Small Building

102 West Canal Street

Built: 1880s

Style: Italianate

The Enoch P. Small family used this structure in the 1880s as Small & Company's flour and feed store, which served as an outlet for Upper Union Mills, operated by the Smalls. Mr. Small is known to have installed the first roller mill ever used in Wabash County. Theodore Small expanded the operation in the 1890s to include groceries. His sons, Goldwin and Garl, continued the business until the 1940s.

The construction year of this brick two-story commercial building is unknown, but it owes its style to an 1884 renovation. Before its corner was changed in 1884 to the diagonal entryway seen today, the Small Building was originally four bays wide along Canal Street. Typical of the Italianate style, popular in Wabash during the 1860s through the 1880s, the tall, slender windows are adorned by stamped metal caps. The four-petal flowers and decorative brackets along the cornice also exemplify this style.