I recently stumbled upon a real estate listing for the building on the southwest corner of Main and Seeger streets, one many readers will remember as Old Wood Drugs. Seeing it listed brought to mind the building's long history, which I thought I would share here. Mike Sheridan was an Irishman, who operated the Sheridan House, a small rooming house on the north side of West Main Street. Constructed in the early 1880s, the little hotel, which occupied the building that now houses Howard’s Heating & Cooling, was little more than a cramped place to lay one’s head (guests could not even stand up fully in the shared rooms). It housed the building supervisors for the new railroad from 1881to 1882. In 1899, Sheridan began construction of a new two-story hotel (a third floor was added last minute) on the southwest corner of Main and Seeger. It’s name—the New Sheridan Hotel. A respite for traveling businessmen and out-of-town visitors, the hotel opened for business on September 5, 1900 and boasted steam heat, electric lighting, ornate woodwork, and billiard tables. It also served alcohol. The story goes that Dr. Deming, a Civil War veteran and ardent teetotaler, once walked past the hotel and, within earshot of Sheridan, began singing, “This is the house that liquor built, liquor built, liquor built…” One day, Sheridan, upon seeing the doctor at rest on the porch of his large home on South Seeger Street—a house paid for, at least partially, out of the estate of Hattie Deming, the physician’s late aunt—began singing, “This is the house Aunt Hattie built, Aunt Hattie built, Aunt Hattie built…” The doctor and the Irishman never spoke again. Sheridan suffered a stroke in 1913 and sold the hotel to another proprietor soon after. But the hotel would not last much longer. With the advent of the automobile, businessmen and other travelers were able to cover more ground without needing way stations, like the New Sheridan, along the way. It is believed that the hotel closed for good in 1916. Enter the Wood family. Pharmacist Louis Wood had operated a drug store in town since 1891. With the closure of the hotel, Wood and his brother-in-law Dr. P. A. Schenck purchased the building, moving Wood’s Drug Store from the building that was most recently Dan’s Power & Stove into the New Sheridan. Wood operated the drug store on the first floor, along with Bailey & Graham’s Barber Shop in the front and the village fire department in the rear. Dr. Schenck’s dentist practice occupied the corner rooms on the second floor. Patients enjoyed a view of the main corner from the dentist’s chair—although I’m told the view did not help at all the pain of having a tooth pulled. Various businesses also set up shop on the second floor. A law office, beauty shop, photo studio, and the town’s library were there. It also housed the meeting rooms of the Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts.
The third floor was the domain of the Odd Fellows, a fraternal organization once popular in the United States. Their hall played host to many banquets, meetings, and other community events throughout the years. In the basement, the school basketball team showered after games. Prior to the old three-story high school building, there was no school gym—games were played in the town hall. The drug store’s basement cistern served as the team’s locker room and shower. Years ago, Tom Proctor told me that he found a bar of Lifebuoy soap above the cistern when he took ownership of the building in the mid-60s. During the Second World War, volunteers from the village took 3-hour shifts serving as plane-spotters from within the building’s tower. Apparently, the threat of enemy planes attacking Willow Run Airport, a key component of wartime production, was a serious one. The tower was removed in 1961. Warren Wood took over the business upon his father’s death in 1948, and operated it until he sold it to Tom Proctor in 1962. Proctor changed the name to Old Wood Drugs, the name it held until he sold it to Book Mart, Inc., operated by Jon and Cheryl Shores, in 1995. The Shores operated the New Sheridan Health Mart/Book Mart in the building until 2006. Coach Light Pharmacy, which occupied the building next door since 1968, later expanded into the New Sheridan and operated there until it’s closure in 2021. Over the years, the building’s various owners have graciously allowed me to snoop around upstairs, taking pictures to document the building’s past. Although it needs some TLC, the old building pulses with stories of the past. Here’s to hoping the new year brings a new beginning to a building that has been standing guard on the main corner for the past 122 years.
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AuthorTy Perry is a writer based in metro-Detroit. Archives
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