Constructed as a new business center, the Congdon McIntyre Building housed 31 spacious, well-lighted and ventilated offices and rooms equipped with modern conveniences. Pharmacists Congdon and McIntyre moved their drug store business there from North Hibbing in November 1921. Thomas C. Congdon, born in New York, came to Hibbing in 1902 and opened a drug store on Pine Street. He was a civic activist who served on the Library Board, Kiwanis Club, and Commercial Club, and he was active in the Ancient Accepted Scottish Rite Mason and the Mystic Shrine. Early occupants of the building included the McIntyre Pharmacy, Sapero's Style Shop, dental offices of Dr. William E. Monroe and Dr. H.J. MacKechnie, Lute Hatnilton's tailor shop, Lydia Gonska's Lynden Beauty Parlor, the Sather and Robideau Barber Shop, Samson Brothers Confectionary, the Vanity Fair Gift Shop, and Victor Johnson's law office. Jeweler and silversmith Paul E. Teske founded Teske Jewelry in Hibbing in 1931, and it became one of the city's longest continuous businesses.