John Lillis Stone Warehouse

The land where the stone warehouse is located, on the southeast corner of First and Columbia streets, was platted by the Wenatchee Development Company and sold to John Lillis in 1902. Lillis build the stone warehouse in the fall of 1906. In 1926 the Wenatchee Valley Foods acquired the warehouse. In 1937 the firm leased the property to Baslett Warehouse Company. In 1946 the warehouse was sold to Arrow Transfer who held it for a short while until E. J. Widby, the vice president of the Wenatchee Valley Bank, bought the property. Widby sold the warehouse property to Percy Scheble in April 1952, who used the warehouse for the storage of lumber. The City of Wenatchee bought the Wenatchee Lumber Company property and other land and buildings around the site of the present Convention Center in 1976. The stone warehouse is still standing, but the Wenatchee Lumber Company, then the oldest business in Wenatchee, originating 1899, bowed to “progress” and closed its doors in 1977. In recent years the Orthopedic Guild has sponsored a “haunted house” at Halloween in the old stone warehouse. In August, 1980 the City of Wenatchee sold the stone warehouse to Jerry Crovey. It has since changed hands; been completely remodeled inside and is now a tavern.