Wasson, H.P. & Company Building
About this property
H. P. Wasson and Company, aka Wasson's, was an Indianapolis, Indiana, based department store chain founded by Hiram P. Wasson. Its flagship store, the H. P. Wasson & Company Building, was built in 1937 and is listed on the U.S. National Register of Historic Places. H. P. Wasson bought the Bee Hive Drygoods Store in 1874, renaming it nine years later as H. P. Wasson and Company. With the death of H. P. Wasson in 1910, and his son Kenard Wasson in 1912, the store was sold to Gustave A. Efroymson and his brother-in-law Louis P. Wolf. The chain would eventually consist of seven stores with the flagship store located at 2 West Washington Street in downtown Indianapolis. Efroymson was president of the company from 1912 to 1930. In 1930, a second store was built on Monument Circle on the site of the former Morton Hotel. The entire second and parts of the third floors of the Monument Circle Annex store were destroyed in a fire on the evening of June 1, 1969. After the Korean War, Wasson's began to build new stores in the outdoor shopping centers that were being developed in new housing developments on the outskirts of suburban Marion County during the late 1950s and early 1960s. By the early 1960s, first shopping centers and then enclosed malls were being built inside and also in nearby communities outside of Marion County. Branch stores were built in a shopping center in Kokomo and enclosed malls in Anderson and Bloomington. The open air shopping center locations at Eastgate and Kokomo were later converted into enclosed malls. Louis C. Wolf became president in 1963 upon the retirement of his father Walter E. Wolf, who remained CEO. He was killed in a plane crash in Alaska during a hunting trip while piloting a new single-engine Cessna in August 1967 at the age of 40. Members of his family sold the company in October of the same year to Goldblatt's of Chicago. Expansion and new development of the firm died upon Louis C.'s death. In September 1967, Richard L. Glasser was appointed president and CEO while Walter E. Wolf Sr. remained chairman of the board of directors. There were a total of seven stores by the time Wasson's was acquired by Goldblatt's in 1967, which included three stores in Indianapolis-area shopping centers and in malls located in the cities of Kokomo, Anderson, and Bloomington. The Goldblatt's acquisition of Wasson's was not successful as the two chains did not cater to the same market segments. Wasson's catered to the middle class, while Goldblatt's was a discount department store. During Goldblatt's ownership a distinct decline in merchandise quality occurred. Moreover, Goldblatt's did not open any new outlets after the acquisition, or relocate any stores into the new regional malls that ringed the city.
Location
Categories
Property data from the National Register of Historic Places, National Park Service (public domain).
Description adapted from Wikipedia under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
Everything a full report reveals about Wasson, H.P. & Company Building
This page lists Wasson, H.P. & Company Building. A full Aubrey report for an address near it pulls together this listing alongside battlefield records, land patents, and every other historical record within a chosen radius:
Every location is different. Not every section appears for every place, only what the historical record actually holds turns up in a report.
Questions about this property
When was Wasson, H.P. & Company Building listed on the National Register?
Wasson, H.P. & Company Building was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on December 24, 1997.
What type of historic resource is Wasson, H.P. & Company Building?
Wasson, H.P. & Company Building is classified as a building in the National Register of Historic Places.
What is the period of significance for Wasson, H.P. & Company Building?
The period of significance for Wasson, H.P. & Company Building is recorded as the industrial era.
Can I research the history near Wasson, H.P. & Company Building?
Yes. Aubrey Research reports search National Register listings, battlefield records, land patents, and other primary historical sources within any radius of a US address. A report for an address near Wasson, H.P. & Company Building will include this listing and all other historical records in the area.
More in Marion County
Historic places, battles, and census history across Marion County.
Explore MarionCounty ›Research the history near this site
An Aubrey US report for an address near Wasson, H.P. & Company Building will include this listing alongside battlefield records and other historical sources within your chosen radius.