As the final Sunday Prayer for July, we’d like to offer these buildings in the 1200 block of Oliver Avenue. With the right owners and tenants, they could have the potential for futures as interesting as their pasts.
One hundred years ago, the corner of Oliver and Warren Avenues was a commercial haven, with a dozen or so stores, two saloons, and a movie theater on both sides of the street. Notably, on the second floor of the Albert Worm building, 1229 West Oliver, was Worm’s Hotel. What a name. The hotel was above four store fronts in two buildings, accessed by the stairway seen in the photos. The building comprising the west half of the hotel has been demolished.
On the second floor of the building at the corner of Warren and Oliver was labeled on the 1914 Sanborn map as a “Lodge”. Fraternal social clubs were losing popularity by this point, and the second floor was converted to apartments by 1920. We will have more on clubs coming in August…
The middle building has been torn down. It is my understanding that the property recently sold, but I do not have details for that