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thirteen buildings were destroyed on State Street. A shift of the business district was <br />made closer to the river at Main and Princeton (now Jackson) streets. Here, an open <br />market square on a wedge-shaped block was eventually improved into a public park <br />with a few trees and a wooden pavilion dating from 1917. (This space is now called <br />Jackson Square.) The park was framed by a block of masonry buildings on Jackson <br />Street, most erected around 1898 and then rebuilt after another fire in 1903. Another fire <br />in 1914 destroyed four stores on Main Street including the building housing the post <br />office. The earliest remaining downtown building appears to be the J.H. Romdenne <br />Drugstore at the corner of Jackson and Main. However, the exterior of the two-story <br />brick structure has been completely modernized. <br />-�r•tl�ti �=�•t;� .�- .: :.�:;��'''�•_y Wit:,=� _ ;� �; _ ,� � .. � .,_ � . <br />a .s,a=.a+'fi�rC,:e���-.. :��-";r3.an� �e+^z�.."-��-�.��.�-'t-r..^:Y`^:►s�:G�-cs+�s�w-�.�..._ <br />The Houlton Block and Jackson Street, ca. 1910. Photo: MHS. <br />Between ca. 1898 and 1920, two blocks of Main Street parallel to the river developed <br />with a cautious mix of one and two-story brick buildings. After about 1914, Main Street <br />also attracted a new generation of automotive dealers and service garages, gradually <br />replacing liveries and blacksmiths. The Elk Theatre, Sherburne County Farm Bureau, <br />and furniture and general stores were among early tenants on Main Street. The <br />telephone exchange, which was installed in 1902, was housed in the Babcock Store on <br />Jackson Street. A variety of automotive buildings and a new theater (1947) were among <br />additions between the 1920s and 1950. <br />Like periodic fires, highway construction remade downtown Elk River. The <br />construction of the Jefferson Highway in the late teens, and the Highway 10 bypass in <br />the 1940s demolished many downtown landmarks. The present alignment of Highway <br />10 demolished a portion of Jackson Street, including the handsome Babcock Store. <br />Elk River Historic Contexts Study Draft 412002 <br />22 <br />