Wawepex, or Matinecock, was the name of the indigenous settlement at Cold Spring from around 2500 B.C.E. until 1600 C.E. Wawepex can be loosely translated as "at the place of the good spring water" or "good little water place." By 1893, a warehouse built during the whaling era was leased to the Bio Lab from the Wawepex Society, a corporation started by the Jones Family in 1892, which owned real estate and supported scientific research.

This building was used as a warehouse for whale oil and has existed since the 1840s. The barrels containing the oil were plugged with bungs - hence the name Bungtown Road. This leased warehouse, which would later be called Wawepex Building, was re-used to meet the needs of the Lab's scientists by housing a dark room and lecture hall on the bottom floor as well as more room for facilities on the upper level. Wawepex was later used as a summer research building, as a dormitory, as the headquarters of the Children's Nature Study Program, and for administrative offices.