The row of buildings known as Stamper Block took its name from George W. Stamper, a prominent merchant who owned most of them at one time or another. Most of the buildings were constructed in the 1870–1880 era. The corner building on this site was once the Petroleum House Hotel, built by the Stricklett brothers in the 1860s and destroyed by fire in the late 1860s or 1870s. Its name reflected the local oil boom that followed shortly after the Civil War, when many speculators stayed there. For more than 130 years, these buildings have housed a variety of businesses.