About Bailey's bookstore

History of Bailey's

The Arcade building

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About the owners

The Arcade Building, also known as the Wippel’s Saloon Building, is located at 308 and 312 N Main Street. It was built in 1900.

This building, part of a second wave of downtown construction, was built by John H. Wippel. The distinctive arched window openings are trimmed with cast stone keystones. Wippel operated a saloon that boasted the longest bar in Kittitas County. The bar extended 120 feet, running the entire length of the building and affording thirsty railroad men, cowboys, and anyone else who happened in, ample elbowroom. Running the length of the bar, inset into the floor, was a "running water spittoon", which was located in front of, and beneath, the bar stools. A previous owner or tenant had poured concrete into this spittoon. As we helped to remodel our retail space, we worked with the owner, and we covered the spittoon with matching hexagonal tiles. We did, however, leave all of the original hexagonal tile on the floor, which includes the word "Arcade" inset into the tile.

A public meeting hall occupied the upstairs. For a short time after the saloon closed, the building housed the Ellensburg Opera House. During the 1940s John Wippel’s son Maurice (called Mose, later mayor of Ellensburg) used the Arcade to store overflow produce from his Wippel Food Mart. Later a meat market called The Locker occupied about a tenth of the large floor space. In 1991 the façade was restored and the upstairs area made into apartments.