I recently had
two posts that looked at changes in the empty buildings in Rensselaer, but I missed a couple. First, north of town just south of the John Deere dealer, a building that had a Sharp Electric sign on it a few months ago now seems to be empty and vacant.
It may have been empty for a while because I cannot find Sharp Electric in the phone book. There is no "for-rent" or "for-sale" sign evident.
A new enterprise is going into the tiny building on West Washington across the street from CVS. The sign says it is Elk Investments, LLC, and that they are buying an selling jewelry, gold and silver, old coins, Indian artifacts, and antique militaria. I do not recall any past coin shops in Rensselaer. About ten or fifteen years ago we had a shop that bought and sold baseball cards. Maybe there was more than one. Someone told me that it was eliminated in the fire that took out the old Forsythe building.
This building has seen many uses over the years. I think it was most recently a beauty salon. There has been at least one insurance office in there, and it has also had periods of vacancy. My favorite use was about 30 years ago when it was Hickman's ice cream parlor for two or three years. They had really good ice cream cones. According the the
Jasper County Interim Report, it was originally a
house-style gas station built about 1925. What else has been in there?
It may have been empty for a while because I cannot find Sharp Electric in the phone book. There is no "for-rent" or "for-sale" sign evident.
A new enterprise is going into the tiny building on West Washington across the street from CVS. The sign says it is Elk Investments, LLC, and that they are buying an selling jewelry, gold and silver, old coins, Indian artifacts, and antique militaria. I do not recall any past coin shops in Rensselaer. About ten or fifteen years ago we had a shop that bought and sold baseball cards. Maybe there was more than one. Someone told me that it was eliminated in the fire that took out the old Forsythe building.
This building has seen many uses over the years. I think it was most recently a beauty salon. There has been at least one insurance office in there, and it has also had periods of vacancy. My favorite use was about 30 years ago when it was Hickman's ice cream parlor for two or three years. They had really good ice cream cones. According the the Jasper County Interim Report, it was originally a house-style gas station built about 1925. What else has been in there?
I LOVED Hickman's Ice Cream Parlor, too! Mint chocolate chip on a sugar cone, please!
ReplyDeleteHickman's was great. Fond childhood memories (not too many as we didn't go all that often but still...)
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Does anyone have a picture of Hickman's? That would be amazing!
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