The A.E. Stitt Company, one of the early businesses to usher in the automobile era in Hastings, moved its automobile dealership in 1926 to the first floor of the newly built Stitt Building at Third Street and St. Joseph Avenue. The second floor early housed the Chamber of Commerce headquarters and radio station KFKX, and the Hastings Daily Tribune occupied the building from June 1934 until April 1939. The Stitt Company had entered the automobile business in 1908 and sold cars at several locations before the building was constructed, offering makes that included Brush, Chalmers, Lexington, Hudson, Essex, Studebaker, DeSoto, Reo, and Saxon. Automobile sales ended before World War II, and from 1940 to 1967 the company operated a furniture store in the building. Designed by architect Marcus L. Evans, the two-story building featured upper-story bays on the three street-facing corners, Flemish bond brick on the upper bays, and plate glass windows along the street level. The bay at Third Street and St. Joseph Avenue was more elaborately embellished with wide center bands of art glass below the Flemish bond brick, and the tiled roof had four skylights, each measuring 8 by 15 feet. Later modernization removed the bays, art glass, and skylights.