Old department store in Akron Ohio

O'Neil's Department Store, Akron Ohio

Date added: May 26, 2023 Categories: Ohio Retail Department Store

The M. O'Neil Company was Akron's largest department store chain and was the first company to build a major department store in downtown Akron. O'Neil's downtown store was the company's flagship store, with 780,000 square feet of floor space. It served as an anchor for the southern end of Akron's Central Business District. Construction of this six-story building was completed in 1928, at a cost of $3.1 million. Its construction and the subsequent business success of the O'Neil's department store played a leading role in influencing the expansion and development of Akron's Central Business District.

The M. O'Neil Company dates to the last quarter of the nineteenth century when Akron's Business Center was concentrated in its Howard-Market Street area. In 1877, Michael O'Neil and Isaac J. Dyas opened a small dry goods store known as O'Neil and Dyas, on the southwest corner of Market and Main Streets. After ten years of successful operation, they had outgrown their original store, and in 1899, they moved their business south of Market to Main Street. Their dry goods business continued to prosper at its new location, helping to establish Main Street as a viable business section of downtown Akron.

In 1890, Mr. Dyas died and the name of the firm was changed to M. O'Neil & Company. The scope of the business was also rapidly expanded until O'Neil's became the largest department store in Ohio. In 1912, O'Neil's was sold to the May Department Store Company of St. Louis, Missouri. Mr. O'Neil served the store in an advisory capacity for one year, before leaving the firm. Thereafter, Mr. O'Neil remained a prominent member of the Akron community, serving as president of the General Tire and Rubber Company, and taking an active role in business, civic, religious and charitable organizations.

Fifteen years after the sale of O'Neil's to the May Company, the M. O'Neil Company was in need of a larger store. Company officials purchased property for a new building several blocks south of the established business district. Construction of the new building began in 1927, and O'Neil's six-story, $3.1 million department store was opened to the public on March 13, 1928.

The new O'Neil's store attracted other businesses to the southern end of Main Street, including Polsky's Department Store, which remained O'Neils major competition from its opening in 1930 to its closing in 1978. By the early 1930s, the new Main Street business spurred by O'Neil's had extended Akron's business district south to Exchange Street, more than one-half mile from the Market-Main Street location of O'Neil and Dyas' original dry goods store.

Significant construction that followed O'Neil's opening at its new location on South Main Street was the Akron Civic Theater in 1929. Directly across from O'Neil's on South Main Street is the former Polsky's Department Store that was built in 1930. This gray terra-cotta building, designed in the Art Deco Style, housed O'Neil's major competition for retail trade from its opening in 1930 to its closing in 1978. Polsky's Department Store is a six-story, 400,000 gross square foot building, connected to a 130,432 gross square foot parking deck and warehouse structure. The Young Men's Christian Association, at 80 W. Center Street, just to the north of O'Neil's, opened in 1931. This 16-story building opened to the public on March 10, 1931, and occupies a full city block. Designed in the Art Deco Style, with bracketed terra-cotta balconies and geometric ornament of contrasting colored glazed tile in the upper parapets, makes the Y.M.C.A. Building an impressive structure.

The Mayflower Hotel, now known as the Mayflower Manor House, was opened in 1931. From its opening in 1931 until the mid-1960s, the Mayflower was known as Akron's best hotel. As such, it hosted most of the city's important social events. As stated on its Ohio Historic Inventory Form, Its close proximity to the city's two biggest department stores puts it in the heart of the shopping district. The Mayflower was also designed by the firm of Graham, Anderson, Probst and White, the architects of the O'Neil's Department Store.

The O'Neil's building was designed in the Neo-Renaissance Revival Style by the prominent Chicago firm; Graham, Anderson, Probst and White. They are also the architects of Cleveland's Terminal Tower. The contractor for the O'Neil's store was Carmichael Construction of Akron.

The M. O'Neil Company was a full-line department store. In addition to its downtown store, O'Neil's had expanded to include three branch stores in the Akron area. The downtown O'Neil's, however, was the company's flagship store, and at the time of its closing, the only department store in downtown Akron. O'Neil's Department Store was an anchor for the southern end of Akron's Central Business District, the development of which it helped to shape.

In 1984, the May Department Stores Company, owner of the M. O'Neil Company, undertook a $9.38 million renovation of the building. Retailing activities were consolidated to the building's lower levels, and the upper three and one-half floors were converted into an office complex. The purpose of the conversion was to reduce overhead at the downtown store, which had been operating at a loss. The conversion of the portion of the facility to office space would substantially reduce overhead. As part of the renovation, the construction of a new entrance and lobby on South Main Street was completed. New elevators providing access to the upper floors were also included in the renovation.

However, the store never again achieved the success it once enjoyed. O'Neil's closed its retail operation at this store in 1989.

The 1948 annex building is built over a portion of the Ohio Canal. Plans to raze the annex and expose the canal in a park setting have been developed.

Building Description

O'Neil's Department Store, constructed in 1928 in the Renaissance Revival Style, is a six-story building that covers 2.33 acres. When constructed, the rear West elevation was three stories. Three additional floors were added to the rear (West) of the building in 1941, making the entire building six stories. O'Neil's Main Street and State Street facades are primarily treated with buff Indiana limestone. These facades are accented by classical motifs detailed in glazed terra-cotta, string and belt courses, shallow balconies and deep cornice. A parking deck was built to the rear (North elevation) in 1946, and an annex to the rear (West elevation) in 1948. The primary elevations are East and South, and are of limestone on the first and second floors, and terra-cotta on floors three through six. The North and West elevations are of brick. The foundation is of concrete, with building dimensions of 217'6" by 462'6". Floral panels and seven shallow balconies on scrolled brackets occur along the third-floor belt course, where bands of paired windows run between pillars to a string course at the fifth story. The balconies begin on the corner to the North elevation, and are featured on the East and South elevations. The top floor has relief panels and a deep cornice. The street address on S. Main Street is 226-250 South Main Street. (The corner of Main and State Streets).

A renovation project was undertaken in 1984. The construction included the conversion of the North side of the building (354,000 sq. ft.) for office use. Included in the project was a new entrance and lobby off South Main Street. The construction included new elevators which provide access to the upper floor offices, the consolidation of retail office space on the lower three floors, and conversion of the upper three floors to commercial office space. The construction did include the partition of office space. Exterior remodeling was limited to the street-level South facade. The East elevation shop windows are enclosed in cement block. The second story features cast iron framed windows which are divided into four equal spaces, each with panes four high and four wide. The remaining openings on the East elevation are single-hung windows. The two brick elevations have steel double-hung windows.

The structural system framing is cast-in-place concrete frame, with a one-way concrete joist. The roof is flat with a built-up roof membrane, surrounded by a brick and terra-cotta parapet.

The interior features high plaster ceilings in the retail areas, with ornamentation on beams and column capitals. The walls are of plaster and metal lath. The flooring on the first floor has some marble, terrazzo, and carpeting. Some terrazzo flooring can be found in the basement. The stairways are utility in nature. The major vertical transportation is by a system of elevators and escalators.

Original service elevators exist from the fifth to sixth floors. The building is heated by steam heat with air conditioning. Lighting is retrofitted fluorescent to serve the many different departments of the store.