Coupeville Historic Waterfront
| Virtual Tour Coupeville Historic Waterfront |
| Much
of the tour information contained here is with permission and courtesy of
the Ebey's Landing National Historical Reserve. For a copy of the National
Park Service walking tour pamphlet, please click here.  |
We
continue the tour at the corner of Main and Front Streets, walking west
across the street from the waterfront. |
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20.
John Robertson House (1864) 5 N. W. Front Street The oldest building on Front Street, this dates from 1864. It was said to have been built as a grist mill, to grind wheat into flour. However, it is not known that it was ever used as a mill. In 1864-65, the building served as the county courthouse for a few months, accommodating court hearings and commissioner meetings. It was a residence for many years and still has a distinctly residential appearance compared to the surrounding structures. The porch was added in the late 19th century and the dormers in the 1990s. |
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17. Tom Howell’s Barber Shop (1936) 13 N. W. Front Street This is an example of a building built to look like its much older neighbors. It was a barber shop and then a beauty shop until 1968. |
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14.
Central Hotel/Good Templars Hall (Site) Southeast corner of N. W. Front
Street and Grace Street Two major buildings once stood on this site. The 1884 Central Hotel was a local institution, with a porch from which patrons could survey all of Front Street. It was locally famous for its fine wines, liquors and cigars. It was so popular that its bar expanded into the second floor of the neighboring building–ironically, the hall of the Good Templars, a temperance organization. After the hotel burned, the lot remained vacant for decades until this new building was constructed in 2000. Due to design guidelines in the historic district, the new building was designed to look like several smaller structures to avoid overwhelming the street with its size. The new building uses historical features found on surrounding buildings, such as horizontal siding, double-hung windows, false fronts and traditional storefront designs. |
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13.
Post Office (1938) 11 N. W. Front Street This small building was built in 1938 as the second post office, which it remained until 1956. It is a concrete block structure, originally a good example of simple Moderne design popular in the 1930s. It was clad in wood siding for the movie Practical Magic in 1999. |
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Originally a vacant lot, One More Thing now occupies this location. |
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11.
Elkhorn Saloon (1883) 15 N. W. Front Street Although known as the Elkhorn Saloon, this was a saloon only briefly. For many years it was a drug store and doctor’s office and, later, the area’s first real post office. This was the first false front building built in Coupeville, in 1883. A tall facade was added to a simple wooden building to make it look larger and grander. The style remained popular here for many years, making it difficult to tell newer buildings from the older ones. |
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10.
Judge Lester Still Law Office (1909) 17 N. W. Front Street |
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9.
Island County Times (1906) 19 N. W. Front Street Whidbey Island has had a succession of local newspapers. The Times began publishing in 1891, and eventually became incorporated into the Whidbey News Times, which is still published in Oak Harbor. |
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8.
Island County Abstract Office (1890) 21 N. W. Front Street Coupeville became the county seat in 1881, bringing numerous travelers on legal business. Many of the early businesses focused on courthouse activities, including several law offices and the abstract office, where property title documents were prepared. This building is a good example of the simple unadorned wooden structures that are common to Coupeville’s business district. It was once a meat market, located farther east on Front Street, and was moved here in the early 1900s. |
| Mariner's Court Image | 6.
Cushen Ford Dealership (1925) 23 N. W. Front Street Right across from the livery stable, Cushen Ford, one of the island’s first auto dealerships and garages, opened in 1925. In the 1930s-40s, Whidbey Dairy Products was housed here, followed by a grocery store and then a part of Lindsay’s Marina once located across the street. The building is actually concrete, and once had large display windows, typical of an auto showroom. The windows were filled in and wood cladding added when it was transformed into a mini-mall in 1974. |
| Museum Image | Taking
a left up Alexander Street, across the street. |
| Blockhouse Image | 3.
Alexander Blockhouse (1855) 908 N. W. Alexander Street Next to the museum is the log blockhouse built by John Alexander in 1855 as protection against a possible Indian skirmish. Originally located nearby, it was moved here in the 1930s. A display of Indian canoes and a cross erected for a missionary’s visit in 1840 were added later. The blockhouse contains a historical photo exhibit. |
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