Day Ninety-Six: Ghosts of Businesses Past

*Warning: this is a long one!*

Each day Emily and I present you with a picture we have taken. But if you have kept up with our blogs, or taken a look at a few of the more detailed entries we have written, you know that this project is about more than just a picture a day.

Each picture we take tells a story. Sometimes it’s a true personal story, and other times it’s completely made up. Sometimes it’s a big tale (tail), and other times it’s a little reflection. Sometimes it’s a story worth telling, and other times it’s not worth telling at all.

Sometimes the pictures we take lead to stories we didn’t even know existed until we do a little research to uncover the history behind our photographic inspirations.

There is a city block near my house so deserted that it would only be a passing thought to most people in Lawrence - if they ever passed by it. The eight-hundred block of Pennsylvania Street in east Lawrence used to be a thriving business place, or so the majestically unoccupied buildings would have you believe.

Multistory brick and stone buildings still boast company and event logos like, “Bizarre Bazaar,” and, “Theo. Poehler Mercantile Co.”

The Bizarre Bazaar, a gathering of “unique” art, artists, and musicians (imagine if Pablo Picasso’s artwork were to sing) is still held in town, but now instead of a dedicated building they meet annually in the Lawrence Art Center. Swing on by next Thanksgiving weekend if you want to check it out – or display your talents! Remember: the more bizarre the better.

The north side of the old Bazaar building has had its windows boarded and holes patched several times over. You can count at least six different types of brick abnormally quilted together in the wall and various layers of mortar and clay holding the building together.

In this picture the stacked cinder blocks amidst the limestone and brick seem to resemble a coffin, as if symbolizing the slow but certain death to which these buildings and the businesses that inhabited them have fallen victim over passage of time.

Only ghosts remain now. Ghosts like that of Theodore Poehler, who died in Lawrence over a century ago. To the casual observer Poehler’s legacy could be all but boarded up in the old Wholesale Grocer building that still bears his name.

With a little more research that observer would find that Theodore Poehler was more than a grocer to the town of Lawrence. After immigrating to America from Germany at the age of 19, choosing not to go into the ministry (as his father had planned), meeting and marrying his wife, starting a family, and developing himself into a prosperous businessman, and living through the Civil War, Poehler landed himself in our little town at the bend of the Kansas River.

He liked Lawrence both for its business potential and its fine educational resources (he, like me, came from a family of educators). He found himself in the banking business and was able to survive many financial scares. He found himself in the grocer business and was able to survive many agricultural scares. He served the city politically through his time as mayor, and he served the city financially through his many charitable donations.

I have jogged by the old Poehler Mercantile building many times, wondering what stories these walls could tell. Now I (and you) know a little more about Poehler and a little more about Lawrence.

As I was snapping this picture a couple of girls pulled up and asked if I knew anything about this building. At the time I had to say no, which spared them an unnecessary history lesson (you, the reader, were not so lucky).

As it turns out, these girls were wanting to rent a room out for extra storage space after they cleared out their college dorm room for the summer. Probably not quite what Theodore Poehler had in mind for the future of his Lawrence location back in 1889.

But then, nothing lasts forever. Windows get painted over, doors get boarded shut, colors start to fade and walls begin to crumble. All that is left behind is a little photographic inspiration amongst the ghosts of businesses past.