The "Then" photo here appears to have been taken in about 1915, possibly 1920. Both "Then" and "Now" photos were taken from the Locust Street, Chelan Avenue intersection, looking southeast.
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.
With three banks on the other three corners of the intersection of Locust Street and Chelan Avenue, it became the anchor for the historic district. The streetscape finally became complete in 1912 with the construction of the Waterville Hardware Building on the southeast corner, south of the First National Bank mentioned above, east of the Waterville State Bank and southeast of the Douglas County Bank. One of the largest buildings in the district, it was built to house a hardware emporium and harness shop with, we assume, apartments above.
Today it remains one of the more important buildings in Waterville as home to
Waterville Family Foods, the only food store in the town. It occupies the entirety of the ground floor while the upper floor appears to be mostly vacant, with some apartments at the rear (east end) of the building. You'll find no Walmarts, Targets or Albertsons in this town, nor, for that matter, a MacDonalds or a Burger King - not even a DQ.
Waterville Hardware
Building #15: Waterville Hardware Building
Address: 107 South Chelan Avenue
Classification: Contributing
Date of Construction: c. 1912
Description and History: The Waterville Hardware Building is a large two story brick structure at the southeast corner of Locust Street and Chelan Avenue. The building is characterized by street level storefronts and an upper story punctuated with arched fenestration. Brick piers rise through both stories to divide the bays. A continuous metal band runs across the storefronts, supported by a colonnade of iron columns. The upper floor is demarcated by a sill course and a brick string course above the arched window heads. The cornice is composed of corbelled brick courses; a parapet rises above that. The corner entry is angled. The original display windows and transoms have been covered.
This large hardware emporium and harness shop was the last major structure built at the pivotal intersection of Locust and Chelan. Waterville Hardware remained here until about 1980.
From the NRHP Registration Form