1900 (23 East Main Street)

This yellow brick building, built in 1900, is one of the only early commercial structures remaining on the south side of East Main Street and an interesting example of early-twentieth century Commercial Style architecture. The Mick-or-Mack grocery store opened in this building in 1928 and moved two years later. Between 1941 and 1966, it housed several drug stores, including Klor’s, Handy Drug Store, Walgreen’s, Brown’s, and Wright’s. The building sustained smoke and water damage in a May 28, 1956 fire on this block. The building next door (21 E. Main) was the site of the Wilmont Theatre, which showed silent movies from 1913 -1922. That year the Wilmont became the Palace Theater, which moved to West Main in the 1930s. At the time of the 1956 fire, Smith and Jones Department store occupied the building, which was destroyed by the flames. The building now standing at 21 E. Main Street is a 1957 replacement.

 

East Main St.

The East Main Street business district before c. 1956

Wilmont Theatre

The Wilmont Theatre before 1922
(photos courtesy of the D. D. Lester Collection)

 

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