Then vs. Now: Historical Listings, Pt. 3
It's another round-up of our social media series, Fun Fact Friday!
Our brokerage team continues to add listings with fascinating backstories to the market inventory, and we love sharing those stories with the community in our "Fun Fact Friday" social media series.
Over the past several months, we've explored sites all over Fort Wayne, from the iconic Roller Dome North to the former Byron Health Center campus to downtown Fort Wayne's bustling Gateway District.
We thank the Allen County Public Library, The Indiana Album, The History Center, and many others for supplying photos and research information and joining us in sharing these memories for all to enjoy.
Former I.O.O.F. Building, now Indiana Office Center, at the intersection of Wayne & Calhoun
Today, we’re at 111 East Wayne Street, known as the Indiana Office Center or the Wells Fargo Building.
The current building was erected in 1994, but the original building, shown in the historic photo, was built in 1890 to be used as the offices for the Independent Order of Odd Fellows.
It also housed A&I Leather Shops on Calhoun, Bruder-Calhoun Company jewelers at the corner, and G.C. Murphy's general store on Wayne. New York Dentists were on the second floor, and they specialized in false teeth!
The Fort Wayne Commercial Club also held offices here, which was formed in 1899 and merged with the Wayne Club in 1910. This organization sought to sustain the city’s financial health and was the forerunner of today’s Fort Wayne Chamber of Commerce, which was established in 1917.
Unfortunately, the building was razed at the end of the 1940s as it was considered too old and small for use, and a new building was constructed to be G.C. Murphy’s department store.
Murphy’s opened in 1950 and was a very popular downtown department store along with Wolf & Dessauer and Patterson-Fletcher. It was known as “The Last Downtown Department Store” and closed at the end of 1992.
This brings us to the current building, which has housed a variety of tenants over the decades. Indiana Office Center sits across from One Summit Square, a popular spot for food trucks and winter photos with the giant vintage “Merry Christmas” wreath.
Popular festivals and events at the intersection of Wayne and Calhoun, directly in front of the Indiana Office Center, include Night of Lights, Buskerfest, and Open Streets.
Indiana Office Center also neighbors Dash-In and Fortezza Coffee, all along Calhoun. One block west on Wayne St, you'll find popular spots, like Insomnia Cookies, JK O'Donnell's, Big Apple Pizza, and Creative Women of the World.
And if you’d also like to be neighbors to all of these wonderful businesses, Indiana Office Center still has office and retail space available!
Dupont Shopping, Business, Hospital, & Medical Park off I-69
The Dupont medical campus was once a part of the St. Joseph and Ancilla Health System, which began with the sisters of the Poor Handmaids of Jesus Christ.
In 1868, eight sisters came to Fort Wayne from Germany to help the large number of sick Germans in the area after the Civil War. The sisters’ first hospital, St. Joseph, was established in downtown Fort Wayne in 1869. They owned and operated the downtown Fort Wayne hospital for 129 years until they sold it in 1998.
As the St. Joseph Hospital network continued to expand, Sturges Development Group was contacted by the hospital in the 90s to begin the development of the 100+ acres of what is now Dupont Business & Medical Park.
As Sturges Development Group developed the land, Sturges Property Group assisted with the lot sales, tenant leases, and property management, and we continue to lease and manage many of the buildings today.
Dupont Place Shopping Center houses some Fort Wayne favorites, such as Trolley Steaks & Seafood, Escapology Escape Rooms, and Bagger Dave's Burger Tavern. The office buildings on campus house several local and national businesses, such as Raymond James and Bankers Life.
The torn aerial photo is from 2004 and was shot from a helicopter, as drone photography was not regularly used yet. The bottom image is an aerial from 2018. Since then, the Dupont/I-69 interchange has been reconfigured and a few remaining lots have been developed further.
Sturges Property Group has retail, office, and medical space available!
Carroll Centre Development at the former Byron Health Center Campus
Byron Health Center has been known by many names over the years—Allen County Home, Fort Recovery, the Allen County Poor Farm, and Allen County Infirmary, to name a few. Regardless of the name, this medical campus was made possible because of the efforts put forth by one woman, Irene Byron.
Paricia Irene Byron was born around 1880 in Pennsylvania. As a young graduate of the Hope Hospital Training Program in 1906, which was the forerunner of Parkview Memorial Hospital, she served as a visiting community nurse for several years in and around Fort Wayne. She then traveled frequently between Pennsylvania and Indiana before becoming the executive secretary of the Allen County Anti-Tuberculosis League.
In 1914, the “White Plague” epidemic caused Byron to begin campaigning for an outdoor treatment hospital, which Fort Wayne desperately lacked. The following spring, the League opened Fort Recovery just north of where Byron Hospital stood. It was a group of wooden open-air huts that could house 20 patients.
Later on, Byron was one of the first Fort Wayne nurses to sign up for the war efforts in 1917. She cared for sick and wounded soldiers at Camp McArthur in Waco, Texas, where she passed away just a year later in 1918.
A modern, fresh-air treatment facility where feeble children and adults could regain strength through a nutritious diet, clean air, and ample rest was slowly being built throughout the war. Dedication to the modern sanitarium, as seen in the historic photo, would occur in 1919, one year after Byron’s death.
Byron Health Center continued to evolve over the decades. The tuberculosis unit closed in 1975, and the entire hospital relocated to a new facility near Parkview Randallia in 2020. The efforts of Irene Byron remain present in Fort Wayne over 100 years later with the hospital still operating under her namesake.
The old facilities at Lima and Carroll Road were demolished in 2022, and the piles of rubble sitting on the land now are remnants of the former driveways, sidewalks, and buildings. The crushed rocks will be used to pave new drives and pads for what is now known as Carroll Centre Development.
The 60+ acre development project presents a great opportunity for new retail, office, or residential endeavors. Contact us for more information if you are looking to join the revitalization and development efforts in Northwest Fort Wayne!
(Listing is no longer available.)
Iconic Roller Dome North at the corner of Coliseum Blvd & Lima Road
The iconic Roller Dome North was built in 1950 by James and Marjorie Wall, better known as Jim and Marg.
Jim and Marg met previously at Lincolndale Roller Rink, where Jim paid his friend a quarter to ask Marg if she would skate with Jim. Love blossomed as they skated and they were married three months later.
Jim was drafted into the Air Force in 1943, and when he returned from war, he and his wife decided to open a business. They wanted to be sure that if something happened to Jim, Marg could keep the business going without doing back-breaking labor. They both settled on a business that had brought them together: a roller rink.
They soon purchased land on Coliseum Boulevard, which at the time was called California Road. Their only neighbors were Don Hall’s Restaurant and a gas station since they were five miles north of State Boulevard, the northern city limits boundary at the time. In order to save money, they built a home attached to the back of the Roller Dome so Marg could actively participate in the daily running of the business while raising her family.
The Roller Dome was wildly successful upon opening, and it was most popular in the 50s. Over one thousand kids would show up daily for the all-day skates! Some parents dropped their kids off at 9am and picked them up at 5pm after work. All-night skates were also popular, with some folks skating from 7:30pm to 6am the next day.
About 20 years after the Roller Dome opened, the Wall family diversified their business and opened Wall Skate Supply Company, which provided roller skating and rink maintenance equipment. They continued to grow and built roller rinks throughout the Midwest and Florida. Jim and Marg Wall even became so infamous in the roller skating industry for their industry contributions that they were inducted into the Roller Skating Hall of Fame.
The Wall family worked at the Roller Dome 24/7 over the years to make sure it was always successful and adapting with the ever-changing trends and technology. All twelve of the Wall children worked at the Roller Dome throughout the years, too, and Marg became somewhat of a local celebrity because of her daily presence at the rink.
The couple had been married 56 years when Jim passed away in 1993. With the help of her children, Marg continued to work at the rink and make daily appearances until her health declined. She passed away in 2015 after running the Roller Dome for 65 years.
Jim and Marg Wall not only built a local empire, but a fun and active environment to raise their family. Marg once said in an interview, “The rink is my home... the rink means my life.”
Traffic counter outside of the former Patterson-Fletcher Department Store
We return to Harrison Place at 919 South Harrison Street in downtown Fort Wayne, which was once the home of the Patterson-Fletcher Department Store.
Patterson-Fletcher was known as “Indiana’s Greatest Clothing Store”, but it had humble beginnings as a small store on Calhoun Street. The department store moved to 919 Harrison in 1917 and occupied the entire building, which is the western face along Harrison Street.
In this historic image, there’s a traffic counter standing at the corner of Harrison and Wayne right outside Patterson-Fletcher's window displays. Traffic counters would submit reports to help determine if traffic lights were needed at downtown intersections.
At the time, the streets of Wayne and Harrison were known as residential areas of downtown, and Patterson-Fletcher was a high-end store where well-dressed Fort Wayne residents would shop. The store had a barber and salon, manned elevators, and an X-ray machine to help clients find the right shoe size. Patterson-Fletcher truly lived up to its slogan, "The store that does things."
Patterson-Fletcher continued to grow in popularity, and downtown Fort Wayne shopping was at its peak in the 1950s, with everything you needed within four central blocks. Department stores, sporting goods stores, movie theaters, restaurants, jewelry stores, bus stops, drug stores, soda shops, and more flooded Wayne, Harrison, Berry, Main, and Calhoun.
But as the rest of Fort Wayne grew and several suburban developments popped up outside of downtown, store,s and businesses began to leave for newer and shinier areas of town.
Patterson-Fletcher was sold to Hart Schaffner & Marx in 1972, which was a men’s suiting company they had been selling since opening. The store remained at 919 Harrison until the late 70s when they moved to Southtown Mall and subsequently closed some years later.
Today, the former Patterson-Fletcher department store is home to several businesses, including The Find, Q-Sys, and Geisleman & Brown. There is still one suite available for lease. Be a part of the history at 919 South Harrison Street!
Christmas tree arch outside the G.C. Murphy’s Department Store
As you drive through the intersection of Calhoun Street and Wayne Street in downtown Fort Wayne, you may remember G.C. Murphy Co. on the northeastern corner, also known as Murphy’s Department Store.
Murphy’s was founded by George Clinton Murphy in 1906 and quickly grew to a 500-store chain across the United States.
The Fort Wayne location opened on October 25th, 1950, and it was a very popular downtown department store along with Wolf & Dessauer and Patterson-Fletcher. This location was also one of the chain’s largest volume stores!
Murphy’s sold quite literally everything from sheet music to hamsters. Its special features included small listening rooms to listen to records, along with a mini restaurant and candy counter. The store sold freshly made donuts which you could watch get freshly made as you walked by. These donuts can still be enjoyed at Cindy’s Diner as they purchased the original donut machine.
Outside, during the holiday season, a massive arch topped with a real festive tree spanned the intersection of Wayne and Calhoun for many years. The raising of this arch became a highly anticipated yearly tradition among locals, much like Night of Lights today. Traffic would even stop in both directions so pedestrians could scramble diagonally through the intersection passing directly under the massive arch and tree.
Sadly for many, Murphy’s closed and was torn down at the beginning of 1992 as “The Last Downtown Department Store”, and a new building was built a few years later. To honor the holiday arch, a Christmas tree and modern decorations now sit atop the skybridge connecting Indiana Office Center and the parking garage.
The intersection of Wayne and Calhoun remains a popular spot today for holiday photos with the giant vintage “Merry Christmas” wreath in One Summit Square.
Indiana Office Center proudly stands on a land site and intersection that holds a lot of Fort Wayne history and memories for locals. Murphy’s was a great part of downtown Fort Wayne’s retail scene, but now it’s time to bring a new vision to the site. You could do just that by leasing space at Indiana Office Center.
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