Digital Division
315 Division St
Lockrem-Sumner Building
est. 1873
The Lockrem-Sumner Building was constructed in 1873, and is the second oldest on this block only to the neighboring French Building to the right. The two closely resemble one another, with their three arched upper windows, level tops, and nearly identical first floor facades. Sumner Photo Studio existed behind those windows for the first 45 years after the building’s walls went up until 1918, when it changed hands for the first time.
Ira Sumner, the namesake of the building and the business, was one of Northfield’s first photographers. He took the famous photos of Clell Miller and Bill Chadwell after the James-Younger Gang’s attempted raid, and is the reason for much of the early photographic documentation we have of Northfield.
After Sumner’s death in 1918, ownership of the building saw various twists and turns. It was the home to Willie’s Shoe Repair for a period of time, and to clothing and tailoring, wholesale, and grocery businesses in the first half of the 20th century, as well as Maxine Sleeth’s toy and candy shop in the 1950s. 315 Division nowadays houses another woman-owned business, The Sketchy Artist, which has been around Northfield since 2008 and in its present location since 2018.