Frank Hohenberger photo of Miller Drug Store( circa 1940). courtesy of Lilly Library, Indiana University, Bloomington, Indiana.
Taggart Building History
~ by Bob Gustin
Even before it was the Hobnob Corner Restaurant, operated for nearly 50 years by Warren and Betsy Cole, the building at the intersection of Main and Van Buren streets had a long history.
Listed on the National Register of Historic Places, it is recognized as the oldest commercial building still existing in Brown County. It was probably built as the Frank P. Taggart Store at about the same time Nashville was incorporated as a town in 1873.
Constructed of native yellow poplar by local craftsmen, the exterior of the building was largely unchanged in appearance for more than 100 years.
Frank Taggart was the son of James Taggart, an early Brown County settler and its first sheriff.
Taggart’ s general store offered“ breaking plows, ginghams, cook stoves, fresh groceries, shoes, and made-to-measure suits— a full stock of every line of goods demanded by the public,” the historic listing says.
The building was sold in 1919 to pharmacist Charles Genolin to become a“ corner drugstore,” and a soda fountain was added. Charles operated the store for only two years, passing away in 1921. His widow obtained a pharmacist license and continued to operate the store until 1925.
The Genolin family sold it to Herbert J. Miller, who ran it until his death in 1947. Maurice“ Pods” Miller, a graduate of the Purdue College of Pharmacy, inherited the store from his father and ran it until
Hooks Drugs bought the business in 1972 and moved it to Nashville’ s Salt Creek Plaza.
The building was then sold to Pods’ daughter, Marilyn Miller Rudd, and his son-in-law, John D. Rudd, who continued the fountain service and converted the rest of the building into a restaurant before leasing it as the Hobnob to Bob and Liz Hamilton.
The Coles bought the business from Hamiltons in December of 1979 and operated it until 2025.
Current owners of the building are Andy and Aaron Rudd, John and Marilyn’ s sons.
Tyra and Lance Miller, owners of the Bird’ s Nest Café, have leased the building from the Rudds, and hope to have it operational as a restaurant called Bird’ s Nest on Main this summer. •
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20 Our Brown County May / June 2026