Pre- and post-Civil War prosperity brought business, housing, and industrial expansion to Newport. Between 1857 and 1876, three-story brick buildings were constructed on each corner of the Square, and they still stand today. The Gantt Hotel at 1875 N. 2nd Street was rebuilt by Jesse L. Gantt after an 1874 fire and, under later owners, became known as the Central, Mingle, Newporter, Newport, and now Senior Apartments. Competition between the Mingle and Graham hotels in the late 1890s led both to install central steam heat, running water, and electric lighting, and these hotels, along with railroad service, attracted many groups to Newport; one 1902 weekend convention of mechanics doubled the town's population. The Miller Hotel at 1871 N. 2nd Street, constructed by Capt. B. F. Miller, became the Graham Hotel in the 1890s, and when the First National Bank purchased it in 1914, it housed two banks, a barber shop, and a jewelry store. The Butz Building at 1857 S. 2nd Street, built by John S. Demaree as the first large building in town, housed Jesse Butz, Jr.'s dry goods and clothing store for decades, with later businesses on the first floor and apartments on the second and third floors. The Centennial Building at 1876 S. 2nd Street was built by John Fleisher and Philip Bosserman on the hundredth anniversary of the nation's independence, and for decades its third story, with sixteen-foot-high ceilings, served as the community's largest public auditorium for traveling productions, local thespians, conferences, and politicians. For almost a century and a half, these corner buildings have provided structural and visual balance for Newport's commercial district.