302 W. Main

324 W. Main

The Dougall & Wellington’s Flour Mills’ two-story office building was the first building on the southeast corner of Hudson and Main Streets. These Mills were gone prior to 1900.

The Sanborn maps of 1910 and 1918 show a second, small building on the lot. From 1921 to 1927, it was the Tire Shop business of Frank L. Stephens who later operated a garage near his home at 2335 Segwun where he repaired school buses as well as automobiles. Stephens was a deputy with the Kent County Sheriff’s Department from 1929 to 1955 when he became Chief of Police of the Lowell Police Department.

By 1929, the map shows a third building, the Fineis Oil Company’s Dixie gasoline filling station was here and sat crossways on the lot. Vern Armstrong sold Hi-Speed Gas from this corner from about 1935 until 1947.

In 1948, the building briefly became the restaurant of Tom and Jane Kennedy. In 1950, Arthur A. Curtis purchased the building to open Curtis Laundry and Dry Cleaners. His sons, Arthur Jr. and Richard, were already operating this same type of business in Grand Rapids and now there would be a drive-in branch in Lowell. In 1958, Curtis Cleaners built a new fourth building to sit squarely on the lot. They moved to another location in late 1966.

The location was used by Dok-Realty and Curtis Distributing Company starting in 1967. By 1981 it became Powell’s Shell Car Wash (fifth building). The fourth building was taken down along with the former Root Lowell buildings to put in Powell’s gas station, pumps and a car wash. Lemmon Shell is the sixth building on the site and is listed first in 1991 and continues to this day.

Images:

Frank L. Stephens Tire Shop was next to the Lowell Specialty Co. factory building from 1921 when he came to Lowell until 1927.

1929 Sanborn map

The Fineis Oil Company’s Dixie filling station was situated diagonally across the lot.

Vern Armstrong in work uniform in front of Dixie Gas Station. The attendant pumped your car’s gas, washed the windshield, and checked the oil.
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Curtis Cleaners, 1966. They moved from here to their Valley Vista and Main St location in late 1966. Then in 1981-82, the partners, John “Bucky” Curtis and Kevin Smith, built a new more energy efficient building for their Wash King and Dry Cleaners at 1400 W. Main.
The brick Curtis building, former home of Root Lowell, was demolished in 1984. Curtis had used it as a warehouse since 1968 when Root Lowell moved away.