Gambling that Helena would continue to grow, Eliza Roush purchased this lot and several others in 1869. Her bet paid off, and by 1875, Rodney Street was crowded with buildings, including a small wooden dwelling on this site. A series of wooden structures occupied this corner, and by the time real estate developer Richard Lockey purchased the property in 1895, German immigrant Daniel Bahnsen had opened a dairy here. Like many Rodney Street business owners, he lived on the premises. The dairy closed in 1900. John and Elizabeth Ryan opened a confectionary here in 1922. In 1927, they bought the lot and built this one-story brick veneered building, with a store in front and living quarters in the rear. Six schools within a six-block area made the site a prime location for a candy store. The Ryans sold the business in 1937, but the store continued as a confectionary through the 1940s. By 1950, it had become Rodney Street News. The soda fountain, lunch counter, and newsstand remained a neighborhood institution into the 1990s.
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