The Story Behind the Buildings – Part 1

Last month the Morning Journal featured an article by Richard Payerchin that outlined developer Jon Veard’s plans for several buildings on Broadway in Lorain.

One of the buildings being redeveloped– located on the southwest corner of Broadway and Fifth Street – was the longtime home of Lorain Hardware. (I wrote about the building here.)

But what about the other buildings? Were they ever home to any iconic Lorain businesses through the decades?

Here are the buildings in question: the Honecker Building on the northwest corner of Broadway and Fifth Street, and the flat, red-bricked building with two storefronts to the right of it.

Let’s sneak a peek at the city directories to see what roles they played in Downtown Lorain history.

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Unlike many Downtown Lorain buildings with an inscrutable name (such as the Thistle Building), the Honecker Building has an easy-to-research history. Its name corresponded with the man who ran a drug store at that location for many years: William Honecker.

William Honecker came to Lorain in 1889 to open a drug store after serving his apprenticeship in Allegheny, Pennsylvania. Along with his brother Charles, he opened the pharmacy on Broadway. The business became his own a year later when he bought out his brother.

(As Broadway’s downtown business district grew and evolved, business addresses often changed over the years, even though a store might not have moved. The 1905 Lorain city directory had "William Honecker - druggist” at 320 Broadway. By the time of the 1905 directory, the business was listed at 324 Broadway. Later, the Honecker drug store had an address in the 400 block, with the same neighbors as it did when it had an address in the 320’s.)

The 1912 directory was the first listing I could find for the Honecker Building, with a range of addresses of 446-448 Broadway. These addresses would change slightly through the years.

Here is that first 1912 listing (below). Note the many well-known Lorain businesses that were already established, including the Sam Klein Co., and Smith & Gerhart.

By the time of the 1915 directory, the drug store would be listed as being affiliated with the Rexall chain.

The Honecker Building was home to several fraternal organizations over the years. The 1921-22 city directory listed the Elks Club as one of the tenants. And the 1928 listing (below) notes that the Masonic Hall was located on the third floor.