Bringing it all back home

By ANDREW MCGINN
a.mcginn@beeherald.com

There are still hurdles to clear before Rosie Tucker can officially say the once-proud, Prairie/Craftsman-style building at 111 E. Lincoln Way is hers, but she clearly has destiny on her side.

Consider that it was a fire, in December 1915, that ravaged L.B. Kendall’s first pool hall on the south side of the Square — a wood frame building susceptible to sparks from a chimney — that led the local businessman to erect the brick building that stands today at 111 E. Lincoln Way.

Now consider that it was another fire, 99 years later and 430 miles away, that displaced Tucker’s resale clothing boutique, Sensibly Chic, just as it seemed business couldn’t get any better.

“I wanted to move home right then,” recalled Tucker, a Jefferson native who had relocated to the resort community of Bella Vista, Ark., with husband Ray in 2000. “I was just devastated.”

Meanwhile, the city of Jefferson acquired the vacant building at 111 E. Lincoln Way in September 2015 for a grand sum of $50 in an effort to prevent a prominent downtown building from falling in on itself.

The city already had acquired one decrepit downtown building at 205 N. Wilson Ave., and this past April added a third dilapidated building at 200 E. State St. to its portfolio.

After a new roof, the removal of asbestos and a thorough cleaning, the building at 111 E. Lincoln Way just happens to be the first to be readied for a new private owner.

Tucker hopes to be that new owner, which would bring the building full circle almost 100 years to the day that L.B. Kendall opened his new, fireproof “recreation parlor” in October 1916.

After all, Kendall was her great-uncle.

“It was kind of an intimidating place,” Tucker remembered about her visits as a little girl to the pool hall, which Kendall operated right up until his death in 1964 at age 93. “We only came in if we were holding onto Mom’s hand.”

The former Rosie Kious, a 1973 graduate of Jefferson Community High School, hopes to revive Sensibly Chic within its walls.

“You realize that’s not paint,” Tucker said, looking up at the decorative tin ceiling during a  visit last week to the building.

“That’s tobacco.”

Apparently, the brownish tin ceiling was originally ivory in color.

“That’s cigar smoke,” she added. “It’s very cool, huh?”

The original tin ceiling was one of the features exposed during recent work by the city — specifically, by building inspector Nick Sorensen — to save the building from the elements.

The tin ceiling hasn’t seen the light of day since at least the early 1970s, when the women’s clothing chain Mode O’ Day opened in that location (followed by Fashion Crossroads, then, finally, Linda’s Fashions).

It had been covered by a drop ceiling.

“Nick Sorensen, bless his heart, he tore it all out,” Tucker said.

From top to bottom, Tucker loves every inch of this century-old building along the old Lincoln Highway.

“They’re going to be perfect for our business,” she said, gesturing toward the newly exposed floor boards. “I don’t mind the stain. It’s character. I would never rip things up and put in laminate. That would be awful.”

Whereas Sensibly Chic in Arkansas was a resale clothing boutique and furniture gallery, she envisions Sensibly Chic in Jefferson offering refurbished home decor, lighting, some furniture and ladies’ accessories.

“We can do anything we want to do. That’s the fun part,” she said.

She and husband Ray want to make their home above the store, allowing her to open on a whim outside of regular hours.

The city initially set aside $150,000 to improve the building, City Administrator Mike Palmer said, spending between $45,000 and $50,000.

“The building’s pretty much a clean shell now,” Palmer said.

Tucker was required to submit a business proposal and her financial records by Sept. 30 to the city.

The city council on Tuesday voted to move ahead with her plan, authorizing the city attorney to draft an agreement that would give the Tuckers access to the remaining public money to continue making improvements.

The Tuckers also have applied for a Main Street Iowa challenge grant worth $75,000. Palmer said they’ll find out Nov. 10 whether they get the grant.

The city’s goal throughout the entire process has been to stabilize the buildings and then turn them back over to private business owners.

“She’s the forerunner,” Palmer said of Tucker.

Unlike a private residential home that’s fallen into disrepair, the Square is seen as too big to fail.

Palmer said there’s a cost to tearing down a commercial building.

“Then we’re left with nothing,” he explained. “Just an empty lot. It’s pay me now or pay me later.”

Work was underway just this week on the rebuilding of a brick parapet on 200 E. State St., a building from 1880 that anchors the northeast corner of the Square.

The city bought that building — which currently houses Lawton Chiropractic — in April for $100 from a California bank.

Tucker first thought of relocating Sensibly Chic to her family’s building at 111 E. Lincoln Way shortly after the 2014 fire that destroyed her store in Arkansas.

The building’s private owner at the time wanted $35,000 for it.

“I was aghast,” Tucker said. “It was a war zone.

“We left with our tail between our legs.”

She said the city later reached out to her with news that the building was under new ownership — and that a new roof was in order.

“It’s phenomenal to get away and learn what the rest of the world is doing,” Tucker said.

“Then you can come back and appreciate your hometown.”

She and Ray had originally gone to Arkansas just to visit her sister and play some golf.

Ray Tucker, a longtime employee in shipping and receiving at AAI in Jefferson, wound up getting a job with the city of Bentonville, Ark.

Rosie Tucker took a wealth of retail experience with her to Arkansas, having been co-owner of the Fountain’s for Men clothing store with late ex-husband Dennis Fountain in the 1990s and also manager of Walt’s Hallmark.

“The people-to-people thing comes naturally for me,” she said.

By 2014, when Bella Vista’s biggest fire in 15 years ignited in an adjoining hardware store, Sensibly Chic had moved and expanded twice, Tucker said.

The store in 2013 was among the Best of the Best of Northwest Arkansas, an annual people’s choice poll conducted by the state’s largest newspaper, the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette.

“That was a game changer,” Tucker said of the award.

When everything went up in flames, Tucker had more than 1,000 consignors.

“I would have people shopping for 20 minutes before they realized the stuff wasn’t new,” she said.

Tucker hopes to reopen Sensibly Chic in Jefferson by April.

She said the city wants an eight-year commitment from them — which shouldn’t be a problem.

“It’s refreshing to be back,” said Tucker, whose parents, Dane and Betty Kious, are now residents of The Gardens. “A lot of people don’t realize how crazy it is out there.”

She hopes that by teaming with Addie’s to the east and The Printer’s Box to the west they can “bring carloads of women” to town.

What would Uncle L.B. think?

When it reopened in the fall of 1916 after the fire the previous winter, Kendall’s pool hall boasted six pocket billiard tables, a carom table and a smoking room in front with cigar cases.

“There were strict rules,” Tucker said. “Of course, women weren’t allowed. There was no swearing. There was no spitting. It was a clean-cut, respectable place.”

There weren’t exactly signs posted forbidding women from entering, Tucker said. Rather, everybody just knew.

“I don’t know why any lady would want to come in here,” Tucker said.

When you see a picture of L.B. Kendall, round as an eight-ball, sitting at his desk with a stogie in his mouth, “sensibly chic” would seem to be the last words that come to mind.

Now, all that remains from that world are the stains on the tin ceiling from cigars puffed long ago.

Tucker has a word for it: “Ambience.”