Waterville Triangle Historic District

Waterville's central triangle, formed by Main Street, Stafford Avenue and White Street, is a district of about 27 acres holding commercial blocks, churches and houses built between roughly 1820 and 1900. Brick commercial buildings with Italianate cornices cluster at the point of the triangle, while churches and fine residences line East Main Street. The buildings reflect the wealth the hop industry brought to the village. Waterville became a national hop exchange and shipping point, and the railroad arrived in 1867. Notable buildings include the 1873 First Presbyterian Church by Archimedes Russell, Grace Episcopal Church by Thomas S. Jackson, the Federal-style Baptist Church and Locke House, the 1869 Woodman bank building, and the Italian villa at 104 White Street based on an Andrew Jackson Downing design. Several sources describe many structures as keeping their pattern-book character. A few modern gas stations and stores are noted as intrusions, but the grouping is judged of exceptional local significance.