Several important Bowling Green gathering places disappeared after long and varied histories. Alfred Thurstin, one of Bowling Green's earliest settlers, arrived from New York in 1833, bought 109 acres east of what is now Main Street, built one of the first log cabins near the town center, and later helped plat the growing town with his sons, including land he donated for the Wood County Courthouse when the county seat moved from Perrysburg to Bowling Green in 1868-70. In 1887, his son A.A. Thurstin built a brick mansion on East Wooster Street for his widowed sister-in-law Jane Hood; in the 1920's J.F. Deck, his wife Lillian, and daughter Hildreth converted it into a funeral home, and Hildreth later became one of the first female embalmers and funeral directors in the country. The house remained in use by the Deck-Hanneman family until 2006, and after the property was purchased in 2013 by a national pharmacy chain it was demolished. In 1931, a gangster-style shoot-out occurred within a block of the home when Frank Mitchell, known as "Pretty Boy Floyd," and William "Billy the Baby-Faced Killer" Miller were confronted by City Police Chief Carl Galliher and Police Officer Ralph Castner; Miller was killed, Castner was wounded and died a week later, and both men's funeral-related arrangements were connected with the Deck Funeral Home. The Ohio National Guard Armory came to Bowling Green after promotional efforts by the Bowling Green Commercial Club led the State Armory Board to choose the city in 1910. Construction began in 1911, and the building was dedicated on August 19, 1912, with a downtown procession led by 700 Ohio National Guard officers and enlisted men from across the state. Costing $15,000, it served as headquarters of Company H, Second Regiment of the Ohio National Guard, housed the local G.A.R. post and Spanish American War Veteran Camps, and became a popular community space for graduations, basketball games, assemblies, and banquets. In 1914, the first classes for the Bowling Green Normal School, now Bowling Green State University, were held there because the school's classroom buildings were not yet complete. After the National Guard moved in 2005 to new quarters at the Bowling Green Community Center on Newton Road, the Armory was decommissioned, sold, and demolished in 2013. The Bowling Green Y.M.C.A., established in 1907 near the southwest corner of South Prospect and East Wooster Streets, expanded after a 1910 fundraising drive raised $8,400 for a gymnasium and bowling alley. It offered reading and social rooms, Bible classes, baths, suppers, socials, exhibitions, and memberships for boys and adults. On January 10, 1910, thirty-five businessmen met there to establish the Bowling Green Commercial Club, which was credited with bringing new industry to the city and helping finalize plans for the Bowling Green Normal School. The Y.M.C.A. building was sold in 1917 to the interurban for use as a ticket office, later served as offices, was damaged by fire in 1945, and was torn down, leaving the site as an entrance to a city parking lot.