Peoria's Hamilton Store offered the 'magic of television'

Ask Dean is a Journal Star column focusing on all things Peoria: its history, mysteries, quirks and culture. Send your questions to dmuellerleile@pjstar.com.

Question: Could you please see what history you can find about the Hamilton Store, a television and appliance store in Peoria? I believe it was across the street from the courthouse. It has a special place in my memory from the 1950s, when I was a young boy. We purchased our very first TV there in 1953. I can still see every detail in my mind about that evening when my mother announced that after supper, we would be going there to look at a TV set. — Gregory Phelps

Answer: The seemingly modest store in "The Hamilton Motor Inn Building opposite court house on Hamilton" had an outsized inventory. It advertised that "everything's in plain sight on a streel-level floor." And quite the sight that must have been.

Over time, the Hamilton Store offered toys, televisions, appliances, air conditioners, lawn mowers, even ge-tars — er, guitars.

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The store at 322 Hamilton Blvd. held drawings and offered demonstrations of its products. It sponsored WMBD University of Illinois football broadcasts and, curiously, election reports.

Televisions were offered "completely installed for Peoria reception." Weekly payments were available.

Beginnings

The Hamilton Store was housed in the Hamilton Motor Inn building. According to the 1932 book "History of the Illinois River Valley, Vol. II," the motor inn, "one of the largest and most up-to-date garages found in this section of the state," was incorporated in 1922. Officers included Arthur G. Heidrich and Carl H. Feltman. The building had storage space for 300 cars.

From the archives

Journal Star accounts of the Hamilton Store itself date to 1951, when a full-page ad screamed, "Wheeeeee! The Hamilton Store anniversary starts tomorrow!!" The ad invited the public to "see the beautiful new 1951 General Electric refrigerators ("priced from $209.95 up"). Also on offer was a "big 17 inch" TV for $349.95. General Electric washers — what "most women want" — began at $109.95.

In 1956, the Hamilton Store dodged a bullet when the Journal Star reported the pending demolition of the nearby Crown Hotel, "probably the oldest residential landmark in downtown Peoria." The building had been "constructed by one of Peoria's early settlers in about 1850" and was currently "surrounded by small business places," the story said. "After the property is leveled, only the Peoria county jail and the Hamilton building, which houses the Carleton-Russell Tire Co. and the Hamilton store, will remain standing on the north side of Hamilton St."

The Hamilton Store's offerings weren't limited to electrical appliances. A 1957/58 color "wish book" showcased "toys that measure up to your child's dreams." Among them were child-sized metal kitchen appliances — a pink refrigerator or stove for $2.98, a sink for $2.59. A chemistry lab was $9.95. An erector set was a dollar more. Layaway was available.

For a time, the Hamilton Store had a spokeswoman of sorts. A 1960 Journal Star display ad "by Carla of the Hamilton Store" excitedly touted the "new doll that talks back: Chatty Cathy." In another ad, Carla urged customers to "spend an enchanted hour or two" at the store. Yet another promised shoppers the "unhurried, personal attention of all of us here at the Hamilton Store."

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In April 1965, the Hamilton Motor Inn building was bought by Peoria business executive Heidrich and two of his sisters. Heidrich told the Journal Star the "garage building" would probably be closed and eventually torn down "to augment Peoria's vast development downtown." The Hamilton Motor Inn, the story added, "houses automobile parking, a laundromat, and an appliance store at present." The sellers included Feltman.

The new owner's predictions proved to be prophetic. In late 1965, the Hamilton Store began running a series of classified ads offering appliances at "close out prices" for cash, with all sales final. TVs and stereos were soon added to the closeout inventory.

The 1966 Polk's Peoria City Directory listed the 322 Hamilton Blvd. address as "vacant."

A Journal Star obituary for Feltman from 1977 roughly confirms that timeline: "Owner-operator of Hamilton Motor Inn many years, he retired 10 years ago." (A 1951 display ad had shown Feltman of the Hamilton Store in the Hamilton Motor Inn building awarding a new television set to a contest winner.)

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A postmortem of sorts appeared on the front page of the Journal Star on Nov. 15, 1975. It was headlined "Downtown Peoria" with the subhead "Remember When It Was The Only Place To Be?" The story laments, "Burdock grows wild where the Hamilton Store used to stand."

It took awhile, but Heidrich's prediction of "vast development downtown" also proved to be accurate.

Downtown construction, including the Hamilton Square building and the County of Peoria Parking Deck, was ranked No. 5 in a list of the top 10 local stories of 1990 in the Journal Star.

Today, much of the 300 block of Hamilton Boulevard houses those two structures. The Hamilton Square building is home to the law firm Heyl Royster. Gone are the Hamilton Store and its breathless ads. Chatty Cathy has fallen silent. Burdock no longer runs rampant on Hamilton Boulevard.

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Looking back

But none of that future history was uppermost in reader Gregory Phelps' mind in 1953. As a preteen living in East Peoria, he was focused on the televisions.

Now a Keystone Steel & Wire retiree living in Pekin, Phelps recalls the run-up to the big event. "By the early 1950s, television prices had come down to where they were more in the price range for the average working man. When you went to town shopping, any store that sold TVs would put one in the window display. People would gather around six or seven people deep to watch this new, exciting thing. I mean, like 50 or so at a time.

"To have all this entertainment available in your own living room was exciting, to say the least. Still at this time no one in our neighborhood had a TV set. It was like looking at a big glamorous Cadillac — looks wonderful, but you know you will never have one. Well, several days later the neighbors who lived behind us announced they had just bought a TV and would we like to come over after supper and see it. Of course! So after supper, off we went.

"... The TV set was very small and was sitting up high in the corner of the room. The program that was playing then was the famous 'Howdy Doody' show. A silly little kids' program, but it was amazing all the same to sit there and watch it. Well, a few days later while Mom was fixing supper, she announced that after we ate, we were going over to Peoria to the Hamilton store to look at television sets."

"... We walked into the store and there were televisions everywhere. Big ones, small ones, ones in cabinets like furniture. ... We picked a model we liked from the showroom floor ... a cabinet style, blond in color, looking like wood. ... So, it was settled, they would deliver and set it up."

"... The following week I came home one day from school and there it was. Sitting along the wall where our big radio and record player cabinet had sat before. Mom said, 'There is nothing on till 4 o'clock.' What? The local TV station did not start broadcasting until 4 in the afternoon. I found out later they also stopped broadcasting at midnight every night.

"... The first thing that came on at 4 was a Western. Then at 6 was the local news. Finally, after supper at 7 were the big shows: 'I Love Lucy,' the Milton Berle show, Sid Caesar and Imogene Coca. You would laugh till your stomach hurt. After watching only one program, we knew we had made the right choice in spending our hard-earned money on this magic of television."

Whether it's a person, place or product, send your "Whatever happened to ...?" and "Wasn't there a ...?" questions, comments and suggestions to dmuellerleile@pjstar.com. Please put ASK DEAN in the subject line.

This article originally appeared on Journal Star: Peoria store made a lifelong impression with 'magic of television'