This former drugstore’s two-story ashlar sandstone facade set the character for new masonry construction after the arrival of the railroad and the emergence of Chadbourne Street as the city’s main commercial artery. The store possesses arched second-floor windows and a first-floor storefront with a pressed-metal cornice by Mesker Brothers and cast-iron pilasters by the Christopher and Simpson Company of St. Louis, materials newly available on the railroad. Brothers R. E. and J. W. Harris established the pharmacy, which operated here for over a century. Z. D. Gafford was hired as the contractor for the building and probably brought on Oscar Ruffini as architect. The same year, the pair also designed and built the Sutton County Courthouse (RB6). The stonework is attributed to German-born mason John Willeke.
Ruffini also designed the adjacent S. A. Runkles Building (1900) at number 116, which was a near match to the Harris building but has lost its iron storefront and pressed metal cornice. The J. J. Rackley Building (1888; 118 S. Chadbourne) is four windows wide but possesses a system of pilasters that modulate the wall planes (later stuccoed). Storefront and cornice are gone, but the second-floor windows retain Italianate shawl lintels.