70. Early Gambling Den

Location: 252 Butler, Saugatuck

252 Butler when it housed the East of the Sun boutique in 1999.

The notorious Nichols building once stood on the southwest corner of Butler and Hoffman Streets. It served many purposes since it was built for Mr. Nichols meat market in 1869 — including a lunchroom, barber shop, law office, shoe store, tailor, and Woman’s Christian Temperance Union reading room.

By 1888, the building was a house of prostitution, flop house and gambling den. The respectable folks of the community welcomed the demolition of the Nichols building and applauded the “modern” replacement —  Fritz Walz’s Butcher Shop in 1889. In the 1930s, the address had regained some of its notoriety as the lively Log Cabin Tavern.