THEN & NOW

1911. There’s a lot of history packed into this view of Main Street. This is the east side of the 500 block, across the street from what is now the Chamber of Commerce. The brick building in the middle was the first building built for the Dakota Farmer newspaper. The building on the right, with the arched windows, was built as the second headquarters for Dakota Farmer at 517 S. Main St. in 1906. The newspaper abandoned this building only after a few years, building a much larger headquarters at 1216 S. Main St. (currently apartments).

The next building to the left and slightly behind the brick building is the Masonic Temple as it was originally built. It is reported that the Temple was intentionally built small because it was across the street from the Grain Palace. After Dakota Farmer moved, the Elks used the building as its headquarters. In June 1911, Aberdeen hosted the state Elks convention. This photo, dated June 7, was taken during the height of the convention that ran until the next day. Photo by Nicholas A. Brothers. // —Troy McQuillen

2022. The same view today shows the Dakota Farmer/Elks building still standing. The brick building is gone, replaced with a one-story version for Parsch Hardware. It eventually became home to Taylor Music which also uses the arched-window building. The Aberdeen Crockery building, void from both images, was built in the empty lot between the Temple and Parsch building but was torn down around 2007. After the Grain Palace burned, the Temple was enlarged to what we see today. Photo by Stephanie Staab. //