405 – Mahler’s Variety
October 2nd, 2011Peoria Landmark #405
Peoria Peepers and Steve K know where this is, “on the side of the George O. Pasquel Company on S.W. Adams”, “The sign faces the 300 block of Cedar St. on the side of one of the George O. Pasquel Co. buildings that fronts on S.W. Adams.”
William J. Mahler, Apr. 15, 1907 – Oct. 13, 1992
Born April 15, 1907, in Achim, Germany, to Hinrich and Louisa Koch Mahler, he married Lucille Newlund on Nov. 17, 1937, in Peoria. She survives.
Also surviving are one son, Roger of Oak Park; four grandchildren; and one sister, Anneliese Walther of Peoria. He was preceded in death by one daughter, one brother and one sister.
He owned and operated Mahler’s Market at the corner of Adams and MacArthur Highway from 1943 to 1957 and Mahler’s Variety at the same location from 1957 until he retired in 1970. He was a member of Grace Lutheran Church. He was a starter and golf ranger at Madison Golf Course in Peoria and several area golf courses for many years.
Lucille E. Mahler, July 14, 1910 – Jan. 1, 2003
Born July 14, 1910, in Peoria to Arthur and Hilma Erickson Newlund, she married William Mahler on Nov. 17, 1937, in Peoria. He died Oct. 13, 1992, in Peoria. She also was preceded in death by two sisters. Surviving are one son, Roger of Oak Park; and four grandchildren.
She and her husband owned and operated Mahler’s Market and Mahler’s Variety for many years before retiring. A member of Grace and Peace Lutheran Church, she was a former member of Salem Lutheran Church, where she had served as an elementary school teacher and also church organist for 35 years.
While searching through the Journal Star archives, I found this interesting article dated March 30, 2007 regarding Pete Paquel of the George Pasquel Co and the treasures he owns. I wonder what happened to all this stuff, if anything?
But it’s the Pasquel building on the corner of Adams and MacArthur that may have the most history of all. Built in 1846, the structure is the oldest commercial three-story building in Peoria, Pasquel said. And it still touts the name of the last tenant, Mahler’s Variety Store, on its bricks.
”It started as Lammers Grocery Store back in 1846,” he said.
Inside the building is a special collection of restaurant memorabilia from Peoria’s past that Pasquel has secured over the years.
Stuff is piled everywhere. You have to step over boxes and fixtures to make your way through it.
”The plan was to turn this building into a museum,” he said.
”This may be my retirement project,” said Pasquel, 62, whose son-in-law, Dan Whitson, has taken over as president of the company. Pasquel’s daughter, Maria Whitson, serves as secretary/treasurer of the firm her grandfather founded.
”I think it would take six months to fix up the building,” he said.
As Peoria debates the location and size of a history museum on the riverfront, Pasquel has all the ingredients for an area restaurant museum.
”I’ve been offered $10,000 for the soda fountain and back bar you see here,” he said, pointing to an elegant creation with marble pillars and cherry wood.
Originally built for the James Basil Ice Cream and Confectionery outlet located next door, the elaborate back bar displays the pictures of both Basil and Gust Yutakis, who Basil brought over from Greece in the 1940s, Pasquel said.
While the classic soda fountain is undoubtedly the centerpiece of Pasquel’s collection, it’s not the only item of interest. There’s a sign from Earl Boulanger’s chili parlor that hung Downtown from the 1930s to the 1950s. Pasquel recalled sitting with his father at Boulanger’s place as a small boy.
”He was stirring this great pot of chili with a paddle while smoking a cigarette. I noticed that the ash was dropping into the pot. I said, ‘Mr. Boulanger, your cigarette’s getting in the chili.’ He just said, ‘Young fellow, that’s what gives it flavor,”’ Pasquel said.
There’s also a popcorn machine from the Crest Theater, once located in Peoria Heights. Wooden booths with porcelain inlays came from the Golden Creme Dairy.
Items as diverse as Horlicks malted milk dispenser can be found along with a bench from the old Peoria County Jail and a light from the Columbia riverboat, a particularly significant artifact for Pasquel.
”My Dad was on the Columbia when it sank. He stayed on board and was picked up later on. Many of the people that panicked and jumped into the water drowned,” he said.
George Pasquel was among some 500 passengers aboard the luxury excursion boat when it sank in the Illinois River near Creve Coeur in 1918. Eighty-seven people died in what is still considered one of the country’s worst inland waterway disasters.
Tiffany lamps from Tiffany’s Bakery in Pekin hang in one part of the old room while in a corner stands a mirror from Hagar’s Stage Coach Inn, a Peoria restaurant favorite of the 1950s and ’60s.
Pasquel also has obtained the bar from Matt Ryan’s Fulton Street club that stood in the way of Ray Becker’s Twin Towers project in 1980. There’s a hutch from the downtown YWCA when the organization used to serve food and a bread box from the Glen Oak Bakery.
There are dozens of other articles, plus trunks loaded with menus and other printed materials, waiting to tell the story of another era.
Joseph Petardi, born in Rome, Italy, in 1866, came from a family of stone carvers. When he was only five years old, Joseph carved his first stone sculpture, a little stone imp. At the age of thirteen, Joseph left home for fear of retribution when he accidentally damaged a marble sculpture. He was eventually caught and returned home. Then, when Joseph was seventeen, he left home again and went to Paris, France. While in Paris, Joseph carved saint figures for various churches, according to a 1926 newspaper interview.
Joseph didn’t live in Paris long; he soon left for New York City and found a job with a bridge building company. One of his assigned jobs with this company was to cut stone for the bridge pilings of the Upper Free Bridge (just north of the present-day McCluggage Bridge) in Peoria. During the time Joseph worked on this project, he stayed at the residence of Alexander and Margaret Partridge, who had given the land for this new bridge. Alexander Partridge, the first ferry boat owner in the area, had a daughter, Hannah, who later married Joseph Petardi.
Hannah and Joseph Petarde had eight children, six of whom reached adulthood. Of all their children, only one son, Clyde, followed in his father’s footsteps. Joseph always stressed education for his children with special attention to the study of music. Joseph taught himself to play the accordion and the mandolin. During the Depression, as their main source of income, Clyde and his family performed as the “Petarde Family Orchestra” at different establishments in central Illinois.
The home mentioned earlier in this article was actually Joseph and Hannah’s second home, the first being at 637 Fairholm. It took Joseph and Clyde years to complete the carvings, which can be seen at 623 Fairholm. They completed their work in sections, culminating with the installation of three full-length figures at the corners of the porch. One depicted Atlas holding up his loincloth and the other two were semi-nude female figures. A 1922 newspaper article recounted the furor and shock this event caused in Joseph’s neighborhood. Mrs. Elsie Crandell, who lived next door to the Petardes, mentioned Mrs. Petarde refused to use the front door as a protest to the scantily clad figures.
When Hannah’s parents died, Joseph carved life-size tombstone statues for them in a cemetery south of Spring Bay. Joseph also carved two beautiful tombstones located in the Springdale cemetery. One is the elaborate LaRocca monument and the other is Eugene Crandell’s monument, which was recently vandalized and then restored by Springdale. Joseph had a workshop in his backyard and while working on his projects at home, people would stop by and watch him carve.
