By KEVIN LEININGER from the archives of The News-Sentinel
Today, the Lincoln National Bank tower is rightly regarded as perhaps the most beautiful building in Fort Wayne. But before the 22-story tower went up in 1929, the five-story Pixley-Long Building occupied the lot at East Berry and Court streets.
The Pixley-Long Building was a new, imposing office and commercial building in 1889. The ``Pixley'' in its name was George Pixley, a clothier and banker who came to Fort Wayne from Utica, N.Y., in 1876.
The "Long'' belonged to Mason Long, who was surely one of the most colorful characters in the history of Fort Wayne.
Long came to Fort Wayne in 1865, but his pre-Summit City life is worth mentioning. Born in 1842, both his parents died by the time he turned 10. He was bound out to a wealthy German farmer as a ``white slave'' but in 1862 joined the Union Army to fight in the Civil War. During his Army stint, another soldier taught him a $25 card trick which earned him $400 after the next payday. By then, gambling was in his blood.
After coming to Fort Wayne, Long opened a restaurant and gambling house. Gambling was for a time profitable, but it left him penniless by 1877. Destitution turned Long off of alcohol and on to Christianity. He wrote a book called ``Mason Long, the Converted Gambler.'' He also made several evangelistic tours to promote his new-found faith.
In later years he became a stock broker and built a handsome house at 922 Columbia Ave.
As for his partner Pixley, the storefront of his clothing business, Pixley & Co., was on the first floor. Also occupying the first floor of the Pixley-Long Building was the Peoples Store, an early Fort Wayne dry goods outlet.
Shortly after the building was finished, Pixley relinquished management of the clothing store and formed the Tri-State Loan and Trust Co., to help ``gratify the wishes of men who desired to become property owners ... but whose salaries preclude the possibility of their paying cash for a home.''
Just 40 years after its construction, the Pixley-Long Building gave way to progress. Ground was broken for the Lincoln Tower just 30 days before the stock market crashed in 1929.
Fort Wayne, Ind.. March 1.- George W. Pixley, a pioneer resident, died suddenly at his home here today on his 88th birthday anniversary. He returned yesterday from California, where he had spent the winter.
G. W. Pixley, Donor of Pixely Relief Home, Dies Suddenly
GEORGE. W. PIXLEY. George W. Pixley, philanthropist and financier, died at his home yesterday morning after a short illness which started a week ago in California. He arrived home Tuesday and took a turn for the worse during the night. Pixley was very active in masonry and was the donor of the Pixley Relief home for friendless women and children.
Native of Kirkland and Former Utican Dies in Fort Wayne, Ind.
Utica, March 6.-George W. Pixley, one- of the leading business men of Fort Wayne, Ind., a brother of the late Henry D. Pixley of this city is dead. Mr. Pixley went to Los Angeles, Cal., not long ago ago and in a letter to Utica friends he said he would probably spend the winter there. He was taken sick, however, and hastened back to Fort Wayne where he passed away. He was born in Kirkland. With his brother he became a member of the firm of Owen, Pixley & manufacturers, and they established branch stores in various parts of the country. In the early '70' Mr. Pixley went to Fort Wayne to take charge of one of these stores and beçame a leading citizen. He is survived_by his wife.
A news item sent by the University of Miami information service to a student's home town newspaper recently brought together a boy and his sister who had been separated for 20 years. The story was published in Fort Wayne, Ind., telling of the election of Don Chadderdon as president of the University of Miami student government association. When the article appeared, Charles Cartwright showed it to his adopted daughter, Mrs. Evelyn Jellison of Elkhart. Evelyn and Don had been searching for each other since been they were separated when Evelyn was adopted by Cartwright from the Pixley Relief Home in 1921. The two will meet next week in Elkhart after Don completes his sum-courses at the university.
Mr. Coe was born at Big Rapids, Michigan, November 18, 1888. His parents, Frank and Nellie (Earl) Coe, were also born in Michigan. His father was a veterinary surgeon, and for some years had a large establishment at Big Rapids, where he took care of the horses in the lumber camp. Once while engaged in his professional duties he was bitten by a sick horse, and blood poisoning set in and caused his death.
Arthur L. Coe was then a very small child and soon afterward he came to Fort Wayne with his mother. There was one other son, Earl, who became an engineer and was killed in Missouri, December 1, 1927, as the result of the caving in of earth where he was working.
Arthur L. Coe graduated from the Central High School of Fort Wayne in 1906. His mother died here in 1913. After leaving school he spent five years in the garage business, operating one of the finest public garages in the city and also carried on business in accessories and battery service. When he sold out his garage interests he took up detective work, and has made a long and careful study of the profession as well as the business. Mr. Coe in 1917 joined the colors, attended the Officers' Training Camp at Fort Benjamin Harrison, was commissioned a second lieutenant and was with the army until honorably discharged in December, 1918. He then resumed his detective work and in November, 1926, became associated with the firm of Abbott, Gerard & Coe. Mr. Coe bought the interests of Mr. Gerard and since then the business has been the Abbott Detective Agency. It is one of the largest detective organizations in Northern Indiana.
Mr. Coe is a member of the B. P. O. Elks, American Legion, Fort Wayne Country Club, Y. M. C. A., Chamber of Commerce, Jim Eby Post No. 857, Veterans of Foreign Wars, Fort Wayne Lodge No. 14 of the Fraternal Order of Police, and is a member of the Plymouth Congregational Church.
He married, in 1919, Miss Louise Pixley, daughter of one of the most prominent families of Fort Wayne. Her father, George W. Pixley, was one of the organizers of the Tri-State Loan and Trust Company, now one of the largest financial institutions in Fort Wayne. Mr. Pixley, who died March 1, 1922, on his eighty-eighth birthday, was a thirty-third degree Mason and was widely known throughout Northern Indiana, not only as a financier but also for his public spirited and generous participation in the life of his community. He provided the funds for the Pixley Home for Children. He married Miss Sarah Lewis, who is now seventy-eight years of age, and their only child is Mrs. Coe. Mrs. Pixley and her daughter usually spend the winters in Florida, while the family at Fort Wayne occupy the beautiful Pixley home at 330 West Wayne Street.
Mrs. Louise Coe Dies On Coast; Services Here Mrs. Louise Pixley Coe, member of a prominent Fort Wayne family, died Sunday in South Laguna, Calif., where she was visiting friends. Mrs. Coe, a resident of the Fairfield Manor, 2301 Fairfield Ave., was the daughter of the late George W. Pixley for whom the old Pixley Home for Children was named. She was a member of Trinity English Lutheran Church and the Fort Wayne Country Club and had been active at Parkview Memorial Hospital and the old Pixley Home. Mrs. Coe became ill at the home of Mrs. Alice F. Hill, former Fort Wayne resident now living in South Laguna. She underwent surgery in a South Laguna hospital. Her father was in the clothing business here for many years and was one of the organizers of the old Tri-State Building and Loan Association which later became the Tri-State Loan & Trust Co. Her husband, Arthur L. Coe, died several years ago. The body will be returned to the Chalfant-Perry Funeral Home.
Journal-Gazette, Allen County, Indiana; January 31, 1961
Contributed by JC on http://ingenweb.org/inobits/Images/2021-02-26.html
