Turn of the Century

</element><element id="paragraph-1" type="body"><![CDATA[ Every now and then when one of Du Quoin's historic homes goes on the market, you can take a peek at a grander time in Du Quoin's neighborhoods. That is happening this summer as the Bob and Joan Craig home at 405 East Main Street and its sister home, the Paul Schirmer home at 415 East Main Street, are both placed on the market.

The two homes are direct descendants of the great Pope family history in Du Quoin.

The Craig home was built and owned by P.V. Pope (1851-1936), the son of one of Du Quoin's founding fathers, Dr. Benjamin Franklin Pope. The Paul Schirmer home to the east was built by Jacob Cole, who gave P.V. Pope one of several building lots along East Main owned by the Pope family.

Many of the town's founding fathers--merchants, doctors, attorneys, etc.--built and owned homes along East Main Street.

But, the Pope family enjoys one of the most storied histories in Du Quoin, which adds a great deal of historic value to these homes.

Let's take the Craig home (P.V. Pope) home as an example.

According to family history compiled by Kathryn Pope Olsen, Pleasant Van Sweeten Pope was born to Dr. Benjamin Franklin Pope and Emeline Pope Harrison Pope in 1851 on a farm near Valier. He moved with his parents to Du Quoin in 1865, 12 years after the town's founding. In 1867, Pope and Company, a dry goods store, was begun with three partners: Pleasant Newton Pope, Dr. Benjamin Franklin Pope and Benjamin Franklin Pope, Jr. (a nephew). In about 1875 Pleasant Van Sweeten Pope (known as P.V., he kept his real name a family secret during his lifetime) purchased the interest held by his father, Dr. Pope, and continued to operate the stores. The firm owned and occupied the entire block in which it was located at Main and Division Streets.

There were seven different departments: dry goods, ladies' ready-to-wear, furniture, carpets, men's clothing, groceries and shoes. About 1900, the store was divided between the co-owners. B.F. Pope, Jr., and songs Karl, Hal and "Doide" took over the shoe, clothing, grocery and furniture departments. P.V. and his son, Howard Blake Pope, took over the dry goods, ladies' ready-to-wear and carpet departments. P.V. and Howard moved their new company, Pope's Dry Goods, to the Yehling-Zoekler building on East Main. On October 6, 1874, P.V. married Amanda Laura Cole, the daughter of Rev. Jacob and Margaret Cole.

P.V. and Amanda were very active in the First Christian Church in Du Quoin. When the new church was built on Main Street in the 1920's, P.V. pledged that he would match any donation given to the building fund.

P.V. was a man of predictable habits, one of which was an afternoon nap and the home certainly loaned itself to a life of leisure. He was also one of the first people in Du Quoin to own an automobile. He never learned how to put his car in reverse, so he had the family stable remodeled into a garage with doors at both ends so he never had to back out. The combination of an available car with a napping owner was irresistible to his teenage grandson, Lue Pope. Lue would wait until P.V. was asleep, roll the car out of garage, then take the car out for rides. P.V. was one of the main shareholders of the Du Quoin National Bank and suffered great losses during the stock market crash of 1929. P.V. maintained that honor was more important than fortune and paid off his debts to the bank and held on to its properties.