Masters Building Comes Down After Over 100 Years
January 12, 1997

PIX #1 - The Masters Building, 201 N. Main St., falls prey to the wrecking ball after being home to downtown business for over 100 years. From 1891 to 1925 J.L. Newson’s Hardware inhabited the site, the longest tenancy of any of the building’s occupants.

In 1889 a man named Faulhaber opened a hardware store at 201 N. Main St. The building at 201 N. Main was known as the Masters Building and last week, 107 years after Mr. Faulhaber opened his hardware store, the old building fell victim to the wrecking ball.

Faulhaber’s Hardware didn’t last very long. By 1891, 201 N. Main was still a hardware store, J.L. Newson’s. Newson’s Hardware was a stable successful enterprise and it occupied the Masters Building until 1925.

At that time, it’s likely that after 34 years Mr. Newson sold his business for in 1926, 201 N. Main was still a hardware store. It was just under new management as Park Munger’s Hardware.

Apparently the location didn’t suit Mr. Munger nearly as well as it did Mr. Newson. In 1930 Park Munger moved his business a couple doors down to 205 N. Main. For the next five years 201 was occupied successively by Miller Jones and Charles S. Rossie. We don’t know what their line of work was.

By 1936 Wernick’s Market moved into the Masters Building. After six or seven years Wernick’s was gone and the General Auto and Home Store moved in to sell auto accessories. General Auto also remained in business at 201 for six or seven years and by 1955 Brown’s Foot Comfort Shop opened it’s doors.

Now in the 1950's thru the mid 60's that entire block on the west side of Main St. enjoyed remarkable stability. Brown’s Foot Comfort Shop (was there ever a better name for a shoe store?) Occupied 201 from 1955-1966.

From 1953-1966, 203 N. Main was the perch of the Parakeet Inn. Now 203 (Los Tocallos) has a curious history. From 1890, when it was Ed Mark’s Kentucky Liquor Store, down to the present time, it has almost always been either a restaurant or tavern.

From 1891 until at least 1893, 203 N. Main was Geisberg’s Saloon. Sometime between 1893 and 1899 it housed Dumont’s Saloon (A.C. Dumont, prop.) As well as the Sawyer Brothers’ Restaurant.

In 1903, 203 was the Star Sample Restaurant and in 1908-09 it was the Dumont Lunch Room.

Now I figure that A.C. Dumont must have been a fellow with a sense of humor for in 1909 he gave up the lunch room business to open the wonderfully and oxymoronically named Puritan Liquor Store. Puritan Liquor Store?? You’ve got to be kidding. In 1922 A.C. packed up his bottles of booze and relocated to 205 N. Main and 203 was where the C.E. Brewer Clothing Co. hung its hat, though not for long. In 1924-25 The Fashion Shop took over the address. In 1926, 203 N. Main became the location of Bert’s Restaurant until 1953 when the Parakeet moved in.

From 1951 to the late ‘60s Burson’s Barber Shop was settled in 205 N. Main. From 1930-1950, 205 housed Munger’s then Timanus Hardware.

From at least 1959 until 1967, 207 N. Main was Bud’s Bakery and in the same period 209-211 N. Main was Son’s Bar and Grill.

Brown’s the Parakeet, Bursons’s, Bud’s and Son’s formed a familiar anchor to the north end of the downtown for several years. I remember my mother taking me to the Parakeet Inn a few times. I remember that it seemed dark and that I liked their hamburgers.

By 1967 Brown’s Comfort Shoe Shop was gone, replaced by the J&J Gift and Hobby Shop. The Renaissance Music Emporium moved in around 1980 and thereafter the building sat vacant until last week’s demolition.

The character of the 201-211 block of N. Main changed irrevocably on Thursday Feb. 10, 1977 when a fire destroyed everything in that block north of 203. Business located there at the time included Halstead’s Sewing Center, the Fostoria Jaycees office, The Fish Bowl (formerly Son’s) and the Spinning Wheel Knit Shop.

Smoke damage spread to Medina’s as well as to Lilly’s Cake Decorating which occupied 201 at the time.

That fire and the one that destroyed the Alcott Building and the Hays Hotel (the Park ‘n Shop Lot today) in 1962 dramatically (and sadly) altered the appearance of the town center.

The Masters Building has been vacant for the past five or six years. Paging through the directories at the Kaubisch Memorial, I discovered that the last occupant of 201 N. Main St. was the Wheelers Motorcycle Club in 1991.

One final thought. Leafing through the city directories was interesting for a second reason besides trying to locate who was where when. Back in the ‘50s (when your intrepid reporter was but a mere lad) the telephone exchange here in Fostoria hadn’t yet been changed over to the 435 (and, later, 436). Back then it was HE-5.

Remember Hemlock 5? It’s a small thing, but it put me in a mind to consider how much lighter the weight of technology lay upon us all back then.

Finally, I tried to track down the Masters for whom the Masters Building was named. I thought it might have been a 19th century gentleman. As it turns out, Mr. Masters probably owned the building briefly and relatively recently, possibly around 1980 when the music store occupied the site. If anyone knows differently, please feel free to call the Focus and let us know.

So now another of our older buildings is gone. Our architectural heritage is important. It gives us a sense of rootedness and evokes a feeling of place, of belonging. It is worth preserving.