The Conley–Maass–Downs Building, also called the Maass and McAndrew Company Building, is one of the oldest remaining commercial buildings in

Rochester, Minnesota Rochester is a city in the U.S. state of Minnesota and the county seat of Olmsted County. Located on rolling bluffs on the Zumbro River's south fork in Southeast Minnesota, the city is the home and birthplace of the renowned Mayo Clinic. Ac ...

History

Originally built in 1900 by the Rochester Woolen Mill Co to produce pants made from wool fabric from their mill. The woolen mill company went bankrupt in 1903, and the factory was purchased by the Conley Camera Company (established by

Kerry Conley Kerry Ellsworth Conley (1 September 1866 – 5 March 1924) was Minnesota businessman, civic leader, and politician. Together with his brother Fred, they founded the Conley Camera Company in Spring Valley, Minnesota at 510 Main Street. The brot ...

and his brother Fred) in 1904. The Conley company and the building were featured in the 1908

Sears Sears, Roebuck and Co. ( ), commonly known as Sears, is an American chain of department stores founded in 1892 by Richard Warren Sears and Alvah Curtis Roebuck and reincorporated in 1906 by Richard Sears and Julius Rosenwald, with what began ...

catalog. They remained until 1909 when they moved to a larger facility on the north side of Rochester. Maass & McAndrew Plumbing and Heating purchased the building in 1910 and occupied it until 1955. Maass & McAndrew did much work for the Mayo Clinic and one of the family members, Frederic Maass, worked with

Henry Stanley Plummer Henry Stanley Plummer ( – ) was an American internist and endocrinologist who, along with William Mayo, Charles Mayo, Augustus Stinchfield, E. Starr Judd, Christopher Graham, and Donald Balfour founded Mayo Clinic. Plummer is also immor ...

in designing the

Plummer Building The Plummer Building in Rochester, Minnesota, is one of the many architecturally significant buildings on the Mayo Clinic campus. This new "Mayo Clinic" building, opened in 1928, added much needed space to the ever-expanding Mayo practice. The ...

and later became Chief Engineer at Mayo. It has also housed the

Fraternal Order of Eagles Fraternal Order of Eagles (F.O.E.) is a fraternal organization that was founded on February 6, 1898, in Seattle, Washington, by a group of six theater owners including John Cort (the first president), brothers John W. and Tim J. Considine, Harry ...

Veterans of Foreign Wars The Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW), formally the Veterans of Foreign Wars of the United States, is an organization of US war veterans, who, as military service members fought in wars, campaigns, and expeditions on foreign land, waters, or ...

, the

Loyal Order of Moose The Loyal Order of Moose is a fraternal and service organization founded in 1888 and headquartered in Mooseheart, Illinois. Moose International supports the operation of Mooseheart Child City & School, a community for children and teens ...

The Salvation Army The Salvation Army (TSA) is a Protestant church and an international charitable organisation headquartered in London, England. The organisation reports a worldwide membership of over 1.7million, comprising soldiers, officers and adherents col ...

, Rochester Ballet School, Masque Theatre, and Words Players. In 2016, the new owners Hunter and Traci Downs undertook a $2.2 million restoration project. The main level houses a restaurant called ''The Bleu Duck'' and the upper-level houses commercial office space. In 2021, Google announced occupancy within the commercial office space - marking the first Google location in Minnesota.

References

External links

Conley Maass Downs Building

Conley-Maass-Downs teaser
(Video from December 2015) {{DEFAULTSORT:Conley-Maass Building Buildings and structures in Rochester, Minnesota National Register of Historic Places in Olmsted County, Minnesota