It's a challenge to decide when to wish a building a happy birthday, but the Manning & Penick Building on the west side of the Chariton square (the tallest structure in this vintage photograph) has been approaching that milestone since June and will wrap up technical eligibility for a celebration during June of 2020.
Ground was broken for it during June of 1869, construction was nearly complete during November of that year, tenants moved in during January of 1870 and the final details had been completed by June of 1870.
This is the third oldest building still standing on the square. The two-story brick Matson Building to the left was built during 1867 and is currently occupied by Johansen Plumbing & Heating, original brickwork hidden behind a later facade and an addition to the rear. The Oliver Palmer building, on the alley in the middle of the east side of the square, also with a newer facade, was completed during the spring of 1867.
Manning & Penick was a business partnership between Keosauqua-based entrepreneur Edwin C. Manning and William C. Penick, who entered Manning's employ about 1854 as clerk in the general store Manning then owned at Eddyville. Penick became a junior partner in the early 1860s and was sent west to Chariton about 1861 to open and manage a general merchandise branch here under the name Manning & Penick.
The Chariton Democrat published this account of the new structure under the headline "The New Brick Building" in its edition of Nov. 2, 1869:
"Manning & Penick's new brick building is now rapidly approaching completion and within a few weeks will be alive with business. Messrs. M. & P. will occupy the south half of the first floor as a store room, and Mr. Copeland will put a banking room in the north half. The second floor will be divided into office rooms, and will make six apartments. The third story is being fitted up as a public hall, and, in many respects, will be the feature of the building. It is large and airy and will be capable of holding nearly 2,000 people. It is 40 by 80 feet with a 14-foot ceiling. Mr. G.B. Routt did the masonry and the brick-work, and the whole is a piece of work quite creditable to him. The building, when completed, will have cost but little, if any, less than ten thousand dollars."
There actually were two Mr. Copelands ready to move into that banking room, brothers Elijah and Percy, who did business as The Chariton Deposit Bank, which advertised its services as receiving deposits, buying and selling gold and dealing in exchange and government bonds.
"The new safe for the Chariton Deposit Bank has arrived," The Democrat reported on Nov. 23. "It weighs five tons, and it required ten yoke of oxen to draw it from the depot. Cost: $1,700 at factory," That safe would serve banks located in the building until 1896, when it was replaced.
Although finishing work remained, both Manning & Penick and the Copeland brothers moved into their new quarters during early January, 1870. Tenants also were moving into the second-floor offices, including The Chariton Democrat itself and Thorpe & Sons, attorneys and dealers in real estate. They were joined soon after the first of the year by C.T. Brant, dentist, and perhaps Anderson Mason, a barber.
By June, 1870, minor finishing work was nearly complete. Plans to use the third floor as a public hall had been abandoned, however, and the area was by now divided into two parts, one for the Odd Fellows lodge which according to the Democrat of May 24, 1870, was preparing to move in. A use for the other half of the third floor had not been determined.
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