Star Clothing House - 1878 - Ft. Scott, Ks.
Posted by: 
iconions
N 37° 50.547 W 094° 42.363
15S E 349887 N 4189706
This marker is located on the southwest corner of the historic Star Clothing House - a two story red brick building located at 13-15-19 North Main in Fort Scott, Kansas.
Waymark Code: WMW3VE
Location: Kansas, United States
Date Posted: 07/06/2017
Views: 1
No information on who placed the marker - my guess would be the Bourbon County Historical Society. This marker is located on the southwest corner of the building. The text reads:
Fort Scott Historical District 1860
1878 Star Clothing House
Originally one story clothing store. Star pattern repeated in window keystones. Second floor added 1891 became bordello.
From the National Register application:
(
visit link)
"ca. 1874, ca, 1884, Italianate style. Inventory: 01 1-1 830-00050; Status: contributing.
Description: This is a polygonal two-story brick commercial building with a flat roof and parapet. The building was constructed to conform to the irregular intersection of North Main and Old Fort Boulevard (Market) Streets. The original building was one-story; a second story was added in 1890. The main Italianate-style façade facing west and southwest is relatively well preserved. it has eight bays forming one corner storefront and a double storefront. The first floor has bulkheads, display windows, and transoms with side entrances to individual storefronts. There are smooth-cut stone sills, raised brick segmental-arched hoods with ornamental keystones, and a projecting ornamental pressed metal eave cornice with dentil molding and brackets. A cornice above the end bay has the letters, "Clothing," and a star in the gabled parapet and a similar cornice ornaments the adjacent storefronts. Windows are 111 double-hung wooden sash. There is a non-historic shingled awning supported on square posts. Rear storefront entrances with round-arched openings face Old Fort Boulevard. The north entrance has a glazed wooden entrance door.
History: Although the exact date of construction has not been determined, this building was most likely constructed after the conflagration of 1873 which destroyed most of the remaining wood-frame buildings located in the north end of downtown. Originally, it was only one story tall. (A drawing in An Illustrated Historical Atlas of Bourbon County, published in 1878, depicts this building as one story. The November 1884 Sanborn map documents this building as two stories.) The 1878 drawing notes this as the J. Rodecker and Maj. Cohen's Star Clothing House. During the Civil War, Morris Cohen and Jacob Rodecker - both German Jews -worked together as clerks at the Leavenworth branch of A. Levy & Co., a New York-based company that both manufactured and retailed clothing. Cohen and Rodecker came to Fort Scott in 1866. In October 1866, the Rodecker & Cohen Company was formed and a clothing store was opened. According to Rodecker's biographical sketch in Cutler's History of the State of Kansas published in 1883, their clothing business was located in three other buildings before 1877, when the store found a permanent home at Main and Market, which they purchased from William Hack. By that time, the building was known as the Star Clothing House. Reportedly, Cohen and Rodecker erected the building's second story. These men had been clerks in the Levi Brothers store, Leavenworth, and the Levis financed the business venture in Fort Scott. The only listing in the 1909 city directory was 13 N. Main Street, furnished rooms, Mrs. A. A. Tiedmann.
Integrity: The building retains sufficient architectural integrity to be listed as a contributing resource."