THE LOCATION AND SEQUENCE OF BUSINESS HOUSES

The earliest business establishments in Ossian were located in, or near, the original 1855 plat. We speculate that blacksmith Peter Alward's shop was on lot 2, block 6, Brooks' division in I860. This would be in the eastern portion of the present town park. The site of Aaron Patterson & Bros.' store may have been on the May Ward residence corner lot. Likely Henry White's first store's location was the site of Erik Anderson's old store across from the Ed Linderbaum residence.

He built the Shasta House Hotel on this lot about 1867 and sold the sw corner of the parcel to Patterson in 1870. The Hilton House may have been just west of the store building constructed by Anderson (Dr. Henry's home).

Levi Freeman's mercantile establishment, "The Great Western Emporium", was across the tracks on the corner of West and Railroad Streets. (The south side of Mechanic was called Railroad St. after the Milwaukee tracks were laid.) Edgar Freeman's grocery was further east on Railroad, probably on the north end of the opera house lot. Franz Figge's bakery was next door to the east.

It seems likely that the early grain buying houses—P. H. Mills, J. C. Shadbolt, A. L. Patterson, J. M. Faust, W. W. Stow, C. McNeil, Bassette & Co. and McWilliams —were strung out along the south side of Railroad most of the length of blocks 9»

10, & 11. The lumberyards—P. Lynch, Fleming Bros., Seeley & Shaw, and Stauer and Dauberger—seem to have been interspersed with the produce houses. Lynch dealt in both grain and limber; his yard was probably adjacent to the Flemings and, perhaps purchased by them prior to Frudden Lumber's acquisition of the Fleming yard. The first location of Frudden Lumber appears to have been north of the tracks. The Milwaukee stockyards were south of the tracks, just east of the Ogden Street intersection. Next door east is the tile building constructed by Clair Limbeck for a poultry feeding house and later used as a warehouse by Julius Geskin. The Rock Island stockyards were north of the railroad near the site of the present bulk storage tanks for gasoline and fuel oil.

With the assistance of Mrs. Rose (Meyer) Becker, prior to her death, we have attempted to trace the locations of the former business houses. Unfortunately, records at the court house are incomplete, and often confusing, and our own memory is far from perfect. We realize there are many omissions and, doubtless, several errors in our account. The numbers correspond with the business sites on our chart.

1.    Ossian housing/ Rock Island depot/Burlington depot.

2.    Arthur Einck residence/Chas. Dewey residence/Banning Hotel/jauert/ Bear Hotel/ Collins National House/George's National House.

3.    Staska apartments/ Nicholson Repair shop/ John Witt res./ Hall Hotel/ Commercial Hotel/ Williams Egg House/ Gaertner boarding house & saloon.