Mason was once a Ranck town (spelled R-a-n-c-k) due to the efforts of an early booster, James Ranck. Ranck came to Mason in about 1860. He said that he arrived while Robert E. Lee was still the commander at Fort Mason, which you can see on the hill behind you, over the top of the beautiful deodar cedar tree in front of the Bill Martin House (see #6.). Ranck was the first Mason County resident to own land on the Square.

With his partner and brother-in-law, William P. Lockhart, Ranck owned the north side of the Square. This building at the northwest corner of the Square was erected about 1875 and is one of the oldest surviving buildings on the Square. James Ranck built his store on this corner because he liked the large live oaks, which grew in the area then. The store had living quarters on the second floor, and both the Rancks and the Lockharts lived upstairs. In 1886 a wedding reception reported to total 1,000 guests was held upstairs. Surely they all did not arrive at the same time! Anna Martin started her Commercial Bank here in 1901. She had paid $4,600 for the building and its contents in 1893.

A wood frame addition to the west was removed in 1986, and the ground was littered with square nails. Now, this space houses an antique store filled with antiques, collectibles and treasures.