A limestone building in Decorah, built in 1855 by early settler William Painter, is one of the town's oldest structures and has served over time as a home, bakery, grocery store, and chiropractor's office before becoming part of the Vesterheim Museum for offices and meeting space. Constructed of native limestone from a nearby quarry, it reflects a vernacular Greek Revival style popular in the United States from 1820-1860, with a low-pitched roof, broken pediment in the gable area, flat stone lintels over symmetrically placed windows, reinforced stone quoins at the corners, and later rear additions in locally manufactured brick; a horse watering trough stood at the rear before another addition was built in the 1990s. In 1895 George Bernatz began a grocery business in the Painter building, selling groceries, flour, feed, hay, and many other goods, and later worked with his sons Frank and Albert "Babe" Bernatz; after George sold the business to them in 1923, they operated the store together until 1968. Farm customers traded eggs for groceries, and the eggs were candled for quality before credit was given; the store also sold syrup, apples, pears, pickles, sugar, canned goods, potatoes, vinegar, bananas, milk, cream, sausages, meats, candy, and kerosene, while orders were filled at the counter or delivered by the owners' sons in boxes or bushel baskets by Model A truck. George and his brother Anthony also purchased the Ice Cave Mill in 1884 and the Heivly Mill, later known as the Bernatz Stone Mill, in 1890, where flour and animal feed were ground; George later sold his share to Anthony, and as a groceryman, miller, and engineer he helped build the West Main Street and Ice Cave Dams to direct water to power the mills' grinders. Although the West Main Street Dam was destroyed by high water in 1949 and the Ice Cave Mill was lost to fire, both dams were credited with helping check floods in Decorah, and the Bernatz Stone Mill still stands as part of the Vesterheim Museum complex. The business extended credit, practiced barter with local tradesmen, collected ration stamps during World War II, and survived a 1935 holdup in which a robber forced Albert "Babe" Bernatz to empty the register and open the safe but escaped with only a small amount of change and was never caught.