Recently demolished Main Street building mostly operated as jewelry store, optometrist over 150 years
While many only remember 123 S. Main St. in Butler as a fenced-off building with no business operating out of it, local historian Bill May said the site has over 150 years of rich history behind it.
The building formerly located at the property was demolished Sept. 10 and 11 and cleanup of the lot began Sept. 14. The property came into the city’s possession after its former owner, Chris Gatto, was issued a court order.
Butler Mayor Bob Dandoy previously said the demolition was “a long time coming” because of atmospheric and safety concerns.
He said the now-vacant lot will be transferred into the hands of the city’s fledgling land bank “in time.” From there, it will be the land bank board’s responsibility to determine what’s next for the property.
But May was not willing to let a historic building be torn down without at least memorializing its history. He made a Facebook post on Sept. 11 sharing its 153-year history.
“If buildings had emotions, then this once pretty, red brick building ... with the impressive French Empire-style mansard roof would have tears of sadness streaming down from its upper floor window panes,” he wrote in the post.
On Friday, Sept. 18, May said the building was constructed in 1873 by a German immigrant named George Vogeley Jr. Vogeley and his father were entrepreneurs. George Vogeley Sr. opened the Saxonburg Hotel.
“George (Jr.) had learned the tobacco trade in Pittsburgh and so he came to Butler to continue that business and then build his own establishment in 1873. He had his tobacco and ‘segar’ business — he spelled his business (that way),” he said.
While the ground floor sold “segars,” the upper floors were presumably used as living quarters for Vogeley and his family.
In 1890, Vogeley sold the building to a jeweler and optician named David Cleeland, whose family would end up owning the building for roughly a century.
“It changed businesses, but it was a jewelry business for most of its history,” May said.
However, in 1913, Cleeland died by suicide after suffering from recurring, untreatable headaches.
“His wife told him to go upstairs and lay down. Just a few minutes later, they heard a gunshot. David Cleeland’s daughter-in-law rushed upstairs and in the little workshop building off their bedroom, she found a pistol laying on the floor and (Cleeland),” May said.
Cleeland left behind five sons, including David Cleeland Jr., who became a nationally recognized portrait artist for Time magazine. He painted first lady Lou Henry Hoover, aviator Charles Lindbergh and others.
He is also responsible for the portraits of all of Butler County’s judges through the 1940s, which hang today in the Butler County courthouse.
Another son of David Cleeland, Carl Cleeland, took over the building. He closed the jeweler side, working as an optometrist out of the smaller storefront while leasing out the larger storefront on the right.
“They quit being in the jewelry business and it then becomes Ralston and Smith jewelers. They don’t last real long in there. It then had various businesses: a fruit store, it was Herold’s Dairy,” May said.
In 1935, the building once again became a jewelry store after Kirkpatrick jewelers rented the storefront. It remained so until 1952.
The building changed tenants a few more times, housing businesses including a Famous Fried Chicken restaurant in the 1980s and Le Petit Fleur flower shop in the 1990s. The entire time, the Cleeland family continued operating out of the left side as an optometry business.
“It carried on to the third generation, David Cleeland’s grandson, Robert Cleeland. Then, upon his retirement, he sold it to Dr. Wayne Link who moved his business out of there, I think, shortly thereafter,” May said.
The building then hosted Bill Smith’s antiques and served as a warehouse for Gatto’s Cycle Warehouse up until the city’s demolition.
While what’s next for the property is yet to be written, May said he wanted to tell the building’s story.
“I come from an old Butler family and I’m just a curious person. I always wonder what’s around the next bend,” he said.
