613 Davis is a building that has had its share of retail merchants, but has mostly been associated with good food.
Constructed on Lot 649 by the First National Bank of Corning in 1908, the first landlord was Agnes Widner, the second daughter of bank president F.M. Widner. The first tenants were Cain’s Clothing with Peregrine Piano who moved in April 13, 1909 from their previous spot at 700 Davis. A fire in the rear of the store forced it to close in February 1915 and J.H. Dunn quickly moved his “racket store” from 700 Davis in March of the same year. That peculiar term doesn’t mean what you think it does. Today, it would be called a discount store. Unfortunately, tied to the closing the previous year of the First National Bank of Corning due to a run on it by depositors spooked by the 10 day presence of a bank examiner, Mr. Dunn goes bankrupt that November. Mr. C.G. Trent opens the Bee Hive Racket Store in January, 1916 but is out of business in November.
Spenser’s Cafe ushers in a long succession of food purveyors when it opens in that building in December of 1916 then sells to the Woodmansee’s in July 1920. They in turn sell it to George Simpson, the former sheriff of Adams County, who ran a cafe there from October 1920 until he sells it to F.J. Walton in July 1921.
In 1924 Agnes Widner sells the property to Daniel Webster Turner and the building’s focus shifts to baking. Britt Drew moved in his bakery in that same year from a different location in Corning. He’d made the newspapers in 1922 for constructing a sidecar on his motorcycle capable of hauling 200 loaves of his “Blue Ribbon” bread for his delivery route to surrounding towns. He made the newspapers again in 1931 when, for mysterious reasons, he threatened a friend and then a policeman with a pistol in the bakery. His wife sold the bakery business to I.J. Costillo in 1931 who remodeled then opened under the name “Home Bakery”. That name endured through a long line of bakers until 1975 when the last Home Baker moved up Davis Avenue. Just for the fun of recognizing their names, the following is a list of those bakers and their year of assuming ownership of the business: Paul Miller 1931, Mr. Hansen 1934, Mr. and Mrs. Logsdon 1934, A.W. Steiner 1935 who installed a new oil burning Harper Reel Oven capable of baking 168 loaves every 30 minutes. In 1937, he thanked Corning for the success of their “Corning Maid” bread saying they use 360# of yeast and 100 barrels of flour a month!, Doggett and Sanders 1940, Lester Hite ?, O.M. Sheppard 1944 who remodeled with a new building front featuring large display windows, Harold Shunemann 1948 who had moved to the US in 1928, Bruce Wilson 1957, Steve Stueckradt 1964 until 1975.
Ownership of the building passed to Wendell Bell in 1974 but it apparently sat empty until Deke and Linda Schafroth bought it in 1979 to open their Sears store. In 1996 Frank and Gidget Dennis converted it into a video store and arcade. Following historical pattern, it became L and J’s Kitchen in 2006 then a few years later, Boz’s Kitchen. Carly Pappas bought the building and opened her Sunset Boutique clothing and shoe store in late 2017. Unfortunately, that enterprise lasted only about 1 1/2 years and the building has been sitting empty ever since.
Food or retail? It seems to be in the cards, but we will have to see what the next owner surprises us with.
