Harding Block

Sometime between 1895 and 1897, Emma T. Harding built a three-story brick building across the street from the hotel at the corner of Main and Academy Streets— the Harding Block. Prior to 1917, the Harding Block had two storefronts. The western one housed the American Express Company, the National Express Company and the Postal Telegraph Cable Company. In the eastern one was the Book Store, Harding & Gray, New York Papers. Ownership of the Harding Block passed from Emma T. Harding to E. J. Kennedy in March, 1918. Kennedy hired the firm of Scopes and Feustmann to design a new storefront for the building, knocked out the interior ground floor divisions, and opened what was for ladies the equivalent of T. F. Finnigan's or C. J. Carey's. The E. J. Kennedy's store remained in the Kennedy family until December, 1973. In March 1974, the was sold to Kastern Inc. which transferred it to the ownership of its president, Hans Katzenstein, in August of that year. It was then the site of Katzenstein's Town and Country Shop and of the Parnell Shoe Salon. It is now the location of McSweeney Orthodontics (2020).