Mildred Block

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History Nebraska

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Photographed by Cosmos Mariner, August 15, 2023

1. Mildred Block Marker

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From the National Register Nomination prepared by John N. Vogel & Marisa A. Kosobuck, July 28, 2006:
Identified in the small, stone parapet as the “Mildred Block,” this prominent, two story commercial building is constructed of a type of brick that conveys a distinctive gray/red color. The building is largely vernacular in style, although the stylized geometric

Photographed by Cosmos Mariner, August 15, 2023

2. Mildred Block Marker

The marker is between the door and window on the east/right side of the facade.

ornament that tops each corner pier is representative of a modest, Prairie School influence. The primary elevation on W. 2nd Street is anchored at either end by such a corner pier, while the main entrance is identified by one-story engaged piers with carved stone caps. Although the storefront windows themselves appear to have been replaced, many of the upper prismatic glass transoms remain intact.

Windows throughout the building are regularly placed and are arranged singly and in pairs. Colored brickwork accents the cornice line. The integrity of this building, and its ability to convey well a sense of age and Prairie School influence, is excellent.

Constructed in 1912, the building originally housed two businesses, one of which was the Citizens State Bank. Two stores were noted as the tenants in 1928, suggesting that the bank was gone by then. By 1948, the second floor included American Legion club rooms as well.

Excerpt:  As the Fremont, Elkhorn & Missouri Valley Railroad steamed west, its Pioneer Townsite Company established Chadron in 1885. With the railroad

Photographed by Cosmos Mariner, August 15, 2023

3. Mildred Block (southwest elevation)

Looking east along West 2nd Street.

came the homesteaders, the professionals and the merchants, and Chadron’s population grew. Droughts, along with the Panic of 1893, reduced the population by 1902 to 1,700 people. It rebounded as the town claimed a new state college to 3,800 in 1917 and survived the ups and downs of World War I, grasshoppers, the Great Depression and World War II.

Mildred Block: Constructed of a dark brick with thin mortar joints, the limestone geometric ornaments atop the corner piers are influenced by the Prairie School. It has a stone coping and cornice with dentils. The prismatic glass transoms were designed to refract light to the back of the interior. John Pritzuse contracted with an Omaha company to construct this building and named it for his wife Mildred. This was the second home to Citizens State Bank which occupied the east storefront. Although the bank eventually failed, on August 7, 1925, it was reported to be “the finest place in the northwest. No other bank in this neck of the woods can boast of such a classy banking room.” The first floor still features its original mosaic tile floor and tin ceiling. A grocery was located in the west

Photographed by Cosmos Mariner, August 15, 2023

4. Mildred Block Storefronts (southeast elevation)

storefront and there were offices for local professionals on the upper floor. After the bank failed, Federal offices were located here, and the National Guard used the basement for a shooting gallery.

Excerpt:  The Chadron Commercial Historic District was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2007. It includes buildings dating from 1888 and includes Romanesque Revival, Colonial Revival, and commercial vernacular architecture. Chadron was founded as a city in 1884, and grew rapidly as arrival of the Fremont, Elkhorn & Missouri Valley Railroad (FE & MV, a predecessor of the Chicago and North Western Railroad) was expected soon. It hit 3,000 population in two years and 5,500 by 1893, before dropping due to droughts and the Panic of 1893.

Its business district was anchored by the intersection of Main and 2nd streets and mostly consisted of commercial vernacular buildings; the great number of late nineteenth and early twentieth century buildings remaining along Main Street, between

Photographed by Cosmos Mariner, August 15, 2023

5. Mildred Block (southeast elevation)

1st and 3rd Streets, and along 2nd Street, between Morehead and Bordeaux streets are covered in the NRHP district. These are significant as they are the buildings that housed the businesses that enabled Chadron to establish itself as, and then to service the surrounding region as, a prominent trade center.