05/11/2026
Then (1952) vs Now:
These buildings were located at the northeast corner of the square in Richmond, at the northeast corner of the intersection of North Main & Thornton Streets. It currently has an address of 100 E. North Main Street.
The history of this corner lot could be traced back to prior to the Civil War, when it was owned by William R. Jackson (1831-1890), who had a brick building erected here, which housed a wagon repository, used for storing and displaying wagons and carriages that were for sale.
In 1871, this wagon repository was taken over by George Powell (1818-1894) and his sons. Powell was born in Ireland, and lived for almost for 40 years in Canada before immigrating to America during the Civil War, living in Kansas. In 1869, Powell saw an ad for a need for a blacksmith at Richmond, and borrowed $200 from a friend to move to Richmond and take over the local blacksmith shop, which was to the east of the wagon repository. They leased the repository to sell the wagon's they built.
The 1878 Cyclone destroyed the brick building, and a frame building was built in its place, still owned by Jackson and used as a wagon repository for the Powell's.
After Powell's death, the wagon repository was taken over by his son's James & David, the Powell Brothers. They sold the repository around 1900 to Jesse Child, who ran the lumberyard behind the building.
In 1907, Child removed the wagons and carriages from the building, and the building was then just used for estate sales and cattle sales.
In October 1908, the building was leased to George N. McGee (1872-1949) who converted the building into a skating rink with a new maple floor and opened the Coliseum Skating Rink. Matt Woodward was hired as manager, as he could skate and teach others to do so.
This proved to be a popular entertainment venue as they charged 10 cents for admission and 15 cents for skates. A 3-4 person orchestra provided the music.
The building was not only a skating rink, but had basketball hoops installed at each end and the rink could easily be used for games. Starting in November 1908, this would actually be the first place that indoor basketball was played by the Richmond High School boys' and girls' teams. This sport had only been played by the High School for a year or two, and games were played on an outdoor court on the school campus.
The first game played here was on November 20th between the Richmond and Carrollton High School girls teams. Richmond won 27 to 3. The referees were the Richmond Superintendent, a Carrollton teacher, and miss Lulu Draper of Richmond.
In December 1908, they had the famous champion skater Harley Davidson come to the Coliseum and perform.
In April 1909, G.N. McGee & Jesse Child purchased the North Side Electric Theatre, located in the middle of the north side of the square from S.A. Black. They moved it to the Jackson building, replacing the rink, as they had performances and moving pictures showed there. They kept the name, as they were still on the north side.
In October 1909, they moved the North Side Electric Theatre back to where it came from and re-opened the Coliseum Rink, so the High School basketball teams could play, and they would receive funds from people skating during the winter.
In March 1910, with the basketball season ended, the theatre was moved back to the Jackson building to replace the rink. Child then bought out McGee's interest in the theater and rink.
In December 1910, Child again moved the theater out so the Coliseum could re-open and basketball games could be played. When the season ended, the theater was brought back.
In September 1911, Child considered completely renovating the building to permanently remove the rink and make it a modern movie theater house that could hold 600 people, and he announced he would call it the Gem Theatre. Child's plans did not come to fruition and in January 1912, he moved out the theater again to open the Coliseum and let basketball games be played.
The theater was never moved back to the Jackson building. The Coliseum Rink was open all through 1912 and closed in March 1913 with the end of the basketball season, with the Richmond High School playing games there for 5 years.
In July 1913, the rink had been removed as the building was converted into a grocery store and opened as the Renick & Joy Meat Market, owned by J.F. Renick & J.W. Joy.
In June 1914, Renick & Joy moved to a different location and the building was taken over by the Richmond Heating & Plumbing Company. It was owned by W.I. Marsh. In May 1919, Fred Lamb took over the business.
In June 1921, the Jackson building, also known as the "Jackson Corner" was purchased from Lucy Jackson by Richmond mayor Clarence Hubbell & G.N. McGee. It was now known as the Hubbell building.
In January 1922, the Richmond Heating & Plumbing moved out, and Arthur Littman moved in his Littman Mercantile Store.
In March 1927, Littman moved locations and the building was leased to Home Oil Products, who converted the building to a gas station. The front of the building was completely taken off as pumps were put in. Construction was done by Arthur Slaughter, who died while working on it.
Charles Falk was hired as the first manager of the station. In July 1927, the gas station was purchased by the Winters Oil Company.
In July 1929, the Winters Oil station was purchased by Phillips 66, and they hired brothers Chester & Clarence Blair to run the station, which was called the Blair's Service Station. (This put 2 Phillips 66 gas stations near each other, as they already had one to the east at the corner of Shaw & North Main that we posted about a few days ago).
In 1935, Chester Blair left and Clarence ran the station by himself. Clarence then hired his brother-in-law, Willard "Crow" Daniels, to be his assistant.
In February 1938, the station was closed, most likely due to struggles during the Great Depression.
In September 1938, Phillips 66 re-opened the station with Willard Daniels now as manager. It would close again in May 1939.
In August 1939, with assistance from the Standard Oil Company, the station was re-opened with Daniels as manager again.
In September 1941, Daniels was replaced by James Brizendine, who named the Phillips 66 the Brizendine Service Station.
In September 1943, the Hubbell building was purchased by J.A. Lester. He extended the building from the corner all the way to alley, which provided room for 2 other businesses to operate in the building.
In November 1944, Lester ended the lease for Phillips 66 and closed the Brizendine Service Station. He started the Lester Oil Company and turned the station into a Firestone Supply store, and the name would now be the Lester Oil Firestone Super-Station.
He also remodeled the 1878 building to almost a completely new one, with new bricks and cream stucco walls. There was now room for 15 different departments in the building. His grand opening saw 2,500 people come in to see the work that was done.
In June 1947, the station was taken over by H.R. Nightingale of Topeka, Kansas, now known as the Richmond Firestone Supply Station.
In December 1947, Nightingale sold the business to James M. Ralls of Trenton.
In July 1949, Ralls sold the station to Edd Mater of Kansas City, who owned the business when the picture was taken. He called it the Mater Firestone Supply Station. He employed Jim Moling, Wray Thomson, J.B. Martin, & Bill Inbody.
In February 1953, Mater sold the station to Bernard Cordray, who named it the Cordray Firestone Supply Station.
In May 1962, Cordray moved the Firestone store across the street to the South.
Then, the 1878 building and pumps were torn down so the Richmond Exchange Bank could build a new bank, making it their 4th different location on the square that they had been.
Jim Sands was hired to tear down the building. Then, the Winn Senter Construction Company of Kansas City then built the new Exchange Bank for $305,000. The design of the building was done by J.E. Lauck of Kansas City.
The bank opened in 1963. The cornerstone was laid at the southwest corner of the building, and in it they put a list of all the bank board members and employees; a history of the bank and the founders; and list of all past presidents of the bank; and a description of Richmond.
The Exchange Bank was later replaced by U.S. Bank. The bank closed recently and the 64-year-old building is now the home of Bethel Home Healthcare LLC.
Next time you go by the northeast corner of the square, think about how it has been the location of a bank, gas station, and the earliest basketball games played in Richmond!
