This Mission Revival-style building was built in 1912 as the principal passenger and freight station for the Northern Pacific Railroad. The site on which the depot is located achieved historical significance long ago. In anticipation of a reception for President McKinley, a giant stump, cut from a tree logged near Pe Ell, Washington, was placed at the site, and was to serve as a speaker’s platform for the president, who ultimately did not make the visit. However, on May 23, 1903, President Theodore Roosevelt delivered a speech from this now-famous podium. In 1908, presidential nominee Eugene Debs, a socialist, spoke from the stump. Later, although not yet President, William Howard Taft also spoke from the stump, as did vice presidential nominee Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1920, who would later become president.
Historic Walking Tour
A Stroll Through History
Journey through time on the Chehalis Historic Walking Tour in downtown Chehalis. Become immersed in the rich heritage and captivating stories of our charming town. As you stroll along the streets, imagine life here in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The tour wanders past historically preserved buildings, each with its own tale to tell, revealing the town’s evolution from a bustling pioneer settlement to a thriving community. The historic architecture showcases craftsmanship of the past, with ornate facades and intricate detailing that capture the essence of a bygone era. From the early logging and railroad days to the resilient spirit that endured fires and flood, the tour provides a glimpse into the lives of the pioneers, entrepreneurs, and visionaries who have shaped Chehalis.
A Stroll Through History
Journey through time on the Chehalis Historic Walking Tour in downtown Chehalis. Become immersed in the rich heritage and captivating stories of our charming town. As you stroll along the streets, you can imagine life here in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The tour takes guests past historically preserved buildings, each with its own tale to tell, revealing the town’s evolution from a bustling pioneer settlement to a thriving community. The historic architecture showcases the craftsmanship of yesteryears, with ornate facades and intricate detailing that capture the essence of a bygone era. From the early logging and railroad days to the resilient spirit that endured fires and flood, the tour provides a glimpse into the lives of the pioneers, entrepreneurs, and visionaries who shaped Chehalis. With every step, visitors can appreciate the efforts taken to preserve Chehalis’s history, making the walking tour a delightful blend of nostalgia and discovery for history enthusiasts and curious travelers alike.
Grievances with the railroad lay dormant for almost 60 years, until the railroad, then Burlington Northern, announced plans to close the Chehalis depot in 1972. When that generation of Chehalis citizens approached railroad officials with a proposal to convert the building into a museum, the railroad was adamant in its determination to demolish the building. Frustrated citizens led by James Backman succeeded in placing the building on the National Register of Historic Places and waged a three-year war to preserve the depot with the help of U.S. Senators Warren Magnuson and Henry Jackson. Finally, in 1975, Burlington Northern agreed to lease the building to Lewis County. Community fundraising eventually brought the desired $50,000 for renovations needed to convert the building to the Lewis County Historical Museum. It remains a proud statement of the heritage of the area.
Specializing in farm machinery and implements, Frank Everett & Co. built this three-story trackside, brick building in 1916 to replace the 1906 wooden structure they were currently housed in. The Chehalis Bee-Nugget noted the new structure was an imposing addition to Chehalis’ business district. From 1920-1932, the building housed the Hansen-Scott Company. Burdett Implement took over the business in July 1932, operating until 1941.
On August 1, 1941 the Sears Roebuck & Co. Farm Store opened for business, selling feed and farm supplies to local farmers. Painted advertising is still visible on the back wall.
The Olympia Tavern was founded around 1900 by Leopold Schmidt, the forefather of the Olympia Brewing Company. For decades, the Olympia was a satellite tavern that served to market Olympia beer products. Back then, as was the custom, the Olympia was a gentleman’s club catering to the working class. The daily menu consisted of billiards, card games, and beer. Though the ownership has changed throughout the years, the name remained the same until the late 1980s, when a group of investors purchased the building and renamed it Guido’s. View the words “The Olympia” in the tile as you cross the threshold into the present-day business. The Shire Bar & Grill was established in February 2003 and houses a bar that is one of the two remaining in Chehalis that were shipped around the horn, from Massachusetts, around South America, and up the West Coast.
Security State Bank opened its doors on Northwest Chehalis Avenue in 1903. Their first office was in a building owned by C.W. Long (now Visiting Nurses Thrift), before moving across the street to the two-story brick building which was constructed in the early 1900s. The original incorporators of the bank were C.W. Long, W.D. Richardson, J.W. Reynolds, E.P. Churchill and Arthur S. Cory. Three of the key men who guided the growth of the bank through most of its history were John Alexander, Sr., J.T. Alexander, a brother, and William M. Luebke who was J.T. Alexander’s son-in-law. Since 1910, only four individuals have served as president of Security State Bank, which speaks to the consistency and stability of the bank.
This former auditorium hosted a myriad of events during its time as a community center. Dances, conventions, meetings, and even professional wrestling were held at this building. Some of the best-known wrestlers were Haystack Calhoun and Tony Born. During the war, the United Service Organization (USO) met in this building. For many years, on Veterans Day, the cities of Chehalis and Centralia alternated hosting a “bean feed” on Armistice Day. The building was also where the Magoo Club met. This 1960s teen club was formed by civic leaders to provide a constructive, social opportunity for activities. Many famous entertainers played at dances held in this building, including Paul Revere and the Raiders, Merrilee Rush, and The Wailers. The police department was located directly under the dance floor, and needless to say, when things really got moving, dust and sometimes parts of the ceiling came floating down. The noise was so loud that it was hard to hear the police radio.
This structure was built by businessman William Brunswig. The upper floors were designed to house the Grand Opera House and a public auditorium until it was converted into the Brunswig Hotel. The lower floor was used for Mr. Brunswig’s retail business, The Racket Store. This is the oldest building on Chehalis Avenue, constructed three years after the catastrophic fires of 1892.
The original white-brick building was built by John Garbe, the valley’s largest hops dealer, in 1908. Erected for a cost of $19,000, it was constructed with four large entrances with an arch and stairway in the center. The upper floors were built for office and lodging house purposes and were home to the Garbe Hotel until 1923. From 1923–1939, it changed names from the Garbe Hotel to the Columbia Hotel, the Olympia Hotel, and finally to the Crest Apartments.
The first floor was leased to Saindon Company – one of the largest furniture and home furnishing businesses in Southwest Washington at the time. Hitching rings for horses are still embedded in the concrete curbs outside the building.
Constructed as the Royal Bakery, the building is constructed of stone and retains integrity in its original design. It is representative of the commercial structures erected in the second downtown. The building has also been a barber shop, an apartment building, and a liquor store. In later years, it became the local Junior Chamber of Commerce, and today it is owned and operated by Lewis County.
Built to house a furniture store, the building was subsequently home to a hardware store, a second-hand store, a warehouse, and an automobile storeroom.
Lewis County purchased property from the Methodist Church to build the courthouse, the second courthouse built in Chehalis. Architect for the project was Mr. J. deForrest Griffin, one of Washington’s early architects as he held architect license 66. Mr. Griffin also designed R.E. Bennett School. The courthouse was dedicated on Friday, June 17, 1927, and was designed to be more practical than other courthouses built at the same time.
Beaux Arts architecture was displayed in the hallways and courtrooms of this grand building, designed with rosettes and pilasters (square columns that are part of the wall). Corridors were finished with California stucco, while the interior wood finish was mahogany. The exterior of the courthouse was a blend of colors and brick trim, with the main construction done in cut cast stone. Exterior doors were bronze. Jails were installed on a windowless third floor and were considered the most modern features in safety, convenience and sanitation.
The three-story Victorian home was built in 1904 for Judge Seymour White who was the justice of the peace, city clerk and police judge for Chehalis. Ella Simmons purchased the home and lived there until the early 1970s (the house is often referred to as the Ella Simmons House or the “house of ill repute”).
After being frightened by an intruder, Simmons moved from the home for over a decade and the vacated house deteriorated. In 1986, the house was declared a public nuisance and after going back and forth with the owner for three years about making the necessary repairs, city officials reluctantly authorized the demolition of the house. About the time the demolition crew had removed the attic and roof structure, friends of Ella Simmons contacted a local contractor, Frank Mason, who not only saved the home from the wrecking ball, but restored it to its original grandeur.
From the onset of The Great Depression in 1929, a new era of government buildings was initiated with the development of public works programs designed to stimulate local economies. The Chehalis Post Office is a legacy of these programs and was the first federally constructed building in the community built by the Public Works Administration. The Post Office was opened in January 1934 and is listed in the National Register of Historic Places.
In 1901, Eliza Barrett owned the property currently home to the Lewis County PUD. The original industrial structure was built in 1925. In 1932, during The Depression, it was repossessed. It was not until 1941 that the building was purchased by the PUD. In 1943, when America found itself heavily involved in World War II many Chehalis and Lewis County residents had the chance to make a very special contribution to the war effort by building airplane parts. The Boeing Aircraft Company set up shop in this building, hiring close to 600 workers, including Rosie the Riveters, to help build the leading edges of the wing section of B17 bomber planes. The building was remodeled in the late 1960s and more recently in 2012 to resemble its original facade.
The Fissell Funeral Home began in 1910 and moved to this location in 1924. The business was eventually sold to Willard and Anne Brown, and partner Arny Maddison in 1952, and the business name was subsequently changed to Brown Mortuary. This building, when it was built, was considered to be the finest and most pretentious of its kind in the Northwest.
The building houses the oldest religious congregation in the Chehalis Valley, organized in 1855 in nearby Claquato. The first permanent Presbyterian Church in Chehalis was constructed in the 1880s on State Street near Prindle near the location of the first downtown along West Main Street. When the downtown migrated from Main to Market Boulevard in the 1890s, the Church moved also. The building was constructed Craftsman style in 1908. The brick annex was constructed in 1950. The beautiful stained glass windows portray part of the long history of the Westminster Presbyterian Church. The windows on the Market Boulevard side were given to the Church when it was built in memory of Lewis and Susan Davis who were members of the original church at Claquato. The two side windows are also part of the Davis Memorial.
Ezra Meeker was a well-known pioneer who came west across the Oregon Trail in 1852. He became dismayed over the loss of the Trail and its stories, so in 1906, he took a covered wagon and an ox team back across the Trail to preserve its location and the stories of the pioneers who traveled it. Along the way, he asked 42 towns to put up stone markers delineating the Oregon Trail. Chehalis was one of three towns that failed to place the marker. In honor of the celebration of the 100th anniversary of Meeker’s journey, the marker was placed at the spot where Meeker camped in 1852.
Chehalis City Hall and the Carnegie Public Library were constructed in the triangle bound by Market Boulevard, Cascade Avenue, Washington Avenue, and Park Street in 1910 to anchor the downtown. Both buildings were damaged by the earthquake in 1949 but were rebuilt shortly thereafter. Both structures were demolished on September 10, 2007, due to age and seismic problems, and replaced with this classic Carnegie-inspired Vernetta Smith Chehalis Timberland Library in 2008. The library features a drive-through window – the first in the state.
This triangular building was constructed for Arthur St. John of St. John’s Garage. The building has an underground tunnel for a common heating plant connecting the building to the old St. John’s Garage on Market Boulevard (see number 20).
The original hotel opened on this site on May 12, 1891, as part of the general strategy of civic promotion to shift the downtown from Main Street to Market Boulevard. The first remodeling occurred in 1914, when the first section was removed and moved to the corner of Washington Avenue and Division Street to become the Sticklin Apartments.
The apartments were destroyed by fire in the late 1970s and is now a city parking lot. Many elegant people stayed at the hotel, but the most famous was former President, Colonel Theodore Roosevelt, who was a guest at the hotel on May 23, 1914. The present hotel was constructed by William Francis West, son of pioneer booster William West in 1917-1920. William F. West was a local philanthropist. He is most remembered for donating the land where W.F. West High School is located.
The building was originally built, owned, and operated by a Ford dealership named the St. John Motors Co. Markings denoting the stalls for each car on display can be seen on the exposed walls on the first floor. The San Juan Apartment complex behind the building was the original shop – note the enormous concrete headers over the windows in the alley. The St. Helen’s Theater opened for business on May 12, 1924, with this stunning brick façade and tile roof – one of many to adorn the structure. Its tagline was, “House of Hits.” The theater housed a mammoth Kimball pipe organ costing $15,000.
In addition to motion picture screenings, the venue was designed to accommodate touring theatrical productions on a stage 22 feet wide and 40 feet deep. The theater closed in 1954. The building was purchased in 2006 and restored to its heyday, now named City Farm Chehalis. The theater itself had been concealed by walls over the years, but hidden treasures were found underneath those walls. A brilliant Italian-style fresco of alternating pairs of phoenixes and ornate vases in turquoise and cinnabar circles most of the perimeter of the tall ceilings. A beautiful chandelier was also uncovered in its original location more than 50 years after its use as a theater.
Newspaperman Dan Bush, who constructed the building, had merged The Lewis County Nugget and The Lewis County Bee in 1898 to form The Chehalis-Bee Nugget. Bush sold The Bee-Nugget in 1916 to Clarence Ellington. Chapin Foster bought the newspaper in 1925, and published it from the building until 1937, when it was purchased by Advocate Publishing, publisher of The Lewis County Advocate. The company combined the newspaper into The Chehalis Advocate, which ceased publication in 1962. During the 1920s, offices were occupied by Thomas E. Polley who fitted and repaired glasses, the Chehalis post office, and a dental practice operated by Dr. A.C. Nicholson. The building housed the Washington Art Project Extension gallery in the Lewis County Art Center in the 1940s.
This two-story building was constructed to house Ever-Ready Shoe Company from the mid-1920s through the early 1930s, replacing an early turn-of-the-century wooden structure. From the 1950s through the 1970s, the Chehalis Music Store and “Live With Music” operated from the building. The structure became home to Chuck & Wilma’s Children’s Apparel Shop in the late 1970s.
In the 1920s and early 1930s, the Chehalis Electric Company sold Westinghouse lamps, electric heaters, and other modern appliances from the two-story building. In 1937, the Price Studio, which developed and printed photographs, operated from the building and touted itself as “Chehalis’ only downstairs studio.” In the late 1940s, beauticians trimmed hair from the Smith Beauty Shoppe, which became Robert’s Hair Styling Salon in the late 1950s and early 1960s. The late 1960s and 1970s saw the building as home to real estate companies – Ernie Waller Action Realty and Acta Realty (Acts for Action).
When the Chehalis Improvement Company sought to shift the downtown to Market from Main, this building was their first venture – called the Improvement Block when completed in 1891 in the Romanesque Revival style. The larger side (486) housed Proffitt’s Department Store, a People’s store, and then Coast-to-Coast Hardware. The smaller side (492) housed Gem Drug Store, Doane’s Drug Store, and then Dugaw’s Jewelry. It survives today as the oldest commercial structure in Chehalis.
This was the second structure erected by the Chehalis Improvement Company in 1892 and named the Columbus Block to commemorate the 400th anniversary of the explorer’s voyage. The building originally housed Carr Variety Store and later H.C. Coffman & Company, a real estate, rental, and insurance agency. Up until the 1960s, the second floor was occupied by doctor and dental offices. In 1984, it was updated and used for retail for a decade. It is currently office space.
At the turn of the century, this building and #25 housed Hartman & Nathan from 1904-1956, the largest department store between Tacoma and Portland, selling cloth, ready-made clothing, and groceries. The advertisement for Levi Strauss overalls is still visible on the north side of the building. D&J Meats occupied the building from 1978-2001. Today the second floor houses five apartments.
This one-story building was constructed in 1904 as a retail outlet next to the Rush Building – a two-story building with Italianate influences. The Rush Building was torn down for a parking lot, but an iron pier remains on the shared wall between the two buildings. The building was home to Alice T. Smith’s Millinery from 1910-1911 and Fred Downs operated Downs’ Tire Shop from 1922-23.
From 1927 through the 1950s, the building served as home to The Smart Shoppe, a women’s clothing store operated by the Boyntons. In 1935, Mary M. Boynton started the Orchid Beauty Shop there. In 1937, a newspaper ad referred to the building as housing Boynton’s Shops, which operated another store on Tower Avenue in Centralia. In 1951, Harriet Goff’s Corset Shop began operating from The Smart Shoppe. In the early 1970s, the building served as home to the Lewis County Senior Citizens Center.
A colony of Greeks settled in Chehalis near the dawn of the 20th century, among them Nicholas Zopolos, who immigrated to the United States in 1897 from his hometown of Limni in the Evias province of Greece. His brothers, Andrew and John, soon followed in 1907, and the brothers operated a Greek restaurant known as Zopolos Brothers, where Nick served as proprietor, Andrew as a waiter, and John as a cook. By the early 1920s, the Zopolos Brothers relocated their restaurant to this one-story Beau Arts building sided with gray granite to complement the Chehalis Theater to its north. By the late 1920s, the eatery was called the San Francisco Café, catering to local residents and people stopping at the Greyhound bus station. During the Depression, with fewer people traveling and eating out, the business floundered, and eventually closed. In the summer of 1936, the building and its assets were sold at the courthouse to pay an outstanding debt of $32,449.46. John Zopolos moved to San Francisco with his family, but Andrew and Nick remained in Chehalis.
This two-story Beau Arts building was constructed by George Gabel in 1923 for an auto dealership. Arthur St. John purchased the building and sold used vehicles out of it for his Ford dealership, St. John’s Garage (see number 20). The building was reconstructed and opened as the Pix Theater with seating for 653 people on December 7, 1938, and ran until 1954, when the name was changed to Chehalis Theater. The theater remained open until the mid-1980s when it was converted into a video store called Video Time. In 1994, the theater was purchased by a local businessman who rented the building out for a flea market for a period of time.
The buidling was later leased and opened back up as a theater after being restored to its full glory as the Chehalis Theater. Original Art Deco light fixtures were found in the attic, restored, and re-installed in the auditorium. It closed in 1998 and was reopened by the owner to show second-run movies, but was soon changed to offer first-run movies until its doors closed in December 2008. The Chehalis Theater underwent a significant renovation, restoring the original beauty from its beginning as a theater. and reopened in 2016. McFiler’s Chehalis Theater currently shows movies, and offers live entertainment, fine dining, and a mezzanine cocktail bar.
This one-story 19th century commercial style building represents typical retail buildings from the era and was originally platted as part of the 640 acre Donation Land Claim by Schuyler & Eliza Saunders in 1856. The first tenants of the building were Clovis I. and Hattie Belknap, who operated the Little Gem Lunch until 1918. In 1919, the building was reconstructed to create two storefronts.
Nathan Tailoring Company occupied the 553 half of the building from 1925–1934, and for the next 35 years, Tom Massalas, a Greek immigrant, operated the Chehalis Shoe Hospital. From 1974 to 2008, the building housed a beauty salon, a team sport clothing store, a computer store, and a catering business before the current occupant began business.
The first business to occupy the 555 address was C.J. Griffith’s Confections & Cigars, operating from 1920 to 1926, when the name changed to Wentzel & Osborne Confectionary. During national Prohibition (1920–1933), taverns and saloons often changed their names to “confections” and sold soft drinks instead of liquor. Once the 18th Amendment was repealed by the 21st Amendment, alcohol returned to the confectionary. In 1939, Fred’s Tavern, renamed Office Tavern in 1961, opened and operated for 67 years.
This building was constructed after its neighbor, the Washington Hotel. The beams to the second floor were built into the north wall of the hotel, which meant that the two buildings shared a common wall. After the 1998 fire that destroyed the building, it was gutted and rebuilt with its own walls, so the second floor and roof no longer depended on the hotel wall for support. When the north wall was torn down, ground-floor windows were discovered facing northwest toward the west side of Chehalis. In other words, when the building was constructed, there were no other buildings located north of it.
Vincent Paniczko (Polish spelling later changed to Panesko) purchased the building in 1912, and the Panesko family owned it until 1998. From 1895 until 1956, the upstairs contained one-room apartments that could be rented by the night. There were two bathrooms upstairs. One was for common use by the renters and only contained a sink and toilet. The upfront apartment facing Market Street was a luxury suite with a bathtub, sink, and toilet.
Vince Panesko, a grandson of Vincent, remembers spending the summer of 1956 tearing out the inner walls to open up the upstairs into one big room. The room was used for storage by Leo Waldock’s hardware store, which occupied the building in the late 1940s and into the 1960s until the hardware store was moved to the Elks Club Building further south on Market Street (see #40)
The elder Panesko recalled the building during the 1895–1912 time frame. Mr. Panesko lived on a homestead in central Lewis County and sustained himself by farming. Like all homesteaders in central Lewis County, he would make a couple of trips a year to Chehalis to purchase sacks of sugar and flour, and other basic provisions for cooking. He would also sell honey and other products he raised on his farm. Because the only mode of transportation was horses, and travel was on puncheon (plank) roads, a trip from central Lewis County to Chehalis took one day. Homesteaders would make the trip to Chehalis on their horses or with a horse and buggy, rent a room in the upstairs of the building, purchase supplies, and return home the following day.
Mr. Panesko moved to Chehalis in 1912 and purchased the building. At some point, he opened the Busy Bee Variety Store and operated it into the late 1930s. In the 1930s and 1940s, Mr. Panesko rented the upstairs to a madam who operated a bordello. The madam and ladies occupied the front apartment with the bathtub. At the time, there were three bordellos in Chehalis. During World War 2, troops from Fort Lewis would stop at the Chehalis train depot to load up with water and fuel; the trains were steam engines that needed to stop periodically to reload with water. The Chehalis stop lasted about an hour. At the age of five or six., young Vince remembers observing a line of soldiers on the back stairs of the building. At the time, he never thought anything about it, but eventually came to understand that, most likely, all three bordellos thrived on the business that troop trains provided to the Chehalis economy. It is believed those bordellos ceased operations in the early 1950s. The bordello in this building closed in the late 1940s, and the upstairs has been used for storage since that time.
The four-story Hotel Washington was constructed in 1889, the year Washington became a state, with fronting building facades on Market Boulevard and Pacific Avenue. The Hotel was touted as a prime location to stay in Lewis County because of its proximity to the Northern Pacific Railroad Depot – now the Lewis County Historical Museum. In 1911, John D. Rice, owner of the building, opened the Dream Theatre, converting the spacious ground floor from a too much idle dining room space into a vaudeville house and moving picture theatre. Another part of the ground floor became Rice’s Millinery Shop. The upstairs remained a hostelry for roomers. Years later, the building housed Ben Franklin’s Five & Dime Store, and most recently, Phyl’s Furniture.
In the summer of 1997, a tragic fire destroyed the furniture store and the entire third and fourth floors of the Hotel. The building was purchased by Frank and Barbara Mason who were able to save the building from demolition for a parking lot, and restore two of the former four stories, and add a rooftop patio on the third floor. The 1999 Washington State Preservation Award was presented to the Masons by Governor Gary Locke, for the restoration of thIe historic building. During restoration, the word “theatre” from the Dream Theater was uncovered and is visible on the brick. It was left as a reminder of the past. Painted advertisements are still visible on the north side of the building.
In 1920, J.D. and Myrtle Foster opened the Foster Bakery Company. The Fosters resided in the front portion of the second story. Today the apartment still retains the beautiful woodwork from the 1920s. The large freight elevator used for transporting heavy sacks of flour to the second floor is still intact. Several businesses have been in the building, namely, Mode O’Day women’s clothing, Affairs of the Heart bridal shop, the Vintage Motorcycle Museum, and most recently, Mint City Coffee Roasting, after undergoing an extensive remodel revealing original brick walls and floors.
The one-story building was constructed to complement the building next door (number 33). This fourth-generation jewelry business operated in Chehalis from 1903 to 2010. Robert Fechtner owned Fechtner’s Jewelry in Chicago, Illinois, but after hearing stories of how beautiful Lewis County was, he moved his family and opened his store in Chehalis. Robert, Jr. joined his father in the jewelry business, while his twin brother, Martin, ran a bicycle repair shop in the back of the store. Ron Fechtner, son of Robert, Jr. began working at the store to help his father after his grandfather passed away. Jim Fechtner joined his father, Ron, in 1968, and ran the store until it closed upon Jim’s retirement in December 2010. Fechtner’s Jewelry served generations of families, for 107 years. In 2018 the building was purchased by local businessman Mitch Moberg and underwent a substantial remodel, preserving much of the building’s historic character.
This one-story building was constructed at the same time as Fechtner’s Building to complement the other retail buildings on the block.
This one-story building was constructed around the turn of the century with the Northern Brewery Company being the first known tenant in 1906. Other businesses to occupy the building were Maloney Saloon (1910-1911), Home Plate Cigar Stand (1913-1914), Kuehner & Leonard Saloon (1915-1916), Jones Piggly Wiggly (1927-1932), Terrill Produce (1934), and Steelman Radio Company/Chytil’s Shop for Women (1937). Local businessman Norman Brunswig relocated his shoe store to the building in 1937 from his Chehalis Avenue location (See #6) and it became known as Self-Service Shoe Co. in 1937 and remains there today as Brunswig’s Shoe Store. This fourth generation family owned business has been fitting shoes for customers for over 100 years and is one of the last of its kind in Southwest Washington.
The Chehalis Improvement Company built this building as part of the Commercial Block in 1898 to complete the transformation of the intersection on all four corners as the heart of the new third downtown. The building originally housed three businesses – the First National Bank, Marr’s Drug Store (then Garrison Drug Store), and Henry Mandle’s Men’s Clothing Store from 1920-1929.
This building was originally built for Rosenthal & Large Clothing-Dry Goods-Shoes in 1907. A 1908 advertisement in the Chehalis Bee-Nugget announced their first annual clearance sale offering men’s and boys $10 suits for just $7.95. Women could take advantage of “greatly reduced” prices on dress goods, hosiery and corsets. The building was later home to Moore’s Men’s Store until the early 1990s and JJ’s Bridal & Formal/JC Penney Catalog until 2003 when the current business, Smith’s Mercantile opened. The building has storefront facades on Market Boulevard and Pacific Avenue.
The four-story building was constructed in 1920 in the Renaissance Revival style for the Benevolent & Protective Order of Elks. Initially, the social clubs and fraternal groups of Chehalis met in rooms in commercial buildings or homes. The building has facades on Market Boulevard and NW Pacific Avenue. The building was home to Puget Sound Power and Light, Berryhill’s Variety Store, Waldock’s Ace Hardware and Southwest Washington Dance Center.
This two-story building originally housed the JC Penney merchandise store – one of the earliest franchise outlets in the region.
A.E. Judd, owner, completed construction of the two-story building in 1926 and Advocate Printing, established in 1895, moved its office into the larger portion of the street level space. For years, the Singer Sewing Machine Company leased the remaining street level portion. During the early years, the upstairs was occupied by the Washington State Liquor Control Board and attorney offices. Advocate Printing is still in business. The building fronts on Market Boulevard and Pacific Avenue.