For several decades, one of the most important and busy Willimantic locations was the vicinity of Lincoln Square. Older residents will remember how it was dominated by several large brick structures such as the H.C. Murray Building, the Turner and Commercial Blocks (destroyed in the St. Valentine’s Day fire), and what was left of the Lincoln Furniture Building. On the south side of Main Street were the Basset’s Block, the Union Block and today’s focus, the Jordan Block. In 1849, with the coming of the railroad, land on the south side of Main Street began to be developed. A good deal of the land on both sides of what is now Railroad Street was owned by Col. Jesse Spafford who sold a large part of this tract to the new railroad.  Edwin Hamlin bought another piece of land from Spafford. This piece had been the site of the engine house of the original fire company in Willimantic which had been disbanded in 1850. In 1869, Hamlin built a two-story building containing four small stores on the lot which now became 96-108 Main Street wand was known as the Hamlin Block.. Hamlin sold boots, shoes and leather goods. Other businesses in the block were the Sessions Company Dry Goods Store, an undertaker, and  Miss H. Brainerd’s Millinery Shop. In 1887, Marshall Tilden bought the building from Hamlin, who then moved his business further up Main Street.   Tilden then moved his stock from the Cushman Building (later the Lincoln Furniture building) and took over the whole Main Street building except for some offices on the second floor. With his business increasing by leaps and bounds, Tilden decided to remodel,  to add two stories  and practically rebuilt the whole building. When it was finished in 1894 it was said to be, “the most ornamental four story-block in the city and decidedly the largest on the ground”. The grand opening was on December 4, 1894. Tilden’s was now a department store and Tilden advertised that his business could, ”furnish a house completely from cellar to attic and our prices are as low as the lowest, either on the installment plan or for cash”. The building itself became a sought-after location and it was soon filled with tenants including the Crescent Library Club, the Natchaug Lodge of the Knights of Pythias, the Obwebetuck Lodge of the International Order of Odd Fellows, Mrs. Fryer’s Tailor Shop and several offices. The basement was fully utilized as well. It was home to a billiards room a bottling works and the saloon of Samuel Trimble. In March, 1906, the Tilden Block became the new Post Office quarters. Public opinion was mixed since the office’s location on North Street was felt to be more convenient and local merchants felt that the Tilden Block was “more out of the way”. But the new quarters were said to be better for the postal workers who now had more space in which to work. But Willimantic folks now worried that this might preclude the city from getting a new Post Office building. By the end of May, 1906, in what was considered to be “one of the largest real estate deals in this city”, the Jordan Brothers  (Fred D Jordan, William P. Jordan) and James H. Hurley committed to the purchase the Tilden Block. The Jordans and Hurley were the largest wholesale and retail dealers in Eastern Connecticut. Their building was just east of the Tilden Block. The price of the sale was $47,500 and  the building had been valued at only between $35,000 and $40,000. The deal was closed in November,1906.  Within a week, workmen began altering the building, “so as to have it arranged for the extensive business of the Jordan Brothers’ Hardware Store” which would then occupy the main part of the building. A story in the Chronicle said that the Jordan Hardware Company was quite successful and that “its business has maintained a steady and uniform growth, albeit a rapid one, and its trade, covering a wide radius of territory in addition to the city proper, promises well for the future. Of course we know that in 1916, a disastrous fire destroyed the building. Undaunted, the Jordans rebuilt the following year but then, in 1925, they sold their business to Alton Weatherhead and now focused their attention on the Jordan Auto Company which they had established in 1919.