In February of 1905 it was announced that a solid brick block would be built on Bridge Street by Olof Peterson, Henry and Louis Bock, and J. L. Stein. J.L. Stein purchased the lot cornering on the alley and Bridge Street, where a blacksmith shop stood for years, and had the old landmark torn down to make room for his new block. The building was completed in 8 months. J.L. Stein’s was the west 25 x 90 bend of the building.

The Northwestern Telephone Co. decided to locate in the rooms above Stein’s new building in June of 1906; the erection of the brick block had just completed when John L. Stein died in October of 1906.

Leo J. Plattner opened a Gents Furnishing and Clothing Store in the Stein building in 1907, sold out in 1909, when Holmberg & Co. rented it. Later that year Bernard Blomquist opened the Delano Variety Store in Mrs. Stein’s building. Blomquist changed to being a furniture dealer, but remained in that location until 1915, when the Comet Theater moved into the west end of the brick block.

Dr. F. R. Shanahan, dentist, opened a dental parlor in the old Commercial Club rooms in the Brick Block in 1919, and he and his wife moved into one of Mrs. Stein’s apartments in the Brick Block in 1921.

Mrs. J. L. Stein died in 1939. The Boyce Funeral Home was in the building in the 1930’s, moving out when Jack Schumacher bought the building from the Stein Estate in 1941. He put on a new front, featuring large display windows, and moved his Jack Sprat grocery store from around the corner. The store became a Food Guild Store in 1951, known as Jack’s Food Guild. Jack retired in the mid 1970’s.

This is a photo taken in the late 1970’s. There is no sign on the west end of the brick block. The space eventually became part of the Coast to Coast Hardware store, and today is part of the Jerome Event Center.