100 Block – South

100 Block – South. 100 Block East Main. Nearly all of the wooden buildings on the south side of Main Street in the first block east of the railroad tracks were destroyed by a massive fire in the summer of 1902. It was believed to be the city's worst fire. , The easternmost buildings, most notably the First National Bank building, were not destroyed. Although any fire is tragic, many of the town's early boosters considered it a blessing. Many of the early buildings were considered shacks and a few weeks after the fire, investors began work on brick buildings to replace those lost. , The blaze began in Holland's Restaurant and quickly moved to Pedro Ramos' Chill Joint next door. The flames and heat were so intense it damaged buildings and goods on the north side of Main Street, where most of the buildings were already made of brick. , Those early brick buildings that followed the fire on the south side included Barbour's Drug Store at 100 E. Main, a popular place to meet friends and the I.O.O.F. Lodge was upstairs. The men could get a shave and a haircut next door at Ira Wheeler's barber shop, an elaborate shop decorated with marble and mirror walls. , Besides drug stores, cafés and barber shops, the block was home to several dry goods stores that catered to the new settlers. A road house featuring tobacco, cigars, cider, alcohol and gambling operated at 126 E. Main. An early post office was located at 106 E. Main by Postmaster T.J. Johnson. , The era of prohibition that followed with statehood on November 17, 1907 shut down the road houses and taverns in the community. A headline in a November, 1907 Transcript talked of a final “orgy” of booze that heralded the end of legal alcohol. , On the east end of the block, the Norman State Bank occupied the southwest corner of Main Street and Peters Avenue with construction beginning in 1892. It became First National Bank on Feb. 1, 1900. Years later the bank moved to the 100 block of S. Peters Avenue but kept a presence along Main Street with a bank drive-thru and, later, a parking lot. , Merchants got tired of Main Street becoming a mudhole and pushed for street paving by 1911. Electric lights followed giving Norman the appearance of a thriving business district. OG&E operated for many years from a building at 128 E. Main. , McCall's Men's Store at 106 E. Main clothed Norman residents and OU students. McCall's ladies shop operated nearby at 126 E. Main. , The Varsity Theatre operated at 108 E. Main, across from the Sooner Theatre from 1937 to 1955. The nearby interurban street car line, on the west side of the railroad, reached Norman in 1913 and operated until 1947. During World War II, when gasoline was scarce, passengers could ride round trip to Oklahoma City on the interurban for 77 cents. , In 1926, the block hosted a bowling alley, two drug stores, two barber shops, a book store, café and various other offices. A photography shop operated at 122 E. Main next to a jewelry store and a hardware store.