F.A. Schnabel had this two-story brick building constructed in 1897 to 1899 for a total cost of $6,000. Schnabel
personally hauled the brick for this building to Stephenville from the Thurber manufacturing plant. In October 1899, the Erath Appeal wrote, “F.A. Schnabel’s new building is being built as rapidly as a large force of workmen can raise the walls. It will be one of Stephenville’s most beautiful business houses and will add a great deal to the appearance of the town.” Located on the southwest corner of the intersection of W. Washington St. and S. Belknap Ave., this building originally featured a decorative brick parapet that wrapped around the northeast corner of the building, creating the appearance of a corner tower. This parapet has been removed. The Schnabel building features a lower storefront along S. Belknap Ave. and an upper wall with four narrow arched windows. The building retains its decorative cornice of alternating brick, and its arched window eyebrows, but the windows have been filled with stucco material. Below the windows is a band of limestone visually separating the two parts of the building. Below the band, some of the original storefront has been filled with stucco and contemporary brick, but it retains its original corner entry. The north elevation of the building along W. Washington St. has a narrow band of contemporary brick veneer along the sidewalk and a band of brick that has been painted. Within the painted band, three porthole windows have been added. There is an original
arched entry at the west end of the north elevation. The second floor of the north elevation features a row of 13 arched windows with their original eyebrows. The windows have been enclosed with stucco material.
This building housed drugstores from 1899 until 1994, and the Texas Historical Commission in 2009 approved a subject marker about the history of Stephenville Drugstores that stands at this site. A Rexall Drugstore sign from the 1960s still hangs from the corner of the building.