The Tisdale House was constructed in the Federalist style in 1817 by Colonel Melatiah Jordan for his son Benjamin. Judge Joshua Hathaway first purchased the property, then Seth Tisdale, for whom the property is named. In 1897, George Nixon Black renovated and donated the building to the City of Ellsworth as a library in perpetuity, and an addition was built in 1991. The Peters Block, named for Andrew Peters, is actually six buildings. Five were built in 1837 by Andrew Peters, John Hubbard, Thomas Robinson, John Jarvis, and James Whiting, and the sixth was built some years later by Seth Tisdale. Located closest to the Tisdale House, it was ravaged by fire in January 1907, which destroyed the third floor, and it was not replaced. Both structures survived the 1923 flood and the 1933 fire.