Wells House

Built in 1909. Listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1973.

From the record

One of 46 National Register listings published here for Chelan County · listed in 1973 · category: Building · built in 1909.

Sources: the case file at the National Archives · the National Register database, National Park Service

The listing

What is counted as historic. The nomination lists 1 building as contributing to the listing.
Address. 1300 5th St., Wenatchee, 98801
When was it listed? June 1973
Category. building
Census division. Wenatchee
When was it built? 1909
National Register reference number. 73001865 - the number the National Park Service assigned this property when it was listed, and the key its nomination file is catalogued under at the National Archives.

Fires near this property

31 since 1992

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 31 fires within 5 miles of Wells House between 1992 and 2020, burning about 12,520 acres in total. 8 started naturally. None was recorded as arson. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a fire counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.

Reported cause	Fires
Missing data/not specified/undetermined	10
Natural	8
Debris and open burning	4
Fireworks	4
Recreation and ceremony	2
Firearms and explosives use	1
Equipment and vehicle use	1
Smoking	1

The most recent of them, most recent first, with the day each was reported and the service that recorded it.

Date	Cause	Size	Reported by	Name on the report
9 September 2008	Missing data/not specified/undetermined	54 acres	Washington State Department of Natural Resources Headquarters	HORSE LAKE ROAD
8 September 2012	Natural	under an acre	Okanogan-Wenatchee National Forest	NUMBER 2 CANYON
4 September 2016	Smoking	20 acres	Washington State Department of Natural Resources Headquarters	HORSE LAKE
4 September 1998	Missing data/not specified/undetermined	10 acres	Okanogan-Wenatchee National Forest	NUMBER TWO CANYON
2 September 2007	Missing data/not specified/undetermined	2.0 acres	Okanogan-Wenatchee National Forest	MARTIN RANCH
18 September 2018	Missing data/not specified/undetermined	under an acre	Spokane District	EAST VIEW
1 September 2018	Missing data/not specified/undetermined	2,610 acres	Spokane District	CRYSTAL
26 August 2003	Fireworks	1.5 acres	Washington State Department of Natural Resources Headquarters	not named

Every fire recorded in Chelan County

Mines and quarries near this property

10 of 56 shown

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 56 workings within 5 miles of Wells House: 27 past producers, 17 occurrences, 7 prospects, 2 producers. 4 still produce. What was taken out: Sand and Gravel, Construction, Silica, Gold, Silver. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a quarry counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.

Site	Commodity	Status	Recorded
(Facility) Wenatchee Aluminum Smelter	Aluminum, Contained or Metal	Plant
Cannon Mine	Silver, Gold, Copper, Antimony, Lead, Arsenic	Producer	Acanthite, Boulangerite, Chalcopyrite, Electrum, Galena, Gold, Hessite, Marcasite, Naumannite, Pyrargyrite, Silver, Sphalerite, Stibnite
Lovitt	Gold, Silver, Copper, Antimony, Zinc, Arsenic, Lead	Past Producer	1885, 1894
Monitor	Tin	Occurrence
Squaw Saddle	Mercury	Occurrence	Cinnabar
Cannon	Gold, Silver	Past Producer	Acanthite, Chalcopyrite, Electrum, Galena, Gold, Hessite, Naumannite, Pyrargyrite, Sphalerite, Stibnite
Dry Gulch	Perlite	Occurrence
Lovitt	Gold, Silver	Past Producer	Acanthite, Chalcopyrite, Electrum, Galena, Gold, Hessite, Naumannite, Sphalerite, Stibnite
Rooster Comb	Perlite	Occurrence
Sampson Pit	Stone, Crushed/Broken	Past Producer

Every working recorded in Chelan County

Storms near this property

21 since 2003

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Wenatchee, the town this property stands in, in 21 storm reports between 2003 and 2024: 10 flash flood, 3 lightning, 3 debris flow, 2 heavy rain. The reports record 1 injury. Each account below is quoted exactly as the forecast office filed it, from the NOAA Storm Events Database, and each date opens the federal record of that event.

When	Event	Place named	Harm	What the report says
July 2006	Lightning	Wenatchee	1 hurt	no account filed
June 2022	Flash Flood	West Wenatchee	$80,000	Water and mud going into a couple residences. Several streets in area impacted from urban flooding.
August 2019	Flash Flood	South Wenatchee	$50,000	Heavy rain from a thunderstorm eroded a culvert and hillside above the Squilchuck Mobile Home Park resulting in three mobile homes being buried up to their roof lines with mud and rocks. Residents in 16 other nearby homes were advised to evacuate until the hillside stabilized.
August 2019	Flash Flood	South Wenatchee	$50,000	Numerous streets in the southern portion of Wenatchee were reported as flooded and residents were advised to avoid travel in the area. Mud and debris flows in the Squilchuck, Pritcher and Halverson Canyons flowed down these canyons and into the city. In addition heavy rain in the city of Wenatchee backed up storm drains and sewers and contributed to the flooding.
September 2013	Flash Flood	West Wenatchee	$43,430	Flash flooding from Number 2 Canyon blocked a portion of Number 2 Canyon Road above milepost 3. Flood waters reached as far as western Wenatchee. Flood waters also damaged homes and property to private residences in the Canyon. Damage costs were estimated.
August 2013	Debris Flow	West Wenatchee	$30,000	Heavy rain across the 2012 Peavine Canyon Burn Scar resulted in a large debris flow down Number One Canyon Road into southwestern portions of Wenatchee. Upwards of eight inches of mud filled yards, basements, and garages of homes along the road. Witnesses described a wall of water, mud, rocks, branches, and tree limbs coming down Number One Canyon Road with the sound of rocks scraping the road. The debris flow reached the intersection of Lars Lane and Number One Canyon Road. There were no injuries.
August 2013	Debris Flow	West Wenatchee	$30,000	Heavy rainfall led to a debris flow across Number Two Canyon Road roughly from mile post three to the end of the pavement around 0000 PST. The slide left half to one foot of mud and debris, including rocks, over the roadway rendering the road impassible. The Number One Canyon Near Wenatchee Rain Gauge (NOOW1) received 0.29 of rainfall over a span of 29 minutes. Runoff incised ditches up to four feet in diameter exposing utilities.
March 2016	Debris Flow	West Wenatchee	$15,000	The Wenatchee World Newspaper reported that a drainage culvert had plugged with debris during heavy rain over the weekend and caused water and debris to spill out from it and flood yards and streets in the Wenatchee Neighborhood on the 1600 block of Wooland Drive, which is off Pershing Street near Springwater Avenue in Wenatchee, WA.
June 2022	Flash Flood	West Wenatchee	$10,000	A mudslide on Number 1 Canyon Road was closed for several hours.
June 2022	Flash Flood	West Wenatchee	$10,000	Mudslide on Maple Street with the road temporarily impassable.
June 2022	Flash Flood	West Wenatchee	$10,000	Number 2 Canyon Rd temporarily flooded just west of Wenatchee.
June 2006	Lightning	Wenatchee	$5,000	no account filed
June 2019	Flash Flood	West Wenatchee	$2,500	Number 2 Canyon Road was cut by mud and debris carried by a Flash Flood . The road was closed for a few hours while road crews removed the debris.
August 2024	Thunderstorm Wind	West Wenatchee	$2,000	Chelan PUD reported 795 customers from a downed tree on a powerline.
May 2006	Lightning	Wenatchee	$2,000	no account filed
August 2024	Flash Flood	West Wenatchee	$500	Chelan County dispatch office reported water flowing out of manhole covers and flooding streets, including at the corner of Maple and Northwestern Avenue. Report on Facebook stated water was up to bumpers of vehicles.
June 2022	Thunderstorm Wind	West Wenatchee	$500	Observer reported 3 inch trees limbs and power poles were broken via Mping.
June 2013	Flash Flood	West Wenatchee	-	In the city of Wenatchee, Miller, Western, Springwater, and McKittrick roads experienced flooding. Manhole covers were blown off along Miller Street between Millerdale Avenue and Springwater Avenue. Sections of these roads were closed for roughly one hour as one to two feet of water filled some intersections. Mud and water could be seen flowing across State Route 28 at the junction of US2 and US97 via a DOT camera on the northern sections of Wenatchee. The water and mud was estimated to be less then a foot deep. A CoCoRahs report from one mile west southwest of Wenatchee stated the lower level of their outbuilding was flooded however it is unknown if there was any damage.
July 2011	Heavy Rain	Wenatchee	-	Significant rainfall resulted in cherry damage to several orchards from the Wenatchee area, northward toward Pateros. It was reported that up to approximately fifteen percent or more of the cherry orchards were damaged. The Skeena variety of cherries was most damaged as the rainfall resulted in severe cracking of fruit. The ASOS at the Wenatchee Airport reported 0.30 inches of rainfall between 0600PST and 1200PST. Damage estimations were based on a loss of 150 tons of cherries combined with the additional costs of renting roughly a dozen helicopters used to dry the orchards. One helicopter pilot died when the low-flying aircraft clipped a power-line and crashed.
June 2003	Heavy Rain	Wenatchee	-	During the late afternoon of June 9th a thunderstorm dumped up to 1/3 of an inch of rain in a short period of time. Minor urban flooding of storm drains and culverts resulted. Highway 2 between Wenatchee and Cashmere was closed briefly due to water ponding over all four lanes of the road.
June 2009	Dust Devil	West Wenatchee	-	no account filed

Every storm recorded in Chelan County

Map coverage status

No historic map-sheet match is published for this property yet. That does not mean no map exists. This record needs a coordinate-quality review before it can be joined to a sheet boundary. Browse the county's mapped places while that work is pending.

Listed places nearby

6 within 8 miles

Other National Register properties close enough to walk or drive between, ordered by distance from this one. Both positions come from the same geocoding pass that matched these properties to their map sheets.

Property	Distance	Listed
Wenatchee Carnegie Library	1.1 miles	1982
Downtown Wenatchee Historic District	1.1 miles	2008
Burke-Hill Apartments	1.2 miles	2021
Wenatchee Fire Station #1	1.2 miles	2004
U.S. Post Office and Annex	1.2 miles	1977
Brown's First Addition Historic District	1.7 miles	2021

Sources for this property

National Archives record	The nomination case file for reference 73001865 in Record Group 79.
Chelan County	All 46 listed properties in this county.

Provenance

Listing record. National Park Service National Register of Historic Places, listed-properties dataset, current to 2026-05-22.
Map join. Address geocoded through the United States Census geocoder, then tested against the published boundary of every sheet in the USGS Historical Topographic Map Collection.
How this page is made. Listing fields come from federal records; map-sheet coverage is a labelled coordinate-to-boundary calculation, not a source-field claim.
Wildfire. Short, Karen C. 2022. Spatial wildfire occurrence data for the United States, 1992-2020 [FPA_FOD_20221014]. 6th Edition. Fort Collins, CO: Forest Service Research Data Archive. https://doi.org/10.2737/RDS-2013-0009.6 Collected with United States Government funding and usable without additional permissions or fees.
Mines and quarries. USGS Mineral Resources Data System (MRDS) https://mrdata.usgs.gov/mrds/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105.
Storms. NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/stormevents/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105. Narratives are quoted verbatim from the National Weather Service report and are not edited or summarised.