Blessing/Deprez Building

Blessing Opera Hall/ DePrez Hardware Store

Erected by John Blessing in 1869, the building housed his hardware store on the first floor and an opera hall on the second floor. In April 1870, black citizens celebrated the adoption of the 15th Amendment to the United States Constitution at the opera hall with a program and a lecture that night, following a parade earlier in the day. In 1880, Blessing’s Hardware became the Doble and DePrez Hardware Company, and in 1885, the building became the location for J.G. DePrez Company Hardware. The company continued operating there for the next hundred years, closing in 1986.