PLEASANTVILLE

The Holeman Block
from The News of Pleasantville, by Kathy Coffaro, published in
The Titusville Herald, January 5, 2010

The Holeman Block
The Holeman Block rose from the ruins of the Great Pleasantville Fire of 1871 and was toppled by flames and bulldozers in 1992. The old corner building once had spaces for every retail or professional service the town needed: physicians, dentists, hardware stores, lawyers, oil well supplies, stoves, clothing, furniture, carpets, hair salons, grocers and butchers. It was the Wal-Mart of its time, a one-stop shopping experience. All sales were cash only in the early years when Ashbel Holeman was boss.
An ornate Victorian opera house occupied sections of the second and third level. Traveling troupes performed on the stage and Pleasantville High School commencement ceremonies were held there. In 1876 the Reform Democracy of America assembled at the opera house. They were locals who wanted to see a Democrat in the While House. Mr. John G. Woolly of Chicago spoke on behalf of the Pleasantville W.C.T.U. (Women�s Christian Temperance Union) about �Drink Evil� in 1900. Rainy weather brought the Memorial Day celebration inside the opera house the following year. As stores vacated, apartments were built on the second level. During the WW1, the United War Work Campaign used an office for fundraising. There was talk in the early twenties of an underwear factory that would provide jobs for up to 70 people. It never materialized.
Ashbel Holeman, who struck it rich from oil, was the original owner. The St. Nicholas Block was incinerated on Dec. 21, 1871 and the ground probably still warm when Holeman decided to rebuild a large-scale commercial building, designed by Titusville architect Enoch Curtis. The new plan used bricks locally produced from Pleasantville clay. Holeman left the block to his three daughters when he died in 1898.
The block passed through a series of owners and was purchased by Citizen�s Bank in 1923, site of the infamous arson and robbery. John Peterson and Norman Peterson became the next owners around 1960. The building eventually sold to Bruce Peterson and Rick Shrout. The Opera House was gone by the time the first two Peterson brothers purchased the building. Condemned in 1913 because it failed fire-safely standards, the stage that had known performers, politicians, community observances, graduations, and speakers of all persuasions was no more. Citizens Bank had the third floor removed in 1951 by a man and his four sons from Centerville. Water run-off onto the street had been a problem for years, so they created a new slanted roof. The old opera house had other structural problems, including bulging walls.
Ashbel Holeman likely thought his fine brick building would last forever. One of an elegant trio of large commercial structures erected after the 1871 fire, it stood the longest, but fell to flames on Christmas Eve, 1992. Passers-by reported smoke around 3 in the morning. PVFD, headed by Chief Jack Weaver, was first on the scene followed by 9 more fire departments. Co-owner Bruce Peterson arrived minutes later to find the entire building shrouded by dense smoke. Peterson said recently, �it was a terribly hot fire� that soon burned the �building beyond recognition.� Over 17 years later, he vividly recalls firefighters breaking through a wall near the meat department to expose an inferno fueled by fresh oxygen. Chief Weaver shouted for his men to stand back before volatile gases ignited, exploding windows and tossing fire upwards. The firewall barely slowed flames that leapt to the other side. Downtown Pleasantville was covered by smoke in the still of a frigid Christmas Eve morning. The fire kindled for days, forcing PVFD to return after the initial 12 hour battle.
Fire marshals from Erie and Meadville were unable to determine the precise cause when they visited after a blaze that had burned so fast and furiously. Fire inspectors are like medical examiners, checking the �unknown� box when definitive causes do not present. Bruce Peterson and others who observed the scene and knew the building developed a logical theory. The fire started in the basement under the meat department where the refrigeration compressors were located. The units generated tremendous heat that was blown upwards by box fans used to warm the area above. Some mechanical component likely froze and reached the flash-point. Like the chimney fire in the Chase Hotel in 1871, there was no stopping it, however; fire fighters controlled the devastating spread in 1992. Only the Holeman Block went down.
The businesses inside were totaled: the grocery store, a gift shop, and two offices, one used by then State Senator John Peterson. The walls that still stood were leveled by bulldozers for safety reasons. A new Holeman Block went up, but it is not the same. The grand 19th century architecture of Pleasantville�s oil boom days can not be really compared to modern time construction. The replacement structure with two buildings is lean, clean, and functional, but resembles buildings in any American town. It is home now to a restaurant and bulk food store that specializes in baking ingredients. The grocery store building, across from the post office, is vacant.

Contributed by Kathy Coffaro
kcoffaro@roadrunner.com