The Rostel Building

The Rostel Building, the oldest two-story brick building in Central Point, was initially built in 1889 by John C. Kurth, a cornetist and music teacher, and J.W. Miller, a Medford wagon builder. The failure of an anticipated railroad-associated economic boom, worsened by the national depression of 1893–97, led to insolvency for Kurth and Miller, and lender C.B. Rostel re-acquired the property in 1899. Carl Berthold Rostel, a first-generation German immigrant who newspaper advertisements from the 1880s said had been an “Asst. Surgeon of the General Army,” chose to work as a professional hair cutter; he was a Jacksonville barber, Medford saloon owner, and successful property investor. Between 1906 and 1909, Rostel doubled the building in size and renamed it after himself in 1909. Over many decades, it housed a wide variety of businesses and uses, including dry goods, furniture sales, farm seed and implements, a meat market, and hardware stores. Later owners included W.E. Alexander, who opened its first hardware store in 1937, Tom Vella, founder of Rogue Creamery in 1939, and the McElroy family of Central Point, who maintain it today.

Central Point, Oregon · United States