Remodeled Richards Block, at 11th and O streets, still standing -- 4/6/2008
Virtually at the point when the village of Lancaster became Lincoln, the northeast corner of 11th and O streets was the home of attorney Seth Robinson, while his office was kitty-corner on the southwest corner of the intersection.
To the north, at about 120 N. 11th St., was W.A. Vogt Bros. Grocers. In 1868, Lot 8 of Block 41, which then would have been the northeast corner, was acquired by C.M Leighton and W.H. Brown for their books, drugs, paints, oils and stationery store. They brought lumber from Nebraska City and erected a two-story frame building and wooden sidewalk along the O Street front.
Brothers L.C. and J.R. Richards arrived in Lincoln in 1872 and established the State National Bank on the northeast corner of 10th and O streets, the site of the Sweet & Brock Bank, Lincoln’s first bank. J.R., who was listed as president, lived on the southwest corner of Grand Avenue (now 16th Street) and P Street, while cashier L.C. lived on the south side of P, one door east of 14th Street.
Frank Sheldon came to Lincoln from Iowa City in 1879, built a spectacular house on the northwest corner of 14th and R streets for $40,000 about a decade later and was listed as owner of the Lincoln Street Railway Co.
About 1880, a three-story brick building was erected just east of Leighton & Brown’s at 1106 O St. At about 6 a.m. on July 29, 1883, Leighton & Brown not only burned to the ground but took the new neighbor to the east with them.
The drugstore moved to what is now the east portion of the Journal Building at Ninth and P streets for the summer while the owners began a new masonry structure on the northwest corner of Eighth and P streets, now the Oven Restaurant.
In July 1885, the Richards brothers bought both, by this time empty, lots at 11th and O, struck a contract with the furniture store to the east for a common wall and began construction of brick outer walls and a timber interior frame office block on the corner.
The Richards brothers were then listed as “capitalists” with offices in the Richards Block.
They noted that although only a small number of people in Lincoln owned life insurance policies, it was not in the city’s best interest to have those investments sent out of the city.
In 1887, the Richards brothers, Lincoln ex-mayor Erastus E. Brown and two others incorporated the Old Line Bankers Life Nebraska Insurance Co. Their offices were, of course, in the Richards Block.
By the end of eight months the firm had sold 281 policies with a total of $344,000 of insurance in force. Not really interested in the life insurance business, however, they sold it to other Lincoln businessmen three years later and the firm moved to 15th and O streets.
In 1892, L.C. Richards bought the Sheldon mansion on R Street and lived there until it was acquired by Alpha Sigma Phi around 1915. The building was then used by the U.S.O. and YWCA during World War I and ultimately purchased by the University of Nebraska as Ellen Smith Hall.
The house stood across the street west of the Student Union and just south of the Administration Building until it was razed in 1958.
In April 1898, the relatively new Richards Block caught fire. The adjacent A.M. Davis’ carpet, oil cloths, curtain fixtures and furniture store at 1114 O St. and Gosper & Harmon’s Millinery at 1114 O St. also were destroyed in the conflagration.
Richards pledged to begin rebuilding the block as soon as possible. The existing five-story building was built in 1899, again using a timber frame construction, perhaps incorporating into the north, rear wall some of the old exterior walls and other materials salvaged from the fire, upon portions of the old foundation.
By the turn of the century, the basement had a tailor shop and plumber, with much of the ground floor being occupied by the City National Bank and the upper floors devoted to offices. The entrance to the office building at that time was then in the middle of the 11th Street façade, with the elevator near the west wall.
City National was superseded by Continental National Bank, which remained until about 1960, when it merged with First National.
After periods of being unoccupied, the building became home to a Sears Roebuck appliance store, All Makes Office Supply and a series of cafes including the Rotisserie, Grotto and Dish. The upper floors are now residences and studios.
It is tempting to think of the old Richards Block as still standing, though, as Ed Zimmer points out, even the rebuilt structure was remodeled in 1913, 1930, 1938, 1941 (which added the current stone exterior) and around 1998. The wood timber is still intact, however, among fewer than half a dozen others in the downtown core to share that honor.
Historian Jim McKee, who still writes with a fountain pen, invites comments or questions. Write to him in care of the Journal Star or at jim@leebooksellers.com.
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