A HISTORY OF 107-113 E. MAIN STREET
By: Chris Flook
111, 109 and 107 East Main Street, Muncie. Photo: Chris Flook, June 14, 2025.
For many years, the Delaware County courthouse and surrounding square served as the center of civic life in Muncie. As a result, the blocks opposite of our ‘palace of justice’—on Washington, Walnut, Main and High streets—became valuable commercial property beginning in the mid-1800s.
South and East sides of the Delaware County Courthouse square, circa 1900. Image cropped from the original: Delaware County Historical Society, Mike Mavis Collection.
Sadly, several historic buildings on the square were torn down in recent decades, but not all of them. Some old structures on the courthouse’s east and west sides still stand, including the newly renovated 1916 Williamson Building.
1896 Swain Building. Photo taken in 2011. Image: Ball State University Bracken Archives and Special Collections.
The handsome Arrasmith Building, where Savage's Ale House is today, has stood west of the courthouse since 1905. The Swain Building dates to 1896 and the stately Washington Street Building to 1922. Then there’s the beloved Patterson Block on the southeast corner of Main and Walnut, part of which dates to 1876.
Just east of the Patterson, on the south side of Main Street before the alley, stand three buildings at 107, 109 and 111 East Main. A fourth building at 113, which ran south along the alley, was demolished in 1983.
1883 Sanborn Fire Insurance Map of the southside of the 100 block of East Main. Image: Ball State University Bracken Archives and Special Collections.
Historical records are inconsistent as to when these structures were built. Beacon lists the build date for 107 and 109 E. Main as 1927. But that can’t be accurate. Late 19th century photos and maps show these two buildings, or structures that look exactly like them, standing in the same place as early as 1872.
As for 111 E. Main, Beacon dates its construction to 1860, which is likely accurate. Written records suggest that small brick storefronts stood along East Main around the time of the Civil War, with descriptions matching the building at 111 and its now-gone twin at 113 E. Main. These two buildings were also partially combined at one point.
It’s also unclear from historical records who constructed the buildings at 107–113 E. Main. Nor do surviving records identify who the first tenants were. These buildings also likely had names but have been forgotten in time.
107-113 East Main on the 1826 map of Muncietown. Image: Ball State University Bracken Archives and Special Collections.
As to what was there before, 1820s maps show the property on this block owned by John Jack and James Russey. They established a two-story brick building on the site and opened a dry goods store in the 1830s. A fire destroyed it in 1842.
Southeast corner of Main and Walnut from the 1896 Sanborn Fire Insurance Map. Image: Ball State University Bracken Archives and Special Collections.
Records become clearer after 1880. The building at 113 E. Main, for instance, is listed as Ollie Baldwin’s grocery in the Muncie city directories from the 1890s to the early 1900s. 113 was later a confectionary and candy shop and, for most of the 20th century, the Top-Hat Cigar Store. It’s now a parking lot.
111, 109, 107 East Main Street, Muncie. Photo: Chris Flook, June 14, 2025.
111 E. Main is hard to miss today, painted sun-yellow and home to the appropriately named 111 Arts Gallery and Tattoo Shop. Nate Harmon, the studio’s proprietor, has owned the property since 2012, making him a steward of one of the oldest buildings in downtown Muncie.
George W. Spilker from Thomas Helm’s 1881 History of Delaware County, Indiana. Image: Archive.org
In the mid-to-late 1880s, 111 was the first home of Farmers Bank. Local businessman and German immigrant George W. Spilker had established the depository in 1886 and ran it with his son Carl.
From the 1887 Atlas of Delaware County. Image: Delaware County Historical Society.
An ad in the 1887 Atlas of Delaware County boasted that “George W. Spilker of Farmers Bank, transacts a general banking business. Deposits received and money loaned. First-mortgaged loans a speciality.”
In 1891 or 1892, Farmers moved two doors down to the second floor of 107 E. Main. Then in mid-May of 1892, Jim O’Neal opened the Bank Saloon at 111 E. Main. The Muncie Daily Herald reported that, on opening day, “the bar was crowded with customers. Jim has an elegant place and no doubt will do his share of business.”
Muncie Star article about an MPD raid of the Manhattan Cigar Store. Muncie Star, August 11, 1916.
In 1900, 111 E. Main became the William Dyer Saloon, followed by Williams and Clark Florists in 1909. In the 1910s, the building was the Manhattan Cigar Store. Its proprietors ran an illegal gambling den in a backroom.
New London Cafe at 111 E. Main Street, 1926. Image: Ball State University Bracken Archives and Special Collections.
During World War 1, 111 E. Main became the New Paris Restaurant followed by the New London Café in the 1920s. An eatery of some sort remained in operation in the building until the 1960s, when it became an American Bank and Trust outlet. Finally, a series of attorney offices were in 111 E. Main before it was sold to Harmon for his tattoo studio.
John Wachtell’s ‘fancy’ dry goods store, nicknamed “the Beehive,” was located next door at 109 E. Main in the late 1870s through the 1880s. Wachtell advertised his shop with a giant golden beehive outfront, hanging over the wood-planked sidewalk.
Wachtell & March’s Beehive Store advertisement. From Muncie Morning News, April 11, 1883.
Bizarre incidents occasionally happened at the Beehive. In 1885 for instance, cattle were being driven through Muncie on Main Street. One beastly bovine, perhaps attracted to the golden hive, broke from the herd and ran through Wachtell’s store. “His beefship,” according to the Muncie Morning News, “held full sway for a short time until some men came to the rescue by driving the intruder from his awkward place.”
Thornburg Cigar Store in 1916. Image: Ball State University Bracken Archives and Special Collections.
After the Beehive closed, 109 E. Main was leased to George Davis for a saloon. The building was also home to the Thornburg Cigar Store in the 1910s, a retail outlet in the 1920s, a Chinese-American food restaurant in the 1930s, a gift store during World War Two, several successive retailers in the 1950s and 1960s, and Atlas Investments in the 1980s. 109 E. Main was also the first location of Inland Interiors.
The two-story building at one point was combined with 107 E. Main next door and later separated back into two properties. 107 and 109 also had a common facade for many years. Restoration on both storefronts was completed in 2014. Today, 109 E. Main is home to Parlour Salon.
Modern Shoes at 107 East Main in 1917, one of several shoe stores at that address. Image: Ball State University Bracken Archives and Special Collections.
Its two-story neighbor at 107 E. Main has housed many businesses over the past 150 years. Throughout the 1880s and 1890s, a series of shoe stores opened there, most notably Ned Howe’s “Ned Of Course” boot and shoe emporium. Farmers Bank operated out of an upstairs’ suite for most of the 1890s. 20th century businesses at 107 included a banking trust, Smith-Alsop Paints, the Antique Coffeehouse and Cafeteria, and the Mark III.
South side of 100 block of East Main Street. Photo taken by the author in 2011. Image: Ball State University Bracken Archives and Special Collections.
The buildings at 107-111 East Main may appear today as nondescript. However, they personify Muncie’s deep history, with roots reaching all the way down to the city’s founding. These structures stand as a testament to their durability and to the dedication of their many proprietors.
If you’d like to learn more about this block, read my ByGone Muncie histories of the Patterson Building and the buildings at 115-125 E. Main.