The town that grew around it eventually took the name Riverside after the White River crossing nearby.
Then they found the crucial detail in a surveyor’s report from 1848.
Whitmore’s original structure had been built on the western edge of his land claim on a small rise above seasonal floodwater.
Adeline took out the bill of sale for the shack and compared the legal description of their parcel to the old map.
The location matched.
“Our building,” she said slowly, “is Josiah Whitmore’s original trading post.”
“The first permanent structure in Riverside.”
“The foundation stone of the whole town.”
Silas sat back, stunned.
“A building that sat there for more than a hundred and seventy years, covered in vines, while the town grew up around it and forgot where it came from.”
“And we own it,” Adeline said.
“For three dollars.”
They looked at each other, both beginning to grasp the size of what they had found.
The librarian returned carrying another folder.
“I found something else that might interest you,” she said. “A small collection of photographs from the late nineteenth century.”
She laid them out on the table. Most showed early Riverside—dirt streets, horses, wagons, wooden storefronts. But one image dated 1890 showed a small building on the edge of town, already weathered and abandoned even then.
The caption beneath it read: OLD WHITMORE TRADING POST, CIRCA 1847. FIRST STRUCTURE IN RIVERSIDE SETTLEMENT.
The building in the photograph was unmistakable.
“That’s our building,” Silas said.
The librarian’s eyes widened.
“You own the Whitmore Trading Post? But that’s been lost for decades. The historical society has been looking for evidence of its location. How did you—”
“We bought it at an estate sale,” Adeline said. “For three dollars. Everyone thought it was just an old shed.”
The librarian stared at them.
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