New Loeb Building

Built after the Great Fire of 1904, this stone-façade building reflected the influence of the new courthouse in the early 1900s, with details including wheat garlands above the second-story windows and a projecting cornice. From its construction onward, it was home to a drug store, first Draper & Loughlin. Around 1907, John Hess, founder of Hess Drug, began working here and later bought the business. In 1945, fire gutted the building, and the Hess family rebuilt it, though the walnut fixtures John Hess had bought at the Saint Louis World’s Fair were lost. The building still contains a working soda fountain installed after the fire.

Albia, Iowa · United States