Alms and Doepke Dry Goods Company

{{Use mdy dates|date=August 2023}}

{{Infobox NRHP

| name = Alms and Doepke Dry Goods Company

| nrhp_type = cp

| nocat = yes

| partof = Over-the-Rhine Historic District

| partof_refnum = 83001985

| image = AlmsDoepkeBuilding.jpg

| caption = Front and side of the building

| location = 222 E. Central Parkway, Cincinnati, Ohio

| coordinates = {{coord|39|6|29|N|84|30|37|W|display=inline,title}}

| locmapin = Ohio#USA

| built = 1878

| architect = Samuel Hannaford; Daniel Burnham & Co.

| architecture = Late Victorian

| added = March 3, 1980

| area = less than one acre

| mpsub = {{NRHP url|id=64000626|title=Samuel Hannaford and Sons TR in Hamilton County}}

| refnum = 80003035{{NRISref|2009a}}

}}

The Alms and Doepke Dry Goods Company is a historic commercial building in Cincinnati, Ohio, United States. Located along Central Parkway on the edge of downtown, it is a late Victorian structure designed by Samuel Hannaford, a renowned Cincinnati architect.Gordon, Stephen C., and Elisabeth H. Tuttle. {{NRHP url|id=64000626|title=National Register of Historic Places Inventory/Nomination: Samuel Hannaford & Sons Thematic Resources}}. National Park Service, 1978-12-11. Accessed 2010-10-04.{{rp|11}}

William F. Doepke, with his first cousins, William H. Alms, and Frederick H. Alms, established a dry goods store in Cincinnati in 1865 and moved to the northeastern corner of the intersection of Main Street and the Miami and Erie Canal two years later. Starting in 1878, they erected the core of the present structure at that location; it would later be expanded in 1886, 1890, and 1906.Owen, Lorrie K., ed. Dictionary of Ohio Historic Places. Vol. 1. St. Clair Shores: Somerset, 1999, 560. Seven-stories tall,{{rp|8}} it is a brick building with a stone foundation and a slate roof.{{OHC NRHP|80003035|Alms and Doepke Dry Goods Company}}, Ohio Historical Society, 2007. Accessed 2010-10-04. Major architectural elements include an ornate cornice with heavy bracketing and its Mansard roof that is pierced by many dormers.

By the late nineteenth century, Alms and Doepke had built a reputation as the region's leading dry goods firm; eight hundred individuals were on its payroll in 1891. When the company chose to expand their facilities in 1886, they hired Samuel Hannaford,{{rp|8}} who by that time had become Cincinnati's most prestigious architect. During the 1870s and 1880s, Hannaford independently designed a wide range of buildings throughout Cincinnati and its suburbs,{{rp|8}} becoming known as the architect of choice for prosperous individuals and companies of the Gilded Age.{{rp|10}}

After ninety years of operation, Alms and Doepke closed permanently in 1955. Their headquarters endured after their demise; its architecture was sufficiently well preserved to qualify the building for inclusion on the National Register of Historic Places in 1980, along with dozens of other Hannaford buildings. Three years later, it was one of more than two thousand buildings in the Over-the-Rhine neighborhood added to the Register together as a historic district, the Over-the-Rhine Historic District.[http://www.ohpo.org/nrfinder/viewer.htm National Register District Address Finder] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130928105812/http://www.ohpo.org/nrfinder/viewer.htm |date=2013-09-28 }}, Ohio Historical Society, 2010. Accessed 2010-11-10. Today, the Alms and Doepke Dry Goods Company building is owned by the Hamilton County government, which uses it as offices for its Job and Family Services[http://www.hcjfs.hamilton-co.org/Buttons/location.htm Hamilton County Job and Family Services About Us] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130709095313/http://www.hcjfs.hamilton-co.org/Buttons/location.htm |date=2013-07-09 }}, Hamilton County, 2003. Accessed 2013-06-11. and human resources departments,[http://www.hamiltoncountyohio.gov/hr Welcome to Hamilton County Human Resources Department] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100527160948/http://www.hamiltoncountyohio.gov/hr/ |date=May 27, 2010 }}, Hamilton County, 2010. Accessed 2010-10-04. as it is located across Central Parkway from the Hamilton County Courthouse.[http://www.hamiltoncountyohio.gov/hr/MapDowntownLocs.pdf Map of Downtown County Offices and Parking Lots] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110822080633/http://www.hamiltoncountyohio.gov/hr/MapDowntownLocs.pdf |date=2011-08-22 }}, Hamilton County, n.d. Accessed 2012-11-12.