Metcalfe Block

Metcalfe block was the first commercial block built in 1854 by Benjamin Drake. It housed the city's first manufacturing business, Alexander Love's furniture business, which closed in 1867. Over the years, it has been housed various other businesses, including the Roe Brothers' merchants (1854), the Roadnight hotel, and Goulding and Rosenberger's Montreal House Clothing Store. Faded remnants of a sign can still be seen on the east side of the building. The block also features the three rings design of the IOOF Oddfellows and served as their meeting site. The middle section burned down, but the two outer sections are still standing. Notably, this building was the site of a body-snatching. The body of Mrs. Samuel Paddon was found hidden in a closet in the Oddfellows hall after her grave had been found empty. Five men studying medicine under local physician Dr. C.B. Hall had taken the body to study anatomy. Once suspected of the crime, they fled the area.