1878 – Samuel Baker: Iowa City’s Second Ward Grocer.

Iowa City’s longest-running “Mom & Pop” grocery store – John’s Grocery – is located at 401 E. Market Street, on the southeast corner of Market and Gilbert Streets near downtown. For those unfamiliar with Iowa City history, John’s has a long and colorful heritage, and we’ve addressed some of those entertaining stories elsewhere on our website (see links below)…

Iowa City Neighborhood Grocery Stores -1933.

Revisiting 1933 Iowa City Neighborhood Grocery Stores.

What will be surprising for many readers on this page, is the unique connection between John’s Grocery and an Iowa City grocer – Samuel Baker – who ran a successful grocery store in the Second Ward of Iowa City from 1868 to 1884.

But, before we get to Samuel Baker. Let’s start here:

John’s Grocery first opened its doors – under that name – in 1948 when John and Erma Alberhasky purchased the small grocery store – called Joe’s Superette (see above left) – located at 401 E. Market Street. See ad (above right) from the August 30, 1949 edition of The Iowa City Press-Citizen.

As the story goes, Alberhasky – a fourth-generation Iowa City resident – married his wife, Erma, on Dec. 31, 1941, two weeks after the attack on Pearl Harbor. Motivated to join the Navy and help fight in World War II, John sent money back home to Erma and the family while he was stationed in Honolulu.

Returning to Iowa City after the war ended (1945), Alberhasky went to work for his brother Don at the Central Tap, located at 203 N. Linn Street (see above left). Realizing that in order to provide for his soon-to-be family of five, John decided to venture out on his own, purchasing the long-time grocery store that was located in his neighborhood (see maps above right), opening John’s Grocery at 401 E. Market Street in 1948. At that time there were at least twenty-eight “Mom & Pop” independent grocery stores across Iowa City. You can read more here.

John R. Alberhasky (1918-2010) and Erma M. Petrak Alberhasky (1922-2010)

Today, John’s Grocery holds the honorable title as Johnson County’s oldest surviving independent grocery store still operating out of its original location! You can read more here.

Iowa City historical records indicate that the little, two-story, red-brick building – located at 401 E. Market Street – has, over its existence, been a revolving door for many different businesses. From 1930 until 1948, for example, the building hosted up to six different grocery stores: Dennis Valentine Grocery (1930-32); Edward E. McGuire Grocery (1933-36); Gardner’s Food Market (1938-40); Paul Boyd’s Cash Grocery (1942-43); Bill Droll’s Grocery (1943-45), and finally, Joe Eisenhofer’s Superette (1945-48), when John and Erma Alberhasky took ownership – renaming it – John’s Grocery.

In years prior to 1930, records show that the building – which is actually made up of three sections – has also been the home to a dry goods store, a firehouse, and a saloon (pictured below – circa 1899). This Daily Iowa State Press ad for Georg Balluff & Co. – dated August 20, 1900 – invites patrons to enjoy a vast selection of beer and tonics. According to local records, Balluff also added a barber chair to his business so he could offer haircuts while folks enjoyed their favorite beverage! And, yes, city records show that the second floor of the building served, for a short time, as the home for a perfume factory and cigar-making business!

Now, we come to the interesting, and somewhat controversial, part of our John’s Grocery story. Over the years, it’s been recorded that the building that hosts John’s Grocery was built in 1848. As a matter of fact, when the building was renovated in years past, the date – 1848 – was placed prominently at the top of the building (see pics above).

But, thanks to some deep-diving into the historical records by one of my Iowa City friends, Derek (D.K.) Engelen, we’ve been able to find more details about the who, why and when the building was actually constructed. So, to set the record straight, while the first facility constructed on Lot 4 of Block 46 (see map below left) could very well been built around 1848, the two-story, red-brick building that, today, hosts John’s Grocery (see below right) was not built until thirty years later – in 1878, with two different additions added (1893 and the early 1900’s).

Now, in order to substantiate our 1878 claim, we must first go back into city records to find the history of Lot 4 of Block 46 (see above left). Fortunately, we have been able to confirm that there were only two owners of this property from the time it was first offered to early Iowa City settlers (1839-1841) and 1878, when we believe John’s Grocery building was built. The first was John (Johnann) Conrad Hormel, who owned the property from 1840 to 1878, and the second being Samuel Baker, who owned it from 1878 to 1884. So, let us start with Hormel…

There are two biographical obituaries on the life of the early Iowa City settler: John (Johnann) Conrad Hormel. Both confirm that Hormel was born on April 19, 1811 in Germany, with one bio mentioning the city of Marburg in the German state of Hesse (see map below).

A blacksmith by trade, Hormel came to America in 1838, settling for a short time in Dayton, Ohio. In 1840, Hormel, along with his good friend, Frank P. Brossart, headed west, and like many of Johnson County’s earliest settlers, traveled up the Iowa River, arriving in Iowa City just as the city was first being established.

Family records (above) indicate that Hormel did ironwork on the Capitol building that was under construction at the time. And it’s believed that it was in 1840 when John Conrad Hormel purchased Lot 4 of Block 46 in one of the early land purchases in Iowa City. Over the next few years, Hormel apparently took a variety of jobs in both St. Louis and Iowa City, but if we look at the projected dates indicated by a second obituary (below), it appears that by 1847, he had settled permanently here, opening a blacksmith shop, most likely on his land located on Market Street.

Interestingly, in the 1860 U.S. Census (below), it indicates that Hormel and his 25-year-old son were both blacksmiths here in Iowa City, making it very feasible that the first building constructed at 401 E. Market was a small blacksmith shop.

Now, while we’ve never been able to hunt down the reasons why that 1848 date was first used for dating the John’s Grocery building, it’s very possible, based on the information we’ve now uncovered, that early historians were actually referring to Hormel’s blacksmith shop when attempting to date the grocery building. Which brings us, now, to the story of the second owner of Lot 4 of Block 46 – Samuel Baker, and the details that best supports the 1878 date of construction at 401 E. Market Street…

Samuel Baker was born to George & Barbara Baker on August 21, 1821 in New Oxford (Adams County), Pennsylvania. After the sudden death of his wife – Maria A. Marshall (1856), Baker relocated to Iowa City in 1857, marrying, on October 22, 1857, Maria E. Langenberg. Over the next fourteen years, the couple had eight children – four of which survived into adulthood. Here in Iowa City, Baker’s first occupation was as a potter, partnering with Adam Onnhaus. When that trade began to wane (1868), he opened a dry goods (grocery) store near his home in the Second Ward of Iowa City. Located on the corner of Market and Linn Streets, Samuel Baker’s Second Ward Grocery Store (see below) became a popular stop for those living in the neighborhood.

Sadly, on March 9, 1871, Baker’s second wife died, and according to family records, he re-married later that same year to the widow Mrs. Agnes Hotz. Seven years later, in 1878 – ten years after he first opened his successful grocery store at Market and Linn Streets – Samuel Baker purchased Lot 4 on Block 46 from its original owner – John Conrad Hormel. And as the article from the August 19, 1878 Daily Press states (below), this purchase was a very rare one, where Baker, the buyer, was the first “re-sale” purchaser of this lot, buying it from the man who first purchased it from the Government thirty-eight years earlier (1840) just as Iowa City was first being established!

These two Daily Press articles (below) from May 7, 1878 and August 19, 1878 offer us the greatest details on the planning, construction, and occupation of today’s John’s Grocery building. As you can see, excavating began in May, and by today’s standards, it’s amazing that Baker was able to move his entire grocery store into the new facility by August 19, 1878. The two-story beauty included a state-of-the-art cold arched vault in the cellar – apparently a feature not found in any other grocery store in town.

Sadly, Samuel Baker passed away on December 31, 1884 at the age of 63. We assume that it was soon after his death that his grocery store was sold to others, which began the long string of businesses that occupied the building until it finally returned to being a grocery store in 1930. Baker is buried, along with his second wife, Maria E. Langenberg (1833-1871), and his third wife, Agnes R. Hotz (1825-1908), at Old Saint Joseph Cemetery in Iowa City. Godspeed!

So, there you have it, my friends. The stories of John Conrad Hormel, Samuel Baker, 401 E. Market Street, and of course, the Alberhasky Family of John’s Grocery. From 1848 to today, from a blacksmith shop to a grocery store, 401 E. Market has just about seen it all. Not to mention being right in the middle of the famous Iowa City beer wars of the 1880’s!

As we mentioned earlier, we are not certain how some of the facts about the 1848 origins of the building were first established. We do know that in the February 12, 1981 edition of The Iowa City Press-Citizen, a special section on Iowa City’s oldest businesses offered an extensive article on John’s Grocery, where Samuel Baker was (incorrectly) credited with opening his dry goods store in 1848.

But, regardless of those dating errors, kudos to Doug Alberhasky – pictured above with J.D. Alberhasky. Doug is a seventh-generation Iowa City resident, and the third-generation owner of John’s Grocery and without the Alberhasky family, who knows what high-rise might have overtaken this historic property. Actually, from all we’ve uncovered, we wonder if 401 E. Market Street just might be a great candidate for the National Register of Historic Places or on the exclusive list of Iowa City Historic Landmarks.

Interestingly, in 2020, author S.C. Sherman published his novel Beer Money – based on the 1884 Iowa City Beer Wars. Samuel Baker & The Baker House are included in Sherman’s novel, and in 2025-26, the book is being produced into a full-length movie – Death of A Brewer. Read more details here…