HISTORIC DOWNTOWN JACKSON BUILDING WEATHERS A CENTURY OF CHANGE IN CITY

Ernst Hoffman stands on the porch of his Jackson home where he was born. The tree was a sapling when his father built the Hoffman building downtown in 1898.

In four short years the two-story, red brick building at 110 High St. in downtown Jackson will turn 100 years old, and Ernst Hoffman, whose father had the building built in 1898, thinks it might be cause for celebration.

"The town kind of grew up around it," said Hoffman. "I think it was the first building on the block, it's always been in a good location, and I believe it's the only building there with its original structure.

"Dad told the contractor to build it with good material and good workmanship."

Hoffman, 86, lives in the house where he was born. It's about two blocks away from the 19th century building that's now home to The Way Christian Bookstore. Over the decades, more than a few businesses have thrived at the location.

"Dad had a shoe shop in the back part of the building," said Hoffman, who attended Jackson High School and in 1930 graduated from a Methodist junior college in Warrenton. "He rented the front of the building to the old Ressell Hardware Store ... that was real long ago."

At the age of 5, Hoffman began helping his dad at work. He'd stop by the shoe shop after school and put heels and soles on the shoes his dad had made that day. He'd do a little sewing on a treadle machine.

Otto Hoffman, whose grandfather came to America from Germany, started in the shoe making business when he was about 14, recalls his son, and he made shoes for 65 years.

"Dad would tell me that some shoes are just not meant for right or left feet, and people liked shoes that squeaked, and the louder the squeak the better they liked it," Hoffman said, laughing.

The hardware store eventually moved and the ground floor became home to a grocery store. Upstairs, the city installed a telephone switchboard.

"The ladies of the town worked the switchboard," said Hoffman, who worked at Florsheim Shoes in Cape Girardeau for 34 years before retiring from the business office at Southeast Missouri State University in 1974. "I remember them sitting there putting those plugs into a big switchboard."

In 1914, after the hardware store had moved and the grocery store had gone out of business, Kerstner's Pharmacy occupied the Hoffman building, and Otto Hoffman moved his shoe business into a building on the west side of the courthouse near where Boatman's Bank is located.

Kerstner's Pharmacy later became Kerstner's Rexall Drug Store and a large soda fountain -- that seated 60 -- was installed. For decades the soda fountain was a popular gathering place for kids.

"I remember that soda fountain real well," said Hoffman. "That was back when cherry Cokes were popular. They sold strawberry sundaes and all kinds of sweets. That was back in the nickel and dime days."

In 1962 the drug store was sold to John and Anita Schulte and, eventually, the soda fountain was removed, although the drug store continued to operate for many years.

About a year ago, The Way Christian Book Store moved into the Hoffman building. While an orange Rexall Drugs sign over the front door was being removed to be replaced by a new book store sign, many people were happily startled to find the name "Kerstner's" was still painted on the building.

Although the white letters on a blue background were faded, visions of that popular old soda fountain danced through the minds of many, to include Joyce Ross, co-owner of The Way.

"I remember that fountain and the cherry Cokes and how all the kids gathered there," Ross recalled. "And all these people in town for the Homercomers celebration this week, a lot of them were kids back then and used to gather here."

For a time, The Way had a window display of original items from the soda fountain -- a table, chairs, soda glasses, dishes and spoons. The items were on loan from the Kerstner family.

The name "Kerstner's" is still on the front of the building above the door, but it's been covered by red paint.

Hoffman says the building is still in good shape, it's been rewired a few times and the plumbing has been updated, but it's never caught fire and tenants seem to enjoy the location.

"As far as I know, we'll keep going with the building as long as someone wants to rent it," said Hoffman, somewhat wistfully. "There's sure been a lot of people in and out of it over all those years."