107 E. Main

4th door east of post office (107 E. Main)

East half of the building

In 1873, the first building on the bridge east of the old Post Office was this one. W. J. Atkins and Greene Agricultural Implements ran an advertisement in the Lowell Journal giving their location as “the first door east of the Post Office.” They sold lumber wagons and buggies as well as tools.

In 1885, the Sanborn map shows the building as a warehouse set way back from the curb. By 1892, it was a one-story building that extended to the sidewalk and was recorded as an Agricultural Implement Repository.

E. T. Brown & Co. (Elisher Brown, Frank E. Brown and John Sehler) formed in 1883 to sell farm implements, carriages and mill machinery. In 1889, Elisher Brown retired and sold to his younger partners. The company became Brown & Sehler. Advertisements scattered throughout the Lowell Ledger help to understand their business. Brown & Sehler have a full line of D. M. Ferry & Co’s Flower, Field and Garden seed. They sell sulky cultivators, hand potato planters, oak tanned handmade harnesses, and cutaway harrows for orchardists. In 1903, they took on another partner to become Brown, Sehler & McKay. In 1908, Brown & Sehler sold their business to F. B. McKay & Co. (This included J. H. Colby who was the silent partner of McKay.) F. B. McKay & Co. is listed in Lowell’s business directory until 1918.

The building was divided into two storefronts about 1915.  The East half (107 E. Main) began as a harness shop. The only harness maker listed in the Lowell Directory from 1915-1923 was C. D. Bradish.

Will Stone, a tailor, occupied the east side during the mid and late 1920s.

The building was called the Mange building because David G. Mange, cashier of Lowell State Bank, was the owner of it. Mange died in 1929 and Ben Wepman purchased it from the Mange estate through the Michigan Trust Company. Wepman was ready to change occupations because times had changed. Ben and his son, Joseph, had been fur buyers but felt it was time to begin a new occupation of operating a menswear clothing store in 1931.

Another son Herman Wepman married Molly in 1941. They came back to Michigan to help with the clothing store in 1943. In September 1950, they were in the process of moving their clothing store to the building 2 doors to the west to 103 E. Main which would give them more space when tragedy struck. Herman had a heart attack and died. Molly was left alone to manage the store and raise her two small children.
   
In 1951, Mrs. Nell Wyntjes opened Nell’s Pastry Shoppe. She made all kinds of pastries and baked goods. She also took orders for weddings, birthdays and special occasion.

The fire of 1958 destoyed all of the buildings from the old Post Office in the center of town eastward, leaving only the last one which abutted Lafayette Street (today’s Riverwalk).

Images:

Rear view of 107 E. Main, the one-story building on the far right with the electric pole in front of it.  Skiiers on the Flat River are putting on a water show preceding a Showboat performance in the 1950s.

This is the view from the Flat River.  The old Post Office is on the far right; Addresses 105 and 107 East Main were in the one-story building behind the white pole.
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Brown & Sehler Company sold D. M. Ferry Seeds out of Detroit, Michigan, Sheffield hand potato planters, sulky plows, hand corn planters and cutaway harrows.