Masonic Block and Trutna Store

In the early 1900s, every aspiring community needed certain buildings to affirm its viability as a commercial and cultural center. A Masonic temple or other fraternal lodge often embodied that investment and frequently incorporated a retail store as a tenant. A century later these visions often seem outsized, but the three-story commercial building on a prominent corner remains both materially sound and architecturally distinguished, though regular meetings of the Masons are no longer the main embodiment of local culture. The three-bay facade is organized around a central bay of three Romanesque-styled arches on the upper story, with a distinctive Chicago-style window and stained glass transom on the middle floor. The Trutna Department Store operated on the main floor, with the Masonic lodge above. The building also formerly housed the telephone switchboard and a grocery store, among other occupants.