From the time it opened at the turn of the twentieth century until the middle of the century Weber's Store provided residents with many of the day to day necessities of life. It was also the Thompson Falls Post office until 1917. The building has changed hands many times since Charles Weber’s death in the 1940s. Today a laundry, the building has been a National Historic Place since 1986.
Weber's Store is significant... ...for its contribution to the historical development of Thompson Falls at the turn of the century, and because it is the only remaining business which has an original cold air well, a natural feature unique to the community. Built between 1900-1903, Weber's Store is one of the earliest surviving masonry commercial buildings on Main Street. The building housed the town post office until 1917, lending it particular significance as a place where most of the town's people visited daily. Built as a general mercantile and operating as such until 1940 when Charles Weber died, the building played a key role in the economic life of the community. Rental apartments were located on the second story.
From the NRHP Architectural Inventory
From the beginning, Weber advertised his store liberally, though it may not have been necessary, given that it was also the post office for well over a decade. This ad appeared on Page 3 of the December 14, 1906 issue of the Sanders County Ledger.
Weber's Store
Thompson Falls enjoyed a growth spurt and a new sense of stability at the dawn of the twentieth century, underscored by the construction of several substantial brick buildings. Charles Weber’s general mercantile store was the town’s second building constructed of locally manufactured masonry. Built between 1900 and 1903, its dual residential/commercial function and simple design typify the utilitarian architecture of small western towns of the period. A continuous band of inlaid fleur-de-lis below the roofline supplies the only adornment. In 1906, Weber built the cold air well and storehouse at the rear of the building. It is the town’s last remaining commercial evidence of a unique natural phenomenon tapped by early settlers. In digging wells for water, currents of icy air ranging from 55 to 33 degrees Fahrenheit were discovered issuing from a porous layer of gravel at a depth of thirty to forty feet. Eventually nearly every business owner made use of this resource, building an insulated shed over a cold air shaft for the storage of perishable goods. The system worked until modern technology stepped in: backwater from the hydroelectric dam, built less than a decade later, blocked the cold air currents. From the early 1900s to 1917, Weber’s service as postmaster made the store a place visited daily. The store continued to play a key role in the economic life of the community until Weber’s death in 1940.
From the NRHP Plaque