BY CLYDE R NELSON Executive director, merrill area chamber of commerce On Thursday, Oct. 14, 2021, the Merrill Area Chamber of Commerce held its Annual Celebration and Awards Banquet to honor those businesses that were voted on by its 200 plus members for their contributions to the Merrill Area. This year’s event was held at Northwoods Veterans post with over 150 members, employees, and guests in attendance. Those in attendance were entertained by the Chamber’s very own Ken Neff, serving as emcee. At this year’s banquet, the Merrill Area Chamber of Commerce honored winners from 2020 and 2021. The various […]
5:36 The words “Mellen State Bank” are etched into the sandstone façade over which Jeff Peters ran his right hand on Tuesday.
“It feels like history,” he said. “It almost feels like the history of connecting this area.”
A sandstone quarry on Basswood Island in the Apostle Islands, circa 1894.
Credit Jeff Peters
Those carved words and the one-story façade look just like they did when the Mellen State Bank opened in 1902.
The sandstone was quarried on Basswood Island in the Apostle Islands, the same sandstone used to build fashionable brownstone homes in East Coast cities.
The sandstone facade of Mellen State Bank.