Eli B. Bean owned this general merchandise store on Main Street from approximately 1850 until his retirement in 1898. During this time he also served as a captain in the Civil War, held multiple town offices, and collected genealogy information from area families. He compiled significant collections of early historical information pertaining to the town of Brownfield.

In 1903, Eli Bean donated this building to the town and it became the Bean Memorial School. The grammar school was on the first floor and the high school on the second. This building burned in the great fire of 1947. Left to right are Eli Bean, his wife Mary O. Spring Bean, and Ed Warren.