Bank of Memories & Flowers Building History

One of the most historically significant buildings in downtown Menomonee Falls is the C.W. Fraser Building located at the corner of Main Street and Appleton Avenue.

The building was designed by Charles C. Anderson, a prominent Waukesha architect, and was constructed by Cameron W. Fraser, a local business man, the editor and publisher of the Menomonee Falls News, and a former Waukesha Country Clerk of Courts.  Erected for speculative purposes in 1901, the Fraser building is the Village’s finest example of the turn-of-the-century commercial type building designed in Romanesque Revival style architecture.

The Fraser building housed several important Village institutions, including the community’s first bank—the Citizen’s State Bank of Menomonee Falls—the Post Office, the office of the Menomonee Falls News, and the Menomonee Falls Telephone Company.  In these capacities, the Fraser building functioned as the communication hub of the Village for several decades.

The building was remodeled and restored in 1988, with more recent remodeling completed in the fall of 2004.  The second floor of the building is currently occupied by Capital Dental Lab.  The first floor is the home of the Bank of Memories & Flowers, a full-service floral and gift shop. One of the original bank vaults has been transformed into a fresh flower walk-in cooler and the other vault which still has the original vault door hold storage.   Owner Melissa Maas enjoys giving tours to her customers.  There is also a small collection of the buildings historic memorabilia displayed at the shop.

Original Builder

Mr. & Mrs. C. W. Fraser on their

back porch of their Main Street home.