199 N Belknap St 

Built of brick between 1902 and 1921 on the southeast corner of W. Mason St. and N. Belknap Ave., this building has a  stucco-covered façade. It features two storefronts facing west, each with a large bay of fixed metal windows and a glass  door. Owners added connecting metal shed awnings across the tops of both bays. It was first built as an auto repair shop  with a concrete floor on the north side and a restaurant and meat market on the south side. The north side of the  building along Mason St. has a parapet that steps down to the rear or east elevation. The building has a flat roof that  drains to the rear.  By 1930, owners cut a concave bay in the building at the corner of Mason and Belknap and created a filling station and  garage with iron columns and a capacity of 40 cars. They also added gas-stove heat and electric lights to the building.  By 1949, this building became two retail shops and the filling-station bay was filled in to create two slightly concave  bays leading to the corner. Today, the walls meet at the corner at a 90-degree angle flush with the sidewalks.  In 1940, this building was home to Rivers Gift Shop, and, in March 1963, it was “modernized” to accommodate a  Montgomery Ward catalog store, which is probably when it acquired its current façade appearance. The Virgil Gunn  Construction company gave the store a “modern front, display windows, new lighting system, heat control and all other  modern facilities,” according to the Stephenville Empire Tribune.  By 1930, the south half of this building became an early movie theater and by 1940, it was known as the  Palace Theater. Today, each storefront has four bays, with one entry on the north side storefront and two on the south.  The bays on the north half of the building are filled with larger plate-glass windows that extend almost to ground level. Above both storefronts is a common metal awning. The brick on the façade, or west elevation, has been painted white,  and atop the building’s upper wall is a stair-stepped parapet.