200 W Main

1882 - Allison Block

Italianate style
​Many downtown buildings employ a series of recessed wall planes that are defined by pilasters and horizontal lines. 
This was surely the first or a very early example of this design characteristic.  In this example, undulating arches 
capped the window sets on the third floor.  The corner location allowed for a rear side storefront on North Second 
Street. Minnesota limestone was used in the basement and foundation.  An internal support system of cast iron 
columns creates a clear span on the first floor and basement levels.  The interior plan featured an unusual front 
mezzanine (still in place).  Tin Ceilings are 20 feet high and are ornamented with intersecting panels and beams. The 
Masonic Hall occupied the third floor.
The building lost its third floor and parapet prior to the  1950s.  The storefront has been completely replaced. 
Second floor windows have panel covers but the windows remain intact.
This was the first three-story building and it occupied the best commercial corner.  The owners wanted an imposing 
building (31x100) and acquired six additional feet to broaden the front (all other buildings are defined by their 
original lot dimensions).  The building to the west was built at the same time and the two builders used a shared 
party wall and shared in-wall flues to increase their usable interior spaces and a shared entry connects to offices on 
the second floor.  This building combined commercial and fraternal uses and represented an early milestone effort to 
modernize the downtown.  This was the first commercial building to use gas lights.
The property is titled the Colburn Allison Block simply to distinguish it from the Hawley Allison Block at 222 West 
Main.  Brothers Colburn and Hawley Allison jointly built this building in 1882.  An eventual falling out resulted in 
the two competing buildings.  Pioneer merchant Colburn Allison (1845-1939) was associated with this property for 
all of his working life in Cherokee.
The Leading Industries of the  West (1883) remarked on the completed building and "boomed" it considerably as
was the fashion of the day:
"It is the most attractive and substantial business structure in the state and we may say the entire 
North-west.  It is artistically constructed of brick with stone trimmings; is three stories high, the 
top portion being so arranged that another story can be easily added if desired.  There is a large 
airy basement.  The dimensions are 31x100; the main display windows are of plate glass, each 
section being 102x164 inches, which are the largest of any panes of any kind and in any store in 
the western country, and there are but three larger in Chicago.  Altogether it is the most complete 
and noticeable structure for commercial purposes in the west excepting buildings in Denver.  The 
basement and first floor are occupied by Allison Bros.  The second story is divided into larger 
office rooms, and the third floor is elaborately fitted up for the Masonic Lodge of Cherokee, with 
larger main hall, reception, banquet, working and ante-rooms."
Waters Bros. Dry Goods occupied the building until 1939 when it was replaced by Meyer and Robert Wolff s
Department Store, which was here until 1973.