Dentist office takes a trip across the street

After 29 years of operation in the same location at the corner of Birch Avenue and First Street in downtown Maple Lake, the dental practice of Dr. D.L. Quinlan is making itself at home across the street.

Quinlan’s new office opened for business on June 1 and all involved are enjoying the additional room the new quarters provide. “We needed the space,” Quinlan said. “In the other building, we had to walk sideways to get by each other. This is much, much nicer.”

Quinlan opened his dental office in 1974 in the corner building owned by the late Ray Muller.  “When I met him, he was the age that I am now,” Quinlan said of Muller. “He said he would remodel the place and set it up for me and two and a half months later, in March of 1974, we opened.”

The recent sale of that building, combined with a need for additional space, prompted Quinlan to talk about a possible move with Costume Shoppe/Computer Corral building owners Tricia and Dale Bothun. “This side of the building had once been set up as a medical facility,” Quinlan said. “I thought that would work well for me.”

The building housing Dr. Quinlan’s new office was originally built by Richard Jude in 1914 for the R.H. Jude and Sons store, which sold general merchandise. In 1965, Dave and Cathy Manuel bought and remodeled the building, which had been occupied by a Coast to Coast Store and Laura’s Cafe, to operate Manuel’s Department Store.

In 1988, the Manuel’s remodeled again and occupied the south half of the building, with the north side leased by Buffalo Clinic as a satellite facility. The clinic closed two years later and among the businesses occupying that space in recent years were JMTD Color Stix, Steve Smith Construction and Dale Bothun’s Mooseburger Clown Camp website office.

In 1998, Trica Bothun’s Costume Shoppe succeeded her parents’ business in the south side of the building, with Tricia and her husband, Dale, purchasing the entire building in 2001. It was that same year that Dale founded his business, the Computer Corral, and set up shop in the building’s north half.

To accommodate Dr. Quinlan’s dental practice, the Computer Corral made its own move across the street to new quarters inside The Den, a coffeehouse and multi-purpose facility operated by Andy Peterson.

Quinlan said he appreciated the efforts by the Bothuns and others involved in the remodeling and moving process. “I anticipated the move would take up to a month or more, but it went quite well,” he said, noting the process took less than two weeks. “And everyone was very accommodating, which was nice. Basically, we just needed to do some really minor hook-ups and we were good to go.”