First-of-its-kind designation may help developers reimagine Lincoln's old corner stores
In 1923, Bernard Straka — whose parents immigrated from Bohemia and became butcher shop owners in Lincoln — launched his own business from a red brick storefront on the corner of 20th and J streets.
He would spend the next half century selling groceries there, but after his death in 1971 the building fell into disrepair — vacant and forgotten.
Until Mark Thornton noticed it.
The owner of a nonprofit called Jacob's Well, Thornton saw a future for the once-thriving grocery store: a place to create a new kind of gathering place, to make it a part of the neighborhood again.
So he bought it, along with the lot to the south. He's talked to those who remember buying cigarettes and candy at the grocery store and recall the Straka family who lived above it.
City planners also took note of the old building and believe the business that operated there for more than half a century is an important part of Lincoln's history.
Planners argue that the corner grocery store — like Straka's and many others that once dotted the city's landscape — tell a story of the economic changes in American society that led to their rise and eventual decline.
They hope to create a corner store historic landmark district designation, a first of its kind in Lincoln.
The city has numerous historic landmarks for buildings and geographic districts in the city, but the corner stores would be the first "thematic designation" — that is, buildings or sites linked by a common theme rather than geography.
"In telling the history of the corner grocery, one tracks not only the economic transformations of the 20th century — changes in agricultural production, labor markets, transportation infrastructure, and patterns of consumption — but also the social and political changes that they directly relate to," say documents seeking the historical landmark designation for Lincoln's corner stores.
Historic landmark designations help preserve historic buildings and districts, but they are also an important tool for reuse, allowing for zoning flexibility, said City Planner Paul Barnes. That could be important to those onetime corner stores, which are now often in residentially zoned areas where their commercial uses are limited.
"I think they are buildings that can definitely serve our neighborhoods again, regardless of what their purpose may end up being," said Jill Dolberg, the city's historic preservation planner. "I think we're looking toward the past for a future for buildings that are under-appreciated, under-noticed, but they have the potential for a really good use."
A new purpose
Thornton was already familiar with the city's historic landmark designations before he found the corner store at 20th and J streets.
He'd gotten one for the house on 18th and H streets where Jacob's Well has been located for 16 years. The historic landmark designation on that house allowed him the flexibility to finish a garage to use as meeting space.
Thornton began Jacob's Well after working for various human services groups and organizations and deciding he could better serve people at a neighborhood level.
"A lot of what we do is organic, trying to be a good neighbor," he said. "We have a little pantry we keep stocked ... we will do block parties, neighborhood cookouts and really try to get to know people and be there, be a neighbor, find out what the needs are and help them."
The old corner store is a way to continue that work, he said.
He wants to make the upstairs — where the Strakas once lived — into an apartment for whoever will run things. The main story will be a place people can gather, kind of like a coffee shop staffed with volunteers. The space could be used for neighborhood events, and it's so close to Lincoln High, he said, he'd like to offer some after-school activities or maybe cheap lunch options for students.
He didn't know anything about the city's efforts to make a corner store historic district but was planning to seek a historic designation for his building.
The one downside, he said, is that any improvements have to be approved by the Historic Preservation Commission, but he's planning to retain the historical nature of the place so that won't be a problem.
"We were going to end up walking down this road anyway," he said. "The one thing I like about (the larger designation) is they are really unique spaces across the city and it will keep them from being demolished."
Before Costco
Straka and other owners of corner stores may never have envisioned Costco or Sam's Club, but their businesses were an integral part of the history that led to them.
When Lincoln was still coming into its own in the mid-1800s, grocery stores were stocked with basic provisions, and there were street peddlers who provided a variety of fresh and prepared foods.
By 1885, Lincoln's first street car made the southeast corner of 10th and P streets the ideal location for the Grand Grocery, but automobiles and refrigeration technology would ultimately signal the end of the corner store.
Initially, the advent of the automobile helped push street vendors off the streets and out of business, giving more business to corner stores. Advances in refrigeration meant perishable goods could be transported from other places, and kept cold at the store and at home.
By the 1930s, the supermarket — where all different sorts of groceries and goods could be sold — had emerged, and individually owned stores banded together in organizations like the Independent Grocers Alliance (IGA) and Blackbird Stores to compete with big national retailers.
By 1957, the transportation industry that had given the Grand Grocery such a boost signaled the longtime corner store's demise when it was demolished to make way for a parking lot.
The city has so far identified about 30 corner stores that could potentially be a part of the designation, though more than half are already in historic districts, Barnes said. The buildings can have dual designations. The city hasn't yet submitted the application to the Historic Preservation Commission for review because officials want to do more outreach to nearby property owners. Corner store property owners can choose whether to be a part of the historic designation. Ultimately the City Council must approve it.
Corner store template
Charlie Wesche, CEO of Neighborworks, sees all kinds of potential for neighborhood revitalization in the old corner stores.
Several months ago, the nonprofit community housing organization bought one: an old IGA Store at 648 N. 31st St.
To buy it, Neighborworks used grants from a land trust created to bolster its affordable housing efforts by retaining ownership of the land on some houses it sells at affordable rates. That means the homes will remain at affordable rates when they're sold again.
But the land trust also allows the organization to branch out beyond housing, Wesche said, and the corner stores could be an integral part of that. The historic landmark designation will give them needed flexibility.
Neighborworks officials haven't yet decided exactly how best to use the corner store at 31st and Vine streets, but Wesche said it will be something that serves the neighborhood.
They explored the idea of opening a child care business there, but state licensing requirements proved too difficult, he said. They've reached out to Community Crops with the idea of making it a place for seed and garden-tool sharing, possibly a site to distribute produce.
They've thrown around the idea of a food pharmacy, a concept new to Nebraska that would offer fresh produce and nutritional advice to low-income people with chronic illnesses such as diabetes that could be controlled with diet.
They've thought about making it a live/work space for artists or as offices for an organization that does refugee outreach.
Once they figure out how best to use the IGA store, Wesche said he hopes it can be a template for other corner stores.
"I just love these buildings because I start thinking about how they could be activated as community hubs."
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