Then & Now: The Wells Block

Then – A Classic Downtown Building  Built on the corner of Main Street and Second Avenue (125 South Main), this 1898 building features all the attributes of a main street building that make them unique. It was built for the Aberdeen Hardware Company, which occupies the main floor, however the second floor contained offices of varying businesses. The posed men stand near “gas pipe railings” which surround mirrored exterior staircases that lead to the basement level businesses. Barber shops generally occupied these lower levels. Above the big picture windows and door opening you can see steel I-beams with floret rivets evenly spaced. These beams allowed for very large, unobstructed openings to display goods. This photo is from the Dacotah Prairie Museum’s archive, and it was a bit problematic for us to fit on this spread. The actual photo does not include very much beyond the edges of the building, so we cropped it right up to the building’s sides then superimposed different images on the edges to make it look integrated and to better fit our layout. The building was built by Ellory Meade, who sold it W.O. Wells around 1899.

Now – Wells Block Still Dominates Corner So the story goes, William O. Wells teamed up with fellow Aberdonian Maurice Lamont and began making gloves and other leather goods in 1914. Their company became Wells Lamont Corporation. Maurice was tragically killed in a hunting accident the next year, and Wells soon moved the business out of Aberdeen, keeping Lamont’s name out of respect to his friend. Despite the building being owned and named after Wells, it appears it wasn’t their factory. Much has changed in this building at 125 South Main. Most notably is the middle window on the second floor. It is now wider. The brick pilasters have also been chopped off to accommodate a modern storefront. Many will remember Buttz Drug in the corner spot (along with Stout, then Riddles Jewelry), and The Little Big Dollar (and Klein’s) in the other. When buildings divided into different stores, there was often an effort to make each section different than the other. This is why all the prismatic glass in the transom windows above the picture windows have been removed on the right-side store front. The last business operating in the corner space was Natural Abundance Food Co-op.  Photo and story by Troy McQuillen