Hathaway building still in use today

This is an 1871 sketch of the Hathaway Block featured in the Heritage Preservation Society's 1986 tour of historic structures. The building was renovated in the 1980s as part of a Main Street project. It looks nearly the same today as it did in 1871.

GREENCASTLE -- In 1871, a father and son legal partnership built a second renaissance revival-style building at 16 S. Jackson St. Hathaway and Hathaway Law Firm occupied the second floor and the rest of the building was leased out.

The elder Hathaway, Russell, was the second mayor of Greencastle in 1850 and at his death in 1881 was the oldest practitioner in the Putnam County Bar.

Both Russell and his son George were active in many community organizations and endeavors.

George Grubb bought the property in 1884 and sold it in 1918 to the Thomas Buggy Company. It was used to house a buggy business for a long span of time.

Public Service Indiana occupied and remodeled the building in later years and it was renovated and returned to its original use as law offices in 1985 by Larry Wilson and Robert Hutchens.

In 1986, the building was one of six featured on a tour of historic structures in Greencastle put on by the Heritage Preservation Society of Putnam County.

"The Hathaway building is rectangular with two stories. An exterior staircase to the ground floor was discovered under the sidewalk and reopened during the renovation of the building," said the "Celebrate Our Historic Places" brochure from the tour.

"There were glass beaded manhole covers in the sidewalk used as skylights to the ground floor entrance. The walls are brick covered with stucco on the north and south sides and the front is distressed limestone.

The second floor windows on the main façade are double hung with a round top sash. Each decorative limestone arch window surround has a large keystone. The cornice is pressed metal with both large and small brackets. Inside, the 13-foot-high first floor ceiling is surfaced with the original pressed metal covering," continued the description.

The basement of the building has housed several restaurants. The latest being The Cavern Club, which closed several months ago.

At one time, a restaurant called Hathaway's Cafe was open downstairs, but closed after its owner Paul Dell was indicted and convicted of the murder of Richard Hauff, owner of the Black Angus Restaurant located a few blocks from Hathaway's in 2001.

"This murder was a big deal, because no murder had been committed in Greencastle with a gun since before World War II," said history enthusiast Bob Beck, Greencastle resident and professor at Indiana University-Purdue University at Indianapolis in a published article.

Hauff was characterized in Chicago newspapers as a man with longtime ties to organized crime. When he was killed in the kitchen of the Black Angus, his background began to leak out and local authorities initially suspected a mob hit. But the owner of Hathaway's Café killed Hauff.

In fact, a Banner Graphic story by reporter David Clucas written in 2002 prior to Dell's trial deals with evidence that was suppressed by Judge LaViolette. It refers partially to an audiotape from an answering machine at Hathaway's.

It is a recording of a Feb. 24 conversation believed to have been between Dell and his wife Jean, who were owners of Hathaway's at the time, just hours before the murder of Hauff.

Dell was convicted of Hauff's murder. The building housing the Black Angus was moved to the south side of Greencastle and operated for a time as the Victorian Day Spa.

The Hathaway building is still located at 16 S. Jackson Street and currently houses the Greater Greencastle Chamber of Commerce and the GC Galleria.

Anyone interested in getting a good look at inside of the Hathaway building can visit the GC Galleria on the first Thursday of every month for an art and wine reception.