The facade on the old Harbach building at 1104-1106 Second St. is receiving some needed improvement.
Jacqueline Riekena of West Des Moines bought the 10,000-square-foot building in November 2016 and began demolition soon afterward, but progress on the property has on-again-off-again for nearly six years.
Ireland-born John Clement, a successful lumber merchant in Perry, built on the corner of Second and Willis about 1890. Fire damaged the Clement Block in 1899 and 1904 and destroyed the building on Christmas Day 1906.
Clement sold the property to James Wimmer and H. D. Williams in March 1907. The “Perry Advertiser” of March 19, 1907, urged the new owners to go big with their new construction.
“These lots on the corner of Willis avenue and Second street are as good a business location as there is in the city,” the editor, R. H. Zerwekh, said. “Of course, it is hard to tell definitely whether the new owners will build at once or in the event that they do, what the building will be like. It is to be hoped that they will erect a three-story structure, however, and one ample for the needs of the city’s advancing business interests.”
Wimmer and Williams did not disappoint the editor of the Advertiser, erecting the three-story Wimmer and Williams Block in 1907, which they sold in 1913 to E. D. Carter, who renamed it the Carter Block.
W. C. Harbach bought the building from Carter in 1935. It was completely destroyed by fire Feb. 10, 1945, and Harbach promptly replaced the three-story building with the one-story structure now being slowly improved.
