The oldest building, the Spofford (now the Pollard) Hotel, was built in 1893 midway between the new railway station on 8th Street and the old commercial district, to the south.
Once the Spofford, the largest hotel in town, was in place, William Talmage, owner of Talmage Hardware, was the first to see the writing on the wall, moving his store to a new building, designed and built by him, in the same block on which stood the Spofford. Since his was the first building of substance on the west side of the block, later buildings were aligned with it, making it the benchmark for that side of the street.
Local hardware store owner, William A. Talmage, designed and built his own business block in two stages (1894, 1902) as well as the cast concrete block Church Building (1906).
As a result of a city ordinance that directed all property owners to line up their haphazardly clustered buildings with the new city lots, building
owners in 1895-96 such as W.A. Talmage accommodated by adjusting their buildings a few feet while other businessmen needed to move their structures a number of blocks from the early commercial center that came to be known as "Old Town" to the present commercial corridor of Billings Avenue (Broadway).
From the NRHP Registration Form
W. A. TALMAGE COMPANY HARDWARE
A keen sense of the town's future prompted businessman William Talmage to move his hardware business away from the busy commercial center a few blocks south to this building in 1894. When other businesses began to move to the newly platted main street in 1895, owners "lined up" their buildings with Talmage's storefront. The original one-story sandstone building acquired its second floor in 1902, and Talmage moved the iron lettering to the top of the parapet. By 1907, commercial space included a hardware and grocery with an office at the rear. Elegant arched tripartite windows and a Greek-patterned fret band embellish the locally-manufactured brick of the upper floor.
From the NRHP plaque at the building