Sisters maintain long-term ownership of 210 Broadway

This photo, taken from the southeast corner of Main and Broadway in the late 1860s, shows a portion of the 200 block of Broadway as it appeared at that time. The large building on the northwest corner of Main and Broadway is the Settles and Helm store. In 1866, Henry D. Deimann’s cigar shop was at 202 Broadway, and Louis Heiser’s jewelry shop was at 208 Broadway. In 1860, Andrew Sproul opened a grocery business at what would become 210 Broadway. 

MARY LOU MONTGOMERY

Admist the local tensions during the years leading up to the onset of the Civil War, Andrew Sproul opened a grocery business in 1860, at 15 Broadway, later to be renumbered 210. He continued to operate this business, which sold flour, potatoes, corn, staple and fancy groceries, until 1879, when he moved his store to 307 N. Main.

Circa 1879, it is suggested in newspapers and city directories available from that era, that Carolina L. Deimann, the widow of another early merchant on the boulevard, purchased the property from Sproul, and it would continue under her family’s ownership through the decades to come.

That’s how, in 1888, Carolina Deimann, now in her sunset years, found herself living with her adult nieces (daughters of her deceased brother, C. Fahenhorst) on the second and third floors of this quaint building - which is still standing today - in Hannibal’s business district.

Deimann’s tenant, Jessie Robison, was operating his cigar and tobacco shop on the first floor of this building in 1888, and Louis Heiser, a jeweler, was in business next door, at 208 Broadway. James B. Bowles had a clothing store across the street, at 221 Broadway.

Today’s standpoint

Judy Cerena of Hannibal, who owned the building for nearly 30 years in conjunction with her real estate appraisal business, said that it is hard to imagine those women getting up and down the building’s narrow and dark staircases with their long gowns.

To heat the building, Cernea said, the second and third floors had fire places which have subsequently been covered up.

In 1888

Mrs. Deimann’s nieces were:

• Wilhelmina (Minnie) Fahenhorst, born in 1858; 

• Caroline H. Fahenhorst, born in 1860. 

+ Louisa C. Fahenhorst, born in 1862; and

• Anna Fahenhorst, who worked for C.A. Bode, harness maker and carriage trimmer, for 23 years prior to 1909.

When her nieces inherited the building upon Mrs. Deimann’s death in 1888, the stipulation in the will indicated that the women couldn’t sell the building, unless they all agreed. The purpose behind this stipulation, as was common in the day, was based upon the availability of an ongoing income in case the young women didn’t marry.

And it appears that the sisters held true to that agreement.

Louisa Fahrenhorst, married to W.D. Dukes, was the first sister to die, in 1912 at the approximate age of 60. She left her share of the building to her three surviving sisters. Her husband was the recipient of other property.

When Minnie Fahrenhorst Klintworth wrote her will in 1907, she indicated that if her sister Anna, was to outlive Mr. Klintworth, and if Anna should remain single until after Mr. Klintworth’s death, she was to inherit all of Minnie’s real and personal estate. But that didn’t happen. In fact, it would be another 10 years before Minnie died.

In the meantime, in 1912, sister Anna Henrietta Fahrenhorst was married to John Schlobohn. Schlobohn was a brother-in-law to Joseph Bassen, of the firm of Franklin and Bassen of Hannibal. In 1901, Schlobohn was a quarter master sergeant in the 23rd infantry, who had been stationed in the Philippines. He retired from the military after 30 years of service.

In March 1917, according to the Hannibal Morning Journal, Minnie Klintworth and Ann Schlobohn signed a lease agreement with F.K. Hutchinson and A.V. Hutchinson, for a term  of five years, on the building at 210 Broadway.

The Hutchinsons subsequently operated a drug store in the building into the mid 1940s. In 1945, Charles Crow was proprietor. Charles G. and Mae Crow operated the pharmacy into the mid 1970s. In the 1960s, Bernadine Smith operated a beauty shop on the second floor.

Minnie Klintworth died Tuesday, Nov. 13, 1917, while on a shopping trip. The Hannibal Morning Journal reported that she was shopping near the junction of Market street and Broadway. She sat down on the curbing to rest a minute, and expired almost immediately. She was 59.

Her death left two surviving sisters, Mrs. John Behneman and Anna Schlobohn.

Caroline Henrietta Behneman died 10 years later, at the age of 67, in December 1927. She was the mother to Anna Behneman, born on June 19, 1899. Miss Behneman was a long-time secretary at the Raible and Brown Real Estate and Insurance Co. She died in February 1981.

In January 1925, the building’s co-owners were John Klintworth, husband of the late Minnie Fahrenhorst Klintworth, and Anna Fahrenhorst Schlobohn.

John Klintworth died in 1931, and is buried beside his wife at Riverside Cemetery. At the time of his death, John Klintworth was living at 1811 Broadway, with John and Anna Fahrenhorst Schlobohn.

It is unclear when Anna Fahrenhorst Schlobohn or her husband died.

A stately stone in Hannibal’s historic Riverside Cemetery marks the burial spot for Carolina L. Deimann, whose husband, Henry D. Deimann, was a cigar maker in Hannibal before and the Civil War. He operated a shop identified in the 1866 Hannibal City Directory as 202 Broadway. File photo by Mary Lou Montgomery

H.D. Deimann advertised his tobacco business in the Hannibal City Directory, 1861. Accessed via the Hannibal Free Public Library’s website.

The Sproul’s store advertised in the Hannibal Daily Courier on May 9, 1867. Note the address is 15 Broadway. It would later become 210 Broadway. newspapers.com