The Modern Era

About that time, a Kroger Grocery opened in the east room and a department store known as the Double Service Sales Co. was established in the west. In 1944, the department store was replaced by the Patton Block's longest-tenured business, Johnson's Wallpaper and Paint Store. The owner, Leonard Johnson, soon took over both of the ground-floor rooms and made several improvements to the building, including pouring a concrete floor in the basement where paint and wallpaper were stored. He even installed a furnace to heat the basement but found it dried out the wallpaper and had to remove it. Even without heat, the basement remained a popular hangout for locals who enjoyed shooting dice.

Over the next quarter century, the Johnson store remained a family business and in 1971, Leonard's son-in-law, Jim Brown, purchased both the business and the building, which was still owned by the Odd Fellows. While the third floor was never occupied after this (although a group of men contemplated turning it into a private racquetball club), the second floor became home to Professional Chefs, a cooking school run by Paul Cropper. When a devastating fire wiped out a large business block in 1974, Brown made his upstairs available as temporary quarters for displaced businesses. For a time, a model railroad club also had a train layout in the upstairs.

The paint store finally closed in 1984 but Brown continued to rent it to businesses, including a Radio Shack and a video store. When the cost of maintaining the big old building became increasingly expensive, Brown considered taking the Patton Block down and selling the parts-such as the walnut timbers in the roof framing-for scrap. We can all be glad that he reconsidered.

In 1990, through the efforts of Carla Kanthak, a local preservationist, the Patton Block was entered on the National Register of Historic Places.

Back 07.25.2006.