George Dreka, who would build the successful Dreka’s Department Store, arrived in DeLand in 1878 from Philadelphia. There he had worked in a tea and spice shop owned by his brother-in-law, John Kilkoff, who had moved to DeLand for his health. The two men bought out DeLand’s first mercantile owner, James Jordan, and combined their Philadelphia stock with Jordan’s, giving them a huge sales inventory. Then they invited all of Volusia County to come for a free lunch and browse the merchandise at their grand opening, which brought out crowds of people. By 1885, Dreka’s Department Store was a four-story wooden structure with expansive verandas at 100 E. New York Ave., promising “everything to eat, wear, and use.” The upper floors housed Dreka’s Carrollton Hotel for tourists.

Dreka Department Store_1910.  R Sanford's FL postcard collection. Photo: Florida Memory.

Dreka Department Store Interior. Photo: Florida Memory

Dreka Department Store & their employees. Note the indication of distance to Jacksonville (139 M and Tampa 141 M). Photo: Dreggors Collection in the WVHS archives.

Although the Dreka building survived the devastating 1886 downtown fire, in 1909 Dreka decided to build a modern, fireproof structure. He hired architect L. M. Wethers of Tennessee to design it, with construction supervised by the Turner Co. of New York at an estimated cost of $75,000. The three-story building featured Mission Revival ornamentation, with an arched parapet surrounding the flat roof with a smooth stucco exterior finish. The first reinforced concrete building in Volusia County, it also boasted an elevator.

A “one-stop shop" for dry goods, groceries, feed, and grain, Dreka’s Department Store made DeLand the commerce center of Volusia County. The ground floor featured counters, clothing racks, and shelves stocked with all sorts of merchandise where salespeople assisted customers with their purchases. A mezzanine level served as the business center, with sales receipts sent to it through a hydraulic tube system. The building’s upper levels offered professional offices.

Dreka died in 1936, and the family sold the building to Francis P. Whitehair, a lawyer with offices upstairs. In 1938, national retailer J. C. Penny rented much of the building and operated there until 1986. Dreka’s son, Godfrey, rented a small section of the building for Betty Dreka’s Fine Ladies Apparel Shop, which remained there until 1977 when it moved across the street.

In 2004, the building became home to Southtrust Bank with the Mainstreet Grill restaurant in its lower level. Well-known DeLandite Jimmy Ford was bank president, and on Sept. 24, 2004, the building was dedicated as the James H. Ford Building, with a marker placed on the site. Wachovia later acquired Southtrust and operated a branch there, and then Wachovia became Wells Fargo. In 2011, Ormond businessman Joe Daprile purchased the property for $725,000 from Wells Fargo and made significant renovations to the 102-year-old building which had Mainstreet Grill as the only tenant. The rest had been vacant for at least two years. That same year, the West Volusia Historical Society erected a marker commemorating the building’s history. Listed on the DeLand Register of Historic Places as historically significant at the local level, today the building is known as New York Plaza and is home to The Table Restaurant and Dorothy’s Florist and Gift Shop on the ground floors, with professional offices on the upper floors.