Lion Department Store
Kaufman & Wolf
Goldblatt's

         
 

The Lion Department Store was the retail anchor for
downtown Hammond, Indiana in the early part of the 1900s.

This picture was taken from the front lawn of Hammond's Central High School on Hohman Avenue, directly across from the Courthouse, looking northwest.

Coming out of school in 1910, high school students would probably visit the Lion Store before heading home.

    
         
  This early photo of the Lion Department Store and the Courthouse reveals the unpaved Hohman Avenue in 1907.    
         
  Looking north on Hohman Avenue in this early colored photograph.


The Jack Fox Building can be seen on the right on the corner of Fayette and Hohman. This area was known as
The Hammond Block.

    
         
         
         
     
  The Lion Department Store on the SW corner of Hohman and Sibley Street (1910). You can see the Courthouse tower at the left of the photo. Turn the camera a little to your right and you're looking west down Sibley. The Walgreens Drug store would be built on your right.
Later all streets would be paved and streetcar tracks removed.		    
         
 

This 1933 photo looking north on Hohman Avenue shows the old Lion Store has changed hands and was rebuilt in 1927. Now known as Kaufman & Wolf's,
a name that is often associated with this downtown Hammond landmark.

There are numerous photo images taken from this
bend in the road, looking north. In the early part of the
20th century, locals referred to it as "Broken Corner."

    
         
         
 

This is a 1955 photo of Goldblatt's Department Store that many of us knew when we were growing up. The corner window of Goldblatt's presented the annual Christmas display.

The Walgreen's Drug had a real soda fountain
and produced real milk shakes and malts.

Now both buildings are gone
as is much of downtown Hammond.

    

Goldblatt's ... Going ... Going ... Gone --


Here's a memorable time in the city's twentieth century history. The demolition and implosion of the landmark Goldblatt Brothers Department Store. This implosion event shown above took place on Valentine's Day, Sunday, February 14th, 1993. The series of above photographs, was captured by Mr. George Kovacich.

This historical structure stood four stories tall along Hohman Avenue, stretching a full city block from Sibley Avenue to Rimbach Avenue. The building dated back to 1927, when it began life as the Kaufman and Wolf Department Store.

It was constructed of steel reinforced concrete and covered with a terra cotta facing. Workmen labored over several weeks to prepare the structure, for the final stages of its demise, the buildings implosion which took only seconds. After the dust had cleared, the former storefront was reduced to a pile of rubble about two stories tall.
Above four photos from the archives of the Hammond Historical Society -- Calumet Room of the Hammond Public Library.
Twentieth Century Time Capsule © 1999 HammondIndiana.com