136 Court Square—This is a new building (or at least a new front façade), however this location had some important occupants. There were two building storefronts here before Berry Law Firm & Title Co. constructed the current building. About 1915 a two-story building was constructed on the south side of this space to house Burnett Drug Store. It was operated by Gordon Burnett’s father, Shelby G. Burnett. Shelby Burnett’s aunt lived upstairs. When Burnett Drug closed in 1932, Merle Hornbeck moved the DeWitt Domino Parlor into the left side of the current building. As I said earlier, the Domino Parlor switched places and eventually ended up at 138 Court Square (where Mojo’s is now). About 1925, another two-story building was constructed on the north side of this lot. Gordon Burnett’s uncle, B. Hudson, had a barber shop here in the 1930s and 1940s, and then Red Adams had a barber shop here. Will Rasco’s other son, Dr. James Burnett Rasco, Sr., was a dentist and moved into the space above B. Hudson’s Barber Shop in 1938. The Berry family purchased it to become part of the law office, and created the current façade across both buildings.
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Court SquareRather than being formed by intersecting streets, DeWitt’s court square was designed as a continuous street around a public square with one access street in the middle of each block. The northwest, northeast, and southwest corners have unique lots containing buildings with chamfered corner entrances. The town was platted in such a way that people wouldn’t just pass through the downtown and keep going—the courthouse and square would be your final des- tination. This is an extremely rare layout for a court square—I’ve never seen another town like it.
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