Hanging in front of the current Rack 'Em Billiards business is a plaque that notes the history of the building and its recognition of its historical preservation and tells us:
MEDFORD AUTO COMPANY BUILDING
HISTORIC RENOVATION AWARD 2008THIS SINGLE-STORY CONCRETE STRUCTURE WAS BUILT IN 1926 FOR THE MEDFORD AUTO COMPANY, AND IS ONE OF MANY SIMILAR STRUCTURES BUILT ON THIS PORTION OF THE PACIFIC HIGHWAY REFERRED TO AS "AUTO ROW" FROM 1925 TO 1930. THIS BUILDING WAS HOME TO THE BUICK DEALERSHIP, OWNED AND MANAGED BY J.H. DENNISON UNTIL 1930. AT THAT TIME, THE DEALERSHIP WAS TRANSFERRED TO THE SCHERER MOTOR COMPANY, AND BY THE MID-1930s THE BUILDING HOUSED THE LANGE MOTOR COMPANY.
A VARIETY OF USES HAVE OCCUPIED THIS STRUCTURE SINCE THAT TIME INCLUDING A WAREHOUSE, A BUSINESS SCHOOL, AND THE U.S. GOVERNMENT'S MILITARY RECRUITMENT STATION. THE BUILDING IS CONSIDERED TO BE A PRIMARY CONTRIBUTING STRUCTURE IN THE MEDFORD DOWNTOWN HISTORIC DISTRICT.
IN RECOGNITION OF EXCELLENCE IN THE HISTORICALLY SENSITIVE RESTORATION OF THE MEDFORD AUTO COMPANY BUILDING, OWNERS DAVID AND SUSIE SMITH ARE AWARDED THIS PLAQUE BY THE MEDFORD LANDMARKS AND HISTORIC PRESERVATION COMMISSION.
The National Register of Historic Places Nomination Form for the Medford Downtown Historic District lists this building as ID#367 and highlights its history (page 84):
This one-story concrete structure was built in 1926-27 for the Medford Auto Company, local Buick Dealer, and is one of the many automobile-related structures that lined the Pacific Highway as it passed through downtown Medford. This portion of the
highway was referred to Medford's "Auto Row" during the 1925-1930.
One of this city's best known automobile concerns is the Medford Auto Company, dealers of Buick cars in this city. J.H. Dennison is owner and manager and is assisted by Ralph Gill, while the service of Buick cars is handled by Skinner's Garage. The Medford Auto Company is located on North Riverside Avenue,
opposite the C.E. Gates Auto Company garage. (Mail Tribune, 2-Jan-1927, Automobile & School Section, l:l-8)
The Medford Auto Company Building was just one of many similar structures built during the 1926-1927 period on Auto Row.
Garage buildings were completed during the past year for the Medford Auto Company, Tucker Garage, Armstrong Motor company and Crater Lake Automotive Company, all of which are located on Riverside Avenue. Each building is constructed of concrete and is modern in every way. (Mail Tribune, 14-Sep1927. emphasis added.)
No information regarding the architect or contractor of the Medford Auto Company building could be located. Historic photographs show it to have had a single entrance, centered between two large display windows. A transom band lined the facade and the sloped detail of the parapet wall is highlighted by small steps at the outside comers with collector boxes and downspouts. A projecting sign, with the Buick shield, and small incised marker panel, were centered on the facade. Based on a comparison of historic photos the Tucker Garage building (366.0) the two buildings appear to have shared a similar design with the building immediately to the south and both structures may well have been constructed jointly.
By 1930, Medford's Buick dealership had been transferred to the Scherer Motor Company, still located in this building, and neither the Medford Auto Company nor J. H. Dennision are listed in Medford city directories for that year. By the mid-1930s the building housed the Lange Motor Company, continuing the original automobile usage. The 1942 directory is not clear as to the occupant although the building may have been associated with the adjacent dry cleaners. By 1948, Barnard's, located at 317 East Main, used the building as warehouse. The Robertson School of Business took over the building in the early 1950s and remained here at least a decade. In the 1970s, following demolition of the U.S. Government's recruiting station across North Riverside, this building was divided into four suites for use by the various branches of the military.
At present, much of the original character of the Medford Auto Company is hidden behind the false panel facade that hides the
upper portion of the main elevation. The central entry and flanking display windows appear much as do those in historic
photographs of the building.