The Martin Flat, or as you may know it, Kids Korner Pizza, near the corner of Pelham and Courtney Streets in Rhinelander, has been around for over 100 years.
This two-story frame building was constructed by Eli P. Martin in 1903. Born in Quebec, Canada, Eli moved around the United States working as a head sawyer at mills in Vermont and Massachusetts. Eli then learned the trade of managing boarding houses in New Hampshire, which did good business across the Northern pine belt in the late 1800s. The family moved to Wisconsin to run lumberjack boarding houses in Marinette, then at Rhinelander. They also operated boarding houses for the Yawkey-Bissel Lumber Co. at Jeffries, now Bundy, Hazelhurst, State Line, called Land O' Lakes today, and Three Lakes, before permanently residing in Rhinelander.
The Martins first lived in one of the apartments in the building, which also included a small store at street level. Later they purchased other properties in town, including a home. They had two daughters and one son. Eli also worked at the Wisconsin Veneer plant adjacent to his building, that location is now occupied by the Trig's Mall.
The Martins son, Elbert Eli Martin became famous in 1912 for apprehending Theodore Roosevelts would be assassin in front of the Gilpatrick Hotel in Milwaukee, while working as his stenographer. After the perpetrator shot Roosevelt, the bullet being stuck in a non-vital part of his chest, former Rhinelander football player Elbert tackled the gunman to the ground. A famous photo of Elbert holding up papers with bullet holes in them circulated in Newspapers, and of course the story was highly read in the Northwoods. Elbert stayed on with Roosevelt making a worldwide trip as a trusted secretary. Elbert’s story was covered in more detail on a previous Northwoods Moment in History, still available on WXPRs website.
The Martin Flat saw some remodeling done on its ground floor over the years, operating as a grocery store, first by the Gould family, then the Lambert's. A small bakery and barber shop also had space in the building. Frank Hildebrand owned the shop from 1926-1938, when it was then purchased by Guy Tillman and Claud Hurlbutt, and eventually by Guy's son, Jack Tillman, whom some longer Rhinelander residents may remember for running Tillman’s Grocery until around 1982.
Today the 121 year old building is owned by Jerry Shidell, who has maintained the building, one of the oldest frame buildings in downtown Rhinelander, very well over the years. Anybody is welcome to go check it out, all you have to do is order a pizza.
Sources: The New North, 1904. Rhinelander Daily News, Kris Gilbertson, 1988.
