The Masonic Building
The Front Street Tour
On the SE corner of Front and Pine Streets is the Masonic Building. Originally, the Philips Family built a hewn log cabin on this corner. The log cabin was torn down to build the St. James Hotel, which stood for many years prior to the construction of the Masonic Building, which was built in 1931 by Fred Ibberson. His drug store and Molly Maguire's men's clothing store shared the first floor, with the Masonic Lodge upstairs. The Masons completed a façade project that unfortunately covered up the remaining original windows (Pine Street side), though the original style of the cornices were kept. The upper corner blocks – round medallions set in the brick and pillars between the windows – are of interest. In the 1940s, when Ibberson’s Drug store occupied the corner, the façade was decorated with black tile. Some tile remains today.