The Penniman Buildings

Most of this block of Main Street burned in 1857 and again in 1893, and because of these fires the commercial block became known as the Phoenix Block. The four Penniman Buildings were erected after the 1893 fire, and local history holds that they were built together and named for Ebenezer Penniman by his daughter, Kate Penniman Allen, an accomplished business woman who also developed real estate in the area. Ebenezer Penniman was the first U.S. Congressman elected from Plymouth, serving in the Thirty-Second Congress from 1851-1853, and he was also a founding member of the Republican Party. The Penniman Buildings are Classical Revival brick structures with a symmetrical facade, a classically inspired frieze, and a denticulated cornice extending across all four buildings. At 318 S. Main, an unusual Palladian-inspired window bears the inscription "Penniman Building 1893" above it, with double windows on each side in an enframed window; a brick parapet that originally crowned the entire building has been removed. Over the years, several storefronts in the buildings housed many merchants, including Rauch Dry Goods, Green and Jolliffe-Haberdashers, and E.L. Riggs, who opened The Plymouth Outfitter in 1894 inside 336 S. Main and whose family maintained the business until 1920, stocking many items needed by a frontier family. These architecturally significant buildings are among the few historical commercial structures still standing in Plymouth from before the turn of the 20th century and remain important visual and historical landmarks of the town's commercial development.

Plymouth, Michigan · United States