GARDINER -- Once touted by its rooftop advertising as "headquarters for groceries, tourist & auto supplies," the historic W.A. Hall mercantile in Gardiner will be reincarnated next spring to peddle a new ware -- knowledge about Yellowstone National Park.

The 1903 building, next door to the park's Roosevelt Arch at its northern gateway, has been purchased by the Yellowstone Association. The nonprofit education foundation that benefits the park is spending $4 million to buy the property and an adjoining lot and refurbish the 12,000-square-foot building to create its new headquarters.

"We're restoring the building, reusing it and maintaining that great historic facade," said Pat Cole, executive director of the association. "We were thrilled to purchase the property. We were worried that someone would tear the building down."

The remodel was designed by A & E Architects of Missoula, which also planned refurbishment of the Old Faithful Inn and the Montana State Capitol. The general contractor is Dick Anderson Construction of Great Falls.

Work began in August and is expected to be completed by May 2009. To make the old building new again, the foundation was upgraded, old windows will be replaced by new insulating glass, other windows that had been boarded over were uncovered and asbestos had to be removed from the basement near an old boiler that provided the building's steam heat. The new structure will also be reinforced to withstand earthquakes.

"We're maintaining those high ceilings and people will still be able to see the old metal ceiling," Cole said. "People will still get a feeling of the old general store."

The building has been through a few remodels over the past 105 years, including the addition of a front porch and the removal of a porch roof.

"It should look much more like it originally did," Cole said.

The original building was designed by architect Robert C. Reamer, who designed other buildings in the park, Gardiner's railroad depot and an addition to the Lake Hotel. Owner W.A. Hall modified Reamer's design to include a second story, once used as a ballroom, and substituted brick were Reamer called for stone. The Gardiner Wonderland newspaper reported that the building required 360,000 feet of lumber, or about 30 railroad car loads.

Downstairs, the "largest, finest department store in the west," as the Wonderland called it, had four rooms displaying everything from groceries to clothing, shoes, carpeting and furniture. The structure also housed the town's post office and drug store.

Descendants of W.A. Hall ran the store until 1954 when it was closed. Since then, the building has been through the hands of two different owners, most recently Kenneth and Theresa Dixon, and housed a coffee shop, retail store and Laundromat.

"It certainly would have been easier to go with a new structure," Cole said. "We talked to the architect about that. They thought we were saving about a half a million by using the old structure.

"From a sustainability standpoint, it's always better to use an existing structure," Cole added. "And the fact that the building has had such a significant role in Gardiner and Yellowstone National Park is important.

"That was the supply place if you were going to go camping in Yellowstone, it was the Wal-Mart of its day. That was where everyone shopped. We still have people in the area who have been here for years and years who remember going in there in the 1920s as children."

John French of Livingston was born in Gardiner in 1928. He remembers the store as a "very nice operation" that sold everything in addition to providing a soda fountain and gas station. He said he's glad to see the old building put to use.

Gardiner resident Tom Adkins agreed.

"I think people are very happy about it," Adkins said. "We all thought it would be torn down because we didn't think anyone would be able to afford to fix it."

Renee Hall, a great-great granddaughter of W.A. Hall, said she supports the revitalization of the building.

"It has a lot of meaning for our family," she said.

Her father, William James Hall, was responsible for instilling in Renee a love of the family's history and ties to the region.

"My cousin and I always fantasized about winning the lottery and buying the building back," she said. "But this is the next best thing."

Despite all the work to preserve the structure, the rooftop advertising of W.A. Hall will not be maintained, Cole said. But the group did take lots of photos of the yellow-lettered shingle billboard.

"We do want to establish our own identity," she said.

For the past 16 years, the Yellowstone Association has been headquartered in Mammoth, Wyo., just inside the park's northern border and home to the park's administrative headquarters. The association, established in 1933, provides park educational products and offers seminars and trips through its Yellowstone Association Institute to about 5,000 people a year. The association has more than 26,000 members that help fund the park's educational efforts. Most recently, the association provided $1.2 million for new exhibits at the park's Canyon Visitor Center and for a film to be shown in the visitor center.

Continuing along those lines, the association's new headquarters will include a bookstore and a classroom for the institute, in addition to office space for its year-round staff of 25. The association also employs about 60 seasonal staff and volunteers.