145. Joyner’s West End Grocery (FY 1008)

858 W. Fourth Street
Contributing, 1892


The well-preserved Joyner’s Grocery is one of the oldest buildings in the West End and is the most significant of the commercial buildings. It is a flat-iron shaped building, constructed to fill its odd-shaped lot at the corner of Fourth and Burke Streets.

The two-story brick structure has a plain, parapeted roofline, a heavy bracketed cornice along the Fourth Street side, four-over-four sash windows with segmental-arched heads, and a shop front with a recessed entrance and a gridwork glass transom. At the west end of the building is the entrance to the second floor stair.The building was probably erected by Frank Miller, a prominent real estate developer, who listed the property for taxes in 1892. It remained in his family ownership until 1971.

City directories list JT Joyner as a grocer in 1894/95 at 854 W. Fourth Street (the numbers may have changed) and at 858 H. Fourth in the next directory (1902/03). He and his wife, Phoebe, lived in the building as well. In 1916 the building became RB Crawford and Company, grocers, and it remained such until the early 1940’s. (D, TR, ER, CD, SH)


1912 Sanborn Map, p 21 at 858 W Fourth