significant damage to the Nash building in July of 1955. It apparently started when gas which was being drained from an old car ignited. Eleven cars were damaged, including one in Fred’s Body Shop at the south end of the building.

The building at First and Water became vacant and Flint Motor Company at 205 N 2nd Avenue became the Hudson, Nash, and Rambler dealership. The last Nash automobile was manufactured in 1957.

By 1959, 201 Water Street was occupied by the Frank Epp Chevy-Olds Body Shop and Davis-Salsbury Floor Covering also used part of the building for storage. The Epp dealership occupied the former Hill Nash space at 50 N 2nd Avenue, making the body shop only about a block away.

In 1960, the Epp body shop began sharing the building with the State Grain Inspection Department. That arrangement continued as the dealership became Hudiburg-Smith Chevy Olds around 1964 and Dave Gambill Chevrolet around 1967.

By 1971, the Grain Inspection Department shared the building with Hamilton Roofing Company.

The grain inspectors were the sole occupants by 1973 and they vacated the building around 1982. It was listed as vacant for some time but it was probably used as storage for several years.

The windows were all boarded up for quite a while but there were signs of life around 2009, when it looks like it was once again used as an auto repair shop. The north end of the building has been occupied by Fruteria Rosales since at least 2021 and the shop area is still being used by mechanics. El Pollo Feliz has a truck and smoker set up in the parking lot on the west side of the building.

Apologies for the terrible lighting but this is how the building looks now:

The lady who was taking photos of me with the flash on was right to be suspicious. I’m clearly up to no good.

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 support my work by donating below. This content is 100% funded by history fanatics such as yourself. Thanks for reading!

Some of you have requested additional donation options. If you would like to send a direct donation, you can now do so by clicking here.