New Board Member Supplies Lots of Info About Howe’s Home

[Howe’s Hunter]

Early on in my rebuilding of his collection, I tried to find out if the structure that Howe called home (and I later found out to be his families business address also) was still standing. Looking up the address on any map site proved futile, as did my email correspondence with the mayor’s office of Gainesville, who merely confirmed what I had already found out. Main Street in Gainesville runs North/South, not East/West.

Last week, new board member David Polakoff contacted me, after seeing the signature at the bottom of one of my posts. Having lived in Gainesville for the past nine years, and only recently moving, he was intrigued by the collection of a guy from a community where, as he put it, “If there are any tobacco cards in Gainesville, they're in private collections of inactive collectors.”

David’s passion for “old things” goes far beyond baseball cards, as within 24 hours, he had researched several sites, found numerous maps and done the work to find that 500 W. Main St. in Gainesville actually did run North/South, but on a map dated from 1909, there is a short portion of street named West Main Street North and West Main Street South. Further investigation by David uncovered a 1905 business directory that listed WJ & Agnes McCormick (Howe’s parents), along with his uncle Alex (co-owner of the family grocery market) as living at 500 W. Main St. South.

David wrote me “The street it's off of was actually at the time called McCormick Street. If I'm understanding the family history correctly, Howe's grandfather, Rev. W.J. McCormick, a Presbyterian minister, was a pretty big deal in the early days of Gainesville, so I assume the street was named after him.”

Sadly, the location on the corner of what is today SE 3rd Street is now the parking lot for a courthouse built seven or eight years ago. Any memories or mementos the market might have held are gone for good.

But the mystery of the street that didn’t exist has been solved, and with great thanks to David, who went above and beyond in clearing up.

[Al C.risafulli]

This is the BEST thing! How cool!

-Al

[I Only Smoke 4 the Cards]

It is good to see someone help you with this info. Good work!

[wolf441]

Great stuff!!!

[T206Collector]

Originally Posted by wolf441

Great stuff!!!

+1

[cardsfan73]

Great story & information. Threads & information like this are one of the main reasons I love this board. You just don't find stuff like this anywhere else.

Thanks for sharing!

[ethicsprof]

it's always great fun to hear about the Howe's of Gainesville.
many thanks for the update.

all the best, ole buddy
barry

[atx840]

It's pretty cool what you've found out on Howe since acquiring the first stamp. By far my favourite project on the forum.

[Luke]

Originally Posted by atx840

It's pretty cool what you've found out on Howe since acquiring the first stamp. By far my favourite project on the forum.

I agree

[polakoff]

After living in Gainesville for 9 years when I joined the board and found out about this project I was stunned. I had to help in some way. My wife worked at the University archives so I'm hoping some of her connections may provide even more insight. I'll be back in Gainesville in October and told Ed I'm happy to take any pictures or do anything else he may want me to do. Definitely the coolest collection I've ever run across.

[BlueSky]

Really cool stuff. I love the personal history of collecting.

Thanks for sharing.

[ZachS]

I've been working on a project of my own that got me into sifting through old Sanborn maps looking for old buildings. I looked through some of the old maps for Gainesville checking on the McCormick house. It looks like the house was around for quite some time. I couldn't find anything on the 1884 map but I found it on 1887, 1892, 1909, 1913, and 1922. It's neat to see how it "grew" over the years.

Also note: On the 1892 map the address was listed as 403... on 1909 and 1913 it's listed as 500... and by 1922 it's listed as 508 (formerly 500). This helps narrow down the time-frame of the stamp.

[ZachS]

One other thing I forgot... all of the street names on these old maps have been changed. If you want to figure out the new name that corresponds with the old name on the map you can use this page: Gainesville Street Name Conversion Chart

[ullmandds]

Thats great, ed! I love the teamwork!

[2dueces]

Awesome!

[ethicsprof]

I noticed your mention of Howe's ancestry connected to a prominent
Presbyterian minister in Gainesville. It made me wonder if there might be a connection between your McCormick's and the Presbyterian seminary in Chicago---McCormick Theological Seminary. I checked a wee bit and saw
that the seminary was named after Cyrus H. McCormick who was a Presbyterian and the inventor of the mechanical reaper. I hustled to see what the H.
stood for and, unfortunately, not Howe but Hall. Still there might be some
connection.
great stuff as always.

all the best,
barry