The following is a history of the Franklin Building site:

Early 1800s - A roofed-over yard with a harness shop and feed stable is built.According to a 1904 Watertown Daily Times article, the building is so old that nobody living at that time could remember when it was built.

1848 - The building is remodeled and becomes a tavern known as the Empire House. Decades later, even though the structure, known at that time as the Harris House, is being used as a hotel by the Watertown Hotel Co., "there is fervent prayer that it would vanish in smoke, or tumble down of its own accord," according to the 1904 Times article.

1904 - The Harris House is demolished and the Franklin Arcade, designed by architect D.D. Kieff, is constructed featuring two stories on Public Square and one on Franklin Street, as well as a 100-foot-wide arcade running through its center.

1920 - The Young Women's Christian Association constructs the existing building and closes off the arcade.

December 1994 - The building is put on the market with an asking price of $250,000 after the YWCA started experiencing financial problems.

1996 - The asking price is reduced to $50,000.

February 1997 - The local YWCA loses its affiliation with the national YWCA because of nonpayment of dues. The agency was reorganized under the name the Women's Association of Greater Watertown.

November 2001 - Then-Downtown Development Director Eve C. Holberg asks the Watertown Local Development Corp., which is also known as the Watertown Trust, for help to repair the building's roof.

December 2001 - The city of Watertown condemns the building for occupancy. The building's problems reach from floor to ceiling, nearly all of them caused by the leaky roof. Structural and floor parts had rotted away. Portions of the roof deck had rotted. Parts of the upper floors were weak with water damage. Much of the building's hardwood was heaved.

The leaking water was so bad that light fixtures and electrical outlets on the upper floors had water running through or into them. The only reason there had never been a fire is that most of the power on those floors was off.

The building's tenants, two churches and Napoleon's House of Style, were told to vacate the structure by Jan. 2, 2002.

July 2002 - The Watertown Trust agrees to buy the building for $55,000 from the Women's Association of Greater Watertown and to begin construction to make the building safe. By last December, about $600,000 is spent shoring up the building.