Weston, Oregon - Historic Sketches of Walla Walla, Whitman, Columbia and Garfield Count

Historic Sketches of Walla Walla, Whitman, Columbia and Garfield Count

The old Thomas and Ruckles road across the Blue mountains, the route of travel from Walla Walla to Baker City and the Boise mines, crossed Pine creek abou ta mile below the present town of Weston. At that point a stage station was established as early as 1863, and a hotel was kept by Taylor Green as a stopping place for teamsters, packers, emigrants and travelers. In the spring of 1866 T. T. Lieuallen bought the claim of a man who had settled on a portion of the town site. The little shanty he had built Lieuallen used for a chicken house, and erected for himself a good farm residence. In the fall of 1868 he persuaded a man named Abell, who was living at Richards Station, near the present town of Centerville, to come to this place and open a store. Lieuallen donated the ground for his building and gave him a cash bonus. In a few months his goods were taken by the sheriff. Jesse Melton bought the little shanty Abell had built, and converted it into a hotel ; it is now used for a butcher shop. Asberry Lieuallen had built a little house for a dwelling, and in the sj)ring of 1869 T. T. Lieuallen bought it and placed in it a stock of goods. It is now used for a smoke house by S. A. John. A school house was built that year on the ground now occupied by their fine edifice ; the old building now forms part of a saloon and billiard hall.

With one dwelling, a shanty hotel, a small store and a school house, Mr. Lieuallen called upon his neighbors to baptize the embryo city. About a dozen of them met at his store one day and the question of a name was brought up. He had selected Westen, and that name received about two-thirds of the votes, some of them favoring Prineville, Sparta, and McMinnville. The spelling of the name Westen was after Mr. Lieuallen's original way of doing things, but it was inadvertently spelled with an "o" in a petition to the postal department that fall, and thus it became and remains W^eston. When a post office was secured and located in Lieuallen's store, the stage road was changed to run through the village, and thus it became a regular station. Another store was added that year by John White and E. D. Seeley. Its history for the next few years is one of a steady and permanent growth both in business and population. In 1874 it began to covet the county seat, and endeavored to secure it, without success. Its efforts to procure a division of the county have already been given- The people of Weston are confident when that is accomplished the voters will locate the seat of justice with them. Should such a result not follow, the business of Weston is upon too firm a footing and improvements are too far advanced for the place to suffer or be materially retarded in its growth thereby.

At four o'clock Thursday afternoon, July 22, 1875, fire was ignited in a barn by some boys who were carelessly playing with matches. In a short time seventeen buildings on Main and Water streets were burned, embracing more than half the business of the town. The loss was estimated at $15,000. This was a severe blow, but the citizens had too much confidence in the future to be discouraged, and the result was that soon no traces of the disaster could be found, and more business men and new enterprises came here to locate. In December, 1878, the Weston Leader began publication, and the same fall a stock company was formed to build a steam flouring mill. The stock was bought up by Proebstel Bros., who completed the mill and began operating it with two sets of burrs. The Weston Steam Mills have now four run of stone, and complete j)urifying machinery. The Proebstel Bros, still own and operate them. About the same time Bamford & Bro. built the planing mill, which they still own. Weston contains the most substantial business buildings and finest residences in the county. The first brick was erected in 1874 by Saling & Reese, an addition being made in 1878. In 1880 J. E. Jones built a fine brick store building, the second floor being fitted up for a lodge room. There is another large brick building belonging to Mr. Saling. The large and handsome school house was erected in 1878 at an expense of $4,500. In 1881 the school was graded into four departments, including a high school, giving Weston the best educational system in the county. Until then higher branches had only been taught in private schools. In 1876 the Episcopalians built a neat church, and in 1878 the Baptist denomination erected a good house of worship. The Cumberland Presbyterians have an organization. A new city hall has been built of brick this year, citizens receiving stock for contributions of money, materials or labor.

Weston may now be summed up as follows; three general stores, two hardware stores, two drug stores, two millinery stores, one furniture store, one saddlery store, one variety store, onejewelry store, four saloons, two hotels, one restaurant, one bakery one meat market, two agricultural implement ware houses, two livery and feed stables, one barber shop, one paint shop, two boot and shoe shops, three blacksmith shops, a brewery, planing mill, flouring mill, city hall, school house, two churches, many pleasant dwellings, and a population of about 600. It is pleasantly situated on the banks of Pine creek, surrounded on all sides by large and well improved farms, of the fine grain land for which this region is noted. Blue Mountain Station, on the branch line of the O. R. & N. Co. from Walla Walla, is within three miles, and it is the expectation of citizens to have the road pass through this place. They are prepared to donate right of way and depot grounds for that purpose.

By act of October 19,1878, Weston was incorporated, with boundaries "commencing at the northwest corner of May's addition to the town of Weston; thence running east 75 rods; thence south to the southeast corner McArthur's addition to the town of Weston; thence west 65 rods; thence due north 80 rods; thence west 120 feet; thence due north to the place of beginning." The officers are a mayor, six aldermen, recooder, and ex-offieio collector, and a treasurer. The annual election occurs the first Monday in December. The charter was adopted at an election in November, 1878. The officers elected in 1879 were: Mayor, T. J. Lucy; Recorder, D. P. Dwight; Treasurer L. S. Wood; Marshal, F. B. Prine; Aldermen, Charles McMorris, J. Proebstel, J. Bamford,

John Hartman, G. W. Proebstel and W. R. Beckett. In 1880: Mayor, J. E. Jones; Recorder, A. Meacham; Treasurer, L. S. Wood; Marshal, D. D. Earp; Aldermen, Charles McMorris, H. McArthur, P. A. Worth, J. W. Miller, G. W. Proebstel and John Hartman. In 1881: Mayor, J. S. White; Recorder, W. R. Jones; Treasurer, L. S. Lacy; Marshal, H. Woods; Aldermen, J. W. Miller, Charles McMorris, H. Mc- Arthur, F. M. Pauly, Jacob Proebstel, P. A. Worthington.

Weston Lodge No. 58, I. O. O. F. - Date of charter, July 1, 1876. Lodge organized July 20, 1876. Charter members and first officers: George B. Young, N. G.; Fred Peebler, V. G.; A. B. Hendricks, R. S.; William Russell, T.; J. I. Mansfield and G. W. Mansfield. Present membership, thirty-nine. Time of meeting every Thursday night. Officers for 1882: S. A. Barnes, N. G. ; F. M. Johns, V. G.; A. L. Powers, S.; E. M. Purinton, T.

The town of Centerville is situated on Wild Horse creek, across that stream from the Umatilla reservation. It is three miles from Weston, a high ridge dividing the rival towns. As far as the eye can reach in all directions are seen those fertile hills and plains that are now recognized among the finest grain producing lands in the west. Finely cultivated farms lie on all sides but one - the reservation. . That is as barren of improvements as when settlers first came here, and its fertile acres which might support hundreds of people and produce thousands of bushels of grain, are but the grazing ground of cattle and Cayuse ponies. The settlement of the reservation would give Centerville a forward impulse and make of it a place of far more importance than at present. This time, is confidently looked for by its citizens.

The site of Centerville was known for years as Richards Station, a point on the emigrant road to Walla Walla. The place was kept by D. A. Richards, who had a post office located there for the accommodation of settlers. He undertook to make a town, to which he gave the name of Bellville. In 1868 he made an arrangement with a man named Abell to manage things for him, but that gentleman was soon after persuaded to go to Pine creek and help build a town at that point. In 1869 the post of- fice was discontinued, one having been established at Weston. The next effort to build a town was made by Thomas J. Kirk. In the spring of 1878, he laid out Centerville near the former site of Richards Station, and that summer a large agricultural hall, meat market, drugstore, general store, hotel, livery stable, harness shop, blacksmith shop, school house, and a number of dwellings were built. A few short weeks saw a town spring up and make its presence felt by those who had been struggling along for years. Its appearance made a trio in this corner of the county, all interested in securing a division and the creation of a new one. When this is done Centerville promises to make a strong fight to secure the county seat. A railroad from Walla Walla to intersect the Baker City Branch above Pendleton is surveyed through this place, and as it will undoubtedly be built within a year or tvro, the prospect before the town is highly flattering.

Already it contains five general stores, two hardware stores, a drug store, furniture store, jewelry store, saddlery store, two millinery stores, an agricultural implement warehouse, three saloons, two livery stables, a hotel, restaurant, barber shop, meat market, two blacksmith shops, steam planing and feed mill, school house, two churches, post office, express office, and a population of nearly 300. With such a start, certainty of a railroad, prospect of an opening of the reservation, and possibility of a county seat, the confidence of her citizens does not seem to be groundless. They have been erecting a $6,000 school house this year, and improvements are going steadily on, while the sound of the saw and hammer salute the ear constantly. The M. E. denomination has here the finest church building in the county. It was erected in 1880 at an expense of $2,500. There are about sixty members. The Christians built an edifice about the same time at an expense of $2,000. They have some seventy members.