The building at 724 W. Washington is getting an upgrade. It had a long history on the west side as a grocery and meat market and for a short time as the home to The Searchlight, a publication put out by the Bloomington Trades and Labor Assembly (roughly between 1919 and 1925). For an even shorter time, it was home to the millinery business run by Alice Flynn in 1909, who received professional experience working for C.W. Klemm downtown.
Between 1905 and 1919 a succession of small groceries, meat markets and dry good stores operated in the buildings. Richard Frederickson, the son of Swedish immigrants, Sven and Matilda Frederickson, ran a dry goods and clothing store at 724. Next door, James R. Wright had a meat market. Those shops were open from about 1905 to 1909. Richard Frederick lived at 110 S. Weldon, the home of his mother and father. but in later years he lived at 24 Fell Ave. and then at 1135 Hillcrest in Normal. He was a district salesman for an undetermined business and apparently a very successful one. The space above the stores were usually rented out to tenants who worked for the rail road.
In 1926 a grocery store chain moved to Bloomington Normal, disrupting the tradition of independently owned groceries. The Great Atlantic & Pacific Tea Stores opened at 724 W. Washington, 611 N. Main, 105 S. Main in Bloomington and 122 North in Normal. The A & P remained at this location for 14 years at least. The first manager at the West Washington store was James Bethea, who had been a brakeman for the C & A. He lived above the store for a few years and then moved to 810 W. Washington in 1929. From 1928 to 1943 an independent meat store was located at 722 W. Washington and operated by Herman O. Perschall, a German immigrant. He operated his meat market from about 1930 until 1943 and then retired from selling meat to devote himself to raising stock. Next door was the Hindert grocery, begun by Ed Hindert in 1941. Edward Hindert had moved to Bloomington from Peoria to open the local market. The grocery retained his name even after his retired and moved to Florida, because the next owner was also named Ed!.
A 1979 Pantagraph article told the story of Bill Coit, who had worked at 724 West Washington since 1940. It was his intention to keep on working there for as long as he could. He had begun work under the tutelage of Herman O Perschall, but when he returned from World War II -- where he served as an infantry scout at the Battle of Bulge -- Bill found that Ed Hindert had taken over Perschall's meat market and wanted Bill to work for him. In 1979 the market was called Eddie's Market for Eddie Schwiteck, who bought out Hindert in 1959. Bill and Ed probably got along well, having both experienced WWII, Ed in the Pacific and Bill in Europe. Ed remodeled the upstairs and lived there with his wife Alma in 1979. Both Bill and Ed were proud to know most of their customers by name. Ed died in 1995, and had already retired and closed Eddie's Market. When Bill died in 2006, he had worked 45 years for the same grocery store.
In 1996 Joe and Kim Goodman, a couple from Minier, wanted to provide a space where young people could come and play game in a safe atmosphere. Kim Goodman described the youth center as her dream. They petitioned the city to zone the property so that they could have a recreation space during the week and a religious space on the weekends. The Goodman's also petitioned to be able to live above this proposed youth center. At the hearing the naysayers came out. They doubted that the center would be adequately staffed, and feared that the youths would congregate outside, or that the Goodmans did not understand the crime atmosphere of the neighborhood. The neighbors were successful in denying the Goodmans the zoning they needed. But two years later, the neighbors knew the Goodmans better and a second attempt was successful because it was not opposed. In 1998 the Pantagraph reported on the remodeling that was underway at the "Cornerstone Youth Center." The youth center operated for about two years, until another group had a vision and created the Jesus Coffeehouse (later the Jesus House) a place for homeless people to find food, a Christian message and a safe place to rest. The Jesus House continued for sixteen years, and those who doubted the commitment of Tom and Bonnie Lentz, came to appreciate their devotion to the homeless.
A new life for this building is coming soon, with a new purpose and new vision from the West Bloomington Revitalization Project. The new WBRP Building at 724 will house the WBRP Tool Library, WBRP Book Bike, a new WBRP Bike Co-op, as well as be a headquarters for all other WBRP programs.