Business tour to take trip down memory lane for Spencer’s historic business block

In the 150 years that Spencer has existed, there has always been a need for businesses. Whether it was a blacksmith to do metal work or a store to offer food, there have always been places in the village for people to go to get the items they need or want. Since the founding of the village, many of these businesses have come and gone, changing hands, offerings or even being torn down in some instances. Others have stood the test of time and still remain important parts of Spencer’s business district today.

The Spencer Area Historical Society will be recognizing those businesses, both past and present, during Spencerama Days to be held June 7-9. Signs detailing the history of ownership of several buildings in the block around East Clark Street will be up during Spencerama, allowing anyone to tour around the village and learn more about the businesses that helped make Spencer the place it is today.

Not long after the first settlers began to arrive in Spencer to build the railroad, the first businesses followed to provide people what they needed the most. At first, that need was housing, so hotels and boarding houses were among the first buildings constructed. Among these first hotels was the Pioneer House, which was built in 1874 and stood on Clark Street near the railroad tracks. The Pioneer House stood for 10 years before it was destroyed by fire in 1884. There was also the Spencer House, built by Thomas Marsh in 1875; the Railroad House and Restaurant; and Northwestern House at the corner of Clark and LaSalle streets, among several others that were made to accommodate people coming in to work, or on the railroad to start a new life after the village was firmly established.

More businesses followed, including several lumberyards which were all destroyed in the Great Spencer Fire of 1886. The destruction caused by the fire didn’t dissuade the people of Spencer, nor their drive to restore what they lost. As the houses were rebuilt, so were the businesses that were tailored to the needs of the residents. Structures made of brick became the desired type of building after the fire, and so, brickyards were established in the village to supply builders with the materials they needed.

A great many of the buildings that stand around the block of East Clark Street and South LaSalle Street were built using bricks from those brickyards, with many of those businesses built by 1910, when the Spencer-Owen cutoff track was laid. Over Spencer’s lifetime, some of the buildings in that area have been razed, rebuilt into new structures

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The Pioneer House, pictured above, was located at the site addressed as 200 E. Clark Street in Spencer. The Pioneer House was built in 1874 and stood for 10 years before it was destroyed by fire in 1884. The building not only had rooms for guests, but also stables for horses as well.

CONTRIBUTED PHOTO