In 1818 George Forquer purchased this property and, with Daniel P. Cook, began laying out the lots that became Original Waterloo or Old Town Waterloo. Lot 82 in Block 11 was sold to Alexander Wells for $20 and remained in the Wells family until 1844, when John Pirtle bought it for $60. After Pirtle’s death in 1846, the lot was divided and auctioned, and the north half was sold to Harvey K. S. O’Melveny for $150. During O’Melveny’s ownership, the two-story front portion of the building was constructed. The property later passed to William Morrison in 1854, then to Dr. Thomas Cornell in 1858, who lived there and ran his medical practice from the home before selling to John Schuell in 1863. The Schuell family held the property for nearly 60 years, and in 1873 Elizabeth Schuell and Mary Welch began operating a millinery there. In the 1920s Fred Reitz briefly leased part of the building for a grocery before moving, and Henry Knapp took over the space in 1928. After the building was sold at public auction in April 1930 and a legal dispute was resolved, Knapp sold the south half to the Quernheim family and used the north half for Henry’s Grocery, which operated from 1928 to 1953. Known as the “Nickel Block Banker,” Knapp cashed checks for friends and customers in a section of Main Street long called the Nickel Block. After his retirement, the building declined until Henry’s granddaughter Ellen Canova and her husband Frank restored it in the early 1980s and opened the Nickel Block Deli in 1983. Donald and Karen Lamberti bought both halves in 1987, reuniting the building under one ownership for the first time in 57 years, and operated Lamberti’s Italian Restaurant for 8 years before selling to Robert and Barbara Schlegel in 1995. The Schlegels opened the Courthouse Espresso Café, later sold it to Jim and Darla Baker, and in 2011 Jay and Lisa Jones and Jim and Pam Waltmann purchased the building, renovated it, and opened Bean Tree Café. The Joneses bought out the Waltmanns in 2015 and continue to own and operate Bean Tree Café.