Charles Cameron opened a mercantile business at First and Hastings in 1873. Despite Cameron's death in 1893, his name has been associated with a business building in Hastings longer than any other.

In 1883, Cameron built this large brick building, then called the Cameron Block, on the site of his original frame building which burned in the great fire of September 14, 1879. McKinley and Lanning, loan agents, moved into the building when it was completed and remained for 67 years.

The Exchange Bank, a private bank, owned by I. M. Raymond, of Lincoln, and operated by Abraham Yeazel and J. R. McLaughlin, opened for business in a frame building on First Street in 1877. That building was also destroyed in the 1879 fire. Upon completion of the Cameron Building, the bank moved into the offices at the corner of First and Hastings. In 1884 the bank reorganized as the Exchange National Bank. It remained at this location until December, 1926 when it merged with the First National Bank.