| Additional Information: | A BRICK, TWO-STORY COMMERCIAL BRICK STRUCTURE WITH A FLAT SLOPING ROOF THAT HAS STONE SILLS AT THE FRONT AND SIDE AND FLAT STONE LINTELS IN THE FRONT THREE-FOURTHS OF THE SIDE ELEVATION, HOWEVER, THE FRONT FACADE APPARENTLY WAS ALTERED TO A PLAIN BRICK FACADE WITH AN UNADORNED, NARROW CORNICE ACROSS THE TOP. THE STORE FRONT HAS BEEN ALTERED FOR CONTEMPORARY USE.
THE PALACE DRUG WAS QUOTED TO BE "THE OLDEST DRUG HOUSE IN THE COUNTY."D AS A DRUG STORE FOR OVER THIRTY YEARS AND ONE OF THE EARLIEST COMMERCIAL STRUCTURES ON MAIN STREET, IT IS HISTORICALLY RELATED TO THE DEVELOPMENT OF DARLINGTON'S COMMERCIAL DISTRICT.
THIS BUILDING DATES PRIOR TO 1884. THE BUILDING MAY DATE AS EARLY AS 1858 WHEN DR. CHARLES G. OTIS ESTABLISHED A DRUG STORE IN DARLINGTON AND CONTINUED THE BUSINESS UNTIL HIS DEATH IN 1870.(H) ADS IN THE NEWSPAPERS DURING THE 1870S LIST THE OTIS BROTHERS SONS OF DR. CHARLES OTIS AS THE PROPRIETORS.(C) THE OTIS BROTHERS, DENNISON AND JAMES, SOLD THEIR DRUG BUSINESS TO HENRY VAN EAGENEN IN THE SPRING OF 1878, AND THEY BECAME ASSOCIATED WITH THE LAFAYETTE COUNTY BANK.(H,I)
VAN WAGENEN AND HIS SON WERE IN THE DRUG BUSINESS FOR OVER TWENTY-FIVE YEARS. HENRY VAN WAGENEN, A PHYSICIAN AND PHARMACIST, CAME TO DARLINGTON IN 1870 AND ENGAGED IN THE DRUG BUSINESS.(E) HE WAS ORIGINALLY LOCATED IN THE BUILDING NO SLEEP'S DRUG STORE (LT 27-4). WHEN HE BOUGHT THE "OLD PALACE DRUG STORE" IN 1878, HE MOVED HIS BUSINESS TO THIS BUILDING.(H) VAN WAGENEN AND HIS SON, EVERETT WHO LATER JOINED THE FIRM REMAINED IN THIS BUILDING TO ABOUT THE TURN OF THE CENTURY.(A,B) WHILE VAN WAGENEN OPERATED THE STORE, IT BECAME A VARIETY STORE AS WELL AS DRUG STORE.(D)
ABOUT 1900 THE VAN WAGENEN'S MOVED THEIR BUSINESS BACK DOWN TO THE OLD STORE AND FOR A FEW YEARS THE BUILDING BECAME THE POST OFFICE.(A)
ABOUT 1908 CHARLES FRANZ, A JEWELER AND WATCHMAKER, PURCHASED THE BUILDING AND OPENED A JEWELRY STORE.(A,B) ROBERT FRANZ, HIS SON, TOOK OVER THE BUSINESS LATER AND ADDED AN OPTOMETRY DEPARTMENT. THE JEWELRY WAS LATER DISCONTINUED AND BECAME SOLELY AN OPTOMETRY,(B) AND THE FOUNDING FIRM OF THE PRESENT EYE CARE CENTER.
THE UPPER STORY WAS UTILIZED BEGINNING IN THE 1920S AS PHYSICIANS OFFICES.(B) TWO WOMEN PHYSICIANS, DR. JEAN COOKE AND DR. SUZANNE ORTON HAD THEIR OFFICES ON THE SECOND FLOOR.(G) A CHIROPRACTOR, EDWARD TORGESON, ALSO HAD HIS OFFICE ON THE UPPER STORY IN THE MID-1920S.(G)
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| Bibliographic References: | SANBORN-PERRIS MAP, DARLINGTON, 1884, 1889, 1894, 1900, 1908, 1915, 1924.
KENNETH SCHREITER, INTERVIEW, 1-10-83.
"DARLINGTON REPUBICAN," JANUARY 11, 1873.
IBID., JANUARY 7, 1881.
C.W. BUTTERFIELD, "HISTORY OF LAFAYETTE COUNTY," 1881, P. 732.
"WISCONSIN STATE GAZETTEER," 1911, P. 208; 1919-20, P. 268; 1924-25, P. 293.
"WISCONSIN STATE GAZETTEER," 1919-20, P. 267; 1924-25, P. 292-293.
BUTTERFIELD, P. 725-726.
"DARLINGTON REPUBLICAN," JANUARY 4, 1878.
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