Gray Bros. Building

Gray Bros. Building. . Wm. H. "Harry" Gray, a naturalized Canadian, homesteaded the lot bearing the west half of this building. He staked it April 22, 1889 and immediately relocated his grocery and wholesale business from Udall, Kan. His brother, George, joined him in buying the corner lot, where they built in 1890 the elaborate brick and sandstone structure that commands the intersection.

Gray Bros. continued the grocery business, adding queensware and feed, in a frame building, razing it and adding the west half of the present structure in 1903. It can be distinguished by slightly different spacing of the cornice "torches" and facade treatment.

The west half housed Gray Bros. store followed by F.E. and J.F. Houghton's Bank Grocery and subsequent varied retail establishments. W.H. Gray kept an office on the 2nd floor, managing his extensive holdings.

The east half of the building originally housed the Bank of Indian Territory and later the Oklahoma State Bank. Guthrie's superintendent of schools had offices on the 2nd floor in 1892 and by 1893, the town's first telephone exchange was also there.

The property was leased in 1926 to Jelsma Abstract Co., which company continues operation in 1981. A barber shop was located in the basement until the mid-1970's. The building's Russian capped oriel, beveled corner, elaborate metal cornices, arched windows, and combined use of native sandstone and dark red brick suggest it was a Joseph Foucart design.