Pullman herald. [volume] (Pullman, W.T. [Wash.]) 1888-1989, 1889-02-09
Pullman i'm the Past.

tier, D. G. Mckenzie who is>sti1 with
U.s., fled a homestead upon the land
here, and what he afterwards plated as
the town of Pullman. He had abundant
faith, it seems, that the country would
develope, and that with its growth a
town would naturally be established at
this point" Three Forks as it was
then called, being the junetion-place of
the South Palouse river and the Dry
Fork and Missouri Flat creeks. AS all
roads once led to Rome, so, owing to
the peculiar character of the country
hereabouts, nearly all the roads centered
at Three Forks by easy gravitation from
the hills and mountains. Why shouldn't
there be a prosperous trading-point here,
under such circumstances, when the
country should fill up with farmers and
stockmen? On this assumption Pull
man was founded, and her subsequent
history has established the correctness
of the conclusion. -
In 1881, Stewart & Lee (Orville Stew
art, the senior member, is our present
mayor) opened the first store, which, for
the time being, supplied the wants of
the adjacent country. In '83, however,
the Palouse branch of the o. R. & N.
railway was surveyed to Pullman, and
this gave a considerable impetus to i'm
migration, bringing in other business
and professional men. NJ. S. Phillips
opened furniture store; Kaylor & Webb
drugstore; NJ. w. Drinkwater and
John Benjamin each started blacksmith
shop; Munroe & Oberholtzer a hardware
store These with livery stable, two
hotels and two saloons, comprised the
business places at the close of the year.
Then came the famous Willard collapse,
one of the effects of which was to stop
all work on the o. R. & N. branch when
it was within ten miles of Pullman.
This retarded our progress materially
until October, 1885, when the railroad
was completed to this point. Conf
dence in the future of the town WIS now
firmly established, and from that time
dates tho real history of the place. j.
W. Mcconnell bought out the firm of
Stewart & Lee and opened up large
general store under the title of McCon-
nell, Chambers & Co. A. L. Fariss pur-
chased the hardware business Of Munroe
& Oberholtzer, and at once enlarged the
same. NJ. G.. True made additions to
lis hotel to accommodate the increasing
rush, and the Empire House was contin-
ually filed to its utmost capacity.
The spring Of 'S6 opened most auspic-
iously for this embryo city and every
thing and every one prospered until July
4th of that year, when the tire-demon
fell upon the place and reduced to ashes
several business houses. with contents,
none of which were insured. Nothing
daunted, however, the plucky losers at
once set about rebuilding, and during
the summer and winter following larger
and better structures had arisen from
the ruins, each containing more extern
sive stocks of goods than had heretofore
been carried. But these, too, were
doomed to destruction, it seemed. The
town was now well supplied with bust
ness firms who were taxed to their ut
most financial capacity to handle the
trade, as there was but little surplus cap
ital in the country and the merchants,
being mostly strangers here, did not
have the credit W ich is now so willing
ly accorded them. On Sunday, June 26,
1887, defective chimney in o. Stew
arts building started another conhagra-
tion-and it was most disastrous one.
Every business house in town, together
with the contents with the exception OF
the drugstore and the Nodine building,
the latter then in course of construction J
was totally wiped out. Loss, something
over 100000; insurance, $4,000. 1t
was heavy blow, but the grit and en-
terprise of our merchants and their faith
in the town was never better exemplified
than on this occasion. Three days after
the fire, Mr.. Stewart had contracted for
the two-story brick, 40x100 feet, now oc-
cupied by Mcconnell, Chambers & Co.
The Fariss Bros. followed right along,
erecting 30x8O brick, afterwards en-
larging it 60x80 feet, making it the
largest hardware store in the country.
Ellsworth & Hunt put up one-stOry
brick grocery, and later on John Prem
| tice did likewise. Lumber and building
material of all kinds covered the ground
in every direction, and workmen We're
busy, not only upon the brick struc-
lures, but upon neat and substantial
frame buildings; SO that, when winter
came on, Pullman had much improved
in appearance and was all the better for
its fiery baptism.
On JuIv IA. 1897. the Bank of Pull