Tammy Dieker might have traveled great distances to find the kind of treasure that was right under her feet.
Dieker owns The Market Place, an antique store on the downtown square at 5 E. Madison Ave. During a recent renovation, she and husband Jeff uncovered an old metal JC Penney sign buried beneath floorboards.
The sign is a nod to the building’s past. For decades, the department store served the community’s needs for clothing and more.
“I’m always out treasure hunting. And here this old sign has been here this whole time. I couldn’t believe it.”
As with most renovations, the project was more involved than expected.
Dieker discovered the plaque when renovating the entrance, which included demolishing a raised window display.
As with most renovations, the project came with surprises.
In tearing out the platform, the couple found multiple types of flooring underneath, including decorative tile, with a brick ledge that ran around the window’s edge. Between the two, they espied a large hole.
Dieker grabbed a piece of an old floorboard and poked around.
“I thought, ‘I’m gonna dig a little.’ So I dug and sure enough, clang. I hit something metal,” she said.
LONG BEFORE it housed either The Market Place or JC Penney, the building at 3-5 E. Madison Ave. was known as the Brigham building. It started as a frame structure and then a smaller brick building before it became the structure we know today. An 1892 fire insurance map at the Allen County Historical Society shows it also housed a photography and frame store, and a barber shop.
In 1902, the building became a clothing store for men and boys, Perham & Sons, The Live Clothiers, with the name later changing to Perham & Smith Clothing Co. Various doctors and businesses were located upstairs.
In its Dec. 31, 1925, edition, the Iola Register announced the J.C. Penney Company would move from the west side of the square to the Brigham building as part of a 10-year lease.
“The business room is being refloored, steam heating system installed and the walls and fixtures remodeled and redecorated,” the article said.
A basement, running almost the full length of the building, was constructed at that time, according to the newspaper.
Sixty years later, on Dec. 31, 1985, the JC Penney store closed. It was a tough year for department stores on the south side of the square. The Register reported The Montgomery Ward catalog store next door and Fashion Leader next to it also had closed.
But a new clothing store owned by Jerry Whitworth called Saturday’s would soon take over the building.
About two decades later, in 2007, Farm Bureau Financial Services remodeled the building for its offices. It became an antiques store a few years later, and the Diekers purchased it about 10 years ago. Laura Rasa managed The Market Place for several years. When she left in 2022, Tammy Dieker took over.
