9 South Main St.

Historically this site was a part of the Clarkston Mill property until about 1858 when Phoebe Edmondson was listed in tax records for the southeast corner "of an unencumbered block" (that was the property of Mill St. & Main, south of West Washington St.). The records for 1860 specifically noted a store on her property. Phoebe and Jonas S. Edmondson sold to Margaret S. Ross in 1866/67. Margaret Ross became Mrs. Calvin Green, a dressmaker noted on the 1872 map of the Village. The footprint of the original wooden building may be seen on that map. Reuben Newell Clark owned the building from 1876 until his death in 1889, operating a grocery store. Guy & Nelson Walter, also in the grocery business, were listed in tax records for the property from 1908 to 1914. A wooden building which stood on this site may be seen on the left side of the circa 1910 photo, seen above. Oral history has it that Lewis Voorheis built the original section of the stone building and he was listed as the owner in 1915 tax records. Fred Owen was the stone mason. His assistant was Casper Warden. Frank Leonard and Ben J. Miller owned the property from 1919 until 1934 when they discontinued their service station/car dealership business. (Clarkston News article, 12/22/33). In 1933, the Clarkston News described a most unusual Chrismas window at Leonard & Miller which "contained among other exhibits, a 5 1/2' Diamond rattlesnake with 14 rattles; Konk eggs; longleaf pine from which turpentine is made; sea beans; horseshoe crabs; Spanish oysters; Cotton with seeds; Starfish; " all from Dave Miller's trips to Florida. Ed. Whipple ran a Pontiac & Buick dealership here until W.W. II when he reenlisted. The selling of automobiles was suspended during the war. The building housed a branch of the Kroger Grocery & Baking Co. in 1942. In 1954 the store became Rudy's Market. Proprietor Rudy Schwarz, who came to Clarkston in 1933, purchased the business of Hagele's Meat Market which at the time was in a building on the southwest corner of W. Washington and S. Main Street, north of this site. That building burned in 1939. Schwarz temporarily ran his business in the Township Hall building, 21 S. Main and then moved to 31 S. Main in 1941. He did business there until 1954 when he moved to his final location here, 9 South Main.