In our post featuring the Majestic Theatre (located at 229 Main Street South, the current home of Smith + Trade Mercantile), we listed the other businesses visible in the photo including the building that then housed the clothing store I.G. Ziegler at 233 Main Street South.
An astute library fan pointed out to us that that building had been destroyed in a fire in 1951 and that the lot stood empty for many years and eventually became a park-like alley that served as a convenient shortcut between Main Street and Water Street. The new building where Lolo American Kitchen currently operates was built in 2012-13 and was designed to match the front of the building that burned down in 1951. Pictured are three photos of the area: one from 1919, one from October 2008 showing the open lot (from Google Street View), and one from 2024 showing Lolo American Kitchen.
The original building in that space was a four-story structure that burned down in 1899 so the building pictured in the 1919 photograph was relatively new at the time of the Majestic Theatre Can Drive. The building that burned down in 1951 was called the Peaslee Plumbing Building.
The above photo can be viewed in the Runk Historic Photograph Collection in our St, Croix Collection Room anytime the library is open. Sources for this post include Stillwater, MN City Directories; National Parks Service National Register of Historic Places Registration form for Stillwater, MN Commercial Historic District (February 19, 1992); Stillwater Patch (June 7, 2012); and Star Tribune (July 6, 2012).
