The first building constructed in Hawthorne was a remnant of the narrow-guage Carson & Colorado Railroad, which was built south from Mound House in 1881. Railroad officials created the town from the desert when the first lots were auctioned off on April 14, 1881. The line was later extended into Owens Valley, California, and service to Hawthorne ended when the town was bypassed in 1905. In later years, the building served as a general store, a bar, and restaurant with a bingo parlor and a banquet hall until it was acquired by the Hawthorne Elks Lodge in 1946.