๐๐ฟ๐ผ๐บ ๐๐ผ๐๐๐ ๐๐ผ โ๐๐น๐ผ๐ฐ๐ธโ: ๐ง๐ต๐ฒ ๐ฆ๐๐ผ๐ฟ๐ ๐ผ๐ณ ๐ญ๐ฌ๐ณโ๐ญ๐ญ๐ญ ๐๐ฎ๐๐ ๐ฉ๐ฎ๐ป ๐๐๐ฟ๐ฒ๐ป
Today, the Block Building, located at 107-111 East Van Buren Street, houses three businesses — all of a creative nature, including a house plant shop, an art studio and a tattoo studio, with apartments above them.
While we aren’t completely certain, we believe the block extending from the corner of Van Buren and Main Street eastward was known as the Foust Block. When the largest building on that block was raised, it’s possible that the “Foust” aspect of the block was lost and it became simply the “Block Block” for the only remaining signage on the upper portion of the building that reads “Block.” An article in the 1957 Commercial-Mail newspaper referred to the entire section of buildings from the corner and encompassing 111 E. Van Buren as the Foust Block.
The Foust Block was named for Franklin H. Foust. Franklin H. Foust (1825โ1912) was a self-made businessman who moved to Columbia City in the mid-1800s and became a successful merchant before turning to banking. With very little formal education, he built a reputation for honesty and reliability, eventually handling large sums of community deposits and becoming one of the areaโs early financial leaders. He is remembered as an important figure in the development of Whitley Countyโs economy and is buried in Greenhill Cemetery in Columbia City.
Over the years, the street-level space housed a variety of interesting businesses, including:
1902 – Ramp Furniture at 107 E. Van Buren Street
1927 – Schlosser Brothers – Milk and Poultry at 111 E. Van Buren Street
1951 – Klondike Ice Cream Store at 107 East Van Buren
1951 – Columbia Press at 109 East Van Buren Street – quality printing, office supplies and music supplies
1952 – Martin Laboratories television & radio sales & service at 107 East Van Buren
1953 – Mimi’s Cafe at 109 East Van Buren Street
1960 – Redman & Ernst – Plumbing & Heating at 111 East Van Buren
1960 – Spiegel Catalogue Center – 109 East Van Buren – Opened in the spring of 1960 and Erma Travelbee was named manager of the location. She was formerly employed at Blue Bell Inc. Other employees included Lois Hill as credit manager, Jo Rock as receiving clerk and Stephen Dimmick as porter.
1961 – Columbia City Discount Store – 107 East Van Buren Street
1962 – Hartley Automotive Supply (Gene Hartley) at 107 East Van Buren
1963 – Skippers Sandwich Shop
Other entities in the Foust Block:
Goodrich Erdmann Grocery
Braddock Grocery
Saratoga Restaurant
The Provident Trust Company
Warner Fisher Seed Store
W. H. Wilcox Hardware
Jewish Temple
Attorney Curtis Jones
Attorney W. H. Kissinger
Attorney F. J. Heller
Farmers Loan & Trust
Citizens State Bank
Columbia City National Bank
Columbia City Democratic Headquarters
Glass Grocery
L.D. Clapham Jewelry Store
Feaster & Tannehill
W. B. Johnson Grocery
E. Meyers’ Meat Market
Harmon & Cox Shooting Gallery
Osborn & Wallace Meat Market
Commercial-Mail Newspaper
Thank you to Jennifer Romano for her outstanding research and writing of the article and the Whitley County Historical Museum for sharing photos from its collection.
๐พ๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐ ๐พ๐: ๐จ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐ฏ๐๐๐๐๐๐
This window hoodโa ornamental element above a windowโis one of ten that are atop the second floor windows of the Foust Block building, located at 109-113 East Van Buren Street.
With a particularly large keystone and brackets, these are rather blocky or oversized in their design; some even are nearly touching the adjacent ones. This could be simply a stylistic choice as Italianate hyperbole, or it is possible they actually match the style of the adjacent older, now demolished, three-story Citizens Bank Building once located at the corner of Main and Van Buren.
Interestingly, the โBlockโ name stone on this building was probably complemented by a โFoustโ name stone on an also now demolished left half of this building (formerly 105/107 E. Van Buren).
Thank you to Nathan Bilger for providing the recent photos and valuable insights into Columbia Cityโs architectural history.
