Waldon Bros. Drugtore: Restore Oregon Seed Grant to be Used for Reuse Plan
Friends of the Waldron Brothers Drugstore–an Oregon non-profit corporation working to save and restore the building– is working with Restore Oregon and other partners to plan for an economically viable future for this local historic landmark. Friends of the Waldron Brothers Drugstore has recently been approved for grant funding from Restore Oregon to develop a reuse plan for the building. One option to repurpose it is as a shared event-space with the neighboring Festival Park.
The Waldron building has been a part of The Dalles community almost from the town’s inception and is listed as a contributing resource to The Dalles Commercial Historic District in the National Register of Historic Places. The City of The Dalles Historic Landmarks Commission has listed the preservation of the Waldron Brothers Drugstore as one of its long term goals.
The building’s namesake, Henry Waldron, came to The Dalles in 1854 as the town’s first teacher. He was appointed postmaster in 1862, and moved the Post Office into the Drugstore in 1867. His drugstore sold various necessities and also housed the town newspaper, professional offices, and the Masonic Lodge hall. Henry Waldron died after over‐exerting himself while helping others save their buildings and property during a downtown fire in 1878.
The Dalles, Portland & Astoria Navigation Company subsequently used the building as a ticket office, and in 1923, Jack Gitchell renovated the building into apartments and offices. Percy L. Manser, a local artist renowned for his public murals and paintings of the gorge, also had his sign business and studio in the building.
Easily visible from both the town and Interstate 84, the Waldron Brothers Drugstore is the building that locals and visitors see and remember as a beacon for historic The Dalles. A likeness of the façade graces street banners and inspired the design of the Union Street underpass. As seen from recent drone footage by local resident, Cliff Danger, it is the historic face of the town, an irreplaceable tie connecting the past to the present and the last remaining anchor of historic downtown The Dalles to the busy waterfront of the Columbia River.
Various owners of the building have renovated and reused it many times in the recent past. In 1978, when the Union Pacific railroad tracks were shifted to the northern side of 1st Street, the City of The Dalles purchased the building with the explicit purpose of preserving it. In 1982, the Jaycees leased the building from the City to restore it, but efforts stalled. In 2009, the city, recognizing the intrinsic value of the building, commissioned an engineering study and completed recommended stabilization repairs including the installation of a new roof and gutter system to seismic standards, the rebuilding of the parapet walls, and the stabilization of a crack in the NW corner of the building caused by the old leaking roof and gutter.
Friends of the Waldron Brothers Drugstore has been working with established community non‐profits, interested officials, and local residents to enter into an agreement with the City for the restoration and reuse of the building. At this time, The Dalles Main Street–a non‐profit dedicated to the economic revitalization and historic preservation of the downtown–is interested in absorbing the current involved group of preservationists into a committee dedicated to the goal of restoring and reusing the Waldron Drugstore as office space and as a source of rental income. This project would preserve and reuse a valuable community historic resource, while strengthening and providing space, predictable income, and independence for the Main Street Program. However, this option is far from being realized and Friends of the Waldron Brothers Drugstore need support from the community and from around the state of Oregon.
Friends of the Waldron Bros. Drugstore need your support! To donate, visit: https://www.thedallesmainstreet.org/waldron-bro-drug
For further information on how to support this effort, contact Eric Gleason, President of Friends of the Waldron Brothers Drugstore, at egleasonjcheung@gmail.com or Katelyn Weber, Preservation Programs Manager, at katelyn@restoreoregon.org.