East side of Michigan Street looking south, Lakeville, Indiana
1911 postmarked postcard view of Lakeville, Indiana. This view was looking south on Michigan Street and shows a two-story wood frame building on the left with a POST OFFICE sign. The 1911 St. Joseph County atlas¹ shows the Lakeville Post Office on the northeast corner at the Second Street intersection. (That street is identified as East Washington Street today.) The sign painted on the display window to the right of the entrance advertises _____ MOORE HARDWARE [and] COAL. The postcard owner found that the Moore brothers opened a hardware store in Lakeville in 1894. A decade later, Alex Moore was identified as the coal and hardware business owner.
In this scene, a young girl sat on a crude bench in front of the store. The two signs leaning against the building on either side of the entrance advertised LOWE BROTHERS PAINT. The Lowe Brothers Company was founded in Dayton, Ohio and was later bought by the Sherwin-Williams Company. The partial sign pasted on the post in the foreground advertised SYRUP OF FIGS, a common laxative product.
The single-story wood frame building south of the hardware store advertised A. O. VANLIEW. DEALER IN DRUGS & HARDWARE. A 1910 Van Liew family history identified the druggist as Alpheus O. Van Liew. He was also listed in a 1905 directory of druggists.² A genealogy website says he died in August, 1906. If the man posing in front of that store was Mr. Van Liew, then the photograph was taken earlier in 1906 or perhaps 1905.
The sign on the small building beyond the Van Liew store advertised DR. HOW. A report³ issued in 1904 listed John T. How as a physician in Lakeville. He had received his license to practice in St. Joseph County in 1902 after graduating in 1897 from Hahnemann Medical College and Hospital in Chicago.
None of the signs posted on the utility pole in front of the doctor’s office are clear enough to read. A sign on the small structure beyond Dr. How’s office appears to include the word FEED.
Typically, the store owner where the post office was located served as the community’s postmaster, but the list of postmasters for this period does not include anyone with the Moore name. The following were the Lakeville postmasters during this period:
1893 Douglas Rush
1897 Charles W. Moon
1908 Frank A. Barkley
Postmaster Moon owned a building across the street where he ran the C. W. Moon & Son general store, and operated the post office. His building was next to the building commonly known as the Rensberger General Store. The Moon building was destroyed by fire, but the Rensberger building is still in use today. Mr. Moon was postmaster from 1897 until December of 1902, when he filed for bankruptcy. The sheriff closed the Moon store and Deputy Sheriff Frank Barkley was placed in charge of the post office. The records don’t indicate if the deputy sheriff was the same Frank A. Barkley that became postmaster in 1908, nor do the records indicate when the post office was moved across the street to the location shown in this postcard scene. If the gentleman standing in the background in this scene is Mr. Van Liew, then the post office was moved across the street from the Moon building long before Mr. Barkley was appointed postmaster. It is possible the post office was moved out of the Moon building shortly after that building was closed by the sheriff at the end of 1902. Mr. Barkley may have been acting as postmaster from that time until his official appointment in 1908, or Mr. Moon may have resumed his duties as postmaster in the new location while the bankruptcy was being adjudicated and for the years following. We have not yet found information to explain the situation during this period. Mr. Moon was 62 at the time of the bankruptcy filing.
When this photograph was taken, Michigan Street made a sharp turn to the west at the south edge of town. The house at that corner in this scene is shown on the 1911 plat map. That property belonged to F. E. Van Liew.
1. Standard Atlas of St. Joseph County Indiana Including a Plat Book (Chicago, IL: George A. Ogle & Co., 1911) page 83. Available online at www.historicmapworks.com/Atlas/US/7719/St.+Joseph+County+....
2. The Era Druggists Directory, Eleventh Edition (New York, NY: D. O. Haynes & Co., 1905). Available online at books.google.com/books?id=bantAAAAMAAJ&printsec=front....
3. Indiana State Board of Medical Registration and Examination, The Sixth Annual Report (Indianapolis, IN: William B. Burford, 1904). Available online at books.google.com/books?id=yk1JCeJJsPAC&printsec=front....
From a private collection.
Selected close-up sections of this postcard image can be seen here, from left to right in the image.
www.flickr.com/photos/hoosier_recollections/26024994256/i...
www.flickr.com/photos/hoosier_recollections/25778053350/i...
www.flickr.com/photos/hoosier_recollections/25984553141/i...
Copyright 2007-2016 by Hoosier Recollections. All rights reserved. This image is part of a creative package that includes the associated text, geodata and/or other information. Neither this package in its entirety nor any of the individual components may be downloaded, transmitted or reproduced without the prior written permission of Hoosier Recollections.
East side of Michigan Street looking south, Lakeville, Indiana
1911 postmarked postcard view of Lakeville, Indiana. This view was looking south on Michigan Street and shows a two-story wood frame building on the left with a POST OFFICE sign. The 1911 St. Joseph County atlas¹ shows the Lakeville Post Office on the northeast corner at the Second Street intersection. (That street is identified as East Washington Street today.) The sign painted on the display window to the right of the entrance advertises _____ MOORE HARDWARE [and] COAL. The postcard owner found that the Moore brothers opened a hardware store in Lakeville in 1894. A decade later, Alex Moore was identified as the coal and hardware business owner.
In this scene, a young girl sat on a crude bench in front of the store. The two signs leaning against the building on either side of the entrance advertised LOWE BROTHERS PAINT. The Lowe Brothers Company was founded in Dayton, Ohio and was later bought by the Sherwin-Williams Company. The partial sign pasted on the post in the foreground advertised SYRUP OF FIGS, a common laxative product.
The single-story wood frame building south of the hardware store advertised A. O. VANLIEW. DEALER IN DRUGS & HARDWARE. A 1910 Van Liew family history identified the druggist as Alpheus O. Van Liew. He was also listed in a 1905 directory of druggists.² A genealogy website says he died in August, 1906. If the man posing in front of that store was Mr. Van Liew, then the photograph was taken earlier in 1906 or perhaps 1905.
The sign on the small building beyond the Van Liew store advertised DR. HOW. A report³ issued in 1904 listed John T. How as a physician in Lakeville. He had received his license to practice in St. Joseph County in 1902 after graduating in 1897 from Hahnemann Medical College and Hospital in Chicago.
None of the signs posted on the utility pole in front of the doctor’s office are clear enough to read. A sign on the small structure beyond Dr. How’s office appears to include the word FEED.
Typically, the store owner where the post office was located served as the community’s postmaster, but the list of postmasters for this period does not include anyone with the Moore name. The following were the Lakeville postmasters during this period:
1893 Douglas Rush
1897 Charles W. Moon
1908 Frank A. Barkley
Postmaster Moon owned a building across the street where he ran the C. W. Moon & Son general store, and operated the post office. His building was next to the building commonly known as the Rensberger General Store. The Moon building was destroyed by fire, but the Rensberger building is still in use today. Mr. Moon was postmaster from 1897 until December of 1902, when he filed for bankruptcy. The sheriff closed the Moon store and Deputy Sheriff Frank Barkley was placed in charge of the post office. The records don’t indicate if the deputy sheriff was the same Frank A. Barkley that became postmaster in 1908, nor do the records indicate when the post office was moved across the street to the location shown in this postcard scene. If the gentleman standing in the background in this scene is Mr. Van Liew, then the post office was moved across the street from the Moon building long before Mr. Barkley was appointed postmaster. It is possible the post office was moved out of the Moon building shortly after that building was closed by the sheriff at the end of 1902. Mr. Barkley may have been acting as postmaster from that time until his official appointment in 1908, or Mr. Moon may have resumed his duties as postmaster in the new location while the bankruptcy was being adjudicated and for the years following. We have not yet found information to explain the situation during this period. Mr. Moon was 62 at the time of the bankruptcy filing.
When this photograph was taken, Michigan Street made a sharp turn to the west at the south edge of town. The house at that corner in this scene is shown on the 1911 plat map. That property belonged to F. E. Van Liew.
1. Standard Atlas of St. Joseph County Indiana Including a Plat Book (Chicago, IL: George A. Ogle & Co., 1911) page 83. Available online at www.historicmapworks.com/Atlas/US/7719/St.+Joseph+County+....
2. The Era Druggists Directory, Eleventh Edition (New York, NY: D. O. Haynes & Co., 1905). Available online at books.google.com/books?id=bantAAAAMAAJ&printsec=front....
3. Indiana State Board of Medical Registration and Examination, The Sixth Annual Report (Indianapolis, IN: William B. Burford, 1904). Available online at books.google.com/books?id=yk1JCeJJsPAC&printsec=front....
From a private collection.
Selected close-up sections of this postcard image can be seen here, from left to right in the image.
www.flickr.com/photos/hoosier_recollections/26024994256/i...
www.flickr.com/photos/hoosier_recollections/25778053350/i...
www.flickr.com/photos/hoosier_recollections/25984553141/i...
Copyright 2007-2016 by Hoosier Recollections. All rights reserved. This image is part of a creative package that includes the associated text, geodata and/or other information. Neither this package in its entirety nor any of the individual components may be downloaded, transmitted or reproduced without the prior written permission of Hoosier Recollections.