Hoehn Block home to bank and pool hall

In recognition of National Historic Preservation Month, Edwardsvilles Historic Preservation Commission will showcase some of Edwardsvilles historic buildings in a series of articles during the month of May. HPC encourages owners of historic buildings to donate copies of photos and historical information to HPC and/or the Madison County Historical Museum so future generations will have access to these valuable research materials.

The Hoehn Block

216 North Main St.

Its unknown when the original building on this site was completed, but in 1890, the owner, Jacob Hoehn, decided to significantly enhance his investment property next to the Madison County Jail. It was first announced that he was planning an addition to his building, but it can be deducted, based on later articles in the Alton Evening Telegraph, that he either removed the old building except for the basement and foundation or perhaps kept a two-story addition at the back of the building and added a new two-story front. In either case, the result was a much larger business house or a block as they were then known.

An article in the Alton Telegraphs Edwardsville news column on September 18, 1890, said, Mr. Jacob Hoehn, the proprietor of the Windsor restaurant on Main street, is going to remove the frame part and put a two story building in its place. The proposed addition is to be modern in every respect, plate glass and iron pillars will constitute the front of the first story. Work is to commence at once, and will be ready for guests the day court opens next month.

The following week, the Telegraph reported, The old law office of G. B. Burnett, now of St. Louis, and which has lately served as a dining room for Jake Hoehns Windsor restaurant, was put on rollers Saturday, and followed several other Main street buildings over into the Second ward, (where) it will do duty as a dwelling house.

There is today a basement under only the front portion of the building which probably reflects the size of the original building on the property. Unlike other business blocks in Edwardsville, this building is only one storefront wide, but there was ample room for other businesses in the back and on the second floor.

Jacob Hoehn, born in 1843, was a Civil War veteran who immediately after the war went into the hospitality business. He ran numerous saloons and restaurants before moving in 1895 to St. Louis where he took over the operation of a resort. In the early 1900s, he returned to Edwardsville where he had many real estate investments, including a subdivision in Glen Carbon and rental houses on Hoehn Street in Edwardsville, as well as his Main Street property.

Before moving to St. Louis, Jacob and his wife, Katherine Schramm Hoehn, lived on North Main Street near their businesses. When they returned, they moved to 459 Vandalia Street. The couple had six children but by the time Jacob passed away in 1910, only one, Matilda Hoehn Yates, was still a resident of Edwardsville.

The first tenant of the new Hoehn Block was Rorig Jewelers who within a year sold out to T. E. Gontermann. The new business was another jeweler, but in addition to pocket watches, Gontermanns could fit their customers with eyeglasses. They occupied the ground floor of 216 North Main Street until 1895 when they moved to a new building on the court house square. What followed was a succession of both businesses and residents. For many years the second floor was divided into a private apartment plus several sleeping rooms which sometimes became offices.

The rest is here:
Hoehn Block home to bank and pool hall