The McCormick Building The building on the northeast corner of the intersection was contracted in 1889, we think. The records are not clear. It is called the McCormick Building, but seems to have been built by John Packer who built several other major buildings in the downtown area. David McCormick acquired it in 1901 and it was after that the building took on its present character with the addition of what architects call oriels, but the rest of us know as bay windows. The handsome cornices and decorative moldings were probably added at the same time. New owners more recently extensively remodeled the office spaces on the second floor to create their home. They refurbished the store fronts, adding the new awnings and a new dark green and gold paint job with gilt emblazoning the medallions.
The corner store seems to have been a cigar store for most of the building’s life and it was from there that sports fans, drinking beer from next door and blocking traffic in the intersection, heard a play-by-play account of the 1920 World Series baseball game. By arrangement with the local newspaper, the Associated Press line was connected to the Trinidad Cigar Store and a fast-working operator decoded the dots and dashes before handing the game-play to a man with a megaphone. The Cleveland Indians beat the Brooklyn Dodgers 3-1 in 1920 and Trinidad heard it with just a few seconds delay.
Sign of the times: With no men seeking a fine cigar or aromatic pipe tobacco, the cigar store finally succumbed to other retail shops, presently an antique store.
