Downtown Kennewick

Downtown Kennewick. . , P.J. Murphy Building (Roxy Theatre) , 101 W. Kennewick Avenue , The first theatre building in Kennewick was The Liberty Theatre, constructed in 1920 for P.J. Murphy. The Liberty became The Roxy in 1939 when the theatre changed hands. It remained open for another twenty years, before being eclipsed by the more popular Benton Theatre two blocks west. In the 1960s, the sloping floor was filled in and the building became a popular men’s and women’s clothing store (Ken’s and Rita’s), and then a furniture store. During those years, much of the theatre’s exterior ornamentation was stripped away or hidden under a new facade. Building owner, Ann Steiger, substantially restored the exterior to its former appearance in 2004. Little of The Roxy’s original interior survived. , Reed Block (Pollyanna Cafe/ Western Auto) , 2 N. Washington Street , The Reed Block is actually two adjoining buildings, both constructed in 1906. Located at the foot of Kennewick Ave., the story is that C.J. Beach, the founder of Kennewick and the owner of all the property east of Washington St., deliberately built the building to block Kennewick Ave. to the west. The corner building began as a furniture store. During the 1940s and 1950s, it housed the popular Pollyanna Cafe on the ground floor with apartments upstairs. Restaurants have continuously occupied the lower floor since the 1940s. The northern building housed two early banks - The First International Bank of Kennewick and the American Security Bank. When the latter failed during the Great Depression, Lane K. Larson and the Otheim Family ran Western Auto there until the 1980s. , Stag Saloon , 27 N. Auburn Street , Kennewick’s oldest brick building is the Old Stag Saloon, built for N.R. Sylvester and Margaret Rankin in 1906. The Stag, with Sylvester and Harry Roseman as proprietors, was one of early Kennewick’s favorite watering holes. Sitting adjacent to the railroad tracks, along with the other hotels and restaurants (all long gone), The Stag greeted many a newcomer to Kennewick. Speculation runs rampant that a bordello ran upstairs, but the brick walls are silent and those who really know are long gone. After Prohibition came, the saloon was no more and the upstairs was converted to small apartments. The downstairs changed, as the lubrication of choice in the 1940s became oil at the Corner Garage rather than a beer at The Stag. A large garage door was erected and lasted through owners such as Harding Glass, Perfection Glass, and Central Music. The building was restored by David and Deborah Watkins in the late 1990s, creating an art gallery/coffeehouse on the main floor and a single loft residence upstairs. The ghost sign of a blacksmith who plied his trade in the building remains on the east wall. , Columbia Pharmacy , 16 W. Kennewick Avenue , Constructed in 1904, The Columbia Pharmacy building was the first permanent building in downtown Kennewick. Built for Edward Sheppard, who would soon become Kennewick’s second mayor, professional offices occupied the upper story. After the pharmacy left in 1929, the building housed an electric shop and then Lanton’s Men’s Wear from 1952-1977. Lanton’s sealed the upstairs and it was more than forty years before it was again opened up. In 2004, in time for the building’s and the city’s centennial, owner Deb Ashbeck restored the facade to appear nearly as it did in 1904. The ground floor became renewed commercial space and the upstairs was converted to a loft apartment overlooking Kennewick Avenue., (Above) Stag Saloon’s building currently. Photo credit to John Keller., Placed by the Kennewick Centennial Committee with photographs courtesy of the East Benton County Historical Society. Displays remastered in 2018 by Historic Downtown Kennewick Partnership, paid for with a grant by Benton County Preservation Commission. Printed by Espirt Graphic Communication, Inc.