For years the building was a general store under a series of owners/shopkeepers including Joseph Benham, William Davis and Earl Decker. In the 1950s and 1960s, it was Centerville’s primary grocery as Centerville Market IGA. From 1964-80, the building housed the Centerville Pharmacy owned by Jack Gramann.
A large two-story frame house was built on part of the corner site in 1908 by Dr. Charles D. Slagle for his office and living quarters. A widely respected physician, Dr. Slagle served the area for nearly a half-century. When he retired in 1946, Dr. A.V. Black purchased the property.
The northeast corner of Main and Franklin streets is familiar to many today as the home of City Barbecue and Graeter’s Ice Cream. According to Historical Society findings, the corner was the place of Centerville’s first tavern, built of logs in 1802 by John Archer and called Sign of the Crossed Keys.
The building served as a favorite meeting place for area residents. In 1815, businessmen and farmers gathered there for the initial meeting that led to the organization of the Farmers Mechanics Manufacturing Company of Centerville. The company built the first water-powered textile mill on Hole’s Creek and platted the town of Woodbourne.
Lacking a government building, township officials also held their meetings at the tavern in the 1820s and 1830s.
After a brief time as a dry goods store, the building resumed its life as a tavern in the 1840s. Toward the end of the 1800s, the tavern was replaced by a large frame house, facing East Franklin, and a small attached one-story office facing North Main. Here, another prominent physician, Dr. Dudley Keever, practiced medicine from 1890 into the 1950s. The house was torn down in the 1950s and replaced by a gas station and later, a medical building that no longer exists.
NOTE: Most of the information for the “Four Corners” columns came from the pages of two CWTHS publications: the booklet “Stepping Through Time” and the popular book “A Sense of Place,” which features many early structures of Centerville and Washington Twp.
First published in 1977, the latter is
under revision.
Anita Richwine is a board member of the Centerville-Washington Twp.
Historical Society. Contact her at (937) 435-9349 or anita824@aol.com.
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