Now that we know about the changes that came to Fallon around the turn of the 20th century, let’s look at some of the buildings on Maine Street (not Main Street; it’s named after the home state of Warren Williams, the man who changed the look of Fallon). We’ll get to see before and after pictures of some of these buildings.
This is the 2001 remodeled courthouse for the county.
And this is what the courthouse looked like before the remodeling. Looks the same!
It’s the only wooden-framed courthouse still in operation in the state.
The local theater, known as the Rex, was built in the early 1900s and still provides entertainment for everyone in the county. On January 3, 1916, it played an important part in promoting the Lincoln Highway by showing a movie made from footage of the highway’s construction.
Originally the theater only had one large seating area. After its remodel, it has two theaters that show movies today.
Never heard of this movie, but it sure has some high-power actors from back in the day. Too bad we’ll miss the showing!
Seems like every small town wants to have a fraternal hall. This one was built in 1927 and served the Masons, Eastern Star, Odd Fellows, Rebekahs, Knights of Pythias, Pythian Sisters, and the Fallen Eagles in a room on the second floor. This second-floor room spanned the alley and provided a large space for dancing.
In later years it was a skating rink and a garment factory.
This alley view shows the large second floor of the fraternal hall.
The post office moved into this building in 1929 and is still beautiful being built to U.S. Postal Service standards. The current post office, built in 1978, is across the street and has only a functional look.
Its single entry door protected the inside from the weather.
today’s front view
and the side view
Entry way has 1 window for buying stamps, 1 window for mailing packages, etc., making for shorter lines. Carved wood and marble flooring make this a beautiful building that currently houses social services offices for the county.
To the right of the entry way is the room with the mailboxes. Isn’t the wood beautiful even after all these years?
The postmaster’s office housed the safe.
As we walked on from the post office, we saw this beautifully curved corner. Those who poured the concrete were artists.
We don’t know what this saddlery shop was originally, but we laughed at the jokes in the window.
“If attacked by a mob of clowns, go for the juggler!” “If you ever find yourself in a hole, the first thing to do is to stop digging.”
After walking around in the heat, we were ready for lunch.
The Courtyard Cafe & Bakery has good food but be prepared to wait for it! A couple of female sailors (out of uniform but had their hair done in the navy way) had dessert while waiting for their lunch. A backwards lunch; good idea!
inside of the cafe, pretty busy!
Outside on the courtyard we saw this group of men holding satellite-looking phones. When we asked them what they were doing, they said they were taking a course on communicating with airplanes that was sponsored by the Courtyard Cafe. Sure enough, many of them had naval haircuts, and some looked like they could be in special forces with long hair and beards. The man we talked to said I could take a picture as long as I didn’t show faces, so don’t look closely!
This ended our walking tour but not our day exploring. We figure that any town that has a walking tour and a brochure describing what we’re seeing is really proud of its past, present, and future.
