The feed store building, located on the east side of Front Street, may have been constructed as a residence in the late 1890s. Starting in 1903, Nicholas Burke owned the property and used the building as a warehouse. Burke was the child of Irish immigrants and he operated a grocery store in Issaquah until his death in 1923. The main store was located across the street, where today’s Village Theatre is. After Burke’s death, the warehouse was purchased by Susan Augustan. A 1930 Sanborn insurance map indicates that the building was being used as a grocery store in that year. By 1940 it was being used as a four-room family dwelling. In 1941, Frank Hailstone and his sister, Nell Hailstone Falkenstein, purchased the building. In 1942 it reopened as the Hailstone Feed Store and Shell Gasoline Station. Frank operated the feed store along with his brother James, and his brother-in-law David Lewis. Nell, who was a widow, operated the gas station. Family members operated the business until 1966. The feed store remained in operation under various owners until 1990.
Today the City of Issaquah owns the Hailstone Feed Store building. The Downtown Issaquah Association (DIA) currently leases the building and has now roughly restored it to its 1944 appearance. There was a pretty rad Harley Peashooter laying in wait in the garage bay last time I peeked in the window too.
