Kirk's Grocery was a long-standing South side business since the late 19th century. Around 1900 the business operated out of wood frame building down the block at 2910 Minnesota and around 1910 moved to this building. Note the painted sign panel on the building's east side advertising Kirk's Grocery in white on black. Kirk's Grocery was deemed eligible for the National Register of Historic Places in 1982.

Historic Name: Kirk's Grocery
Current Name:
Vacant

Builder:
Unknown

Original Use:
Store
Current Use:
Vacant

Physical Description:

Kirk's Grocery Store is a single story, red brick building. The massing is rectangular, and fronts onto Minnesota Avenue to the north. It is a single bay store, with a central recessed entrance on the primary (north) façade. The storefront has large glass panels framed with wood, and is capped by a wide, banded transom at the top.

The east side, there are no openings. A painted sign panel advertising Kirk's Grocery in white on black is located in the upper north corner. The west side abuts the adjacent building. On the south, the rear of the building opens onto an alley. A new garage has been added in recent years behind the original brick rear wall.

Historical Associations:
This property was initally sold by M&MLI to J.M. Bell in December 1883. He in turn sold the property to Charles Burton in 1890. A residence was constructed by 1893; and in 1903, a stone building housing a Chinese laundry was depicted on this site by the Sanborn maps.

Richard Kirk was the subsequent owner and proprietor of Kirk's Grocery, a long-standing South side business since the late 19th century. By 1900, Hogue & Kirk first operated in a wood frame building down the block at 2910 Minnesota. 1903 city directories listed Kirk in partnership with William A Robinson,; by 1907, Kirk sole proprietor. He built and moved into this store ca. 1910, and shortly thereafter took on Thomas Kirk as partner. Kirk Brothers, and from the mid-1920s simply Kirk's Grocery, remained in this building through the 1930s. In the 1940s through mid-50s, Thomas Kirk reformed the business as Independent Wholesale Grocers, and moved into the space in the adjacent buildings 2922-2924 Minnesota.

Historical and Architectural Significance: