Earl Ellis built a garage and office on the site of present-day 208 N. Block Avenue as the new home of his Ellis Motor Company.
Ellis had started with a shop in the Gunter Addition but wanted to be nearer downtown. He died in 1927, and his widow, Florence Ellis, rented the building out for a variety of commercial businesses — chiefly the Ozark Tire and Battery Co. from 1929 through 1945.
The Ellis family sold the property to Leland S. and Gertrude W. Bryan in 1945, and the Lyle Bryan Motor Co. operated in the building into the mid-1950s.
The Northwest Tobacco and Candy Co. then called the building home for the next 31 years.
During the 1980s, it hosted a succession of antique shops before becoming home to the Beaver Electric Corp. in 1988.
It was added to the Arkansas Register of Historic Places on April 4, 2014, under criterion for local significance that the building played in early development of Fayetteville’s auto industry and its design as an early automobile showroom.
In 2015, the building was converted to a bar called the Big Star Lounge, and in 2020, the Atlas restaurant opened in the space.