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One thing hasn’t changed in the century since Toby’s Tavern was constructed. Toby’s Tavern still caters to Coupeville residents and people from around the Sound, the difference being it’s now a destination rather than the point of origin for cargo bound for the mainland and elsewhere.
Well before the turn of the century, John Alexander S. Robertson was engaged in erecting many of the buildings in the Alexander land tract he had purchased in 1860, encompassing the Front Street lots between Main and Grace Streets. He helped shape the character which today charms residents and visitors alike by helping to construct at least half a dozen buildings still housing businesses.
By the time he sold Toby’s in 1890 to Thomas Watts Calhoun, the building was an integral part of the Front Street landscape. When it was actually built remains undocumented. What is known of the building’s history has been handed down through dry county records and living memories shared by Mickey Clark and George Hesselgrave, Jr., whose families each held title to the building.
A.B. Coates & Son stocked their emporium with everything from dry goods and groceries to grain and feed before selling it to Bacon & Hallock in 1904. That partnership split up in 1907, with A.D. Hallock re- taining ownership of the store itself, following it with purchase of the real property in 1909.
For the next 11 years, Hallock operated the general store, selling it in 1920 to Thomas C. Clark. In 1928, Clark sold it to the Seattle Merchandise Association, which in turn sold the building to George Hesselgrave, Sr. He promptly modernized the building, enclosing the lean-to addition on the west and adding three gasoline pumps and plumbing stock to the mercantile mix.
Wallace Benson ran the Coupeville Cash & Carry Grocery on the east side, while Hesselgrave operated out of the west. Hesselgrave hauled toilets and tubs from the mainland in his seven-passenger Studebaker to supply town buildings. The Studebaker also ferried films for the Circuit Theatre back and forth to Seattle every week amid the tubs and fixtures, and was, as its license plate proclaimed, “FOR HIRE.”
After his bar in the Central Hotel was damaged beyond repair by fire, Vique Sealey purchased Hesselgrave’s building, moved the bar across the street and opened for business in 1938. Thence began the 70-year tradition resulting in Toby’s Tavern today. We welcome you to Coupeville and Toby’s Tavern. How it got that name is another story…