Digital Division
425-429 Division St
McClaug-
hry Block
est. 1882
This three-story Italianate structure became the biggest in Northfield when it was built in 1882. It dwarfed the surrounding landscape at its time of construction, when it was neighbored to the north by the one-story wood-frame predecessor to the Melwin Building. The McClaughry Block’s cost of construction was $23,000 in 1882—about a $700,000 endeavor today. Out of the gates, O.T. McClaughry—the finance provider and namesake of the building—had a notions store in the southern part of the building for 15 years, but soon went bankrupt.
E. Schleif and E.F. Drake, who purchased McClaughry’s business at 429, converted it into a variety store which would continue under a series of different names over the years. Meanwhile, in the northern storefronts, Northern States Power Co. and Stern Clothing each had 50-plus-year runs at 427 and 425 respectively. In more recent history, the jeweler Nelson’s Time Shop was here after moving out of the Central Block, the beloved Monkey See Monkey Read started here before heading over to the old Perman’s location at 314, and As Time Goes By, Rocky Top, and River City Realty rang in the new millennium as the storefront occupants. Today, those same spaces house Soulstice Boutique, Aldrich Technology, and Downtown Tobacco, a new wave of Northfield downtown staples in the McClaughry Block.
