| Chehalis Downtown Historic District | |
| Architecture: | Early Commercial, Colonial Revival |
| Added: | November 21, 1997 |
| Mpsub: | Chehalis MPS |
| Refnum: | 97001407 |
The Chehalis Downtown Historic District is located in Chehalis, Washington and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The district represents three separate development periods. The community was an important timber hub and freight exchange stop between south Puget Sound and Portland, Oregon. The historic district is located in the northeastern part of the city and includes North Market Boulevard, Northwest Pacific Avenue, Northeast Cascade Avenue, Northeast Boistfort, Front Way, and Northeast Division. North Market Boulevard is a one-way street.[1]
The current downtown is a third civic center of the city. It was originally at West Main Street close to the railroads tracks. Elizabeth (Eliza) Barrett Saunders had platted three blocks from her Donation Land Claim of three hundred twenty acres. Three blocks of development were the start of a town. Buildings were constructed around 1870 including the first Lewis County Courthouse.[1]
The second downtown began down West Main Street at the comer of Chehalis Avenue and West Main Street. Barrett platted five parcels between 1881 and 1883. By 1891 this center included the city's first opera house (Tynan Opera House), and the Barrett Block housing a bank and hotel. In 1892 two fires destroyed the second city center. The majority of the buildings were wood; arson was suspected.[1] The district was known for the Chehalis Fountain which was replicated at the Vernetta Smith Timberland Library.[2]
The third center grew up on Market Boulevard. Buildings had been completed a couple of years before the fires. In 1889 the First National Bank. In 1891 the Chehalis Improvement Company constructed the first of two buildings, the Improvement Block. In 1892 the Columbus Block was completed in celebration of Christopher Columbus landing in the Americas four hundred years earlier. Soon after, construction of a fourth retail office structure, the Commercial Block, established an impressive modern building. Only the original bank building is gone, razed in 1949. Between 1890 and 1894, the Chehalis Land and Timber Company constructed the St. Helens Hotel.[1] The district was also home to the East Side School, located in what was known as the "School Block" before moving out of the downtown area by 1912.
On the afternoon of July 11, 1997, a large fire swept through parts of the historic district, partially destroying the Hotel Washington. Starting at a Red Cross office building, the flames spread to the hotel, which at the time was being used as a furniture store. The fire was contained by the evening after the combined use of of foam retardant and water. Within a year, both buildings were rebuilt and reopened.[3]
Beginning in the early 2000s under a program known as the Chehalis Historic Preservation Commission, the city began to honor older homes, including those in the downtown district, that are connected to the history and heritage of Chehalis. Houses accepted into the designation receive a brass plaque that includes the year the structure was built and the name of either the architect or original owner.[4]
In 2009, the Chehalis Community Renaissance Team (CCRT) initiated the Historic Downtown Chehalis Walking Tour, publishing a free booklet to guide visitors to notable buildings in the downtown core. Two years later, the CCRT, in coordination with businesses in the districts, as well as donors, began installing cast iron plaques to denote structures on the tour. In the following weeks, forty buildings received the tour markers.[5]
The city, in coordination with Experience Chehalis, launched a multi-year downtown revitalization program, known as the Imagine Downtown Chehalis project, in 2024. The plans include the restructuring of main streets in the city's historic core, including Market and Boistfort, with attention to traffic flow. Additional upgrades to enhance community participation, economic opportunities, and safety are included with betterments in street lighting and sidewalks.[6]
The majority of the buildings are in the nineteenth-century commercial, many with metal awnings or canopies of a non-historic character. In the 20th century, the architect Jacque “Jack” DeForest Griffin was responsible for the creation of several buildings constructed in the 1920s, including the Renaissance Revival-style Elks Building in 1920, the Italian Renaissance inspired St. Helens Theater in 1924, the home of the Lewis County Public Utility District on Prindle Street, the Advocate Building, and several other extinct structures in the downtown core.[7]
553-555 N. Market Boulevard, ca. 1900, Little Gem Lunch – 1915[8]
A single story, nineteenth-century commercial building that appears to have been altered circa 1910s. The building is faced with raked brick having tiles set into a diamond design forming a horizontal row of nine diamonds just above the awning and beneath the cornice. The flat roof line has a shed, standing seam, metal roof at the front with a plain cornice framed by piers. Between the decorative row of tiles and the awning is two window sections. The entrance off Northwest Pacific is intact with a plain facade of window. The entrance consists of recessed doors framed by windows.[9]
551 N. Market Boulevard, 1894, Murphy & Johnson Saloon[8]
This nineteenth-century commercial building is two stories. The second story has a plain facade with four windows. The original brick has been covered with stucco, but the roof line and window are intact. A fire on July 11, 1997, caused damage to the windows; however, the building remains a contributing resource.[9]
545 N. Market Boulevard, 1889, Hotel Washington[8]
Hotel Washington is a four-story, nineteenth century building. In 1889 it was operated by Mr. Berry and Mr. Loomis. Four piers split the facade into three sections. The windows on the upper level are semi-elliptical, with rock-faced sills. The upper story on the Northwest Pacific Avenue side is clad with pressed metal in a brick pattern. The entrance, on Market Boulevard, is a glass door with the lettering, "Washington Hotel." On the north side there remain remnants of an advertisement. There was a fire on July 11, 1997, which caused minor damage.[9]
539 N. Market Boulevard, 1900, Cupid's Helper; 1920, Foster Bakery[8]
The two-story building uses a common bond brick with a flat parapet roofline. A decorated cornice has five paired brackets. The upper story has windows four across. The Northwest Pacific side has a row of four windows in the upper story. The lower story has a row of three windows. The southwest end of the building has a gabled dormer in wood and no window.[9]
535 N. Market Boulevard, 1918, Fechtner's Jewelry Shop[8] Having a related style to 539 N. Market, this a single-story structure is of a common bond brick and a flat parapet roofline. Fechtner's Jewelry has been in operation, in Chehalis, since 1903.[9]
531 N. Market Boulevard, 1918, Claude Day Fruits/Howard's Meats[8]
Related in style to 539 N. Market next door, it is a single-story building with common bond brick and a flat parapet roofline.[9]
525 N. Market Boulevard, 1900, Northern Brewery Company[8]
This building is single-story with a plain facade faced in stucco over common bond brick. This is one of the few district buildings retaining its transom windows, a row of eleven. Its roofline is flat.[9]
The district is home to several murals,[10] many sponsored by the city and community organizations, some of which partner with the Washington State Main Street Program.[11] The largest in the downtown district is a painting of a steam train, titled #15 at Sunset, on the Elks Building. In an alley on the north side of Market Street are a variety of wall paintings focusing on the eclectic, such as aliens and Bigfoot.[12]
A large welcome mural, focusing on the founder of the city, Elizabeth Barrett Tynan Saunders, as well as the history of airplanes, is located at the north end of downtown. It has a small nod to the city's connection to the Kenneth Arnold sightings in 1947.[13] Three murals decorate the adjoining public bathroom facilities, each containing specifics about the city's railroads and community togetherness, including another UFO themed artwork, the Kenneth Arnold.[14] [15] A mural of a butterfly flying over flowers, known as Garden Delight, is situated at the main crossing of Market and Boistfort and was completed in 2020. The mural, Lifting Up Chehalis, meant to inspire visitors to photograph themselves for social media, is installed on Boistfort Avenue, the location of the city's farmers market.[16]
Additional artworks include paintings done by local artists on utility boxes, trash can lids, and benches. The effort was based on a Chehalis Community Renaissance Team plan approved by the city council in 2009 that also included long term revitalization projects for downtown Chehalis such as building façade renovations.[17] [18]
Two sites within the downtown historic district are individually listed on the NRHP. The Lewis County Historical Society and Museum, known also as the Burlington Northern Depot, is located in the west portion of the district and has been listed on the NRHP since 1974.[19] The second site is the St. Helens Hotel, marking the southern edge of the historic area on Market Street, was originally a wood structure that opened in 1894. The hotel was added to the NRHP after major restoration efforts in the mid-1970s.[20]
The Vintage Motorcycle Museum, once located at the Hotel Washington, is situated at the Marketplace Square building in the center of downtown.[21] [22] At the north end of Market Street is the Chehalis Theater which was built in 1938 as the Pix Theater.[23] Next to the theater is a long running arts-and-crafts and book business known the Book 'n' Brush which occupies a space originally used for a retailer known once as "The Big Department Store".[5]