THE GALLERT BLOCK
Tonge Investment Services
22 Common Street

At one time this location had a wooden building housing the studios of Simon Wing. While in his teens, he was one of the first to invent the daguerreotype, a photograph made on a plate of chemically treated metal or glass. He was an innovative camera designer and manufacturer of the box camera.

Wing came to Waterville from St. Albans, Maine in the early 1850s and was the principal photographer from 1855 to 1862. He moved to Boston and opened a series of shops from Waterville, Maine to San Francisco, California. In 1892 he ran for President of the United States on the Social-Labor ticket, gathering 70,000 votes but no electoral votes, being defeated by James A. Garfield.

In 1911 the wooden building on this site burned. This brick replacement building was completed for Gallert in 1913. The first occupant was Simpson and LaChance Shoe Store.

Today the ground floor is occupied by Tonge Investment Services and the upper floors are offices.