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.
While not the first mercantile to open its doors on this block (the first in Waterville opened in 1887), Waterville Mercantile may have been the longest lived, as the building continued to house a mercantile well into the "20th century" (that last may be a typo, being intended to read "21st century").
Though most of the buildings on the block were built with two storefront bays, this appears to be the only one having unequal sized bays, the west bay about twice the width of the east bay. Both have been altered, though in a manner sympathetic to each other and certainly not to history.
Today the larger western bay is occupied by the Douglas County Historical Society Thrift Shop. It is the Historical Society which maintains and operates the Douglas County Museum, two short blocks south. The east bay's window indicates that it houses "Antiques Collectibles Crafts". We suspect that this, also, may be operated by the Historical Society, though this is purely speculation.
Waterville Mercantile
>
Building #13: Waterville Mercantile
Address: 113-113 1/2 West Locust Street
Classification: Contributing
Date of Construction: c. 1905
Description and History: This plain brick structure is composed of an altered storefront beneath a planar brick wall. A brick cornice with brick dentils is the only decorative element. The eastern half of the building was added between 1909 and 1915. The storefronts have been altered. The Waterville Mercantile was in business at this location as early as 1905, according to Sanborn maps. The store remained in use as a mercantile until well into the 20th century.
From the NRHP Registration Form![]()