128-130 East Main Street, Madison, IN, USA

Crawdaddy Music, 128-130 E. Main St., is a two-story brick Italianate style commercial structure built around 1880. The existing storefront is a mid-twentieth century Art Moderne addition composed of blue and grey porcelainized enamel steel panels and aluminum trim. The building has a low side gable roof with decorative sheet metal window cornices and bracketed roof cornice. Inside the second story, hooks and pulleys for raising heavy objects are visible. In the Sanborn Insurance Map of 1886 and 1892, the buildings at 128 and 130 were listed as a tailor shop and a dry goods and notions store, respectively.

In the early part of the 20th Century, the dapper Robinson L. Ireland, a hatter and provider of men’s furnishings, was owner of R.L. Ireland at 130 E. Main. (Photo of R.L. Ireland courtesy of the Madison-Jefferson County Public Library.) Firemen & Mechanics Insurance was next door.

The first mention of a second floor business usage was in 1909, when the city directory records that Dr. J.J. Rapp had a medical practice upstairs at 128 ½ E. Main St.

By the 1920s and 1930s, the insurance office had been replaced by Miss Luella Ernst’s millinery shop. Miss Ernst was the eldest child of Louis Ernst, for whom Jefferson County’s Boy Scout Camp is named. In the 1920s she was frequently mentioned in the local paper as departing by train for millinery “openings” in Cincinnati or Indianapolis.

Around 1940, Katy Klothier was the retailer in 130 E. Main Street, while the sign for Ernst & Co. can still be seen at 128 E. Main. (Photo courtesy Randy Lakeman.)

Later, from the 1950s to the 1970s, Madson residents came to this location for both men’s and boys’ clothing. Jim Demaree Men’s Store was located at 128 E. Main, while Jim’s mother, Mildred Augustine Demaree, presided over Jim Andy boys’ clothing store next door at 130.

One fondly remembered employee at Demaree’s was Jim’s uncle Lou Perry, who during the 1920s and 1930s was the vocalist for a popular dance band called Lou Perry and His Footwarmers. Lou was a gregarious employee. When he wasn’t waiting on customers, he could often be found in front of the store talking to passersby, according to his granddaughter, Louane Perry Sanders. Lou was the father of Robert L. Perry who was co-owner of Perry & Dunbar pharmacy on West Main. (Photo of Lou Perry and His Footwarmers courtesy of Louane Sanders.)

Dave Carlow of Madison has a fun memory of the Demaree Men’s Store. For a time they sold bicycles, and Carlow purchased his first 10-speed there.

By the 1960s and early 1970s, several vacant stores dotted the block where Demaree’s Men’s Shop and Jim Andy Boys’ Shop were located. On the morning of Sept. 16, 1975, the Madison Courier chronicled a fire in the rear part of Demaree’s. Only one counter and a stack of boxes of shirts burned, but heavy smoke damaged all the merchandise in the store. Soon after, Jim Demaree made the decision to close his store.

During some of the history of Demaree’s and Jim Andy’s, Republican Party Headquarters was located upstairs at 128 ½. Later, Ella Ginn provided sewing and alteration services in the upstairs space.

The downstair spaces were vacant for a while after Demaree’s closed, however in 1979 there was a new clothing store in 128 E: Osborn’s Sportswear for women. It was owned by Raymond & Patricia Osborn.

In 1987, Rob and Dawn Houze purchased the buildings from the Osborns and began their 36-year occupancy that continues to this day. Crawdaddy Music started modestly, in the loft space of 128 1/2 E. Main St. At first, there was no way to go directly from the loft of 128 to the loft of 130. Rob cut an arched doorway, and in the process, uncovered some old paperwork, including a receipt or sales slip with the signature of Capt. Charles Shrewsbury. Shrewsbury, Madison’s seventh mayor, was owner of the Costigan-designed home at 301 W. First St., one of the jewels of Madison architecture. (Photo of signature courtesy of Rob and Dawn Houze.)

Approximately 1995, Crawdaddy Music expanded into the downstairs of the combined 128 and 130 E. Main St. Rob Houze has been selling instruments and offering music lessons to generations of Madisonians for 36 years. A native Madisonian, Houze has played in bands since seventh grade. Nowadays he leads his own jazz band and freelances with various bands in “Indiana’s Music City.” In 2022, his business was a recipient of Madison Main Street’s Legacy Award. The presenter that night said, “Owner Rob Houze studied at Berklee College of Music in Boston is is himself an accomplished jazz musician –though he is very modest about his accomplishments and never ‘toots his own horn.’ In fact, the only way we could get him here tonight was to ask him to play!” (Photo of Rob Houze courtesy of The Madison Courier.)