Pioneer History of Grandview Washington Grandview History The Grandview Pioneer Association (GPA) formed in 1923 “to preserve the early history of the Grandview District, and to encourage mutual friendships”. Mr. Frank Bennet was appointed historian in June, 1923. In January 1925, a committee was named to push the history forward. The committee included Mrs J.M. (Ethel) Fleming, Mrs W.W. (Alice) Wentch and Mrs N.H. (Harriet) Thompson. Many members of the GPA wrote small sections of the history, few are named. Manuscript was completed by January 1927 and printing was authorized by the GPA. The GPA presented the history to the Grandview Public Library on Sept 1, 1927. Primary credit for collection of the data and writing of manuscript is given to Mrs. Fleming and Mrs. Wentch. Updated 6 Jan 2021 Page 1 Pioneer History of Grandview Washington IN THE DAYS BEFORE GRANDVIEW Long before the town of Grandview had even been thought of, there were settling in the district a number of families upon whose shoulders were to fall many responsibilities in the pioneer life. Everywhere great herds of horses and cattle grazed on the bunchgrass, which was so abundant at that time, 1891. As Mabton consisted of one store, and a boxcar for a depot, all the provisions and building materials of the ranchers were transported by team from Prosser. Water was hauled from the Yakima River. In 1893, the canal reached this section of the valley, and in 1893-94, the Rocky Ford Lateral was built to furnish water to a group of settlers in Euclid. In both the Bethany community on the north and the Euclid on the south, the year 1894 stands out as the first milestone in the educational system. In each district, a teacher was hired to hold school for three months in a shack. For a few years, the general depression of the country caused everything to progress slowly. By 1903, there was a schoolhouse in Euclid where church services were soon held. Likewise in Bethany, there was built in 1903 a schoolhouse, and a Sunday School was immediately organized, which was often supplemented by preaching services. In May 1907, the members of this Sunday school joined with the residents in and near the new town of Grandview and organized a Sunday school with R. L. Mains as superintendent. The Sunday school and church services were held in the High School building until the Presbyterian Church was moved to town from the Orchard Tracts in 1908. One of the most enthusiastic leaders in all religious and educational work was R. L. Mains of Bethany. The whole community suffered a distinct loss when he was called by death in December 1910. Thus was our community gradually being molded along the upright lines which still characterize it. Page 2 Pioneer History of Grandview Washington Marketing their produce was no small task for the pioneer farmers. Until the Northern Pacific railroad was operating in Grandview in 1907, the farmers in this district hauled their produce to Mabton, using the ferry until the bridge was built in 1898. A description of the hardships and difficulties met and overcome by these settlers would fill a book. Lack of modern comforts and conveniences, crude roads, discouraging results of seeding new land, and the ever-threatening sand storms, which swept with relentless fury across miles and miles of unbroken desert land, all called for a courage and faith found only among real pioneers. Page 3 Pioneer History of Grandview Washington FROM TERRITORY TO TOWN SITE On November 4, 1895, Grover Cleveland, President of the United States, conveyed Section 23, Township 9 N., R.23, E.W.M., the north half of which is now the town of Grandview, to the Northern Pacific Railway Co. The Railway Co. conveyed the Section to the Northern Pacific, Yakima and Kittitas Irrigation Company, the predecessor of the Washington Irrigation Co. The latter sold this land, which later comprised the town site area, in 20, 40, and 60-acre units. The 40-acre unit embracing a considerable portion of the business section of the town was sold to Albert W. Noyes. He in turn sold it to Edward McGrath, February 27, 1903, who built a home and put the land under cultivation. The McGrath home now (1927) stands in its original condition on the west side of West A St. on lots adjoining the Northern Pacific right-of-way. The above named units were later sold to the Granger Land Company and by it the north half of Section 23 was platted, surveyed upon the ground, and the plat filed for record on April 25, 1906. The town site was formally opened for sale of lots on May 13, 1906, and on this first day about $14,000 worth of lots were sold at prices ranging from $100 to $400 per lot. The Granger Land Company was organized for the specific purpose of plating and handling town sites in the Yakima Valley and its officers and stockholders were: Walter N. Granger Charles E. Woods George P. Eaton Elza Dean F. L. Pitman The Grandview town site was designed and platted by F. L. Pitman, who was at that time, Chief Engineer of the North Coast Railroad Co., (now Union Pacific) and was laid out on the ground by W. H. Dunbar, resident construction engineer, engaged in building the railroad. The site for the town was selected as the terminus for the Sunnyside branch of the Northern Pacific Railway in the fall of 1905. In October of that year, Elza Dean and F. L. Pitman, in the interests of the Sunnyside Railway and Granger Land Company, Page 4 Pioneer History of Grandview Washington examined the area in the vicinity of Section 23 and decided upon the north half of this section as a suitable terminus. The unusually transparent air and bright sunlight of that October morning brought into clear view the snow covered domes of Mt. Rainier and Mt. Adams. These, together with the broad expanse of the valley of the Yakima, with Snipes Mountain in the foreground, presented indeed a "grand view.” This remark exchanged that morning between those two observers, was the suggestion for a name, later recommended by them and in due course adopted as suitable for the new terminal "city.” Thus did the town and area around it acquire the name of "Grandview." Page 5 Pioneer History of Grandview Washington GRANDVIEW THE FIRST BUILDING Shortly after the opening of the town site in May 1906, Mrs. A. E. Sykes from Everett, erected a two-story frame building on Division Street (lot 10, block 17, using the rear rooms for a house and reserving the front room for the Post Office. The rooms upstairs were reserved for lodgers. This was the first building erected in Grandview. A more detailed account of the "Post Office" is given under that heading. THE FIRST STORE In July 1906, Mr. and Mrs. J. M. Fleming of Traer, Iowa, and J. L. Work of Elkhart, Indiana, decided to try their fortunes in the new town. Mr. Fleming erected a one- story frame building on Main Street (lot 17, block 17), where he and Mr. Work opened a General Merchandise store September 5, 1906 under the firm name of "Fleming and Work.” This was the first store and second building in Grandview. All the material for the building was transported by team from Sunnyside. The opening stock for the store was shipped to Mabton, and then freighted across from there by team, as the Northern Pacific railroad was not quite completed into Grandview. Two rooms at the back of the store served as a home for Mr. and Mrs. Fleming the first two years. At the end of a year, Mr. Work sold his interests to Mr. Fleming, who continued in business under the title of "The Pioneer Merchant.” Two years later lack of room necessitated doubling the size of the store, the addition being built on the west side. The early merchants had many difficulties with which to contend. There being no depot here, the freight was brought to Sunnyside where it accumulated until sent on to Grandview and dropped off in the weeds at the side of the track. Many a time it required a long search to find all the articles named on the bill. Page 6 Pioneer History of Grandview Washington Even a most vivid imagination could not enable those first residents in1906 to picture to themselves the future possibilities of Grandview. With the exception of Mr. Elser's family at the farmhouse, which was already on the land when it was platted into a town site, the entire population of the town consisted of five persons, viz, Mrs. Sykes and mother, Mrs. Pitman, Mr. and Mrs. Fleming, and Mr. Work. (Twenty years later our population numbered around 1100.) It was their custom to assemble each evening on the Post Office steps, talk over the few events of that day and the possibilities of the next. As they looked about them in the deepening twilight, they saw only strips of railed sagebrush where today are paved streets and cement walks. No grass, no flowers, no trees, no birds. No noisy truck nor speeding auto foretold the traffic of today. The only sound which broke the stillness of the night was the far away cry of the coyotes or an occasional rustle of leaves as a jackrabbit scampered away through the sagebrush. By and by appeared, here and there, a light shining out through the darkness, proclaiming the existence of the several farmhouses just beyond the edge of town.