Feature 247: 204 West Maple Avenue (in 2011)

Classification: Contributing.
Historic Name: Sentinel/Brightman Building.
Architectural Style: Commercial.
Construction Date: ca. 1890/1915.
Period 2 of Harry S Truman's Life: Establishing Community Roots, 1890-1919.
Tax Identification: 26-230-04-10.
Legal Description: Old Town, part of lot 18.
Description: Contributing two-story brick commercial building; L-shaped building; flat roof concealed by stepped parapet with projecting cornice; brick exterior; three paired double-hung sash windows with segmental arches (second floor) and large plate glass windows; recessed entrance; steeply pitched wood awning clad with wood shakes. Located in mid-block about one-half block west of the Courthouse Square; buildings adjoin along the east and west walls; sidewalk extends along facade; street tree in front.
• Alterations: The ground-floor storefront was altered (transom lights removed or covered, aluminum windows added; awning with wood shakes added).
History/Significance: At least a portion (western) of this two-story brick commercial building may date from around 1890. (The 1885 Sanborn insurance map shows no building on this site.) A one-story flour and feed store stood on this site in the 1890s and early 1900s. In 1905, The "Independence Sentinel," Sentinel Publishing Company publications, and F. Forsha Brightman of the "Sentinel," occupied the building at 204 West Maple. By 1907, a two-story building had been constructed on this site, presumably the present building. A feed store continued to occupy the ground floor; a printing shop existed on the second floor.
A devastating fire that destroyed the Music Hall immediately to the west apparently originated in the second-floor print shop at 204 West Maple Avenue. This building probably required substantial reconstruction in 1915, at least in the interior, because of the fire damage. The following year (1916), a feed and cement store were tenants at 204 West Maple. In 1920, United Brothers of Friendship Ideal, No. 252, Edward M. Phenix, physician, and J. DeCourey Coal and Mercantile Company conducted business in this building. Horn and Foster grocers operated their business at 204 West Maple in the mid-1920s. Around 1930, M.E. Hall, grocer, held forth at 204 West Maple. The building underwent a major remodeling in 1934 prior to the arrival of Cook Paint Store, which opened at 204 West Maple in March that year. Forty years later, a paint store still occupied the ground-floor shop space of the building.