Puttering in the Study

Hub renovation - post #2 - Oct. 12-28, 2009

The demolition continues, but with two dumpsters full the place is starting to look a lot better.  Here's Grayson doing his best Mose Weisman impersonation on the 113 side.  We couldn't understand why in the world there was a bathroom in the front (see the vent stack next to Grayson) until we remembered that this was the wall of the barbershop, so that was the sink.

Over on the 111 side, the galleries are history (ba-da-bing!) and the place is looking more like it did in 1928.  (Compare to first picture - look for the bookcase on the left upstairs).    

And my speculation yesterday about the upstairs shelving being from the 113 side's original shelves looks like it was right - much of the shelving upstairs is precisely the correct width to have been in the with the bins.  While up there I took a picture showing the extent to which the atrium in the mezzanine had been closed up - part was left for the stairs and you can see the boards that enclosed the rest which we'll be taking out to let the skylight illuminate the "library" area below (which will probably be the world's coolest secretary pool/trial file room space when we're done.  The idea is to replicate the appearance in the historic photo above, but with adjustable shelving so that the room can accommodate file boxes, notebooks, what-have-you.

But the big find today was the rest of the 1928 (my guess - nothing to back this up yet so it might be earlier or later) store sign.  I mentioned yesterday we had a "UB" and half a "H" and a "TOR" and half an "E".  Today I found the rest where I suspected it'd be - built into the upstairs shelving.  I put it all together and took a picture - won't this be something back up on the wall! It hasn't been cleaned up yet - the boards and paint are in very good shape and once the grime is cleaned off it'll look pretty good.  The sign is about eight to ten feet long (each line), and each board is ten or twelve inches wide.

Hub - original store bins located

Some days you just get lucky.  I was studying the one interior photo we have of the original Hub, circa about 1908 this morning when I noticed something at bottom right.  The bins or drawers there looked familiar, with the two metal pulls and the unusual vertical label holder.   Then I realized where I'd seen it - the store had a shoe repair bench which we saved which had three stained but very aged drawers in it - with the interiors made of packing crates stenciled "S.S. Weisman, Marshall, Texas". 

At present, these are the only fixtures from the store that we can pretty definitely say have made it all the way from 1897 to the present.  (We think we have the front doors, but it's hard to say that for certain just yet).  Very little we can definitively identify seems to have made the move from the original location (then 119 E. Austin, now 113) to next door at 117 (now 111) in 1928.  What is particularly intriguing is that the work bench the drawers were put in was on the 113 side (which the store took back in sometime after 1956) and I wonder whether the workbench was built by Mr. Kariel Sr. at the Hub at 111 and later moved back to 113, or built by a tenant of the former store with the remains of the fixtures of the former store.  I tend to think the former for two reasons. 

First, I looked at the cards on the bins weeks ago and remember that they still list shoe accessories as contents, which would be odd if another workman was using the bins for something different.  Second, when Mr. Weisman sold the store to Mr. Kariel in 1924, the bill of sale specifically included furniture and fixtures.  So I think it's likely that the old store's shelving and cabinetry was stripped down four years later to furnish the new store next door.  We are definitely seeing that Mr. Kariel reused everything, so it's likely that a portion of the massive amount of shelving we've taken down and stored actually dates to the 1897 store.  My personal opinion is that that's where the upstairs and back shelving came from, because the downstairs front shelving had longer dimensions than the old store.  The upstairs and back as you can see in this picture  contain numerous runs of shorter shelving, all of which is stained at the edges only, and it's pretty rickety without shoe boxes giving it rigidity.  Given that we've found old store sign pieces reused here (seriously - we're playing Scrabble with shelf pieces and so far we can spell "Hub" and "Store" (have not found the "Shoe" yet) this may help us date the sign if the board lengths up there match up with the bin width.

This just gets more fun every day!

Museum Masterpieces: The Louvre - The Teaching Company

Last night I finished this short DVD course (12 half hour lectures) by Richard Brettell of The University of Texas at Dallas on the masterpieces of painting in the Louvre.  I didn't realize when I got it that it was limited to paintings, but enjoyed it nonetheless.  We saw only a fraction of the pieces he focuses on, and it was annoying to hear about others that I really REALLY wish I'd seen while we were there, but it's pretty obvious that one day at the Louvre is never enough - even for just the paintings.  The ones we didn't see that after watching this would top my list are the Marie de' Medici cycle by Rubens.

The Hub - what is it?

Got some questions today what exactly the "hub" outside the store is or represents.  Opinions range from wagon wheel hub to locomotive wheel to universal joint out of a car (okay, I'm the only person I know who grew up thinking that.  This is what I thought people were referring to and I could never figure out how these fit under the rear wheels of a car - but for years I thought they were there.  (Hey, I may be smart, but I never claimed to be bright).  

Anyway, the answer is that it is a oversized wagon wheel hub, which appears to be made out of some kind of sheet metal (tin is a good candidate) repaired over the years with the fair amount of Bondo or something like it.  The pictures below show an antique wagon wheel from the 1800's, and it looks an awful lot like the hollow metal store ornament that's sat on a pole on East Austin since President McKinley took office in 1897. 

Now why is the store called "The Hub"?  According to Marshall historian Melissa Clark (who authored the seminal history fair project on the store in 2000 - probably while a seventh grader) the name of this store came about because Boston, Massachusetts was the main shoe center (as a result of early industrialization in the 19th century in the  textile industry in New England, making Boston the major market for shoes), and the nickname for Boston was the "Hub".  (The attached photo is of the "Hub Pub" in Boston).  That literary reference, in turn, actually comes from Oliver Wendell Holmes in The Autocrat of the Breakfast Table, in which he quoted a man as referring to the State House in Boston as the hub of the solar system, noting this predisposition to think that one's home town is the center of all good things.  The moniker stuck, but it was Mose Weisman who chose to provide a graphical image of the nickname for the center of the shoe industry using the type of "hub" that was more familiar to his customers - a wagon wheel hub.  Perhaps coincidentally, the earliest known photograph of the hub does indeed show a wagon clipclopping by...

But Ms. Clark also reports that a "hub" is precisely what the store's founder Mr. Weisman wanted his store to be.   This photo of a 1916 memo by Mr. Weisman reinforces that the store was not a specialty one - it was intended to serve the whole family.

Hub renovation - post #1 - Oct. 1-11, 2009

As I indicated a couple of weeks ago, on Thursday, October 1, I purchased the former Hub Shoe Store from Louis and Audrey Kariel.  I'll post more later on the store's history, but the short version is that the store had been in the same family for three generations and 112 years, and I was very lucky to have the opportunity to continue that heritage.  I'm not opening a shoe store, but I am renovating it to move my law offices into it, and provide space for law firms that I work with to lease for trial space or for hearing preparation.  I will be posting periodically on what's going on, and this post will start with what's happened since the closing.

Of course there was a lot of work prior to the closing, including research in the building itself and the Harrison County Historical Museum, as well as going through many boxes at the Kariels, in which we found invaluable photos (such as the above from around 1908), and documents that shed light on the building's history and construction.  All these are important because I hope to renovate the building ina way that preserves and enhances its historical character, as well as recognizing the history of the building, the store, and the families that operated it.

But the actual first thing after the closing was to take our three boys down and take their picture under the old Hub out front, as for so many years we saw pictures of the prior owners, Louis Kariel Sr. and Jr. 

History

I need to provide a bit of background on the building, because it is really two adjacent buildings, 111 and 113 East Austin, both of which were the Hub Shoe Store at different times, and have separate histories.  As shown in this picture, taken shortly after the new Logan & Whaley building building was constructed in 1907, 111 was at that time "Neville's Place" (whatever that was) and the Hub shoe store was next door at 113.  Both the facade and the interior are documented pretty well as of 1908 in these two photos.  Of course the old Hub on the sidewalk has been there since 1897, and is the most recognizable feature of the store.  (Yes, it's staying).

The Hub Shoe Store was opened at 113 E. Austin in 1897 by Mose Weisman.  In 1924, Mr. Weisman sold the store to his nephew Louis Weisman Kariel, Sr. and H.W. Pierpont.  Four years later, in 1928 Mr. Pierpont sold out to Louis, Sr., and the store apparently moved next door to 111 E. Austin, where the fancy new digs were photographed.  The store remained there until its closing in 2001 at the ripe old age of 104 years.   Compare the 1928 photo to the left with the same view last week before demolition started.  (The key thing here is the mezzanine that's now hidden behind the wall at the back of the show room - will be a lot more on that later). 

What history these two buildings had before 1897 (and 1928) I do not yet know, and that will be a subject of further research.  At present I actually have no idea how old either structure is, or what was in them prior to their history as a shoe store.  

After 1928, we do know that 113 was divided into a storefront and a back office - the front was a barbershop until approximately 1956.  At some time after 1956 the Kariels acquired the 113 property and added it to the shoe store as retail space in the front and storage in the back.  The Kariels actually acquired the real estate in 1942 (111) and 1992 (113) indicating that at least as far as I currently am aware, the two buildings had not been in common ownership until 17 years ago.  Presumably they were after the land was deeded from the county to its original private owner in 1844, but I have not yet run that trail down.

Work Begins

The day after the October 1 closing I picked up a partial demolition permit from the city, which required $50 and a copy of the asbestos survey I had done back in July.  I photographed the building's interior prior to demolition starting the following Tuesday, October 6.  The major demolition went quickly, with the shelving (made of wood you could not get for love or money today) coming down first, followed by sheetrock, paneling, and eventually virtually everything on the 113 side.   (Yes, we are saving the shelving for reuse as needed in the store - in fact much of the framing and shelf lumber can and will be reused).  The demolition on the 113 side resulted in the store's appearance going from this on Oct. 2 to this on Oct. 11. Again, compare to the 1908 appearance - the original metal ceiling and the witness marks on the walls from the original shoe shelving.  

The original metal ceiling actually tells some of the story of the store's history, with the white ceiling indicating where the barbershop was - it apparently kept the high ceiling until the shoe store took it in and dropped the ceiling and closed up the original front doors in favor of a display window.  The size of the skylight was a surprise - although it doesn't look very large from the front, this closeup and rear to front view shows its size - approximately 8' x 16' x 6' tall.  The demolition has also revealed some clues as to the store's earlier history, but more on that later.  Most importantly, we found the barbershop's front doors (visible leaning against the wall in the two photos) above the rafters - and it is likely these are the original front doors from when the Hub opened in 1897.  We are fortunate beyond words that the Kariels kept these doors safe and sound for over half a century in the attic, so that they could be put back in place approximately 53 years after the barber shop hung its "Closed - moved to 300 W. Pinecrest - Free Parking" sign on them in 1956.  (Downtown had parking meters until the 1980's - apparently they were already a source of irritation to customers in the 1950's!)

Bowling Night

The boys enjoyed bowling so much with their Cub Scout pack a few weeks back tha tlast Saturday night we took them for a couple of family games.  As you can tell, Collin and Parker have different tactics for influencing the ball down the lane! 

Dallas trip w/Grayson

Trinity cancelled classes on Monday for the rest of the week, so I took Grayson with me Tuesday to Dallas for a meeting of the Texas Bar Journal editorial board at Haynes & Boone.   He read his book and was very well-behaved, so afterwards we made a pit stop at the Half Price Books on Northwest Highway, where we both found some things we liked.

Texas A&M - Commerce Homecoming - 2009

Grayson and I drove up to Commerce yesterday for Homecoming at old ET.  Day started with me getting lost in what used to be simply the parking lot outside the music building.  Actually I wasn't lost - the music building was, pretty well buried behind the new sciece building and the new Sam Rayburn Memorial Student Center right behind it (which is phenomenal) with enough landscaping in the area to choke a horse (it looks really great).  We went shopping at the bookstore for A&M-Commerce shirts for the boys (Jamie was coincidentally shopping in Waco for Baylor shirts at the same time), then went up and saw the parade getting started and went through the new alumni building (which is really neat).  We then went through the old music building and then walked over to say my goodbyes to the old MSC, which is now a grass field next to the football stadium.

Met Gene Lockhart and Dr. Chris White, chair of the music department at the construction site for the new music building and got a tour of this monster.  The picture above shows its location towering (literally) over the football stadium (which as you can see has artificial turf now - making it a tolerable practice field).  You have to see it in context to realize that in addition to being a spectacular building for teaching music, it is going to be literally the crown jewel of the university - it is in what used to be the front yard adjacent to the highway and has the best views in campus across Gee Lake.  It is the centerpiece of what is rapidly becoming a rebuilt university, which is already 1,500 students larger than when I was there, and is closing in on 10,000 students by next fall.  When you see the music building (to say nothing of the new science building or student center) you'll see why.  It is sort of what the Performing Arts Center was thirty years ago, except this building is high octane - the things it can do will blow your mind.

Got to see the band at the pep rally, in the stands, and at halftime (couldn't stay for postgame) and they are phenomenal.  They wear new (last year, I'm told) blue and white uniforms with a tiny bit of shiny gold trim.  The Homecoming show was probably truncated, but what I saw they sounded and marched very well.  Up close what impresses you is the discipline - they are always watching the new director, who is constantly giving hand signals to indicate when to repeat, when to stop, when to bring up and put down horns, etc.  Very disciplined, which is great to see.  When I saw that, how well they sounded and marched didn't come as a surprise at all.  Comparing them to the drum corps I saw this summer in Dallas is difficult because there wasn't a full show, but in terms of sounds and look, they were certainly comparable to the better ones.  I also have to point out that they are more active supporting the team in the stands - much like larger college bands, and both in person in the president's box and on the radio I heard comments about how much they contribute to the team.  I was specifically told how impressed the president's box occupants were at a recent game when the rain was pouring down and they could see it spraying off the drum heads as the drum line kept up the fight.  Perhaps not coincidentally, I think the Lions came from behind to win.  Yesterday they lost - barely - to the #7 ranked team in the nation.

All in all, a very enjoyable day, and I wish I could have stuck around for postgame, but had to get back to Marshall.  But ran into Caressa and Tom Lynge (from my band days) and they assured me that the band still sings "When the Roll is Called Up Yonder" after games, so the tradition is preserved.

And while I'm on the topic, the last time I went in the music building was during the tailgate party - and on the way out I heard a sound from the band hall - and when I went around the door to see what was going on, the whole band was in there about to be released to go form up to march over to the stadium.  They then started singing the "Alma Mater" (which was my first clue they were going to be good - they sounded extraordinary just singing) and then were released, making that the last thing I heard from the band hall.  Grayson then spoiled what was a really special moment for me with my memories of my time in the building by observing, as only a ten year old can, that that was my last pee in the building, and on that note we left. 

It's ready for the dynamite now.

Hub with boys

Stopped by the old Hub shoe store on Austin street last night for the boys to have a look around what'll be Dad's new office in a few months.  Lots of work to be done, but we're looking forward to it.

TAMU-C Homecoming is October 10, 2009

Since I can't post the brochure on Facebook, here's a copy of the Homecoming brochure - Download Homecoming 2009 (3)