Feature 231: 114-116 South Main Street (in 2011)

Classification: Contributing.
Historic Name: Lambert Moon Printing Company Building.
Architectural Style: Commercial.
Construction Date: 1949.
Period 4 of Harry S Truman's Life: Attaining National Prominence, 1934-1953.
Tax Identification: 26-230-16-17.
Legal Description: Old Town, part of lot 62.
Description: Contributing one-story masonry brick commercial building; rectangular in shape; flat roof; brick exterior; large plate glass display windows on ground-floor east-facing facade. The building is located in the middle of the block with an alley to the north; one-half block south of the Courthouse Square; a commercial building located at 118-122 South Main [Feature 234] adjoins along the southern wall. A sidewalk extends along the facade.
• Alterations: The existing building was substantially altered in the late 1960s, but it retains enough integrity to be counted as contributing to the historical significance of the district.
History/Significance: In 1906, a disastrous fire nearly totally destroyed the Mercer Building, which previously stood on the site of the present building, rebuilt after the fire. For many years, Bullard and Gray Company Grocers occupied the ground-floor commercial space at 114 South Main Street and Mize Hardware Company (Independence Hardware Company after 1912) held forth at 116 South Main Street. Wallace M. Gregg presided over the hardware firm, Allen E. Qurollo was vice president, and Stanley E. Gregg (son of Wallace and Susie Gregg) served as secretary/treasurer following the building's reconstruction in 1906. By 1916, Bernard Zick, Jr., had succeeded Stanley Gregg as secretary/treasurer. Independence Hardware Company eventually expanded and occupied both 114 and 116 South Main Street in the 1930s.
Later, the Lambert Moon Printing Company moved into part of the Independence Hardware Building. This business was nearly wiped out in a devastating fire in January 1949. By September that year, however, Lambert Moon reopened at the new, present, one-story building at 114 South Main Street. The Tyler Gifts store moved into 116 South Main.