The Excelsior Block

The Excelsior Block, located on Main Street at Commercial Street, was constructed in 1882. The block is four separate, but connected, buildings that have housed many of the city’s most popular businesses throughout the years.

Why the block is so named is unclear, but the newspapers started running reports of the progress of the building as early as May 1882. The St. Paul Daily Globe mentioned that the brick-layers were to commence work soon. A few weeks later the Globe gave a more detailed version of what the building was going to look like.

“Work on the Excelsior block is progressing rapidly,” the Globe stated. “The building, when completed, will add much to the appearance of that part of Main street. The block has a frontage of eighty-six feet, by sixty-five in depth, two stories in height. The cornice is of galvanized iron. The window sills and caps are of Ohio sandstone. The front will be tastefully decorated and will present a fine appearance.” The newspaper noted that the work was being supervised by George Lowe.

One of the new businesses in the Block was a saloon operated by Ed O’Brien. The Stillwater Gazette of September 20, 1882 noted that “Ed O’Brien’s new sample rooms [saloon] in the Excelsior Block will be formally opened to the public this evening. Ed has about the neatest place in the city.”

A week later, the Gazette reported on the grand opening of the saloon, “As announced in the last issue of the Gazette, Ed O’Brien opened his new sample rooms to the public,” the article continued by saying that “everything passed off harmoniously until some fellow tried to walk out through one of the big French plate glass windows. He didn’t get through but it was a fair to middling effort. He managed to make a bad break, sufficient to ruin the glass.”

Another business that opened when the Excelsior was completed was the tonsorial establishment of George Rogentine. The Stillwater Gazette just mentioned that “George Rogentine will occupy his new and elegant tonsorial rooms in the Excelsior block in a few days.”

Rogentine would operate his barbershop there until his death in December 1921, when two of his employees, Ed Pauley and August Torsch, continued to operate the business.

Theodore Jassoy operated another of the first businesses in the Excelsior Block. His harness shop was located at the corner of Main and Commercial streets. The Stillwater Gazette described his shop in an article published in October 1892 as “completely packed with everything comprehended in the line of harness, saddles and turf good for horse or man.”

As time went by other businesses would find their way into the Excelsior block. Some of those later businesses include Albert Krueger meat market, Ryden and Holquist Groceries, the Stillwater Post-Messenger newspaper, a high fidelity phonograph and record shop, the VFW and the Singer Sewing Center.

Today the Excelsior Block is still one of the most important commercial blocks in downtown Stillwater. It shows the past of the community while looking forward to the future with new businesses and new visitors that come to Stillwater now and for generations to come.

— Brent Peterson

Brent Peterson is the Executive Director of the Washington County Historical Society.