The W.H. Watt Building is associated in local memory with W.H. Watt, who had it erected as a bank. After an 1889 fire demolished Hailey's business district, the building's rear portion, which may date from as early as 1882, remained as the only known extant brick survivor of the fire, while the front portion probably dates from just after the fire, when a major rebuilding effort began. Its representative period features include a gable front, pressed sheet iron, a symmetrical facade, double-hung sash windows smaller than the large display windows then just becoming popular, vertical massing, and brick construction. Dr. Robert Wright acquired the building in 1911 or 1912 and practiced there until March 8, 1967. Born south of Bellevue in 1881, he received his degree from Medical School American College in St. Louis, worked in the Minnie Moore Mine west of Bellevue to earn money for school, and rode the sheep trains to St. Louis. In 1917 he organized the rescue effort at the disastrous avalanche at North Star mine. Sawtooth Title Insurance Company had offices there in 1960, and the building has also housed a café, a bookstore, offices for the County Recreation District, and a jewelry store. A two story porch with turned posts was added around 1968, and the building was added to the National Register of Historic Places in March 1983.