A building at 427 River Street, the west half of the current structure, was built in the summer of 1883 for a prominent Manistee jeweler whose business stood two doors west at the corner of River and Oak Streets. Construction of the 24 x 90 building began in August and was completed in November. Abel S. Haines, known as "the dry goods king," was the first occupant, but his dry goods business was short-lived there. In 1885, A.H. Lyman's expanding wholesale and retail drug business moved in. Manistee's rapid growth during the 1880's created a need for more space, and in 1892 the adjacent store at 425 River Street was taken over for the business's book and stationary department. That building, owned by R.R. Blacker, had been built in 1885. After a fire in the basement of the Lyman Company in April of 1886 caused smoke and water damage to the stock, Blacker offered Lyman use of 425 River Street, then recently completed, until repairs could be made. By the mid 1890's, the Lyman Company had become the largest drug firm north of Grand Rapids, supplying goods to places as far away as Petoskey and Midland. In 1896, Asashel H. Lyman died of pneumonia, and the business was continued by his pharmacists, Leonard Short and Frank W. White, Manistee's first graduate pharmacist. Short remained in the business until his death in 1940 and White until his death in 1952. White's family continued the book and school supply store until 1957, and in 1960 they gave the building to the Manistee County Historical Museum.