Kimball, Colwell & Company

About this Property

#Last Tenant

This property has been used as an auto parts warehouse since 1971. Previous to that, it was a piping supplier. For its early life, it was a pork smokehouse and sausage factory with cold storage capability. You’d never know it now.

Architecture

The historic description from the ICDB in 2002 is still applicable. While all the buildings have ben painted white, the historic buildings still shows signs of the brick corbelling along the roofline, the window openings with granite sills that have since been filled in, and the door openings as well. Beams above second and third floor doorways used to hold hoists. It is easy to imagine these buildings in their original form.

The garage to the east and the warehouse to the north are not original. They are made of cinder block and have modern commercial door openings.

#Current Events

The property seems to have been vacated and is no longer in use. We have not found a lease or sale listing of the property yet.

#History

From the “Industrial Sites and Commercial Buildings Survey (ICBS)” by PPS and the AIA, 2001-2002

Kimball & Colwell Company building is comprised of four major blocks, two of which are historic, and two of which were constructed in the late twentieth century. Beginning at the comer of Washington and Battey streets, 465 Washington Street is a three-story, flat-roof, brick building embellished with brick corbelling at the cornice line. The building’s primary entrance is offset on the façade, in line with openings on the second and third floors below a hoist; these openings feature replacement doors. Fenestration consists of regularly-spaced, rectangular openings with stone sills, the majority of which have been boarded up. Modern signage on the front of the building identifies a former occupant as the Tri-State Auto Warehouse.

To the east stands 459 Washington Street, a two-and-one-half-story, flat-roof, brick building with an offset vehicular entrance on its façade. The entrance features a metal roll top door set below a large opening on the second story with a pulley and hoist mechanism. The majority of window openings have been boarded up, including those at the basement level. The building features brick corbelling in a different pattern than the block to the west. A two-story, flat-roof, concrete block ell extends from the rear of this building. The assessor’s cards list both brick structures as auto warehouses. According to the assessor’s card, this addition was constructed ca. 1970; the ell appears on the 1983 Sanborn map. Two vehicular entrances are located on the north elevation of this ell. […]

The two brick structures of the complex (459 and 465 Washington Street) were constructed ca. 1893 for the Kimball & Colwell Company. E.S Kimball first began doing business as a grocery store owner in 1867, Between 1870 and 1875 he partnered with Joshua Colwell to form a pork packaging wholesale business. The first record of the complex was on 247 and 249 Washington Street around 1875. The company moved to 455–463 Washington Street around 1893.

The brick buildings were used for cold storage, a sausage factory, and shipping and receiving. The 1919 Sanborn map shows another building (not extant) that stood behind the street front buildings with a three-story smoke stack made of brick. A wagon shed was also associated with the property (not extant).

By 1932, the pork packing plant was being managed by Mrs. Marion Kimball Hadley Ball. Advertisements in city directories identify Kimball, Colwell & Co. as packers and wholesale dealers in pork, lard, hams, bacon, sausage, dressed hogs, etc. The company also manufactured pure kettle rendered lard. In 1939 Kimball, Colwell & Company left the building. City directories list the property as vacant in 1940 but by 1950 it was occupied by a piping supplier. The primary occupant from around 1971 to 1999 was the Tri-State Automotive Company. The complex now houses W.A.L. Automotive Supplies.

Maps

• 1899 Sanborn Insurance Map, Volume 1, Plate 48 (page 59) — The building forms as described above exist at the corner of Washington and Battey, but the shapes are colored yellow which should indicate wood framing. The group of buildings are labelled “Kimball Colwell & Co. Pork Packers” with a wagon shed, refrigeration machinery, a salt room, rendering kettle, brick smoke house, brick pickling room, and a shipping and preparing room. The building directly on the corner is labelled as 2 and a half stories, while to the east sharing a party wall is a 1 and a half story building. Again, both are yellow to indicate wood. The only pink colored areas indicating brick are the small smoke house and pickling room. House dwellings surround this area but for a coal and wood yard directly south across Washington. Postal numbers 459 and 463 are occupied.
• 1908 G.M. Hopkins Insurance Map, Plate 3 — Only an outline, but this building footprint more closely resembles the current day structures. The outline is colored pink to indicate brick construction and labelled “Kimball & Colwell Co.” with a square foot measurement of 14,192.
• 1918 G.M. Hopkins Insurance Map, Plate 3 — Same as 1908 and with no additional detail.
• 1920 Sanborn Insurance Map, Volume 1, Plate 48 (page 63) — Same basic outline as the previous map and a different interior configuration than the 1899 Sanborn. Labelled “Kimball & Colwell Co. Pork Packers”. The smokehouse and pickling rooms are in the same spots, with an additional smokehouse to the east. The corner building is now labelled as 3 stories with two 2 story buildings upon basements to the east. Postal numbers 455, 459, and 463 are occupied.
• 1920–1951 Sanborn Insurance Map, Volume 1, Plate 48 (page 65) — Same footprint as 1920 but no longer labelled with Kimball & Colwell Co. The corner building is labelled “Paints” while the building to the east is labelled “Food W.Ho.” One can more clearly see the main structures are a 3 story building on the corner and a 2 story building with raised basement to the east. The postal numbers have adjusted slightly to be only 459 and 465. The next building to the east is 453, skipping over 455.
• 1920–1956 Sanborn Insurance Map, Volume 1, Plate 48 (page 54) — No significant changes.