I must have driven past this building in downtown Muncie a hundred times before last week when I saw how rudely its storefronts were filled in. I couldn’t help but notice it after I locked myself out of the Delaware County Historical Society across the street! After assistance arrived, I decided I needed to know more about the altered structure. Now, you will too.
Delaware County’s Assessor database says the building in question -a two story brick structure measuring about 125 x 70 feet, was built in 18901. I disagree. Sanborn Maps -highly accurate drawings created for assessing fire insurance liability- show a pipe tile yard on the spot in 18922 and 18963. In reality, the Williamson Block, as the building was first known, was erected in 1905.
The Williamson Block got its name from J.H. Williamson, who operated a feed store and owned frontage on Washington Street from Walnut to Mulberry. Williamson announced his plans to build a large business block in 1905. By June, he’d cleared away the sheds and billboards occupying the pipe yard4.
Construction of the structure started off with a bang- literally. At 8:00 p.m. on July 31st, part of the adjacent Andrews Block collapsed into the building’s basement “with a crash that carried consternation to two hundred people who had assembled at Washington and Mulberry streets last evening to hear the Indiana band concert5.”
Thousands visited the scene in the intervening hours, astonished that no one had been injured6, and construction continued. Structural iron from Muncie’s old Wysor Building was repurposed to frame the new block, and masonry work began on November 7, 19057. Upon its completion, the Williamson Block was one of the last commercial buildings travelers passed as they left downtown towards the opulent homes on East Washington Street.
Shortly after it was completed, the Williamson Block’s second story was leased to the nearby Braun Hotel to serve as an annex for guests the aging hostelry couldn’t accommodate8. Soon after, the Kappa Alpha Phi fraternity moved in9. Another early tenant, Muncie’s Heat, Light, and Power Company, demonstrated the advantages of cooking with natural gas from one of the Williamson Block’s storefronts10.
The First Church of Christ Scientist began holding services upstairs in 190611. A year later, Kappa Alpha Phi relocated to the third floor of C.M. Kimbrough’s Ball Block12. The Christian Scientists moved to a remodeled home at the corner of Charles and Liberty in 191113. By 1913, both of the building’s smaller storefronts were vacant.
G.G. Williamson completed a second Williamson Block next door to house the family’s hardware company in 191514. After that, the story of the 1905 structure gets a little murky. It was home to the Cox-Williamson Candy Company as early as 191715, the year Muncie Mayor Rollin Bunch sold potatoes from one of its storefronts16!
By 1939, an auction house called City Furniture called the Williamson Block home. Operated by A.M. Levine and Leo Snodgass, the store was open for private sales every day and hosted weekly auctions of household items every Thursday17. The following year, its fortunes changed once again when the B.P.O.E. moved in.
The Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks was founded in 1868 by Charles A. Vivian and a group of New York City minstrels. Over time, the Elks became one of the largest fraternal organizations in the United States. Muncie’s chapter, No. 245, was organized in 1892 with 35 charter members18. In 1923, the club dedicated an opulent lodge that cost between $187,00019 and $250,00020 on the corner of Main and Franklin Streets downtown.
Unfortunately, the Elks bit off more than they could chew. After the expense of maintaining the structure and paying the mortgage proved too much, the club moved to the former Harry Kitselman home at the corner of Washington and Hackley Streets in 193021. Nine years later, their ornate building became home to the Muncie Moose Lodge No. 33.
Three years in the Kitselman home was enough for the Elks to decide that their new lodge was too far from downtown to be convenient for Muncie visitors22. In 1933, the club moved to the Williamson Block. Three years later, it converted portions of the structure into a lodge room, commissary, club, and parlors23.
City Furniture remained in the Williamson Block until 194024, when the Elks remodeled it, bricked up the storefronts, and took over the entire structure25. Although it wasn’t much to look at from the outside, the interior of the new lodge was plush: kitchens, bars, and a first-floor waiting room were decorated with pale rose walls, ivory woodwork, and leather furniture.
The second floor consisted of the lodge hall, an entertaining room, and two lounges with pale blue walls and deep-pile “American Beauty Red” rugs26. The Elks welcomed lodges from Alexandria, Anderson, Crawfordsville, Elwood, Frankfort, Hartford City, Lebanon, Marion, Noblesville, Portland, Tipton, and Union City to a housewarming district meeting in 194027.
The Williamson Block remained the Elks’ home for more than thirty years. Unfortunately, many fraternal organizations moved away from city centers in the early 1970s as membership dwindled28. For their part, the Elks purchased the Westbrook Country Club between Muncie and Yorktown in 197329 and sold the Williamson Block the following year30.
The Williamson Block became home to the Delaware County Welfare Department in 1975. Architect John Reynolds oversaw a $130,000 renovation that divided the ballroom into large open areas, offices, a conference room, and other facilities. The first floor was redesigned in a similar manner31.
Today, the building is home to the Delaware County Health Department. From its days as a hotel, social club, church, candy factory, store, lodge, and welfare office, the Williamson Block has seen it all! I hope never to lock myself out of DCHS again, but if I do, I’ll at least know a little more about the building I’ll be forced to stare at.
Sources Cited
1 Delaware County Office of Information & GIS Services. (2023). Parcel ID: 1110359009000. Delaware County, Indiana Assessor. map, Muncie, IN.
2 Sanborn Fire Insurance Map from Muncie, Delaware County, Indiana (1892). Sanborn Map Company. Map.
3 Sanborn Fire Insurance Map from Muncie, Delaware County, Indiana (1896). Sanborn Map Company. Map.
4 Another New Building Will Soon Be Erected (1905, June 24). The Muncie Star. p. 12.
5 Brick Business Block Fell With A Crash (1905, August 1). The Muncie Evening Press. p. 1
6 (See footnote 5).
7 Masonry Work Started (1905, November 7). The Muncie Evening Press. p. 6.
8 Braun House Will Have Big Annex (1906, January 24). The Muncie Evening Press. p. 8.
9 Fraternity Soon To Move (1906, April 10). The Muncie Star. p. 12.
10 Mrs. Monschein (1906, May 29). The Muncie Star. p. 5.
11 New Scientist Church Opened (1912, November 28). The Muncie Star. p. 6.
12 Headquarters Moved (1907, January 4). The Muncie Evening Press. p. 8.
13 (See footnote 11).
14 Building Nears Completion (1916, March 1). The Muncie Evening Press. p. 12.
15 You bet you are Welcome (1922, May 23). The Muncie Evening Press. p. 19.
16 Potato Sale At 9 A.M. (1917, December 15). The Muncie Star. p. 11.
17 City Furniture And Auction House Opened (1939, May 8). The Muncie Evening Press. p. 11.
18 Elks To Hold Housewarming (1940, October 23). The Muncie Star. p. 8.
19 Elks Located In New Home (1930, April 13). The Muncie Star. p. 21.
20 Elks New Lodge Home Will Be Dedicated Sunday (1923, January 27). The Muncie Evening Press. p. 6.
21 Elks Located In New Home (1930, April 13). The Muncie Star. p. 21.
22 Elks Lodge Moves to New Location (1933, June 1). The Muncie Evening Press. p. 7.
23 City and County Statistics (1936, May 1). The Muncie Star. p. 4.
24 Building Is Leased By Local Lodge Of Elks (1940, February 8). The Muncie Evening Press. p. 3.
25 Officers Elected By The Elks Lodge (1941, March 23). The Muncie Star. p. 4.
26 Elks To Hold Housewarming (1940, October 23). The Muncie Star. p. 8.
27 (See footnote 26).
28 Elks Members Okay Buying Of Green Hills (1972, January 6). The Muncie Evening Press. p. 1.
29 Bigger, R. (1973, January 18). Elks Vote to Buy Westbrook Club. The Muncie Evening Press. p. 1.
30 Elks Building sale approved (1974, January 24). The Muncie Evening Press. p. 32.
31 County Plans Remodeling of Elks Club Z(1975, September 24). The Muncie Star. p. 8.
I find it interesting how some of those old buildings went through some fairly long stretches of instability in keeping occupants, even very early in their lives.