{"id":288,"date":"2017-08-04T09:40:42","date_gmt":"2017-08-04T14:40:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/nfldhist\/?p=288"},"modified":"2018-12-10T15:13:02","modified_gmt":"2018-12-10T21:13:02","slug":"ebel-block","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/nfldhist\/ebel-block\/","title":{"rendered":"Ebel Block"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"et_d4_element et_pb_section et_pb_section_0  et_pb_css_mix_blend_mode et_section_regular et_block_section\" >\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"et_d4_element et_pb_row et_pb_row_0  et_pb_css_mix_blend_mode et_block_row\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"et_d4_element et_pb_column_4_4 et_pb_column et_pb_column_0  et_pb_css_mix_blend_mode et-last-child et_block_column\">\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"et_pb_module et_d4_element et_pb_text et_pb_text_0  et_pb_text_align_left et_pb_bg_layout_light\">\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"et_pb_text_inner\"><p><strong>Ebel Block<\/strong><\/p><\/div>\n\t\t\t<\/div><div class=\"et_pb_module et_d4_element et_pb_text et_pb_text_1  et_pb_text_align_left et_pb_bg_layout_light\">\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"et_pb_text_inner\"><p><em>Joy Riggs<\/em><\/p><\/div>\n\t\t\t<\/div><div class=\"et_pb_module et_d4_element et_pb_text et_pb_text_2  et_pb_text_align_left et_pb_bg_layout_light\">\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"et_pb_text_inner\"><p>The area on the west bank of the Cannon River where the Ebel Block is located was once a thriving commercial district that contained dozens of stores and service businesses. But when automobile travel replaced passenger train travel in the 1950s, planners rerouted the highway so it paralleled the train tracks. More than thirty buildings on the west side were demolished to make way for it. The Ebel Block and its distinctive next-door neighbor, the State Bank, were spared.<\/p>\n<p>The Ebel Block is a wonderful example of turn-of-the-century commercial architecture. The yellow brick building was named for William Ebel, who moved to Northfield at age 12, shortly after the Civil War ended.<\/p>\n<p>In 1876, the year the James-Younger Gang tried to rob the First National Bank, the 21-year-old Ebel opened a grocery and provisions store. In 1894, he built the first two sections of what became the Ebel Block, replacing the wood-framed building that had stood on the site since the 1860s. A hardware store moved into the north section, and Ebel moved his general merchandise store into the other one. In 1907, he purchased the wooden building to the south, built a third section, and expanded his business once more.<\/p>\n<p>The tall storefronts, with their large windows, let natural light deep into the store and let the public see the variety of goods available inside. The upstairs, occupied by another business or apartments, required tall individual windows, and these balanced the storefronts.<\/p>\n<p>Ebel operated his store for sixty-five years, earning high praise as a businessman. He also served as a member and chair of the Rice County Board of Commissioners and as a member of the Northfield City Council.<\/p>\n<p>Following Ebel\u2019s retirement in 1941 at age 86, a series of commercial businesses occupied the building, including the Anderson Furniture Store, a dry cleaners, a funeral parlor, an early television store, and a Montgomery Ward store.<\/p>\n<p>David Hvistendahl purchased the Ebel Block building in 1998, and it now houses Froggy Bottoms River Pub and Suites and offices of the law firm of Hvistendahl, Moersch, Dorsey &amp; Hahn.<\/p><\/div>\n\t\t\t<\/div><div class=\"et_pb_module et_d4_element et_pb_gallery et_pb_gallery_0  et_pb_bg_layout_light et_pb_gallery_grid\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"et_pb_gallery_items et_pb_grid_items et_post_gallery clearfix\" data-per_page=\"1\"><div class=\"et_pb_gallery_item et_pb_grid_item et_pb_bg_layout_light et_pb_css_mix_blend_mode et_pb_gallery_item_0_0\"><div class=\"et_pb_gallery_image landscape\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/nfldhist\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/1052\/2017\/08\/Ebel_Block.jpg\" title=\"Ebel Block\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"400\" height=\"284\" src=\"https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/nfldhist\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/1052\/2017\/08\/Ebel_Block-400x284.jpg\" alt=\"Ebel Block c. 1980.\" srcset=\"https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/nfldhist\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/1052\/2017\/08\/Ebel_Block.jpg 479w, https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/nfldhist\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/1052\/2017\/08\/Ebel_Block-400x284.jpg 480w\" sizes=\"(max-width:479px) 479px, 100vw\" class=\"wp-image-290\" \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t<span class=\"et_overlay\"><\/span>\n\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div><h3 class=\"et_pb_gallery_title\">Ebel Block<\/h3><p class=\"et_pb_gallery_caption\">The Ebel Block is a wonderful example of turn-of-the-century commerical architecture. 1980.<\/p><\/div><\/div><div class=\"et_pb_gallery_pagination\"><\/div><\/div>\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":1712,"featured_media":290,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"on","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-288","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-downtown-northfield"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/nfldhist\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/1052\/2017\/08\/Ebel_Block.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/nfldhist\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/288","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/nfldhist\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/nfldhist\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/nfldhist\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1712"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/nfldhist\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=288"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/nfldhist\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/288\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":351,"href":"https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/nfldhist\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/288\/revisions\/351"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/nfldhist\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/290"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/nfldhist\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=288"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/nfldhist\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=288"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/nfldhist\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=288"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}