By Jessica Gorman
As an actual address, 120 Pearl Street has not been in use for some time. Nearly 100 years ago, it was built by the Drake Estate to house Jefferson Garage. Just a few months before, A.M Godwin had bought out his employers at Dobbs Garage, renamed the business, and continued operation at 114 Pearl Street, now the location of Landmark Surveying, before moving just a few doors down. In March 1931, Mr. Godwin’s wife, Eva, opened Eva’s Smart Shop at the same address featuring a line of dresses she purchased in Dallas. Jefferson Garage moved again the following year, this time to Broadway.
The next business I find evidence of at 120 Pearl Street is Electric Appliances of Minden, featured in an ad in 1935. Then in January 1937, the Tri-State bus station moved to this location, replacing the Rushing Candy Company. Just two years later, a new bus station, the first air-conditioned building in Minden, was constructed on Broadway.
After the bus station moved out, the building became the home of the Richardson Clinic. This is the most interesting part of its story. Dr. S. M. Richardson, Sr., along with his son Dr. S.M. Richardson, Jr., opened the clinic in August 1939. The clinic included an office for each doctor with two separate waiting rooms, an x-ray room, operating room, lab, and two patient rooms and boasted the most modern equipment available. Another son, Dr. T. A. Richardson, joined the practice the following summer and construction of an addition to the rear of the building began. That new addition provided another 1300 square feet and included four new patient rooms. A hallway ran down the middle to the new operating room spanning the width of the building with large windows that allowed plenty of light. That space was opened to the public, 21 September 1940, almost exactly 85 years ago.
Not only were operations performed in this building, but babies were born there. The only source I currently have is the numerous birth announcements in the newspaper indicating the babies born in the clinic. While some give the name of the baby, many only include the name of the parents and the sex of the baby. I plan to work my way through all the announcements I can find to identify as many of those babies as I can.
In October 1940, another service was added to the clinic, dentistry. Dr. J.H. Connell graduated and began his practice at the Richardson Clinic. Sixteen years later, a new clinic was built on what is now Sheppard Street. Dr. W. Cloud Bradford, Dr. S.F. Martin, and Dr. C.M. Baker all moved their offices from the Miller building on Main Street to 120 Pearl Street. In 1969, Dr. Richard Baker had his office there.
Meanwhile, the adjacent buildings at 116 and 118 Pearl Street housed The Minden Herald and Webster Review newspaper office and Webster Printing for a number of years. In November 1955, Mrs. Lilla Spiva sold the newspaper, but continued to operate Webster Printing offering printing services and office supplies. In 1974, the printing portion of the business moved to Broadway and retained the Webster Printing name while the office supply part stayed on Pearl Street. Owned by Mr. and Mrs. Major DePingre, it was renamed Major Office Supply and 120 Pearl Street came to be part of that business.
In 2013, the building was sold to the Dorcheat Historical Association and Museum. Renovations began and were subsequently halted. This year, that project resumed and renovations to a large portion of the building have been completed. The rear part, where the operating room was once located, must wait until the necessary funding is in place. One day, that space will hopefully house a new office and research library and once again be utilized to serve the public.
(Jessica Gorman is Executive Director of the Dorcheat Historical Association Museum, Webster Parish Historian, and an avid genealogist.)