Digital Division
514 Division St
Silk Building
est. 1898
Although not designated as a part of Northfield’s historic district, the Silk Building’s history is not sparse. The squared false front that hides a more humble roofline behind it is a relic of the boomtown architectural style that emerged across the United States—albeit mostly in the West—from about 1890 to 1920. The building you see in front of you, originally owned by Robert Silk, was constructed near the beginning of that movement, in 1898.
Its early history is somewhat of an unknown, but in 1916, the Nystuen brothers moved their farm implement business here. In December of 1919, a man by the name of N.M. Jacobson bought a half share in the company, and sometime in the next seven years proprietorship came under sole control of Jacobson and his son Herbert. For 56 years, the farm equipment business at the Silk Building remained.
Ownership of the implement business transferred to Herbert after his father’s passing in 1945, and he kept it going until 1972, when it closed down, paving the way for a series of realty and law offices to occupy the space over the next few decades. Since 2002, B&L, one of the three Northfield pizza stores owned by descendants of the Pitsavas family, has been serving up fresh slices here to its loyal Division Street customers.