The M.A Winter Building was constructed in 1908/09 at an estimated cost of 50,000 by "Colonel" Mahlon Adolphus Winter to house his patent medicine business. He claimed a world wide distribution of his products which called "Proprietary Medicines." In 1906 The Lancet, a leading British medical journal, listed his medicines under the title of "Quick Advertising" and added the comment: "The truth is that both the M.A Winter Co. and its wonderful medicines are unworthy of serious consideration." Proud that five of his ancestors served in the colonial militia during the American Revolution, Winter former an independent military organization, The Minute Man of Washington DC, where he took ran of Colonel.