The Downtown Waterville Historic District encompasses all of one block of Locust Street plus the west end of a second block and a few buildings along North and South Chelan Avenue. In all there are 17 contributing and 2 non contributing buildings in the district. All buildings are of brick, save for the Centennial Feed Building, a single storey wood framed building on the west side of North Chelan. The brick for the district was manufactured locally in brick yards, first established in 1889. The oldest structure in the district, on the northeast corner of Locust Street and Chelan Avenue, is the First National Bank/Kincaid/IOOF Block, constructed in 1891.
On North Chelan Avenue, the Centennial Feed Store is doubly unique in that it is the only building north of Locust Street. The building is also the final contributing building on our tour of the Downtown Waterville Historic District. Prior to the construction of the First National Bank/Kincaid/IOOF Block in 1891 every building in the district would have been wood framed. All are now gone, replaced with brick buildings between 1902 and about 1922, save for this little one storey structure.
While remembered as a "Feed Store", the building was originally a plumbing shop and a tin shop. The corrugated metal siding is original to the building while the wood facade appears quite original, with little deterioration, other than peeling paint. With an interesting paint job on the front, the building seems to have most recently been home to a pottery studio. Today the interior is stacked to the roof with chairs, boxes and other flotsam and jetsam, telling us that it has been relegated to the status of storage shed.
Centennial Feed Store
Building #18; Centennial Feed Store
Address: 106 North Chelan Avenue
Classification: Contributing
Built: c. 1907-1909
Description and History: The Centennial Feed store is a one story, gable roof frame structure with a boomtown false front, a storefront with a recessed central entry and transom windows, are side walls covered with corrugated metal (original to the building). Originally, the building was a plumbing shop and a tin shop. This functional structure is the last of the frame buildings which once characterized the downtown.
From the NRHP Registration Form![]()