Jansen's Department Store Sign Comes Down Monday

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Published on October 6 2017 3:05 pm
Last Updated on October 6 2017 3:05 pm
Written by Greg Sapp

Jansen's Department Store was a landmark in downtown Effingham for 50 years, but times change.

First, the store closed a number of years and its location along Jefferson Avenue was taken by The Zone. Now, three local entrepreneurs have bought the store and are developing an eatery and amusement location to be known as Gopher's Grill.

Renovation of the interior of the building is already underway. As of Monday, though, the exterior renovations will begin with the taking down of the "Jansen's" sign and the other coverings on the front of the building along Jefferson.

Our Tonya Siner did a little digging into the history of Jansen's Department Store. Tonya talked with Barb Jansen, whose husband, John, ran the store during most of its run and Barb contacted Ruth Lowrance, who was the secretary at the store for some background.

The department store was known as Federated Department Store around 1950 before becoming Jansen's. Jack West managed the store until John Jansen took over as manager after finishing college. John's parents, Jack and Fletcher Jansen, loved Effingham and worked to bring to their community everything found in the "big city". Fletcher did all of the buying for Jansen's in those days.

HG "Jack" Jansen and John's brother, Jim, owned J&J Ventures. Barb Jansen opened Jansen's Dance Studio in 1956 at age 20.

The City of Effingham has announced that parking along the north side of Jefferson Avenue from Banker to 5th Streets will not be available from Sunday evening through the end of the day on Monday. Also, the north lane of Jefferson from Banker to 5th will be closed starting at 7am Monday through 4pm that day to allow removal of the "Jansen's" sign.