Architecturally, perhaps the building at 1024 Court St. – which for the past few years has been the law office of Pekin attorney Mark E. Wertz – may not be particularly remarkable, but this little building and its location at the intersection of Washington and Court streets have a fascinating story to tell that reaches back to the 1870s.
Pekin city directories, along with Tazewell County Assessor’s records, show that the 1024 Court St. building was erected in 1923 by Martin Charles Marek (1867-1946), son of Simon and Mary Marek of Peoria, who ran the Marek’s Oil Co. gas station on that site until a few years before his death, when his son Walter Raymond “Tater” Marek (1908-1990) took over the business. When Martin Marek opened his filling station at 1024 Court St., his was one of only four gasoline service stations in all of Pekin.
Forty-six years before the construction of the Marek’s Oil Co. building, an 1877 aerial view map of Pekin shows only a stand of trees at the corner of Washington and Court, with an adjacent tall two-storey farm house on the site of today’s Pekin Prescription Laboratory building. The 1887 Pekin city directory shows that the house was the home of a bachelor farmer named Thomas Pugh (1856-1901), a son of Welsh immigrants Thomas Pugh (1812-1856) and Ann (Lloyd) Pugh (1815-1888) of Knox County, Illinois. Thomas, who was born eight months after his father’s death, lived at 1020 Court St. until his death, along with is spinster sisters Elizabeth W. “Lizzie” Pugh (1852-1900), a dressmaker, and Emma R. Pugh (1854-1926), a nurse.
After Thomas’ death, the farm house at 1020 Court St. went to his nephew William Sherman Stropes (1875-1932), son of James and Jane (Pugh) Stropes. The 1904 Pekin city directory lists William S. Stropes, an employee of Pekin plumber Carl Lucas at 120 Court St., as living at 1020 Court. A few years later, however, the 1908 city directory says Philip Horn (1881-1968), “stationary fireman,” living in the old farm house there. The very next year, we find Clinton and Ora Beeler as the residents of 1020 Court St.
Four years later, the 1913 Pekin city directory shows the residents of the house to have been John J. Stumm (1872-1964) and his wife Carrie E. (Woolley) Stumm (1871-1936), along with Hilary Gacer. John and Hilary both worked for A. H. Company. The following year, we again find the Stumms at 1020 Court St., along with George Benjamin Kumpf (1889-1950), a cigarmaker at the Vogelsang cigar shop, and his wife Mittie Mae (Moose) Kumpf (1890-1927).
By the time of the 1922 Pekin city directory, the house at 1020 Court St. was the home of the Emil Krenz family. The 1922 directory lists the house’s residents as Emil H. Krenz (1859-1939), a mechanic, his wife Mary M. (Maurer) Krenz (1863-1934), their daughter Emma (1888-1959), a clerk, their son Herman E. Krenz (1897-1962), a mechanic at Farlin Garage, 554 Margaret St., their daughter Lillian E. (1895-1951), a saleswoman at Henry Birkenbusch Jewelers, and their son Louis Krenz, operator at Dreamland Theatre.
Marek’s filling station made its Pekin city directory debut in 1924, with the directory listing the filling station at 1022 Court St. Likewise, the 1925 Sanborn Fire Insurance Map of Pekin is the first Sanborn map to show the 1024 Court St. building, which is numbered “1022” Court St. on the map. In the 1924 directory, Martin C. and Mary Marek are shown living at 1020 Court St. with their son Glen Clifford Marek (1899-1928), clerk, and daughter Vera Mae Marek (1902-1996), a clerk at Reuling Department Store. The 1926 directory also mentions their son Walter R. Marek, student, at 1020 Court.
Martin C. Marek died at Pekin Hospital at the age of 79 on 7 April 1946 and was buried in Lakeside Cemetery. His obituary, published on the front page of the 8 April 1946 Pekin Daily Times, says, “Mr. Marek had been ill for the past few years and his son, Walter, had been operating their filling station at the junction of Court and Washington streets . . . Mr. Marek was the last member of a family of eight and formerly operated a grocery and bakery in Dallas City. He was at one time a real estate broker in Carthage. He came to Pekin about 23 years ago, when he opened his filling station at its present location.”
Walter continued to operate his father’s gas station until about 1960. The 1961 and 1962 Pekin city directories list the Marek’s Oil Co. building at 1024 Court St. as “vacant,” though Walter and his wife Eulalia continued to live nearby at 1009 Court St. until the mid-1960s. The first business to move into the former Marek’s building was the Pekin Sign Co., whose owners are listed in the 1964 Pekin city directory as Martin deBlank and his wife Barbara, who lived at 1607 N. Fifth St. The deBlanks leased the building from the Marek family.
The deBlanks sold their business to John and Arbutus Berg of Manito and Holac Colson Jr. of Pekin, who are listed as proprietors of Pekin Sign Co. in the 1965 Pekin city directory. Pekin Sign Co. closed soon after, though, because 1024 Court St. is listed as “vacant” in Pekin city directories from 1966 to 1972, and in the 1973 directory the address is not listed at all. Meanwhile, Walter Marek’s son Martin Marek (1940-2017) is shown residing at 1020 Court St. in the city directories from 1969 to 1973.
The 1024 Court St. building returned to Pekin city directories in 1974. That year, on June 29, Marek’s Oil Co. sold 1024 Court St. to Perry C. Bouris, formerly of 1826 Valle Vista. The 1974 city directory lists Bouris Painting & Decorating, owned by Perry Bouris, at 1024 Court. His business is listed in the 1976 Pekin city directory as “Perry Bouris & Sons,” a painting business. Most significant, however, is that the 1977 city directory lists 1024 Court St. as the workshop of Perry Bouris Wallpaper & Paints, which was located next door in a new building at 1016-1018 Court St., which Tazewell County Assessor records say was built in 1977. That is none other than the former Pekin Prescription Laboratory building.
The 1978 and 1979 city directories again list the former Marek’s Oil Co. building as the Bouris Wallpaper & Paints workshop, but the 1980 directory shows that the building had again fallen vacant. That same year, John E. Neumann’s Pekin Prescription Laboratory Inc. is shown at 1016-1018 Court St., Neumann having moved his pharmacy to the Bouris building from 13 N. Fourth St.
Meanwhile, Pekin city directories from 1981 to 1985 list Spencer & Snell Jewelers, owned by Clifford C. Spencer of East Peoria and Larry G. and Theresa S. Snell of Pekin, in the former Marek’s building at 1024 Court St. On 1 Jan. 1984, though, Bouris sold 1024 Court St. to Homer Clayton Coil (1919-2008), and then on 8 April 1985 title to the property was acquired by First National Bank & Trust Co. of Pekin. Spencer & Snell Jewelers moved to 3257 Court St. around that time (and are now at 826 Derby St.), and the 1986 Pekin city directory shows 1024 Court as “vacant.” The 1987 directory shows the address as the home of Timothy and Tracy Blanchard.
The following year, the Pekin city directory lists Jay and Peggy Goldberg’s Video Sound Warehouse at 1024 Court St. The Goldbergs’ business was not only a video rental store, but was also a Ticketmaster outlet where Pekin residents could buy tickets to concerts that were organized and promoted through Jay Goldberg Events and Entertainment. City directories show Video Sound Warehouse at 1024 Court St. from 1988 to 1998. The 1999 directory, however, lists the Goldbergs’ store as Disc Works video rental.
The Goldbergs’ video business closed around that time, and in the 2000 Pekin city directory we find Lowman & Barra Insurance at 1024 Court St. The insurance brokerage of Robert Barra and Jack Lowman is listed at that address from 2000 to 2017. A few years after Lowman & Barra moved into the former Marek’s building, on 20 July 2005 John and Christine Neumann purchased the building and its lot, which is adjacent to Neumann’s Pekin Prescription Lab building.
1024 Court St. is not listed in the 2018 Pekin city directory, but from 2019 to the present, the directories list Mark E. Wertz’s law office there.
