Paddock Arcade
Watertown’s oldest shopping destination, the Otis Wheelock-designed Paddock Arcade, dates back to 1850 when it was considered the first “glass-covered street” in the United States and modeled after similar buildings in France during the era.
In an article dated October 31, 1950 from the Watertown Daily Times, commemorating the centennial of the Paddock Arcade, it was noted through its first century, it was home to drug stores, cafes, shoe shining parlors, ice cream and confectionary stores, food markets, barber shops, music stores, book stores, photography studios/gallery, women’s shops, tobacco shops, ticket-stations, and telegram office.
For its first 42 years, the Paddock Arcade was also home to the Post Office before the first Federal Post Office was built on Arsenal Street in 1892 (ironically, later moved, stone by stone, to Arcade Street and renamed the Cleveland Building).
On October 25, 1900, Theodore Roosevelt, then running for Vice President, delivered a speech to a massive crowd of approximately 10,000 people in front of the Paddock Arcade on Public Square in Watertown, NY. Roosevelt praised the enthusiastic reception, noting it was one of the largest audiences he had addressed, and later assumed the presidency in 1901 following McKinley’s assassination.
On June 15, 1976, the Paddock Arcade was added to the National Register of Historic Places.
In 2008, it became the country’s oldest, continuously operating covered shopping mall and is considered the second oldest covered shopping mall in the United States.
The arcade has received funding from the Downtown Revitalization Initiative, which went to improvements.
The building was sold in 2022 to local developer Jake Johnson who has completed some work on their exterior and common areas.
