Historic District Downtown Building Inventory
The Wenning Building, Spring 2021
The Wenning Building (Site ID 35)
Constructed by Herman Wenning shortly after the 1900 fire, the building was occupied by a restaurant and bakery for many years. Wenning sold the business to S.L. Nickleson circa 1912 who continued its use as a bakery and cafe. The Villa Cafe and Sanitary Bakery were occupants of the building prior to 1945.
At that time, Al Obenland purchased the building and remodeled the front for his appliance and furniture store. Obenland installed a new storefront with glass blocks around the front entrance. The business was sold in 1968. At the time of the historic nomination, Home Mart occupied the building. Following Home Mart, the building has contained a thrift shop and cafe and a printing company. As of 2020, the eastern portion has a thrift shop and the western section is used as a meeting area for a local Christian youth group.
A parking lot associated with the U.S. Post Office is west of the building.
Description and much of the Cultural Data based on
research by Donovan & Associates
In July, 1924, the owners of The Sanitary Market were ready to move on.
April, 1954, Down Memory Lane had this about the Bakery in 1932:
Nick Keatts and Albert Pawlik, Sanitary Bakery owners, sure used a lot of ingredients.
Following the fire that wiped out the Seeley Block (Strain's Furniture, Brown's Drugs, and Richardson Funeral Home) in December, 1959, this was on the front page of the EW on December 17, 1959:
Obenland's Redecorated;
Doing Business As Usual
Both the appliance and furniture departments of Obenland's store, badly smoked in Pomeroy's $200,000 fire, Dec. 8, have been redecorated. Briggs & Son, assisted by a number of helpers, completed the job in just three days. All of the merchandise removed from the building at the time of the fire is now being offered for sale at reduced prices at the "smoke sale" which began today.
October, 1969, and you needed a heater
Christmas, 1969
From October, 1970, Everyone needed a good sleep.
As seen on page 2 of an August, 1980, issue of the EW:
Home Mart hires new serviceman
Mike Deal of Grangeville has been hired as Home Mart's serviceman, according to Loren Porter, owner of the store.
Deal replaces Jim Pierce who went to work for the Corps of Engineers this week as a utility man at Lower Granite Dam.
Deal, who is finishing up refrigeration school at Lewis-Clark State College, graduated from Grangeville High School and attended University of Idaho, before enrolling at Lewis-Clark. He is attending school in the morning and working in Pomeroy in the afternoon. He expects to get into the sales end of the business, as well as service.
He enjoys hunting and golfing and small town living. Porter said Deal is not related to Steve Deal of Pomeroy.
Pierce worked at Home Mart for two years as a service man, coming here from Lewiston. He and his family plan to continue living in Pomeroy, and Porter said he wished Jim success in his new position.
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The Pomeroy Historic Preservation Committee
66 South 7th Street
Pomeroy WA 99347
Copyright © 2002-20212John R. Gordon