120 North Michigan Street Plymouth, Indiana 46563 1-219-936-2323
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December 1997
A plaque commemorating the "Historic Downtown Renovation Project" will be dedicated in a special ceremony on Sunday, December 7th. The dedication will take place at Standard Heating & Plumbing, 105 W. LaPorte Street promptly at 2:00 p.m. Following the brief ceremony, a self-guided walking tour will be available. B. A. Martin Architect has prepared a brochure especially for this event. Ten historic buildings will be highlighted during the tour. A sample of what's in store is as follows: #1) Balloons Plus Originally the Marshall County Bank & Trust, this building was built shortly after the 1872 fire. The old vault and iron gate are still located in the building. The building housed the original People's Drug Store on the LaPorte Street side. People's has been in business since before 1876 and this storefront has been restored to its appearance at the turn of the century. The second floor also housed a hotel, much of which is still intact. It has been said a newspaper and a jail operated out of the basement. On the south side over the river there was a cigar factory attached to the building which no longer exists. #2) Rees Cinema When "Stew" Rees held the theater's grand opening in 1940, it was the heyday for black and white classics and the Art Deco style. The architect, Alves O'Keefe, who is credited with the Conservation Clubhouse and a number of local churches, renovated the existing four story VanVactor building into an auditorium seating 650 patrons. When it opened, the Rees had shops on both sides of the entry, a cry room for mothers with babies, which still exists, and "Gone With the Wind" was showing. Stew operated the Gem Theater which his father began in 1926. He and his wife lived in the third floor Deco style penthouse above the theater where Mrs. Rees entertained guests and played bridge with her lady friends. #3 Treat's For Her A crowd of 12,000 people were estimated in attendance for the grand opening of this building as the Montgomery Ward and Co. Retail store on October 26, 1929. The opening marked the beginning of a new era in the commercial retail industry as the first "off the shelf" Wards store in the country. Ironically only 3 days after the grand opening, the stock market crashed on Black Tuesday, October 29th. The terra cotta facade became a standard feature of the Montgomery Ward's chain, being duplicated in towns across the country. Noteworthy is the stone relief at the center of the building which is the symbolic "Spirit of Progress", a trademark of the Roaring 20's. The structure has been home to Treat's For Her since Ward's moved from the building in the 1970's. Several stores will provide refreshments and a warming area as necessary. Show your community pride by joining us on the 7th to celebrate the renovation on this walking tour. |
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