The Evansville Store by Pat Sides

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The Evansville Store opened its doors to eager shoppers on November 6, 1952, just in time for the holiday shopping season. Located at 318 Main Street, the new store (seen here under construction) occupied part of a block that had been devastated by a major fire in January 1951.

The spacious building contained six floors of merchandise that included clothing, household appliances, furniture, toys, a beauty parlor, and a restaurant. It also featured an escalator, “the only moving stairway in Evansville.” The store closed in 1977, but a branch in the Lawndale Shopping Center operated for a few more years. The Main Street building is now home to Innovation Pointe.

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  1. Ah, fond memories of riding the escalator in the Evansville Store with Mom at Christmas time. With so many children, most of Mom’s shopping was on Franklin and at the numerous second-hand stores, but at Christmas, it was Downtown for an entire Saturday of shopping. A Ford station wagon full of children, Dad’s big hand with a bank envelope of money (it looked like thousands to us, but it was probably more like $500) from the Old National Bank Christmas Club account, a cooler of baby bottles and mason jars of water, and Mom’s list of “have to haves” for Christmas. Great, great memories.

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