Sioux City History & Culture by Bicycle Part 37: Sioux City Terra Cotta, Douglas St.

Breaking the Mold, Sioux City's Terra Cotta has 2 buildings on Douglas St. Both are still in use today, the Woodbury County Courthouse & the Warnock Building.

The Woodbury County Courthouse, located at 620 Douglas St. The building attained national recognition of one of the finestSullivanesque and Prarie School structures ever built & is the embodiment of both. Designed by William L. Steele the building had some resistance from county officials when the design was first introduced the building opened in 1918 & was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1973 & was designated as a National Historic Landmark in 1996.

This building is also part of Douglas Street Walking Tour Here is another post about the courthouse as well: Woodbury County Courthouse

The photo's I took of the building to do not do it justice. A person really needs to see the building for themselves to understand how beautiful it really is. But here they are:







The Warnock Building located at 705 Douglas is also called the Benson Building. It houses several diverse tenants. Built in 1920 & designed by Beauttler and Arnold, architects it was built with both Sullivanesque and Chicago School Elements as part of it's design. The building was funded by William Warnock, son-in-law of W.A. Klinger. Klinger is a well reknowned construction company still in operation today in Sioux City. The Bewauttler and Arnold designed was Klinger's first commercial construction work. The building was originally a Ford dealership & was built with only 6 stores, but can support an additional 5 floors. It is now an commercial office building. The Warnock Building is also part of the Douglas Street Walking Tour
Photo's:

Sioux City History & Culture by Bicycle Part 22: Douglas Street Walking Tour

There is a self paced Douglas Street Walking Tour from 2nd St to 7th, which goes through downtown Sioux City. There is a map that shows the name of the buildings, which ones are still here & gives some info. about the buildings. Douglas looks a lot different today then it did over a hundred years ago. There have also been some recent changes made since the map of the walking tour was published.

I took photo's of the street as it looks today starting at 3rd & Douglas. Included are the corners & areas along Douglas talked about in the walking tour map as well as some additions to it.

Enjoy:

This map shows the buildings listed as part of the Douglas Street Walking Tour. IT says to start at 2nd & Douglas. Because of a current construction project that is not possible. It is best to start at 3rd & Douglas as I did.
Map of Downtown Sioux City

This photo was not taken from 2nd St looking north as is shown in the walking tour guide. I took it from 3rd & Douglas looking south. As you can see there is construction going on. There is a new hotel being built. What used to be there was the Senior Center & the Palmer Candy Company building. They were both torn down fo the new hotel. Both moved to new locations. On the southeast corner of 3rd & Douglas & before the Senior Center was built & across from the Palmer Candy Company was the Union Railroad Depot. From 2nd St is the other side of the construction site. I do not know if Douglas will now be blocked off form 2nd to 3rd as it is now for the construction. In the distance is the back of the Long Lines Family Center, which was the former Sioux City Auditorium & the back of the Tyson Events Center. Compare the photo's in the link to the one I took:.

Links:
Douglas Street c. 1876
Palmer Candy Company
Union Railroad Depot

Photo:


One block north along the walking tour is 4th & Douglas. On the Southwest corner used to be the First National Bank Building.
First National Bank
Now it is an empty building that used to be the Bomgaars store. Bomgaars is similar to Tractor Supply Company, only a lot better. Here is the photo:

On the Northeast corner of 4th & Douglas was the Hedges Block, as shown here:
Hedges Block
Now the building that is there is the Hom Furniture building. Hom Furniture used to be further south near Pierce St & Gordon Dr. The building they are in now used to be a Younkers Dept. Store. Here is the photo:


Continueing north on the walking tour is 5th & Douglas. On the Southwest corner there were 2 buildings in the past. One was the Lindholm Furniture Store from 1894, the other was Sioux City Journal Building from 1965. Now on this corner is the Rivers Landing Parking Ramp. Here are the links & the photo:
Lindholm Furniture Building
Sioux City Journal Building


6th & Douglas is what is considered Government Corner. Because of all the govt. buildings on that area. There is the Police & Fire Headquarters, City Hall & the Federal Building. It was not always govt. corner though. It's history dates back as far as 1895. On the Southwest corner was the Oxford Hotel: Oxford Hotel On the Here is an artists rendition of Government Corner: Government Corner Currently on the Southwest corner is the Federal Building: Federal Building Here is the photo of it:

On the Northwest corner was the old City Hall & Library. City Hall & Library City Hall now sits on the Northeast corner. Today on the Northwest corner is Post Office & the Police & Fire Department Headquarters. Police & Fire Dept. Headquarters Current photo:

The current City Hall building which on the Northeast corner was not always City Hall. It used to be the Federal Building & Post Office. I have a previous post about City Hall, this will just show a photo of the corner & the link to basic info. about it. Federal Building / Post Office (City Hall) c. 1950 Here is the photo:


Here is a link to a street scene from 1940 between 6th & 7th Streets on Douglas:
Street Scene c. 1940

The final leg of the Douglas Street Walking Tour is 7th & Douglas. This intersection has 3 buildings, still standing from Sioux City's past. On the Southwest corner is the old Municipal Auditorum. It is currently used by KCAU TV, one of the local news stations & ABC affiliate. Municipal Auditorium c. 1912 Current photo:

On the Southeast corner used to be the Elk's Club, now the Woodbury County Courthouse is there. I did post about the courthouse previous to this. The Elks Club c. 1910
Woodbury County Courthouse c. 1920
Recent photo:

The final building on this walking tour is the Benson Building. It currently houses several small businesses that are very important to Sioux City. The building is on the Northwest corner.
Warnock (Benson) Building c. 1920
Recent photo:

Sioux City History & Culture by Bicycle Part 25: Pierce Street Walking Tour

Like Douglas Street Pierce Street, from 3rd St to 7th also has a walking tour. The street scenes & buildings shown in the walking tour guide date back as far as 1885. Much has changes since then but some of the buildings still stand today & are still being used. As in the previous post about the Douglas Street Walking Tour I will show what building used to be on the corners & what building or parking lot is there now or if the building is still there. This tour starts at the intersection of Pierce & 3rd Streets & goes north to Pierce & 7th Streets.

Enjoy:

Here is the map with which to start the tour. You can download a printer friendly version of it if you would like:
Pierce Street Walking Tour

On the Southwest corner of 3rd & Pierce was the Red Owl Grocery Store. The store was there from 1958 to 1982. From 1982 to 2008 the Siouxland Senior Center used the building. The senior center has now moved further west to an old Hy-Vee Food Store building. As I mentioned before in the Douglas Street post the senior center moved because of the new hotel now being built at this corner today.
Link: Red Owl Grocery Store/Parking Lot c. 1958
Photo of corner today:

On the Northwest corner of 3rd & Pierce used to be the Moore & Shenkberg Grocer Company. The building was built in 1915. It is no longer there. What is there now is a parking lot for Vantus Bank.
Link: Moore & Shenkberg Grocer Company c. 1915
Photo of what is there today:


Here is what the City View looking Southeast from between 3rd & 4th streets used to look like: City View c. 1918
Here is what it looks like today:


One block north from 3rd at 4th & Pirece on the Southwest corner used to stand the Davidson Brother's Department Store. On that corner now is Vantus Bank, the same bank with the parking lot on the Northwest corner of 3rd & Pierce.
Link: Davidson Brother's Department Store c. 1930
Photo of the corner today:

On the Sortheast corner of 4th & Pierce was the Northwestern National Bank building. Aftger the bank moved out it was then a drug store then a really great sandwhich shop called Little Chicago Deli. Now it is the parking lot for Central Bank. The original building has been torn down. Little Chicago Deli moved one block east & across the street. This happened with the last 10 years.
Link: Northwestern National Bank c. 1909
Photo of corner today:


Further up about half way between 4th & 5th Streets on the west side of Pierce was the old Pelletier's Department Store. I do not think the building is there any more but another one is in it's place. Link: Pelletier's Department Store c. 1930
Here is a photo of the building there now:


About half way between 4th & 5th Streets on the east side of Pierce was the Hills (Taylor) Block. Here is what the building looked like in 1916: Hills (Taylor) Block c. 1916 I have a photo of this area but the buildings look different. I am not going to post the pic until I know for sure this is what the buildlings look like now, or if this is the buildings that replaced these in the link.

At the Southeast corner of 5th & Pierce was the Richardson Block. It was built in 1885 & housed many companies. It was razed the 1940's. Link: Richardson Block c. 1916
Now it the M&M Copy Quick building that is there.
Photo:

On the Southwest corner was the Continental Bank (Iowa Building), built in 1889. The building there now is an eye care office. Link: Continental Bank (Iowa Building) c. 1925
Current photo:

At the Northwest corner of 5th & Pirece was the First National Bank building. The only part of the bank that remains to day is actually at 5th & Douglas. The building there now is the US Bank building, which was formally Firstar Bank.
Link: First National Bank c. 1925
Photos:



At the Northeast corner was the Garretson Hotel. This building was destroyed by fire in 1914. in 1925 the Frances building was built & is still there today.
Link: Garretson Hotel c. 1910
Frances Building c. 1925
Photo:


At the Northwest corner of 6th & Pierce was the War Eagle Building. It was razed in the mid 1970's & the building that is now the Wilbur Alfs Library was built.
Link: War Eagle Building c. 1923
Photo:

On the Southeast corner used to be the Woodbuy County Courthouse. It is now at the corner of 7th & Douglas. The building on the Southeast corner of 6th & Pierce is now the One of the Crown Jewels of Sioux City, Iowa. The Orpheum Theater. It was once a Vaudville Theater in the 1920's & 1930's. Over time it was turned into a movie theater & the 2nd floor balcony was blocked off. It fell into disrepair & was closed. In the late 1990's a restoration effort was made to turn the theater back into it's original beauty. I am proud to say I was part of the restoration project. The Orpheum is truely a Jewel of the city. It is now used for both movies & live productions. We are very proud of it.
Links: Woodbury County Courthouse c. 1889
Orpheum Theater c. 1939
Orpheum Theater
Photo's:


On the Northwest corner of 6th & Pierce is the Trimble Block (Security National Bank), which today is the Security National Bank building.
Link: Trimble Block (Security National Bank) c. 1915
Photo:

On the Northeast corner of 6th & Pierce is the Davidson Office Building. This building along with the Scottish Rite Temple & the Woodbury County Courthouse was designed by William L. Steele.
Link: Davidson Office Building c. 1915
Photo:


Sioux City at one time had Corn Palaces built. In fact Sioux City was home of the original Corn Palaces before Mitchell, South Dakota ever thought about building theirs. they spanned Pierce St on 6th in the late 1800's.
Link: The World's First Corn Palaces c. 1888, 1889, 1890, 1891

On the west side of Pierce between 6th & 7th Streets is the Williges Women's Wear and Furs building.
Link: Williges Women's Wear and Furs c. 1970
Photo:


The first Young Men's Christian Association was on the Northwest corner of 7th & Pierce. The 2nd was built on Nebraska & was closed this year in favor of the new Siouxland Y in South Sioux City, Nebraska. The building on the Northwest corner today is the Pioneer Bank Building.
Link: Young Men's Christian Association c. 1910
Photo:


Finally on the Pierce Street Walking Tour is the Insurance Exchange Building. It is located on the Northeast corner of 7th & Pierce.
Link: Insurance (Exchange) Centre c. 1925
Photo:


Well that is it for this walking tour. I hope you enjoy it. I have both walked & rode it by bicycle as well. Next will be the Nebraska Street walking Tour.