History of the 1106 Broad Street Building

The building now known as the "Antique Emporium", was built in the late Victorian Romanesque style as a 3 story retail/residential building sometime prior to 1884. We know from historical documents and photos that additions extending the building all the way to Ellis Street were constructed between 1884 and 1890, again between 1890 and 1904, and again between 1923 and 1954. Sometime after 1950, a total restructuring of the first floor storefront to a modern metal and plate glass storefront with one large, double glass door was completed. At that time, the large windows on the second floor were removed and their openings filled and covered over by a block and plaster facade.





In 1884 the original structure appeared on the Sanford Fire Maps as a "furniture and dry goods store". The only facts that we know for sure about the life of this structure are that it was a Montgomery Ward Department Store until the Great Depression, became Schneider's Department Store through the 1940's, then became Heilig-Meyers Furniture Store in the 1970's. In the 1990's, after the decline of the downtown area, it was reincarnated as an Antique Store and currently the front of the building bears the name "Antique Emporium". This business moved from the site in 2007.