On the southeast corner of Main Street & Second Street, the 1910 Gleason Building stands amid a group of mostly contemporary buildings, with a few newer buildings and empty lots sprinkled through the neighbourhood. Through the years the building has housed the Gleason Furniture Company, the Stevensville Athletic Club, the Gleason Cash and Carry Food Store, a public library, the Lonesome Dove saloon and Donna's Place Restaurant on the ground floor, with apartments above. Today the ground floor is home to the Stevi Restaurant while the second floor continues in use as apartment space.
Gleason Building
The Gleason Building is a two-story, rectangular (50'x 100' ), decorative cast concrete block building with a sloping roof hidden behind a built-up parapet. Located on a corner at the end of a row of small commercial buildings, the Gleason Building is the largest building on the block. Unlike other cast concrete block buildings in the community, the Gleason Building has not been painted and the raw concrete surface of the blocks remains exposed. The ashlar-faced blocks were fashioned in a design that is unique among the concrete block buildings in Stevensville. Each block is scored to look as though it is composed of five blocks of varied sizes.
Background History
In 1909, Hubert E. Gleason purchased lot 20 and part of lot 19 on the northeast corner of Second and Main, where he planned to build a new building for the Gleason Furniture Company, a business which he had operated in Stevensville for years at different locations. In January, 1910, Gleason began preparations for his new building. Philip Morr, who had operated a pool hall in the old building located on the lots purchased by Gleason, moved his pool tables in late January. W. R. Rodgers, the architect and contractor for the new building, used the vacated building to house equipment for manufacturing the cast concrete blocks needed for the construction of the new Gleason Building. Work on the new building began in June, when E. H. Blakeslee located the corners. The exterior of the building was completed in October, and sidewalks were poured in front of the new building. The building was finished in December.
The Gleason Furniture Company occupied the entire first floor of the building at its opening in early 1911. In February, 1911, the Stevensville Register announced the first monthly meeting of the Stevensville Athletic Club, which would hold its meetings in new quarters in the Gleason Building.
Hard times hit by the early 1920s and Gleason sold the furniture business. He divided the main floor into two commercial spaces and operated the Gleason Cash and Carry Store in the north half. The public library was located in the south half. The second story was made into a hotel. In 1929, Gleason sold his grocery stock to V. B. Skinner, who continued to operate the store, while Gleason retained ownership of the building. Two years later Skinner sold his interest in the store to E. E. Sharpe. The Gleasons continued to own the building until 1945. Since that time it has had several owners, and has served a variety of purposes. The second story is now used for residential apartments. The main floor is divided with the Lonesome Dove Saloon on the north side and Donna's Place restaurant on the south.
From the NRHP Registration Form