STEVE HANKEN:This card shows the First Street entrance to the downstairs opera house of the building that also housed the high school (left side of the photo).
The building opposite on the corner is McNeill's Hardware Store. (The one with the ice cream cone top). I believe that the building suffered a major fire in 1902, but continues to stand to this day and is still in the McNeill family name. Next to the McNeill Hardware Store to the east is Stuhler's Clothing and Shoe store, a long-time merchant family in Monticello. Currently it is still partly a clothing store, but mainly an antique and collectible business and no Stuhler remains in business in Monticello. I remember purchasing my Red Goose Shoes there and getting my golden egg that was filled with kid stuff. I also remember the x-ray machine that stood just inside the door that anybody who took a notion could stick their feet into and look at the bones through their shoes! A wonder of science in its day! No longer legal I might add!