Behind Leibrock’s to the west—There was a hotel behind the Leibrock Building for many years. By 1913, it was the Arlington Hotel, and then in 1919, it was the Parks (or Sparks) Hotel (post- card below), followed by the Hampton, and it finally burned when it was called the Rice Hotel. It had a large dining room and many people remember the building’s mismatched additions.
140-142 Court Square—The Leibrock Building (below) is the oldest building in the district with a construction date of about 1904. Although the original brick façade is obscured by blue metal siding, the building originally had second story windows with decorative hood molding, brick corbelling at the cornice, and three symmetrically-placed roofline projections. In 1913, the build- ing housed a general store with a telephone office on the second floor. By 1919, it was a barber and grocery. Doctor’s offices have historically been located upstairs, beginning with Dr. Charles William “Will” Rasco, whose family moved to DeWitt in 1896. Dr. Rasco went to medical school in Memphis and returned in 1906 to practice in DeWitt. His brother, Senator Roy Daniel Rasco, who was a lawyer by profession, also had an office upstairs for a time. Will Rasco’s son, C. W., Jr., also had an office here. Leibrock’s was a sporting goods store.
Behind Leibrock’s to the west—There was a hotel behind the Leibrock Building for many years. By 1913, it was the Arlington Hotel, and then in 1919, it was the Parks (or Sparks) Hotel (post- card below), followed by the Hampton, and it finally burned when it was called the Rice Hotel. It had a large dining room and many people remember the building’s mismatched additions.
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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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