10949 Kercheval Avenue
Frank W. Gordon Pharmacy, R. E. Bodimer Pharmacy, Saylor Rexall Drug, Williamson-Berrys Party Store
This structure is on the city’s teardown list.
By 1900, Frank W. Gordon, a druggist, was in charge of Post Office Substation #3. I’m unsure what those duties entailed; however, he wouldn’t hold that position much longer. He was arraigned and charged with failing to deposit postal money received, and a deadline was set to send the money by July 10. It was a small amount of money, and he promised to send it via check. He soon tendered his resignation, and the charges were dropped.
That same year, he was arrested for committing adultery. His wife had hired a private detective to tail him, and he was caught going into the Park Place Hotel with a woman. Officials broke into the room, and there “was a stormy scene.” I’m not sure what happened in that case. Adultery is still a felony in Michigan but is rarely enforced.
By July 1909, druggist Frank W. Gordon had commissioned Charles W. Koehler to design and William Reich to build him a structure at the corner of Kercheval and Fairview, pictured here. The lower half was a store, and the upper was a residential dwelling.
In 1910, the owner was selling a 34-foot lunch counter made of mahogany with a marble base. It’s unclear why it was for sale so quickly after the building was completed. Many pharmacies had lunch counters and soda pop fountains inside, too.
Gordon’s pharmacy was still there by 1914, as evident from an advertisement for Velvet Brand Ice Cream. Gordon was a dealer.
In 1919, R. E. Bodimer was operating the space. It’s unclear whether Gordon still owned the building, but he was no longer running the storefront.
After that, there’s a significant gap in the historical record. In 1959, it was still a pharmacy, so it’s easy to guess that it was one for the entirety of that time period. However, many buildings were converted to other uses during the war—from banks to pharmacies, so you never can be too sure.
In the 1950s and 1960s, Saylor Rexall Drug occupied the space. Rexall was a chain of drugstores that spread across the country during the middle of the 20th century. It was a franchise similar to Ace Hardware or Mcdonald’s. It no longer exists, but many pharmacies still hold the name.
Into the 1970s and 1980s, many pharmacies and corner stores transitioned from one-stop shops for family needs to party stores. A party store is a Michigan term for a corner store that sells alcohol, snacks, sometimes hot food, and a small line of groceries at typically inflated prices.
As more traditional grocery stores in Detroit closed due to population loss, these stores were often residents’ only choice for food within talking distance of their homes. The same problem exists today, with dollar stores like Dollar General and Family Dollar filling the void—often with little to no fresh fruits, vegetables, or meats.
In 1982, there was a listing for the Williamson-Berrys Party Store at 10949 Kercheval. That’s the last recorded business that I found at the location.
However, there was still a corner store there until around 2012. Even then, the structure was tattered and collapsing in places. However, since its closure, things have gotten much worse. It’s far from unrepairable, and I’d love to see someone take this project on. However, with the structure already on the city’s hit list, I’m not very hopeful about this one.
The last owner was a church, and the parcel has been lumped together with the light manufacturing/showroom structure next door, which is in much worse shape.
It’s currently for sale for $69,000.
I have a terrible feeling that I’ll ride my bicycle down the Kercheval bike lane one day, and they’ll both be gone.
