Holcomb & Marquis Tannery (later the Robinson / Grand / Randall Hotel building)

1828 – end date not established

Founded: Two independent News-Sentinel accounts agree: the city history ("Absalom Holcomb and Isaac Marquis opened a tannery a year later [than the 1827 gristmill] at the west end of Columbia Street") and Michael Hawfield's Cityscapes history of the Randall Hotel ("The Randall Hotel began in 1828 as a tannery. Built by Absalom Halcomb and Isaac Marquis…"). Spelling conflict flagged: the city history spells the first founder Holcomb, Cityscapes spells him Halcomb; the Wayne Lodge record (Dawson's Charcoal Sketches) independently places an Absalom Holcomb in Fort Wayne in this exact period — elected Master of Wayne Lodge No. 25 on 7 June 1830 — which supports "Holcomb" as the man's spelling but does not itself mention the tannery.

Founders: Absalom Holcomb and Isaac Marquis.

What it did: Tanning — animal hides made into leather. Hawfield's description of the works: "a simple brick building with great vats in the basement where the hides of animals were thrown to soak in a urine and oak bark solution. The smell of the place was terrible, but the process was effective."

Course / fate: Tannery operation ended by conversion — the building became a hotel; the tannery's own end date is not established, the conversion is documented. Hawfield: the tannery was "later (1856) operated by James Robinson" (whether Robinson still tanned there or held the building is not stated — 1856 is not stated as a tanning date). In 1870 James Robinson and his son James made a hotel out of the tannery and called it the Robinson Hotel; leased 1873 to J. H. Buckles for $7,000; renamed the Grand Hotel in 1876; leased 1888 to a new manager as the Brunswick (lasted a year); bought in 1889 by attorney Perry A. Randall for $45,000 and renamed the Randall Hotel, formally opened 1890. The building "stood until [Winifred Randall's] death in 1963 as the landmark building of Columbia Street"; by Hawfield's 1994 writing, two concrete pillars on the west side of Harrison Street at the end of The Landing (Columbia Street) were all that remained. The tannery firm itself — when Holcomb & Marquis ceased, and whether either man tanned elsewhere — is not established on the sources in hand; the 1858–59 Williams' directory is the route to settle it.

Sources:

1. News-Sentinel city history (tannery opened a year after 1827, west end of Columbia Street) — http://egen.fortwayne.com/ns/projects/history/rhist7.php
2. News-Sentinel Cityscapes, Michael Hawfield, "The Randall: Best $2 hotel in the state" (21 Mar 1994; tannery origin, vats, Robinson 1856, hotel chain 1870–1963) — http://egen.fortwayne.com/ns/projects/history/haw10.php
3. Wayne Lodge No. 25, Dawson's Charcoal Sketches (Absalom Holcomb, Master, 7 June 1830 — presence corroboration only) — https://www.wayne25.com/history/charcoal-sketches