the BEACON Newspaper, Indiana beacon5-18 | Página 3

May 2018
THE BEACON
Page 3A
Market Street History- Odd Fellows, Hardware, Crafts, and More
By Nicole Williams
The Market Street Grille is
a building with many stories
to tell. Located in downtown
Harrison, the establishment
has gained steady recognition
for its food and charm. The
Sunday Brunch is popu-
lar and their “Wine Down
Wednesday” is the perfect
way to break up the week.
But strong roots to this time-
less building were planted
generations back and have
many ties to the city of Har-
rison as we know it today.
Christopher Dunce built
the current building in 1856
to house a brewery. The con-
struction used one hundred
thousand bricks from local
John Singer’s brickyard, for
the grand total of $300. The
original brick is still exposed
today in the interior. When
Mr. Dunce’s finances ran
dry, he sold the building to
John and Jacob Schneider.
The two brothers started a
malt establishment that was
eventually converted into a
dwelling.
In 1893, the Schneider
heirs sold the building for
$9,750 to the Harrison Lodge
No. 140 I.O.O.F. The Inde-
pendent Order of Odd Fel-
lows is a civic group that was
formed to support the local
community. The Odd Fel-
lows immediately began to
renovate the building, chang-
ing the main stairway to the
second and third floors. They
decided to designate the third
floor as ballroom for special
events and raised the roof to
create sixteen-foot ceilings.
The second floor was broken
up into two different sec-
tions. The Odd Fellows used
one unit for recreation and
a kitchen. The other section
was used by the Masons as
a meeting room. Today, the
spaces have been renovated
into apartments.
Since the I.O.O.F. renova-
tion of 1893, the first floor
has been transformed into
many different venues. The
J.C. Bevis Hardware Store
and coal shop once occupied
the entire first floor. The store
had an actual “weighing sta-
tion” that was located in the
front of the store where the
citizens of Harrison could
come and weigh their produce
and goods. In the back of the
building they sold the popu-
lar “Weber Wagons” under
an open air shelter. In 1934,
J.C. Bevis sold the busi-
ness to Harry and Margaret
Clippinger, who went on to
operate the business for 34
years as a hardware store that
An original piece of carpet
from the main dining room
is displayed over the origi-
nal brick wall.
was also known for selling
stoves. Mrs. Clippinger used
the front window to display
trendy Fenton Glassware and
Rockwood Pottery items,
which they would sell as an-
niversary and birthday gifts
to the ladies in town. Through
the years, the lower level of
the building has been convert-
ed from restaurants to insur-
ance offices to a craft store.
In 1996 the building was
purchased by siblings Adam
Walter, Brenda Leonard and
Paula Eggleston and became
today’s Market Street Grille.
The team of owners kept
the integrity of the build-
ing and were awarded the
2000 Preservation Award for
excellence in Rehabilitation
by the Cincinnati Preserva-
tion Association. There are
examples of this in every
room of the restaurant. A
bookshelf was made from the
original door that is nestled
by the fireplace. The painted
tin ceilings are original. In
the brick room left of the
entrance hang several framed
items from the building.
Among these are an original
piece of carpet and wallpaper
from the main dining room.
An ornate century old mirror
stretches across the back of
the room that came from the
old Central Hotel building
which is still standing a short
distance away in the 100
block of Harrison.
The more concealed part of
history concerning this build-
ing goes even deeper. And by
deeper, I am referring to the
actual tunnels that exist un-
derneath the building. I was
excited to connect to one of
the building’s biggest advo-
cates and employees, Cody
Moore. A self-proclaimed
“history nerd”, Cody offered
one of his knowledgeable
tours of the main floor and
its notorious underbelly. “As
far as we know, we are one
of the few privately owned
buildings with access to
these tunnels” he explained
as we descended down the
narrow stairs.
Pictures of the current
building throughout the
different decades decorate
the walls. In the bottom pic-
ture you can see the great
flood surrounding a buggy.
One cannot help but feel
you are stepping back in
history when entering the
underground tunnel. The
large stone walls stretch up
to create a perfectly arched
stone ceiling. Cody pointed
out the precision and manual
labor it would take to create
this stonework consider-
ing the mor e primitive tools
they had to work with at the
time. There is a thick layer
of sediment on the floor from
previous flooding before the
tunnels were sealed off. The
stone came from a hill near
Lawrenceburg Road; the gap
in the hill still being visible
from the highway.
The tunnel served sev-
eral purposes throughout the
years. It winds all the way
to the Whitewater River and
was used in earlier times as a
way to transport supplies and
product from the river. The
original elevator shaft is now
a stairwell to the basement
and was used to bring goods
up to the first floor of the
building. During the famous
Morgan’s Raid of 1863, the
people of Harrison hid their
goods and livestock down
in the tunnels, where they
remained undiscovered from
the Confederate cavalry.
The tunnel underneath
Market Street Grille is now
sealed off by stone after
claims of not being what it
was originally intended and
boot-legging activity. When
they closed the tunnel with
stone, a coal shoot was added
as a way to transport the
coal to the building without
having to carry it through the
first floor. Cody still enjoys
sharing the history of the
building for education pur-
poses. “One of my favorite
tours was actually to a group
of third graders. They asked
the best questions, some of
which I had to go research
Cody Moore explaining the workings of the tunnel.
Directly behind him is the coal shaft and to the back
right was the location of the elevator.
the answers myself!”
If the walls could talk,
there also might be a whisper
of a ghost or two. A couple
months back, the famous
TV show, Ghost Hunters, set
up shop. The staff at Market
Street Grille had to black out
the front of the restaurant
and all windows to make
it easier for the equipment
to pick up any supernatural
activity. Without the sound of
laughing customers, clank-
ing glasses and humming
appliances, the atmosphere
changed. The consistent
The remnants of the once
working elevator as seen
from the stairwell.
stories from the staff are
absolutely hair raising and
make dining at the historic
restaurant that much more
intriguing.
Results Matter!
The Maddin Team closed over $10 Million Dollars in 2017.
Let us sell yours in 2018!
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