06/13/2026
This building sold gasoline, buggies, and harvesting machines before your grandparents were born.
It sits on the corner of Center Street and US 40 in downtown Plainfield. In 1893, it was home to the Independent Order of Odd Fellows Lodge No. 233. The third floor was added shortly after and used as a dining room. By the turn of the century, a hardware store moved in downstairs selling White Rose gasoline, Osborne harvesting machines, and J.I. Case buggies right out the front door. In the early 1900s, the dining hall was feeding boys from the Indiana Boys School.
That's over 130 years of history in one building.
Somewhere along the way, the windows got covered. Walls went up over the original openings. The rooms upstairs hadn't seen natural daylight since the 1960s.
BGW Construction partnered with the Town of Plainfield on the revitalization of this building. On the outside, we gave it a facelift...new windows, paint, trim, and new millwork on the bottom area below the awning. On the inside, we cleaned up decades of patchwork and opened up the spaces that had been closed off for over half a century. When those new windows went in and daylight hit those floors for the first time in 60 years, that was the moment.
We build kitchens, additions, & exotic outdoor living areas every day. But this kind of project reminds you why you got into construction in the first place. You're not tearing something down and starting over. You're honoring what was there and giving it a reason to stand for another century.
The building is now home to The Side Door Pub. New chapter. Same bones.
Thank you to Discover Downtown Plainfield Indiana for sharing the historical photos and the research on this building's story. Thank you Stephens Painting for finishing up the exterior paint.
If you grew up in Plainfield, you've probably walked past this corner a thousand times. I'd love to hear what you remember about it.
