For years, my friends and I used to shop at the old Davis
Mercantile building in downtown Shipshewana, and occasionally we would stay at
the old Davis Hotel which was attached and had shops on the main floor and
rooms upstairs. They were not the most
modern buildings, but they had history.
According to the official Shipshewana website at www.shipshewana.com, the old Davis Hotel
started its life a block away from where it later stood. It was built in 1891 near the site of the old
train station in Shipshewana by Hezekiah Davis, one of the early town fathers. In the 1960s the entire building was transported
one block down the street. It had been
used as many things in its time, including a chicken hatchery! The old hotel was purchased and refurbished
by the Alvin Miller family in 1982.
There were several shops on the main floor in those days, including the
legendary JoJo’s Pretzels and Lolly’s Fabrics, and a big front porch with
rocking chairs. Upstairs were six modest
guest rooms. Staying there felt like
going back 100 years in time!
In 1989 the Miller family added more retail space to the old
white clapboard hotel in the form of the attached Davis Mercantile
building. It was a great place to shop
in bad weather, and upstairs, it had almost the only public restrooms in
Shipshewana back in the 1980s and 1990s (whew).
And the rocking chairs were often occupied by men who were waiting for
their wives to finish their shopping inside.
On February 28, 2004, both buildings burned to the ground in
a mysterious fire. To my knowledge, the
cause was never determined—only that it most likely started in the basement.
But it wasn’t long before the Miller family began to rebuild, bigger and better
than before.
The new Davis Hotel
building (above photo) looked much like the old, but no hotel rooms on the upper floor. The new Davis Mercantile (below) was much larger than
the old one, with four levels of shops. Photos of the building process are on
display in the halls at the lower level of the building. A 56-foot Douglas Fir log, 44 inches wide and 370 years old,
was brought in from Canada and forms the focal point of the building, with the
sturdy staircase winding its way around the log from the basement to the third
floor. The doors on the shops were
salvaged from various buildings all over the Midwest. Alvin Miller’s background as a sawmill owner
and love of fine wood is evident in the way it is used throughout the building. The main staircase is made from four
different types of hardwood.
The new Davis Mercantile is the home of many shops, places
to eat, some pretty fine restrooms, and a 1906 Dentzel Carousel on the third
floor for the kids. The Shipshewana website
says that the carousel animals were carved to represent the animals found
locally—horses, yes, but also chickens, cows, and dogs. The Davis Mercantile is still a great place to
shop and eat, particularly in bad weather.
It’s worth a stop just to visit JoJo’s Pretzels, and the Kitchen Cupboard (next door) makes a great latte—but there is something there for
anyone who likes shopping or eating.