About a month ago this column featured Albert Lea’s large building across from the post office which has had at least six historic names, and coincidentally still has six stories or floors.

Since that time I’ve received a long poem based on the building’s exodus in 1965 which was written by the late Rudolph &uot;Rudy&uot; Hanson, plus doing further research on the structure’s former tenants.

It may now be hard to comprehend, but in early 1965 what was then known as the Hyde Building was a major center for medical practitioners, financial and insurance services, three organizations, and quite a variety of business and consumer type ventures. And among those tenants were a pair of lawyers, Hanson and Grinley, in Rooms 234-38

Hanson’s poem, provided by Mark Jones, is 15 stanzas long. Rather than trying to reproduce Hanson’s literary creation, we’ll just be more specific regarding some of the building’s tenants who were part of the 1965 exodus.

One of the most interesting folks featured in his poem was Finn A. Nannested, an insurance agent and outstanding member of Lions International. (He was once honored for signing up over 300 new members for this organization.)

Another insurance agent Hanson mentions in his poem is E.H. &uot;Roosie&uot; Ruhsam.

This poem inspired me to do further research into finding out exactly who were the tenants in this big building. In my column on Aug. 5, I mentioned Leo Carey Post 56 of the American Legion (first floor), Council 1509 of the Knights of Columbus (basement), and Lodge 813 of the Elks Club (sixth or top floor). Now here are more specific names for some of those other tenants.

The 1965 city directory shows the following doctors with offices in the Hyde building: Wallace Winegar (chiropractor), Clarence Watland (dentist), Frank W Calhoun (physician), Freeman L. Blunt (dentist), Niles R. Shoff (chiropractor), John H. Voss ( osteopath), Kenneth E. Paul (podiatrist), Roger M. Truax (optometrist), and Louis H. Kuchera (osteopath). Arthur L. Arnold Jr. is also listed as a physician and evidently affiliated with the Southern Minnesota Mental Health Center.

King Optical Co. was listed as being in Room 410.

The next largest listing was for insurance, investments and real estate. Also, several of the individuals listed were involved in more than one activity. In 1965 they were:

Robert W. Sherman, Ransom Insurance Agency, Conn Realty & Insurance Co., Carl Hillstrom Agency (real estate), Alva C. Jensen Realtor, R. Earl Warner Realtor, Gus A. Wangen (insurance), and Nannested.

Under the category of accountants were Anthon G. Thorgorson and Bertram Cooper in separate offices..

Lawyers with offices in this building, in addition to Hanson and Grinley, were

Courtney A. Slife, Floyd V. Nichols and Jack F. Gillard.

Under the miscellaneous heading were: The Ferguson Co. (advertising), South Central Adjusting Service, Midwest Loan Co., Hillcrest Memorial Gardens, Hyde Building Co., State Farm Insurance (claims office), Professional Audit (collections), Hyde Grill and Turner-Jansma Music Co.

The reason I made this extended listing was to show just how many folks were involved in the big move or exodus which cleared out the Hyde Building when Homer Blake purchased the property in 1965 to make a conversion to his proposed Gateway Motel. The only tenant left in this building by the end of 1965 was Jim’s Barber Shop.

By the way, this building is about 90 years old, and the exodus was 40 years ago.

To conclude this column, here are two prophetic lines from Rudy’s poem which can easily relate to the Lea Center right now;

&uot;… Old buildings are remodeled, there is some new building, too,

Old scenes take on a new look and our eyes another view …&uot;

(Feature writer Ed Shannon’s column appears each Friday.)