Broadway block long the center of local commerce

The Hannibal Market House, 700 block of Broadway, circa 1927. At the time of this photo, Alfred G. Schnitzer was operating the City Market House, in the storefront at left. In the center of the building is visible a sign promoting T.C. Moon’s used car dealership. The current Hannibal Police Department was built on this same lot circa 1976. Photo from Steve Chou’s collection.

MARY LOU MONTGOMERY

A building known as the Market House long stood in the 700 block - on the south side - of Broadway. As early as the mid 1880s, five stalls - or storefronts - in the city-owned building were occupied by merchants, who in turn offered shoppers fresh produce and locally sourced meat.

Early mentions of the building show up in the 1885 Hannibal city directory, accessible via the Hannibal Free Public Library’s website.

Charles P. Schertz, a resident of Market Street, sold meat in Stall No. 1.

The Morawetz brothers, W.H., August and Edward, who lived on Hayden Street (later renamed Country Club Drive) at the head of Lincoln Street, had a meat market in Stall No. 2, address 725 Broadway.

Frank Foster, who resided on Market Street, sold fish and vegetables in Stall No. 4, address 717 Broadway.

Nathaniel Dick, born in 1815 in Shelby County, Ky., sold fish, vegetables and game in Stall No. 5, Market House, 721 Broadway. Mr. Dick, among Hannibal’s earliest settlers, arrived in town in 1844. In 1859 he served as city coroner, and in 1879 served as Hannibal city recorder.

Following the lead of these early merchants, many a businessman took his turn at renting space in this building during the ensuing four decades.

Noteworthy butcher

Among the most memorable of the long-term businessmen renting space in Hannibal’s Market House was a Alfred G. Schnitzer, who operated the City Market House for a decade, from 1917 until circa 1927.

He came into the meat business via family ties. 

Lovely wedding

On May 18, 1910, a cute little cottage, located on the north side of Bird Street, between Maple and Grand, provided the intimate setting for the marriage of Miss Mabel Huebner and Mr. Alfred Schnitzer. The ceremony, officiated by the Rev. J.H. Witte, pastor of St. John’s Evangelical Lutheran Church, took place at 2 p.m. The house was later numbered 1302 Bird.

For the ceremony, noted Hannibal florist, W.T. League, decorated the home of the bride’s step father and mother,  Mr. and Mrs. C.F. Rich.

The newlyweds took up housekeeping on North Eighth Street, in a house previously purchased and modernized by the bridegroom.

While the bride’s step-father earned his living as a butcher, before the bride’s new husband joined her step father in the butcher trade, Albert Schnitzer was a decade-long employee in Standard Printing’s bookkeeping department.

He was married to Miss Mable Huebner, step-daughter of Charles F. Rich, who was, at the time, established as a seasoned  Market Street meat market operator, doing business at 1221 Market, near the intersection with Lamb Street.

In 1916, Schnitzer’s father-in-law, C.F. Rich, sold the meat market he had operated for the previous eight years, at 1221 Market, to Fred Schanbacher.

The following year Mr. Rich opened a meat market at 624 Broadway, in a building which was previously a saloon operated by Frank E. O’Hern. Then, in June 1917, Alfred Schnitzer purchased an interest in his father-in-law’s business venture.

The new firm operated under the name of Rich and Schnitzer. The Hannibal Morning Journal reported on this new business in its June 13, 1917 edition:

“This firm has an up to date shop in every way and is prepared to kill all their own pork and to cure hams and bacon. A cold storage room has just recently been installed and all the latest and best equipment for curing and smoking meat. The proprietors are arranging to make a number of improvements in the near future.”

Four months later, Mr. Rich bought out his son-in-law’s interest, and Schnitzer then purchased the Carlile butcher shop, which was located in the Market House. Leroy Carlile was a veteran Market House meat dealer.

Schnitzer was assisted in this new business venture by his uncle, J.J. Schnitzer, formerly of Los Angeles and St. Louis.

Schnitzer remained in business at this location for some 10 years, from 1917 until roughly 1927.

Mr. Rich, meanwhile, along with wife Rosa, moved to West Broadway. Circa 1920, Charles Rich opened a grocery and meat market next door to his home, numbered 2527 Broadway. It was located on the southeast corner of Broadway and Lamb, the building standing and utilized as a neighborhood grocery until the early 1970s.

Moon dealership

T.C. Moon and his wife, Rena, moved from Bonne Terre, Mo., to Hannibal in March 1926, where he opened an automobile dealership, selling Chrysler and Packard cars in northern Missouri and part of central Illinois. In July 27, 1927, Mr. Moon rented the large storeroom in the Hannibal Market House, which was directly across the street from his dealership, at 804-810 Broadway.

This venture didn’t last long. By 1929, both the Moon family and Alfred Schnitzer had left town.

On Jan. 12, 1927, Mrs. Mabel Schnitzer was granted a divorce from Alfred Schnitzer, and received custody of the couple’s four children.

Mrs. Schnitzer ultimately moved to California, where she died in 1981.

After the divorce, Mr. Schnitzer moved to Quincy, Ill., where he worked as auditor and bookkeeper for Hotel Elkton. He died in October 1953.

Meanwhile, Mr. and Mrs. Moon moved first to St. Louis, and then to Columbus, Ohio.

New/remodeled building

L.H. Quirk leased the Market House property, either heavily remodeled or reconstructed, from the city on June 18, 1928, for a term of 10 years. That lease was renewed in 1938.

In 1948 and 1958, John R. Scyoc leased the property for two more 10-year terms. He was still in business at this location in 1972.

The current Hannibal Police Department, located at 777 Broadway, was constructed upon this site circa 1976.

L.H. Quirk leased the Market House property from the city on June 18, 1928, for a term of 10 years. That lease was renewed in 1938. This gas station likely replaced the Market House which stood on this property from circa 1885 until this service station was built on the lot. Hannibal Labor Press, Sept. 12, 1930. John R. Scyoc Jr. operated a service station and mechanics shop at this location from roughly 1948 until the early 1970s. Newspapers.com

Mary Lou Montgomery, Suburban Newspapers of America Editor of the Year, Dailies, 2010, retired as editor of the Hannibal, Mo., Courier-Post in 2014. She researches and writes narrative-style stories about the people who served as building blocks for this region’s foundation. Books available on amazon.com by this author include: “The Notorious Madam Shaw,” “Pioneers in Medicine from Northeast Missouri,” “Hannibal’s ‘West End,’” “Oakwood: West of Hannibal,” “St. Mary’s Avenue District,” and “Live, on stage in Hannibal 1879: ‘H.M.S. Pinafore.’” Montgomery can be reached at montgomery.editor@yahoo.com Her collective works can be found at www.maryloumontgomery.com