422 1/2 Main Street

422 1/2 Main Street. Nahm Building - Tailor Shop. , History , This red brick building located behind the Nahm building was constructed between 1895 and 1901 for a tailor shop. In the 1930s, records indicate that the building was used for general storage. Uses since then include restaurants and most recently, a chocolate shop. Originally a separate building, by 1951 it was connected to the Nahm building by a small breezeway and then in the 1980s, the breezeway was enclosed. In addition to the brick accessory building, a second frame structure was located along the rear property line with the address listed as 422 1/2 Main Street. Early maps show this as a one story building that functioned as a warehouse for the E. Nahm and Company business. The frame building was demolished between 1909 and 1932., Hearsay , It is believed that a previous building on or near this site included a board and batten shanty used as an office and hat shop by a man named Isaac Newton. The following story, stemming from reminiscences of Dr. John E. Younglove around 1844, was reprinted in the local newspaper almost 100 years later in 1935: “Where the Postal Telegraph office now is was the then famous hat shop of Isaac Newton. Mr. Newton bought the fur and made the hats himself. An amusing incident is told in connection with the hat business. One day a man entered the house and bought a hat agreeing to "pay for it in fur". He took the hat and left and Mr. Newton did not hear from him for a year when he got a letter from him in Missouri, which was then on the frontier. The letter said: "Dear Sir, - some time ago I bought a hat from you and agreed to pay for it in fur. If this is not fur enough, I’ll go further." The old man was hopping mad but got even afterwards by having the fellow arrested when he came back to town. Remembered as a mayor of Bowling Green, Mr. Newton served as a "trustee" for the city between the years of 1823 and 1839.