Waterville Commercial District

Waterville's commercial district occupies a single block of Third Street, between Farnsworth Street and the north property lines of the Golden Eagle Tavern and the Children's Shop. Its roughly ten one- and two-story frame and brick buildings date mostly from the late 1800s and early 1900s. Several have facades covered in embossed tin that imitates stone, with pedimented windows, fluted pilasters, and metal cornices decorated with floral garlands. The Emporium was built about 1904 by John Rupp and William Beam, and the hardware store was moved in 1924 and carries the date 1925 and the letters I.O.O.F. on its cornice. Waterville was laid out in 1830, yet few early commercial buildings survive, and several, including an 1880 hardware store, were demolished in the 1950s. The block was listed because it shows how a small midwestern town center looked around 1900, a period of commercial growth from 1890 to 1925, despite some altered storefronts and mid-century intrusions.