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501 West Colfax Historical Context This property is located on the northwest corner of Colfax Avenue and William Street, in South Bend, Indiana. It is described as the east 56.8 feet of Bank Out Lot 15. The brick and stone building at 501 West Colfax was built in 1895 by the owners of the South Bend Remedy Company. At the time of construction the building was located at 220 West LaSalle. The Remedy Company was incorporated in 1889 to manufacture medicines, chemicals and drugs. It was founded by, Albert H. Kelley, Josiah E. Kelley, E.O. Roote and G. Florius Alward. G. Florius Alward married May Barton in 1891 and resided on North Michigan Street. He was employed as a clerk at the South Bend Medicine Company until 1890 when he resigned to become the proprietor of the South Bend Remedy Company. Josiah E. Kelley, a financial backer of the Remedy Company died in 1896 at age 71. Albert H. Kelley, president of the Remedy Company, was born in Ohio in 1852 to Richard Kelley, a well known local contractor. His family moved to South Bend in 1867. After Albert finished school he became a collection clerk for the First National Bank, a position he held until 1877 when he moved to Colorado to become a miner. Mr. Kelley resided there until 1880 when he returned to South Bend and went to work as a cashier for Studebaker Brothers, Manufacturing Company. Albert Kelley remained there until 1892 when he resigned to take a more active role in the South Bend Remedy Company. Albert and his wife, Mary, purchased lot 234 of the Original Plat of South Bend in 1894, they sold a portion of the land to the Remedy Company in 1895. The company immediately began construction of a Queen Anne, 2 1/2 story brick and stone structure, which would house the South Bend Remedy Company for the next 35 years. The South Bend Remedy Company was a very popular and lucrative. It boasted an extremely successful mail order drug business that extended to every state in the Union and abroad. The Company's most famous product was "Magnolia Blossom", a remedy for "female complaints". Mr. Kelley ran the business until his death in 1924 at age 72, his son, Richard Lyle Kelley, took over as president. Richard was a life long resident of South Bend, being born here in 1878. He operated the company until 1928 when he passed away at age 49 as a result of pneumonia. Upon his death Mr. Kelley's sister, Mrs. Mildred Temple of California, became president. Mrs. Temple closed the store at 220 W. LaSalle after 35 years of serving the South Bend Community. The South Bend Remedy Company remained in existence in name only for the next nine years. The Remedy Building remained vacant until 1934 when it was rented to the St. Joseph County Democratic Central Committee for their headquarters. Mrs. Temple, acting as president of the South Bend Remedy Company, sold the store to Charles W. and Hazel Cole in 1937. Mr. Cole and his son, Charles Jr., opened an architectural firm, "Charles Cole and Son Architects", which occupied this building for numerous years.