This is the text of the description and signifigance portions of the national register nomination of the L. Haas store, prepared by the White County Historical Society in 1993. Several local families are mentioned. The L. Haas Store is a late 19th century brick commercial building, built in 1896. The building is approximately 36 feet wide and 99 feet long, and almost entirely fills the lot on which it sits. It is the largest commercial building in its block, and is located in the same block as the Carmi City Building and one block from the 1883 White County Courthouse. It is directly across the street from the Ratcliff Inn, a National Register Structure built in 1828. The L. Haas Store is within a block of two other National Register buildings, the James Robert Williams House (commonly known as the Castle), also built in 1896, and the Robinson-Stewart House, the oldest permanent structure in Carmi, first constructed as a log cabin in 1814. The building has a brick foundation, and only the back part of the basement is finished, to house an old furnace and coal bin. Flue holes in the first and second floors indicate that coal or wood stoves were originally used to heat the building, and newer gas furnace blowers hang from ceilings at the rear of the first and second floors. The cellar has a dirt floor. Both the first and second floors were designed to be integrated into a single commercial enterprise, and only minor changes were ever made in the retail space. Most of these alterations, consisting of blocking the opening in the second floor balcony, boarding the second floor windows, and putting a plywood partition in front of the main stairway, were removed in the last year. Two matching closets in the rear of the first floor house an original freight elevator and remodeled bathroom. The first floor has a wooden plank floor, set off by a decorative round iron vent near its middle. A long line of wooden shelving units, approximately 5' high, are found along the eastern wall of the building, and matching counters are near the center of the building. New drywall and wainscotting have replaced cracked plaster along the western side of the first floor. The front of the first floor consists of two large glass windows, with elevated display space, flanking a recessed entrance of angled glass panels. A single door with a glass panel and transom provide an inviting commercial opening. The open first floor has several square wooden support beams along the middle of the building, and the ceiling is nearly 20 feet high. Once again, the ceiling is original to the building, consisting of pressed tin tiles with a small boarder along the side walls. The first floor is lit by suspended flouresent fixtures, which appear to date from the 1930s. A broad eight foot staircase leads to the second floor. The newel posts are square, with small cannonball finials. Each baluster, while square at the top and bottom, has three decorative bands along its length. Halfway between floors the stairway turns into two half-width spans to use space above the first floor closets. There is a small back door behind the stairway, which is lit by six curved top windows, two small and four large openings. The second floor was used as storage space for many years, and still has some bad plaster and little original wallpaper. The plank floor is sound but scarred. The most striking feature of the second floor is the 20'4' by 10'4" balcony open to the first floor. The balcony railing matches the back stairway, and gives the building a pleasing symmetry. The six large front windows, which had been removed in the 1970's, lighten was was once a dreary space. The ceiling to the second floor slants upward to a skylight above the balcony. The attic above the second floor is only accessible by ladder, and is unusable. The exterior is an excellent example of late Victorian Gothic architecture. The first floor windows are set in a cast-iron storefront produced by the J.B. Mesker Company of Evansville. This foundry produced over 20,000 architecutral pieces in the post-Civil War period. Vertical stripes in the side frames add vertical interest to the ironwork, and the top frame was decorated with iron rosettes. Hardware for the original cloth awning are still visible, and six woven iron grills serve as vents beneath the front windows. It is assumed that Mesker Iron Works also produced a matching iron band along the top edge of the building, with rosette cornices, and the three round iron grills above the second floor windows. Six large curved top windows rise above the iron store front to provide light to the second floor. Each window consists of two lights, each approximately 24" by 40". Luckily, in restoring the building, only one glass panel and frame had to be replicated. Two rows of curved bricks form arches above each window, and a thin scalloped limestone band ties the windows together and provided color contrast and a Romanesque touch. Further support for the store's iron crown is given by fancy brickwork. The building was originally topped with a limestone keystone dated "1896", but this was apparently removed in the 1950's, when a similar ornament nearly hit a pedestrian as it fell from a nearby structure. The building roof is of asbestos sheeting, and has been covered with tar. All iron and stone surfaces were repainted in 1992, and the sashes and windows were repaired in 1993. No plans have been made to heat or cool the building, and water to the store has been shut off to prevent damage. A modern door is practical but detracts from the rear of the building, which is flush with an alley. Most of the eight rear windows, including two in the closets and six lighting the stairways, have been repaired, but their arches have been squared with wooden frames. The L. Haas Store meets Criterian C for listing in the National Register of Historic Places. It is a locally significant representation of a late 19th-Century commercial building design. The L. Haas Store is a two story commercial building located at 213 East Main Street, Carmi, Illinois. It is located near the eastern end of a block of commercial and governmental structures, and is less than a block from the White County Courthouse. This red brick building is the largest and most prominment structure on the block. . With the adjoining Shoemann-Cullison-Abstrast Building, a heavily remodeled Italianate storefront which occupies the eastern 1/3rd of original lot, has been a focal point since the Haas Building's construction. For many years a third building, owned by Morris Blasker and significant for limestone arches above the second floor windows, provided a trioka of Victorian commerical buildings, but the Blasker store was replaced with a neo-colonial bank building in 1975. The Shoemann Store was stuccoed many years ago, and recent remodeling closed all upstairs windows and covered part of its ironwork with wooden lattice trim. The Shoemann Store, with original trim and iron-railed balcony, is clearly visible in 1875 photographs of Carmi, while the Haas Building was not constructed until 1896 and Blaskers built their "modern" building in 1906. This building style was originally intended to emulate Italian and Gothic Renaissance palace styles of the 15th and 16th Century. The palaces had an imposing appearance, with bolding projecting roof cornices crowning the walls. Using details sparingly and concentrating the pronounced deatures created a bold and simple design. The round arch windows are a structural and decorative feature that directly relates the Renaissance back to Roman times. The Renaissance was a superficial attempt to emulate the Roman grand manor and symmetry. Having such a grand building in a small town such as Carmi, whose 1890's population was around 3,000, was intended to display the sophification of its owners and their wares. In researching the L. Haas Store, the most amazing fact is that the building was never owned by Louis C. Haas, nor his son Erwin W. Haas, but remained in control of the John Storms family from its construction until 1954, when Helen Conger Haas, widow of Erwin, purchased the building from the estate of North Storms, grandson and last surviving heir of John Storms. Mrs. Haas operated the business until her death in 1966. Therefore, the story of the Haas Store is the story of Carmi and two families. The Village of Carmi was founded in 1814, and it was named the seat of White County in 1816. Early immigration was generally from the original 13 Colonies, especially Virginia and the Carolinas, via Kentucky and Tennesee. Settlers came to White County along the Ohio River to Shawneetown, home of the U.S. Land Office, or from New Harmony, Indiana on the Wabash. John Storms, a native of Harrisburg, Pennsyvlania and a Quaker, settled in Carmi about 1825, and was soon appointed County Surveyor, serving in that position for 30 years. In 1834 he purchased lot 73 of the original plat of the town of Carmi, and established a retail store and personal residence on the site. In 1838, John Storms married Lucy T. Pierce Hicks, a widow whose parents had come to Gallatin County, Illinois, south of White County, in 1818. They had six children, and the two sons, Hail Storms and North Storms, carried on and expanded the family's holdings. John Storms passed away in 1858. Son Hail Storms was County Surveyor from 1861 to 1869, and County Sheriff from 1871-74. He did not marry, and built an attractive residence on Third Street in what was then called West Carmi in 1882, after the death of his mother. North Storms was a leading businessman is Carmi at the time of the 1883 publication of the White County History. He originally operated a drug store in the old "Storms Place" on Lot 73, and in 1874 commenced dealing in grain and agricultural implements. The 1875 photo of downtown Carmi indicates that two frame buildings were located on Lot 73, and the name "Storms" is visible on a sign in front of the lot. By 1883 North Storms was building a wharehouse and elevator near the Little Wabash River. Louis Haas, a native of the Hesse Cassel region, emigrated to America in 1868, as part of the major outflow from the German Prinicpalities. His wife, Fanny, whom he married in 1872, was Bavarian, and their first child, Bertie, was born in Indiana according to the 1880 census. In 1876 Mr. Haas moved to Carmi and immediately opened a dry goods store. Prior to the opening of the subject property, the business, known as the Bankrupt Store, was housed three doors east of the current Haas building. The Haases were Jewish, as were several merchants of the era, including the Shoemanns and Blaskers, who had clothing or general stores in the same block. In 1880 North Storms purchased three lots at the corner of Third and Elm in West Carmi, and lived in the house he constructed until 1890, when Louis Haas purchased the property for his family. At the same time, North Storms built one of the premier Victorian Gothic residences at 304 S.E. First Street in Evansville, Indiana. This home features an outstanding interplay of white stone and red brick, and the broad stone arch which forms the front entrance has definite Richardsonian Romanesque influences. This building currently houses a law office, and is part of the First Street Historic Distrist. North Storms died in 1893, which brought his widow Anna and children into the mix of ownership of Lot 73, which had been subdivided into three lots in 1875 between the five living children of John Storms. Hail and North gradually bought the interests of their sisters as they could, although sister Cuma Storms sold the western 1/3 of Lot 73 to Morris Blasker for his retail establishment. In March, 1896, prior to the construction of the subject building, Mr. Blasker entered into an agreement with Hail Storms and the heirs of North Storms making the western wall of the new building a party wall, allowing Blasker to construct a similar party wall in the future. Little is known about the builders or architects of the Haas Building, but Mr. Haas' comments in his weekly newspaper advertisements make clear his enthusiasm for his new quarters. In the August 27, 1896 Carmi Democrat Tribune Mr. Haas wrote that "we have moved...three doors below our old stand in one of the handsomest and best appointed buildings in this part of the country. We cordially invite everybody to inspect our new store whether you want to buy or now, and will find it the BIGGEST STORE with the LITTLEST PRICES in Carmi...Bankrupt Store--Only bargain house in Carmi." Other advertisements refer to the "Largest and Lightest building in Town", and note that their second floor coat display is the best lit shopping available. Hail Storms died in 1905, and bequethed all his interest in lot 73, including the Haas Store and Shoemann Building to his five nieces and nephews. In 1924 the Shoemann building was sold to James Cullison, and several quitclaim deeds were issued over the years as the Storms heirs, Katrina, John, North, Lee and Frank, were divorced or sued or signed oil leases. The last of the Storms heirs to own the property was North Storms, who left most of his property to his business partner's wife and son, including a 1352 acre White County farm, Hooppole Bend. His estate inventory lists Lot 73 as Illinois property #50, and lists his office address as the Tribune Tower, Chicago. Other Storms heirs lived in Vermont, Florida, and Indianapolis; none returned to Carmi. At first the Haas store sold all manner of fresh and non-perishable groceries, clothing, shoes and dry goods, and 1925 ads still featured sales on coffee, beans and canned apricots. As retailers became more specialized the store concentrated on fabric and notions, along with household linens and women's clothing. Louis Haas and wife Fanny both passed away in 1921, and son Edwin took over the business. The elder Haases were both buried in the Jewish cemetery in Evansville. While he did not look down on customers from the second floor balcony with the same thin-faced intensity, Edwin for many years maintained the practice of relaying invoices and cash to a central office on the second floor in leather baskets suspended on spring-operated wires. Seeing this system in operation was the lightlight of many farm childrens' weekly visit to the county seat. After the death of Edwin Haas in 1950, his widow Helen Conger Haas carried on the family business until her death in 1966. She was a member of one of Carmi's oldest gentile families, and her cousin Colonel Everett Conger commanded the troops who captured Lincoln's assassin John Wilkes Booth. Advertisements in the Carmi and White County Sequicentennial newspapers emphasize the L. Haas Store as the oldest business under continuous ownership in Carmi. Mrs. Haas purchased the store for $25,000, and it was sold by her estate for $20,000. At the death of Mrs. Haas, who had no children, the Haas Store was sold to Felix and Nauda Myers, who had operated an uphostery shop on West Main Street for many years. They gradually added paint, wallpaper, and drapery goods to their inventory of fabric, patterns and notions, and Nauda turned management of the store over to her son Roger after Felix' death in 1974. Due to competition from discounters, such as the K-Mart which opened in Carmi in 1978, and changing lifestyles, the L. Haas store finally closed in the late 1970's. Mrs. Myers rented the building to an office supply store for a couple of years, after which the building was empty except for occasional rummage sales or community events. The White County Historical Society purchased the L. Haas Store in 1992, in order to house large collections of clothing, Indian artifacts, and farm tools recently donated. Its historic value annd proximity to their other two museums make the site a natural addition, and prevent further detioriation of the property. Cindy Birk Conley cbconly@midwest.net From Southeastern Illinois to your modem!! http://www.midwest.net/scribers/cbconly ------------------------------------------------------------------------- USGENWEB NOTICE: These electronic pages may NOT be reproduced in any format for profit or presentation by other organization or persons. Persons or organizations desiring to use this material, must obtain the written consent of the contributor, or the legal representative of the submitter, and contact the listed USGenWeb archivist with proof of this consent. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by Cindy Birk Conley< cbconly@midwest.net > (© 1997 Cindy Birk Conley)