Rynearson Block

504, 506, 508 N Fourth Street, Red Oak, Iowa 51566

Year Built:

1876

Architect:

Unknown

Style:

Italianate

History

Modifications: 1881 expanded and remodeled for Opera House. Stone belt course with dentils removed along the middle and south bays sometime before 1930s and along the north bay sometime after 1960. Storefront remodeled sometime before 1930. At unknown dates storefronts remodeled again. In 2014, building owners received a CDBG grant to carry out facade improvements. Work included new storefronts, reopening second floor window openings and installing new windows, new awnings and cornice restoration.

Height: Two story.

Walls: Brick.

Storefront: Metal windows and doors, transoms covered, new masonry.

Windows: Most covered with shutters, 3 visible are wood 1/1 double hung windows.

Stylistic features: Tall, narrow window openings with masonry sills and elaborate window hoods, decorative brickwork, detailed cornice with corbels and dentil molding, arched windows with stone keystones and sills at 1st and 2nd floors on north (secondary) facade.

Past Businesses

504 N Fourth St
c.1881-1909 Rynearson Opera House – 2nd Fl
1886-1891 Clothing Store
1896-1908 Shank & Ellett (Drugs)
1917-1951 Beardsley & Wolfe Druggists
1955-1972 McKenzie Drug Store
1972 John Ross
1972 J.J. Skellenberg

506 N Fourth St
c.1881-1909 Rynearson Opera House – 2nd Fl
1896-1899 Post Office, W.W. Merritt, P.M.
1901 A.E. Jackson, Billiard Hall – 2nd Fl
1913-1919 Samson Hardware
1909-1919 Leo V. Myers & Son (Furniture)
1919 Wenstrand Hardware Co.
1919-1924 Cooper-West Furniture
1927-1972 Green Parrot Tea Room
1955 R.F. Mills Optometrists – 2nd Fl

508 N Fourth St
1886-1891 Post Office
1896 Gordon Brothers Groceries
1896 O.G. Howard Real Estate – 2nd Fl
1905 H.R. Christy Hardware
1907-1908 J.F. Latimer Hardware

Explore the historical fabric of downtown Red Oak

73 Historical Buildings, 1 Historical Site, and 8 Historical Objects.

The Red Oak Downtown Historic District has a story to tell. Each individual building itself might not have a depth of historical value, but the woven fabric threaded between each building by commerce, community, fire, and war decorates a story that must be shared.

Inside of a downtown business

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