From right to left: Poetsch Building, Tucker Building, Lindeman Building, and Bryant Building on September 5, 2005.
These buildings were built to replace those destroyed in the fire of June 28, 1924, and were mostly complete by December of that year. They are the third group of buildings to stand on this block, as the 1924 fire was the second fire to burn this block to the ground. The two story building in the foreground was originally known as the Poetsch Building, and was the third building to stand on this site.
View of A Street showing the large two-story Dietz Building.
(Michael Clark collection, used with permission)
This site was originally occupied by the Dietz Building, which was built in the 1890s. On July 5, 1900, a fire started in the Dietz Building that quickly spread to destroy all of the buildings in this block. At the time of the fire, the Dietz Building housed William J. Dietz’s general store and Dr. Alexander P. McLaren’s drugstore on the first floor with a lodge room on the second floor that was used by several lodges. Dietz rebuilt after the fire. The new Dietz Building housed the original hall for Lodge 151 of the International Order of Odd Fellows, which Dietz was a charter member of when it was formed on March 2, 1901. The Odd Fellows built their own building in 1920 and moved out. Around 1920, William J. Dietz sold the building to Paul Poetsch. The concrete curb in front of the current building still reads “POETSCH - SON . 1922” but I don’t know of the date signifies when Poetsch bought the building, or simply when the curb was placed. Poetsch did own the building in September 1922, when Lodge 1435 of the Loyal Order of Moose leased the space. They began meeting in the space in November 1922.
New Poetsch, Tucker and Lindeman Buildings.
Poetsch rebuilt after the fire of June 28, 1924. The new Poetsch Building was built by Phillbrick & Nickelson of Tacoma, Washington. The first occupants were to move in on December 1, 1924. On the first floor from east to west were E. E. Rosebraugh, general merchandise; E. M. Young, jeweler; and W. A. Rader, confectionary. The first two were occupants of the previous building. The upper floor offices would be ready on December 10; occupants included Fred W. Herman, attorney; Dr. E. J. Perkins, optometrist; Judge W. A. Wood; Dr. W. H. Rockwell, naturopath; and Dr. F. B. Davis, dentist. Herman and Rockwell were also occupants of the previous building.
Next to the Poetsch building is the one-story Tucker Building, built by Phillbrick & Nickelson of Tacoma, Washington, for Fred J. Tucker’s Rainier Hardware Company. Tucker sold the business to his nephews Joe and Bernard Oliva on July 1, 1947.
1972 Newspaper Photo showing A Street Buildings.
By October 1949, Rainier Hardware had already expanded from its own building into the rear of the west-side bay of the Poetsch Building with a doorway cut through the wall. That month, Rainier Hardware expanded again, taking over all of the west-side bay of the Poetsch Building. This forced the Phillips barber shop to move from the front of the west-side bay to the front of the east-side bay. The other tenant, Bair Electric, vacated, and the remaining space in the center bay and the rear of the east-side bay was rented by M. L. Brooks for use as a pool hall. The center bay later became the offices of Wes Kimble Realty.
This photo of a train running down A Street in the 1980s shows the Coast-to-Coast Hardware store occupying the entire Poetsch Building in the background.(Cliff West Photo)
Rainier Hardware was originally affiliated with the Marshall-Wells Hardware Company. Marshall-Wells was purchased by Coast-to-Coast Hardware in 1958, though the Rainier Hardware store displayed both names into the 1970s. Joe and Barney Oliva sold their business to their sons Joedy and Steve Oliva in August 1975. Eventually, Rainier Hardware expanded to fill the entire first floor of the Poetsch Building.
Poetsch Building as the Rainier Marina Market on July 13, 2008.
Coast-to-Coast merged with True Value in 1997, but this building kept Coast-to-Coast signs for some time after. In 2002, Rainier Hardware moved down the street to the Ellis Block at 102 A Street West. Except for a brief stint as an auction house, the Poetsch and Tucker buildings remained vacant until becoming the Rainier Marina Market, which opened on April 26, 2008 and closed December 18, 2010.
A Street on July 13, 2008.
In 2010, while still the Rainier Marina Market, the brick facade of the second floor was rebuilt, altering the building’s appearance and removing its original masonry details. In 2011, Rainier Appliance moved into the Poetsch Building. The Tucker Building has been separated from the Poetsch Building and is rented separately to other tenants.
New Façade of the Poetsch Building on February 25, 2011.
The other one story building is the Lindeman Building. Before the fire on June 28, 1924, Grove Sammons had a building on this site that housed his furnishings store, the Sammons & Laing barber shop, and lodgings. After the fire, Sammons sold the lot to I. B. Lindeman, who built a new building for his dry goods store. The building was built as a one story building with a mezzanine and a basement.
In April 1943, Lindeman’s dry goods store switched places with his furniture store in the Ellis Block on the other side of A street. The stores switched back on August 11, 1945, when Lewis K. Wallin (Lindeman’s son-in-law) took over the furniture and variety stores.
On August 7, 1946, Lindeman sold the building and dry goods store to Mr. & Mrs. John Rupprath. They then sold out to the Weiby Brothers on September 17, 1946. Henry A. and Clint H. Weiby also operated stores in Silverton and Beaverton. The business was initially advertised as Weiby Bros. but by December 1946 the advertisements simply said Weiby’s. Weiby’s remodeled the building in early 1947.
Weiby’s lasted into the early 1980s. After the store closed, the building was purchased by Joedy and Joyce Oliva. Fred Bell Studios rented the building for many years before moving to the Sammons building on the highway in 2011. In 2013 the building was sold and remodeled into two storefronts; with the west side occupied by Dr. Perry Fiscus’s dental office, and the east side by a barbershop.
Continue to 14: Bryant Building…
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