Kriegbaum Block

When it was built in 1904, this building was the largest single building in Huntington, IN. For 60 years it remained in the Kriegbaum family as a hardware and farm implements store. After being sold, the business only lasted another two years or so. Since then the building has been thru only two or three owners and only two businesses. Currently, the building is owned and operated by "Old Car Storage."

Kreigbaum Brothers dealt in “engines, threshing machines, binders, mowers, drills, Star wind pumps and in wood and coal” (Bash). According to reports, the business not only had the largest stock of this nature but the Kriegbaums were of sterling character and of high integrity. Newspaper accounts discuss the foundation walls being built in June 1904. The Daily News-Democrat in November of 1904 declared that the “main room is the largest ground floor room in Huntington.” The brick building was three floors tall and very sturdy. The brothers also established a hardware store in Warren, Indiana. George and Albert Kreigbaum ran that establishment while John P. Kreigbaum was the driving force behind the Huntington business. In 1975, the building was bought by Smith Furniture, and then in 2011 by Ed and Hal Souers. The Souers brothers incorporated their business under "Old Car Storage." All three floors are able to be used for storage because of the extra-large freight elevator installed when the building was built. Evidently, the Kriegbaums had large agricultural equipment on all three floors.

The Kreigbaum Building, also called the Kreigbaum block, is an example of 20^th century commercial architecture style. The architect, A.D. Mohler was also the architect on other buildings in the Huntington area. The Kreigbaum Block is location number 89 on the National Register of Historic Places registration form for the Huntington Courthouse Square Historic District which was approved in 1992.

1. Bash, Frank Sumner. History of Huntington County, Indiana: A Narrative Account of Its Historical Progress, Its People, and Its Principal Interests. United States, Unigraphic, 1914.
2. “About Town,” Daily News-Democrat [Huntington, IN] 2 Nov 1904.
3. “History,” Oldcarstorage.com, accessed July 20, 2021. http://oldcarstorage.com/History.html.
4. National Register Digital Places. National Registry of Historic Places. Accessed July 20, 2021. https://npgallery.nps.gov/NRHP/GetAsset/85461645-f775-4cf8-a822-d8525b7cf0ba
5. Huntington County, Indiana: History & Families. 1993. Huntington County Historical Society. Paducah, Ky: Turner Pub. p141-2.