Bank Building

1904

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Cottage Grove Downtown Commercial Historic District

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Photographed by Douglass Halvorsen, April 11, 2026

1. Bank Building Marker

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Photographed by Douglass Halvorsen, April 11, 2026

2. Bank Building Marker

The marker is located at the center of the building facing Main Street.

Prior to 1903 there were no buildings constructed at this location. Local lumber baron J. I. Jones contracted for the construction of the present building the same year. Jones was an early real estate investor along Main Street and owned several properties in the 1890s and 1900s. After construction was completed in 1904 the 1st National Bank of Cottage Grove moved into this location from its west side building on River Road. When the 1st National Bank built its new building across the street in 1911, the Bank of Cottage Grove moved in from its earlier location west of Lurch's Store (see Key #22, above). Ben Lurch and W.H. Abrams were officers of the bank, both prominent local businessmen from the early days of development. The bank was not able to survive the hardships of the Great Depression, when it closed its doors forever. In the early days Powell & Cooper’s, a clothing and shoe store, and Bisby Brothers, a confectionery, operated out of the other business stalls in the building. The lodge rooms upstairs were used jointly by the Woodmen of the World and the Commercial Club until 1907, when the club moved to its new offices

Photographed by Douglass Halvorsen, April 11, 2026

3. Bank Building

in the Hemenway Building (Key # 26,above). After the closing of the Bank of Cottage Grove, Gustafson’s ice cream and confection shop operated until the early 1950s, followed by Maurie’s Ice Cream and Fountain Lunch. Gustafson’s became a local institution, developing the Dutch Girl Ice Cream brand, which has become a million dollar business. The Thrift-Wise and Kelly Drug Store were long time tenants of the building, from the early 1940s to the mid-1980s. Other local businesses that occupied the building were Paul Steinbrueck, music dealer; the High Lead Barber Shop; Cottage Grove Florists and the Household Finance Corporation.

By the 1930s the upper professional offices and lodge rooms were converted to apartments, and they now provide convenient downtown living for a number of people. The history of alterations to this building is difficult to trace. Early photographs illustrate a pair of bay windows on the second floor with a railed balcony under the two sets of paired double hung windows. Historically the building had an elaborate cornice with massive modillions and dentil course running along the top of the north and west elevations.

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Photographs of the late 1930s show the first floor elevation as being significantly altered with new window openings, doors and the addition of vitrolite panels to the east storefront. Perhaps the balcony and west bay were removed to accommodate the new facade of this period, although some locals suggest the removal of the west bay occurred early on, when the western portion of the upper front floor was converted to a large apartment suite for a local woman of some means. More recent remodeling (1960s) has removed, or covered, much of the 1930s look of the west storefront, which housed the bank.

In its heyday this building represented a period of prosperity for the community. Its association with the Bank of Cottage Grove and prominent members of the business community increase the significance of this building, as does its masonry work by Charles Hamilton Wallace. The long tenure of Gustafson’s, a local institution, is recognized as being locally significant. Alterations decrease the ranking of this structure somewhat, but many of them date from the historic periods and have significance in their own right. The building, with its original stucco finish, still conveys much of its original appearance.