The building where our shop is located is listed on the National Register of Historical Places.  It was originally constructed  as two separate buildings that were later connected as one.  The frame portion is one of Amana’s oldest buildings, and was probably built shortly after the arrival of the first work crews in 1855.  The sandstone section was built about 1857 and served as Amana’s first meeting house/church.

    This building and the High Amana church carry the only two known vertical sun dials to be found in Amana.   This style of sun dial is very rare in the U.S. and occasionally found in Europe.  Representatives from each colonial village, known as the ‘Committee of 47’, had their first meeting here to determine whether or not to continue the communal way of life.  Known as “the great change” in 1932, the Amana colonies abandoned 89 years of communal tradition and formed a profit-sharing joint stock corporation, the Amana Society.

    After “the great change” in 1932, the Amana Society sold the building to a family who lived here for approximately the next 50 or so years.  There were three separate living quarters in the building at one time.  It has also housed various businesses, including a shoemaker’s shop during Amana’s communal living (pre-1932), a couple of book shops and since 1983, The Olde World Lace Shoppe.