The combination home and store that stood here was built in 1881 by Thomas Fardon, a New England colonist from Deering, Maine, who became well known in Rugby as proprietor of the Rugby Drug Supply, editor of the Rugby newspaper for a year and a half, and an active member of the Rugby Public Purposes Association and other community institutions. He also operated a "Rugby Library" from his store, charging 5c per book or magazine until the Thomas Hughes Public Library opened. His editorial voice was often anglophobic toward the English colonists, negative toward the English Board of Aid's management of the colony, and occasionally toward Thomas Hughes himself. His store advertisements offered kitchen needs such as Fardon's Family Baking Powder along with drugs and chemicals including Roback's Blood Purifier, Pinkham's Compound, Ayers Pills, Bulls Worm Candy, and Swayne's Ointment, as well as perfumery and other family requisites. Fardon left Rugby in 1885 to return to Maine after leasing the home and store to Charles Skene, who operated the post office there for a time. Although Fardon advertised the property for sale in 1887 at a low price, deed records show he did not sell it until 1895. The building, which housed Fardon's drug supply, newspaper office, and home, later burned in the early decades of the 20th century, but for a time it was one of early Rugby's more than 50 substantial and attractive buildings.