Description557 KB digital image of the John Koning hardware store Digital original at 2021.72.02 439 Butler Street, Saugatuck Shortly after the fire we see John Koning’s new store of 1904, of the now familiar red brick, with white bands of galvanized iron. Koning’s Hardware Store (founded as Nies Hardware in 1868) is Saugatuck’s oldest existing retail business. The new “John Koning Hardware” was the ultimate in modern for its day—complete with one of Michigan’s earliest “counter-weight” elevators. The unusually tall brick building was crowned with a bold cornice and with the village’s largest plate-glass windows—giving it a definite “commercial Italianate” appeal. Today it is Wilkins Hardware store and looks much as it did in 1904, with an agreeably designed addition to the rear—and it still offers about anything one would need, including good advice. The upper floor was used by various renters, including the local Christian Science Society before they built their own structure nearby on the village square. Architect: J. H. Daverman and Son