O.O. Hodson Building

Address: 300 NE Third Street
Construction Date: ca. 1901
Current Business: Willamette Valley Tasting Room
Historic Name/Use: O. O. Hodson Building
Significance: O.O Hodson Building
Style of Architecture: Italianate

1901: Constructed
1902: Tin Hardware Store
1928: Confectioner and grocer
1945: Standards Grocery
1950s: Kings Market
ca. late 1950s: Piggly Wiggly
ca. 1960s: Town Grocery
1970–1984: Sears Roebuck and All State Insurance Co.
1993: Anderson Art Gallery
2015: Willamette Valley Vineyards Tasting Room

This two-story brick structure, originally known as the O.O Hodson Building, is stuccoed and scored with horizontal lines. The original façade on the ground floor has been replaced with large plate glass aluminum frame store windows and a recessed entrance.

The O.O Hodson Building was constructed between 1901 and 1902 for O. Orville Hodson, who had a tin and hardware business. Hodson came to Oregon in 1878 from Indiana where he was born. Orville’s father, H. H. Hodson came with his son to McMinnville and bought a hardware business. H.H Hodson became sole owner of the business in 1888, and is said to have constructed many of the metalwork cornices in McMinnville’s downtown commercial area. Some of these decorative cornices have since been removed. This building was occupied by a grocer and confectioner in 1928.

One of the most unique features of this building is on the second floor where there is an authentic wooden flywheel used to operate the elevator. Today, Willamette Valley Vineyards Tasting Room is located on the ground floor and is a perfect stop on your historic walking tour.

Primary Significant Contributing: Structures are classified as Primary Significant if they were built in or before 1912, or reflect the building styles, traditions, or patterns of structures typically constructed before this date. These buildings represent the primary period of construction and development in downtown McMinnville from initial settlement in 1881 to 1912, when city improvements and use of the Oregon Electric and Southern Pacific Railroad service promoted new construction in the downtown area.