Taken during my roadtrip up to Iowa in early December, this is one of the few remaining business/civic structures in Plevna, Missouri. I stopped here to photograph once back in 2006, and I just couldn't resist coming back to see if this brick store building was still standing. And, happily, it is. After some investigation I found out that this used to be the bank building, many years ago. And the name, Plevna? Apparently it comes from the battle of Plevna, a Bulgarian city besieged during the Russo-Turkish war of the late 1870s. The legend goes that the first postmaster of this town was nicknamed Plevna, and that is the epithet it garnered. This building is a favorite of mine to photograph...the simplicity of the strucure is belied by the intriguing brickwork across the top, the hand-painted town name in the front window, and the heavy patina of rust on the authentic tin canopy.
