Deidesheimer's Dry Goods Store

In 1867, Henry Deidesheimer was one of three businessmen who built three identical three-story brick and iron buildings on adjoining lots on East Main Street at High Street in Belleville. Deidesheimer's dry goods and grocery store occupied the first floor of the middle building, while the second floor held a dental office and residence. His third floor, together with the third floor of the corner building, housed the Belleviller Saengerbund and Bibliothekgesellschaft, and the library there, merged with the library originally organized by the Latin Farmers in Shiloh Valley, would become the Belleville Public Library. Deidesheimer, a Bavarian immigrant who came to Belleville in 1847 to become a dry goods merchant, returned to Germany after the outbreak of the Revolution of 1848 to fight for the revolutionary forces seeking to liberalize government, then came back to Belleville in 1849 and resumed his career. He closed the business in 1883, and Joseph Saenger took over the location for his dry goods store, spending 15 of his more than 50-year career there as a downtown merchant. Around the turn of the twentieth century, Bell Clothing Company sold menswear from the building until F.W. Woolworth opened a five and dime store there in 1919. Walkohl Drug Store, founded by Walter J. Kohl, moved into the building in 1931 and occupied it for about 40 years. The Continental Cafeteria House used the building in the 1970s until an arsonist's fire damaged it and the adjoining corner structure in 1976. Florence Agne salvaged the building, then reduced to two stories, for Marvin's Camera, which sold camera equipment and processed film from 1978 until 2012, when Shichi Sushi Bar opened.

Belleville, Illinois · United States