Uptown Blanco Restaurant

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This building, probably built around 1880, is thought to be the oldest commercial building on the square. It features a late-19th-century storefront with an upper facade of ornate pressed metal and fieldstone side walls. A single row of wood columns runs front to back inside the store. The ceiling was made by the Bavarian Metal Works, now the Bavarian Motor Works (BMW). The building is virtually unaltered.

Built by John M. Comparet, it housed the family’s general merchandise business for several generations and was most likely the premiere place to shop in Blanco for many years. Items sold at the store included clothes, shoes, staples, and fancy groceries. Around the turn of the century the post office was also housed here and John Comparet was the postmaster. Comparet also owned a two-story hotel a block to the south on 3rd Street.

In 1929, as a fire on the south end of the block moved north, the Comparets hurried to remove all of the contents from the store. Fortunately, the fire was stopped before reaching the Comparet Building. After its sale by the family in 1931, the new owners opened a restaurant whose menu still remains on the south wall. Hamburgers were 10¢! Notice also the Salina beer ad, which dates back to the restaurant as well. The building was subsequently used as a pool hall and saloon called the Friendly Bar, senior citizen quilting center, Montgomery Ward catalogue store, ice cream and gift shop, and antique shop.

Uptown Blanco Restaurant operates here, with the two adjoining Glasscock buildings serving as kitchen and restrooms.

In 1994 the Old Blanco County Jail, located to the rear, was joined to the Comparet Building via the construction of new walls and a concrete floor. The old jail may be visited from the inside rear of the Uptown Blanco Restaurant building during open hours.