Deconstructing an image: Chariton's Hickman Block

This is one of my favorite images --- from the Lucas County Historical Society collection --- of the Chariton square, so I've shared it before. It shows the 1894 Hickman Block on the east side, still standing and in good repair, easily recognizable nearly 130 years later. It is flanked to the right by the Knights of Pythias building, also built during 1894, and to the left by an older single-story frame building that survived until 1913, when it was replaced by the building that now houses Granny's Kitchen. The image probably was taken during the fall of 1895.

We know that the Knights of Pythias Building was designed by Chariton architect O.A. Hougland, so it seems likely that the Hickman Block was, too.

The frame buildings that previously had stood on these sites, perhaps since Chariton's earliest days, had been damaged beyond repair in a fire. The Knights decided to build their single-front building as an investment --- a rental storefront on the first floor and offices on the second.

Attorneys Stephen D. Hickman and his son, Stephen C. Hickman, built their double-front building to house their own offices as well as two rental storefronts on the first floor and other offices upstairs in the south half of the block. 

One of the interesting things about an old image like this is the astonishing amount of detail that was captured by the large glass negatives in use at the time, then transferred to paper when the image was printed. If you scan these old images at high resolution (I believe I scanned this at 600 dpi), very clear enlargements can be made.

So I decided to deconstruct this image a little so that we can take a closer look at some of the details.

The two gentlemen in the second-floor bay window almost without a doubt are Stephen D. Hickman and his son, Stephen C. Hickman, owners of the building, in the front room of their law offices.

The first occupants of the storefront below the Hickman offices were Andrew Alexander and William D. Copeland, who formed a partnership during November of 1894 to open a grocery store under the name Alexander & Co.  All the fixtures were new, according to newspaper reports, and the men invested in an awning that featured the business name.

Unfortunately, this was not a match made in heaven and it ended during early 1895. The stock was sold to a speculator during March of 1895 and the storefront was empty when this photograph was taken.

Ephraim C. Bridge, a pioneer Chariton photographer who had turned to optometry, took advantage of the vacancy by placing a sign advertising his trade in the south display window. He worked from home, but also traveled widely as a representative of various lens manufacturers.

I have no idea who the woman and small boy to the right might be, but William B.E. Lusk, a mercant taylor, had moved his enterprise into the front rooms of the second floor's south side during September of 1895 and was advertising with a sign near the stairway as well as another one attached to the south bay window upstairs.

Lusk was an agent for the New York, Chicago and Cincinnati tailoring firm of Strauss Bros. and had both a display room for garments that could be custom ordered from that firm as well as a workroom for himself.

Nixon B Weiford's shoe store was the first tenant on the south side of the Hickman Block and if you've been paying attention, you'll know that Mary Stierwalt retired recently as owner of Family Shoe Store in the same location. That means a shoe store occupied that space in an unbroken line of succession from 1894 until 2020.

Mr. Weiford opened his business in Chariton during 1889 and moved into the Hickman Block during October of 1894. That's probably him standing in front.

Finally, here's a portion of the Knights of Pythias Building. Nicholas S. Melville, who had moved his furniture and undertaking business from Lucas to Chariton during the spring of 1894, relocated here during September of that year and for a number of years operated both ends of his business from this location.