East New Market

Property Reports

39 Main Street

William Hooper's Store (ca. 1855-1887)

(Also known as Tucker & Smith, Hooper Shoe Store, Daniel Robinson Shoe Store)

In 1851, Mary Bramble began to sell pieces of the lot she owned at the southeast corner of Main Street and Railroad Avenue.  She sold a small parcel to Daniel & Henrietta Robinson in 1851.  Daniel Robinson began running a Shoe Shop from this location shortly thereafter.  In 1863, the Robinsons sold the shop to Wesley Tucker and Henry Smith, who traded under the name "Tucker & Smith".  A year later Tucker and Smith sold the store to William R. Hooper.  William R. Hooper was a shoe maker.  A newspaper article from 1887 about a major fire in East New Market indicates a fire destroyed the building of W.R. Hooper.  The fire started in the J.Q. Leckie Store.  William R. Hooper likely ran a Shoe Shop at this location until it burned down in 1887. 

Hooper sold the lot to Edward Hooper in 1891.  Two years later Edward Hooper sold the lot to his mother, Susan J. Wales, who owned the Chesadel Hotel on the lot to the north.  Susan J. Wales built a store building and leased it to J. Millenson & Son.  J. Millenson & Son carried a stock of dry goods, clothing, dresses, suits, coats, boots, and shoes, and a large general line.  It burned to the ground in the 1914 fire.  A 1914 Newspaper Article describes the 1914 fire and the loss of the J. Millenson & Son store.

In 1990 James Cheesman (b. 1895) described the property as the site of the Millenson Dry Goods Store.  He confirmed it burned at the same time the Chesadel Hotel did. 

The 1922 Sanborn Map shows the property as an empty lot.  By the late 1920s, a new structure was built and used for auto repair and later a gas station.  The structure was later converted to a restaurant and bar.  The property is now known as Johnny's Tavern.