About 1836, Cyrus Daines, James Stout and one Silvernail purchased land in Potter Center off Henry Husted and each established a business and a residence. These were the first buildings in Potter Center. Daines opened a blacksmith shop, Stout, a shoe shop and Silvernail, a tailor shop. The first store was kept by James Turner who was succeeded by Cyrus Daines who continued until his death in 1870. Richard H. Williams built a house and store, which was long occupied by Daines. The 1876 Atlas shows that Daines's store was on the east side of the road across from the hotel. The garage owned by Henry Eckert was in Cyrus Dains’s old store, which burned in 1931.
