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Commercial Buildings · Built by 1885

The Ulmer Building

The Ulmer Building at 207 North Centre Street, Pottsville — the three-story brick home of the Jacob Ulmer meat market for roughly a century, later an office block for state bureaus, now vacant and offered for sale.

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The Ulmer Building at 207 North Centre Street, Pottsville — a three-story buff-brick commercial building with segmental-arched windows and a low attic story under a bracketed cornice; a peach awning shades the vacant storefront, where Century 21 for-sale signs stand in the windows beside the Majestic Theatre.
The Ulmer Building at 207 North Centre Street, Pottsville — a three-story buff-brick commercial building with segmental-arched windows and a low attic story under a bracketed cornice; a peach awning shades the vacant storefront, where Century 21 for-sale signs stand in the windows beside the Majestic Theatre. Schuylkill Hub

The buff-brick building at 207 North Centre Street stands mid-block on the west side of Pottsville’s main commercial street, two doors north of Arch Street and immediately south of the Majestic Theatre. The county’s own published history calls it simply the Ulmer building — and no building in downtown Pottsville wears one family’s name more honestly. From 1858, when the Württemberg-born butcher Jacob Ulmer bought the ground, until the early 1960s, when “Ulmer’s Meat Market” last appears among the city’s named businesses, this address meant one thing: the Ulmer family’s meat trade.

The lot before the Ulmers

Pottsville was laid out in 1816 on the coal land of John Pott, and this parcel — the southern half of Lot No. 22 in the borough’s General Plan, twenty-eight feet on Centre Street running 142 feet back to Downing Street — was built upon, owned, and mortgaged within the town’s first generation. A remarkable legal notice published a century later preserves the earliest recorded encumbrance: in 1845 Charles Storer mortgaged the property to Ann Downing for $600, and the little street behind the lot still carries the Downing family’s name. The adjoining owners named in that old description correspond to documented Pottsville families: John Reiger, who held the other half of Lot 22, shares his name with the butcher in whose shop Jacob Ulmer briefly worked on arriving in town, and Henry Boehmer, a former owner of Lot 21 to the south, was the founder of the cracker-baking family whose store later stood at the Majestic Theatre site.

Jacob Ulmer’s market (1855–1890)

Jacob Ulmer’s story is the classic Pottsville immigrant arc, and the county’s biographers told it three times over. Born near Stuttgart on November 24, 1826, he came to the United States around 1850, worked as a butcher in Bridgeport, Connecticut, then in Philadelphia, and helped build the first railroad to Atlantic City before settling in Pottsville on July 2, 1854. In March 1855 he opened a market of his own on North Centre Street; in April 1857 he moved “two doors from his present market,” and a year later he bought the property where his market stood ever after — the future 207 North Centre. The Boyd’s directories of 1867–1873 list him at “301 Centre” under the street numbering of the day; when the numbers changed in the mid-1870s, the listing became the one the city knew for the next ninety years: 207 N. Centre.

The shop was the seed of something much larger. In 1873 Ulmer began a packing house at Front and Railroad streets in the Jalappa section, buying out his partner David Neuser in 1874, and from 1875 running it alone. The first Sanborn fire-insurance survey of the block, in June 1885, draws 207 North Centre as a three-story brick building marked “Meat.” — the same height and material every later edition records — and that December the firm advertised the address as its “BRANCH OFFICE AND RETAIL STORE … Hams, Shoulders, Sides, Bacon, Dried Beef, Kettle Rendered Lard.” The store was also the family home: sons clerked, kept books, and boarded at 207 through the 1870s and 1880s.

The company era (1890–1945)

The business incorporated as the Jacob Ulmer Packing Company on December 1, 1890, and the founder retired to Philadelphia in 1892 — his son Jacob S. Ulmer, later president of the Miners’ National Bank, took over the company, while John G. Ulmer kept “special charge of the retail department,” the Centre Street market. By 1899 grocers across the county advertised “Ulmer’s Fresh Sausage … received daily … fresh from the manufacturer.” When the founder died in Philadelphia on November 7, 1904, his funeral was held where his American life had been built: “at the residence of his son, John G. Ulmer, 207 North Centre St.,” with private interment in the Odd Fellows cemetery. John G. Ulmer himself died at the store’s residence in February 1914.

The building’s upper floors, meanwhile, took on a second life as one of downtown’s small office blocks. The state Workmen’s Compensation Bureau opened its Pottsville office “in the Ulmer building at 207 N. Centre St.” in December 1915; the district forester’s office followed in 1920, and a state rehabilitation office after it. The Schuylkill County Anti-Tuberculosis Society gave the address through the late 1910s and 1920s, alongside the architect William D. Hill and the R. W. Knowles insurance agency. The 1928 directory catches the firm at its height — pork and beef packers at East Railroad and Walnut, “also Meat Market 207 N Centre,” Louis F. Ulmer president — and the mid-1930s county history found “even to this day the Ulmer name hangs over the door of a thriving market place.” In November 1945, “Julian F. Ulmer, et al., Heirs of Jacob Ulmer, deceased,” went to court to clear the ancient Downing mortgage from the title — the ground still in the family after ninety years.

The market’s last decades

The record of the market’s end is quieter than its beginning. It was open and operating in March 1959, when an accident item named its manager, Stanley Margle, and it still appears among Pottsville’s named businesses in May 1961; by the early 1980s obituaries speak only of the “former Ulmer’s Meat Market.” Somewhere in the 1960s or 1970s, a food business that had traded on this block since the presidency of Franklin Pierce served its last customer. The storefront flickered back to life at the century’s turn — a delicatessen in 1997, a pizza and Italian restaurant in 2002 — and then went dark again.

The building today

What stands today is the building the Sanborn surveyors drew in 1885: three stories of brick with a low attic story tucked under a broad bracketed cornice, four bays wide, with segmental-arched windows and dressed stone sills — the front of pressed buff brick a later, late-nineteenth-century refacing of the market block. The 1982 National Register inventory of the Pottsville Downtown Historic District describes it as a “three and half story late 19th century commercial building of Victorian inspiration” whose first floor “retains an unaltered 1910-20 store front” — the leaded transom lights still visible above the display windows. In June 2026 the windows carried a brokerage’s for-sale signs, and the Ulmer Building — vacant, its name outliving its market — waited for its next tenant, alongside its similarly offered neighbor at 203 North Centre Street.

Timeline

Each entry is graded by how firmly it is sourced — confirmed against a primary page image or an official record, corroborated by an authoritative secondary source, or probable. Weaker leads are left off.

The lot before the Ulmers

  1. 1845

    An antebellum mortgage on the lot

    Charles Storer mortgages the lot — the southern half of Lot No. 22 in the borough's General Plan, 28 feet on Centre Street running 142 feet back to Downing Street — to Ann Downing for $600 (Mortgage Book F, page 473). The rear street still carries the Downing name.

    Petition to satisfy the 1845 mortgage (legal notice), Pottsville Republican, Dec. 3, 1945, p. 11 (Newspapers.com image 449768270)

Jacob Ulmer's market · 1855–1890

  1. March 1855

    Jacob Ulmer opens his market

    Jacob Ulmer — born in Württemberg in 1826, arrived in Pottsville July 2, 1854 — opens a meat market of his own on North Centre Street after working briefly in the shops of John Reiger and George Gwinner.

    History of Schuylkill County, Pa. (W. W. Munsell & Co., 1881), biographical sketch of Jacob Ulmer

  2. 1857–1858

    He buys this property

    In April 1857 Ulmer moves his market to Centre Street "two doors from his present market," and a year later buys the property — "in 1858 he purchased the property now used by the Ulmer Packing Company as a retail market on North Center street."

    Schalck & Henning, Memorial History of Schuylkill County (1907), vol. 2, pp. 501–502; Munsell (1881)

  3. 1867–1873

    "Ulmer Jacob, butcher, 301 Centre, house do"

    Under the street numbering of the day, the Boyd's directories list Jacob Ulmer's meat market and household at 301 Centre Street — this address before the mid-1870s renumbering — with sons boarding at the store.

    Boyd's Directory of Pottsville, 1867–68 through 1873–74 (Internet Archive)

  4. 1873–1875

    The packing house at Jalappa

    Ulmer and David Neuser begin the Pottsville pork-and-beef packing house at Front and Railroad streets in 1873; Ulmer buys out Neuser in April 1874 and, after a brief partnership with Louis Stoffregen ends in August 1875, continues as sole proprietor. The Centre Street market becomes the retail face of a packing firm.

    History of Schuylkill County, Pa. (Munsell, 1881), packing-house account

  5. 1875

    Renumbered 207 North Centre

    The 1875–76 directory carries the first listing under the modern number: "Ulmer Jacob, pork packer, Front cor Railroad, Jalappa, h 207 N Centre."

    Boyd's Directory of Pottsville, 1875–76 (Internet Archive)

  6. June 1885

    Mapped: a three-story brick market

    The first Sanborn fire-insurance survey of the block draws 207 North Centre as a three-story brick building marked "Meat." — the same height and material every later edition (1891, 1903, 1940) records, and the 1945 deed description repeats.

    Sanborn Map & Publishing Co., Pottsville, Pa., June 1885, sheet 4 (Library of Congress)

  7. December 1885

    "Branch office and retail store"

    The packing company advertises: "BRANCH OFFICE AND RETAIL STORE. No. 207 North Centre Street. Hams, Shoulders, Sides, Bacon, Dried Beef, Kettle Rendered Lard, all kinds of Fresh Pork, Dressed Hogs, Dressed Beef…" — main office at Front and Railroad streets.

    Pottsville Republican, Dec. 3, 1885, p. 4

The company era · 1890–1945

  1. December 1, 1890

    Incorporated

    The business is incorporated as a stock company — the Jacob Ulmer Packing Company — and the founder begins stepping back from active management.

    Schalck & Henning, Memorial History of Schuylkill County (1907), vol. 2

  2. 1892

    The founder retires

    Jacob Ulmer retires to Philadelphia; his son Jacob S. Ulmer — later also president of the Miners' National Bank — assumes management, while son John G. Ulmer takes "special charge of the retail department," the Centre Street store.

    Schalck & Henning, Memorial History of Schuylkill County (1907), vol. 2

  3. 1899

    "Ulmer's Fresh Sausage" across the county

    Shenandoah grocers advertise Ulmer's sausage "received daily by us, fresh from the manufacturer. It enjoys big sales" — the packing company's brand reaching retail counters county-wide.

    The Evening Herald (Shenandoah, Pa.), Oct. 7, 1899, p. 1 (Library of Congress, Chronicling America)

  4. November 7, 1904

    Death of Jacob Ulmer

    "ULMER.—At Philadelphia, on Monday, Nov. 7, 1904, Jacob Ulmer, in his 78th year." The funeral is held that Friday "at the residence of his son, John G. Ulmer, 207 North Centre St.," with private interment in the Odd Fellows cemetery — the founder's farewell held in the building where he began.

    Pottsville Republican, Nov. 9, 1904, p. 1 (Newspapers.com image 449176427); also The Miners' Journal, Nov. 9–10, 1904

  5. February 1914

    John G. Ulmer dies at the store

    John Ulmer — "a member of the Jacob Ulmer Packing Company" and manager of the retail store — dies; services are held at the house, 207 North Centre Street.

    Pottsville Republican, Feb. 2, 1914, p. 3, and Feb. 4, 1914, p. 1

  6. 1915–1922

    State offices move upstairs

    The building's upper floors become government offices: the state Workmen's Compensation Bureau opens "in the Ulmer building at 207 N. Centre St." in December 1915 (its first referee, Paul W. Houck, takes charge January 2, 1916); the district forester's office opens here in 1920; a state rehabilitation office follows — each later moving on to the Thompson or Masonic buildings.

    Joseph H. Zerbey History of Pottsville and Schuylkill County (1934–35), vol. 1

  7. 1917–1928

    The Anti-Tuberculosis Society's address

    The Schuylkill County Anti-Tuberculosis Society gives 207 North Centre as its office address through the late 1910s and 1920s — one of several tenants, alongside the architect William D. Hill's office and an insurance agency, in what had become a small office block above the market.

    Boyd's Directory of Pottsville, 1922–24, 1926–28, and 1928–29 (Internet Archive); society notices, Pottsville Republican, 1917–1928

  8. 1928

    The company at its height

    The directory lists "ULMER JACOB PACKING CO … Pork and Beef Packers, E. Railroad cor Walnut, also Meat Market 207 N Centre" — Louis F. Ulmer president, John D. Ulmer treasurer, A. B. McCool secretary — with the branch market keeping its own telephone.

    Boyd's Directory of Pottsville, 1928–29 (Internet Archive)

  9. Mid-1930s

    "The Ulmer name hangs over the door"

    The county history records the founder's market "at 207 N. Centre street, and where even to this day the Ulmer name hangs over the door of a thriving market place, having continued over all the years under the direction of a member of the Ulmer family" — by then under his son Louis F. and grandsons.

    Joseph H. Zerbey History of Pottsville and Schuylkill County (1934–35), vol. 6, Jacob Ulmer biography

  10. November 1945

    The heirs clear the title

    "Julian F. Ulmer, et al., Heirs of Jacob Ulmer, deceased," petition the Court of Common Pleas to satisfy the dormant 1845 Storer–Downing mortgage, averring "that they are the owners in fee" of 207 North Centre Street — the property still in the family ninety years after the founder's arrival.

    Legal notice, Pottsville Republican, Dec. 3, 1945, p. 11 (Newspapers.com image 449768270)

The market's last decades · 1945–1970s

  1. March 1959

    Still cutting meat

    An accident roundup names Stanley Margle, "employed as manager [at] Ulmer's Meat Market, Pottsville" — the market open and operating a century after Jacob Ulmer bought the ground. It still appears among named Pottsville businesses in May 1961.

    Pottsville Republican, Mar. 6, 1959, p. 16 (Newspapers.com image 450332330); Pottsville Republican, May 23, 1961, p. 7

  2. 1960s–1970s

    The market closes Corroborated

    The Ulmer market's end went unannounced in the located record: operating in 1961, it is recalled only as "former Ulmer's Meat Market" in obituaries by the early 1980s. The packing company itself is remembered as a past employer into the mid-1970s.

    Pottsville Republican, Sept. 23, 1981, p. 6, and Apr. 8, 1982, p. 2 (retrospective mentions)

Vacancy and the block today

  1. 1997–2002

    A food-service revival Corroborated

    The storefront advertises as "Pottsville's Newest Premium Delicatessen" in 1997, and by 2002 as a pizza and Italian restaurant with daily specials — short-lived ventures in the old market space.

    Advertisements, Republican & Herald, 1997 and 2002

  2. June 2026

    Offered for sale

    Signage of Century 21 Ryon Real Estate (agent Laz Melan) stands in both storefront windows, photographed June 12, 2026; as of early July 2026 no listing had yet been published on the brokerage's portal or the commercial listing services. The neighboring building at 203 North Centre is offered by the same brokerage.

    Photograph of the storefront signage, June 12, 2026 (Schuylkill Hub)

Sources

Frequently asked

What is the Ulmer Building?
The Ulmer Building is the three-story brick commercial building at 207 North Centre Street in downtown Pottsville, named in the county's own histories for the Jacob Ulmer family, whose meat market traded from this site from the 1850s into the early 1960s. It is a contributing building within the Pottsville Downtown Historic District.
How long did the Ulmer meat market operate here?
Roughly a century. Jacob Ulmer opened his Pottsville market in March 1855, moved to this block in 1857, and bought the property in 1858; the market — from 1885 the retail branch of the Jacob Ulmer Packing Company — was still operating under family direction in 1959 and appears in business listings as late as 1961.
Who else occupied the building?
Above the market, the building spent decades as a small office block: the state Workmen's Compensation Bureau opened there in December 1915, the district forester's office in 1920, and the Schuylkill County Anti-Tuberculosis Society, the architect William D. Hill, and an insurance agency all gave 207 North Centre as their address in the 1910s and 1920s. A delicatessen (1997) and a pizza restaurant (2002) later occupied the storefront.
Is the Ulmer Building for sale?
The building was offered for sale in mid-2026 — brokerage signage stood in the storefront windows in June 2026, though no listing had been published on the listing services as of this profile's writing. The neighboring building at 203 North Centre was offered by the same brokerage at the same time.
Is it a historic landmark?
It is a contributing building within the Pottsville Downtown Historic District, listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1982. The district's 1982 inventory describes it as a three-and-a-half-story late-19th-century commercial building with arched openings, dressed stone sills, tiered brickwork, and a broad bracketed cornice.

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