With a dance hall, known as the Armory Hall, upstairs and a pool hall downstairs, this was, for many years, a well patronized building. Primarily commercial/retail space in the ground floor, one of the first tenants to move in was the Charles Hay Harness and saddlery Shop. Charles H. Hay, the proprietor, was the inventor of the Hay Bridle, an improved bridle intended for work horses with several new and innovative features. Original owners of the building were brothers Levi and Christian Knerr & Thomas J. Tubb.
The impending construction of this two story brick commercial block was announced in early April of 1909, with construction anticipated to begin shortly. At that time it was expected that native sandstone would be the construction material of choice. However, possibly due to economics, the resultant building was predominantly brick, with contrasting lighter brick trim and a fair amount of terra cotta embellishment. As can be seen in the photos, it is a handsome building, one that local architects
Wasmansdorff & Eastman could well be proud of.
Even before he moved into the building Charles Hay was placing advertisements in the local papers so everyone would be able to find him and his shop. This is one of those early ads, placed on Page 3 of the November 15, 1910 edition of the Fergus County Democrat.
