Then – A Busy Place for Circa 1900 – There are not a lot of photos taken of Aberdeen’s early downtown pointing south. Mainly because a photographer would be shooting directly into the sun, as you can sort of see by the bright halo in this image. For orientation, imagine standing in front of the Sherman Apartments, at Third and Main, looking south. The notes on this photo say it was probably taken from a balcony of the original Sherman House (later Hotel). Exactly when is another story. Off in the distance you can see the Grain Palace behind the electric pole. It was built in 1893 and burned in 1902. I saw this image on the wall in Barbeque Twist and requested permission from the Dacotah Prairie Museum to include it here. It is such a vibrant photo with great period clothing and buildings, including the Jewett Warehouse near the Grain Palace and the Excelsior Hotel (JH Jackson Wholesale) near the middle. Nearly every single building in this photo is gone. I wasn’t able to determine the nature or occasion of the parade. Take a look at all the faces watching the parade.
Now – Still Changing in 2025 – As you can see, everything is different. Now there are trees masking buildings. I was not able to elevate myself to a second-floor level to get the same perspective as the previous pages, but the angle is the same. The large three-story building towards the center is not the Excelsior Hotel, but rather the Montgomery Ward building, built in the 1930s in a similar spot (behind the tree). Dacotah Bank owns everything on the west side of the 300 block and are making constant improvements. They are building a completely new building at 318, and they will be addressing the area behind the siding façade towards the right in the future. This section of the bank sustained some roof damage due to snow. Can you imagine how unsightly electrical poles and lines would be today had they not been relocated from Main Street to the alleys?
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