Historic Locations
Waterways were the earliest travel routes into the area. Indigenous communities, and later newcomers, depended on the river for movement and trade. Francis Duvall was one of the first non-Native settlers, securing ownership of land in Cherry Valley on October 15, 1875. His brother James—whose name the modern city carries—followed a few years afterward, and together they cultivated the homestead. Other families who established themselves in the region during this early period included the Radcliffes, Frazers, Hanisches, Pinkertons, Funks, and Doughertys.
A settlement known as Cherry Valley gradually formed along the river. In 1875, residents constructed a school from a massive cedar log. The community’s first minister, Reverend Andrew J. McNemee, began preaching there in 1885. Logging became the dominant industry by the 1890s, fueling the settlement’s growth. As steamboat use declined, major railroad lines—the Great Northern and the Chicago, Milwaukee & Puget Sound—laid tracks through Cherry Valley between 1909 and 1911. Their arrival forced the town to relocate and adopt a new name: Duvall, in honor of James Duvall. By the 1920s, agriculture had replaced logging as the mainstay of the local economy.
Over the decades that followed, Duvall’s leaders tackled essential infrastructure needs, developing improved roads, new schools, and a sewer system. In the 1960s, the area drew people associated with what some described as the counterculture movement, attracted by the town’s rural setting. Rail service eventually ended, with the last train passing through on February 9, 1973. Growth accelerated dramatically after 1979; by 1986, nearly 2,000 people lived in Duvall, making it the fastest-growing community in King County at the time. Expansion continued into the 21st century, and between 2000 and 2024 the population rose by roughly 77.7%, reaching more than 8,800 residents.
In 1886, James O’Leary originally purchased the homestead that would become this farmstead. The Dougherty house, originally built near the river in 1886 in the town of Cherry Valley, was moved up the hill in 1910, pulled by horses. In 1898, John and Kate Dougherty purchased the house and their family lived there until 1983 when Leo Dougherty died.
With a grant from King County, the Duvall Historical Society began preservation work on the house in 1985. It has immense historic integrity as a 19th century farmhouse, unaltered for 100 years. The original walls, doors, windows, woodwork, staircase, and exterior siding remained. In addition to the house, the property also includes the milk house and the bunkhouse where Kate Dougherty, then a widow with eight children, boarded eight loggers. One acre of the Dougherty farmstead including the house is both a King County and National Landmark. You can go inside the house every Sunday 1pm to 4pm from May through September.
In 1886, original homesteader James O’Leary deeded an acre of land to the Squak Methodist Mission for a church and cemetery. Duvall’s early pioneers used the cemetery behind the church for just a few short years because natural springs from the upper slopes kept the ground constantly wet and soggy.
Mourners found it disconcerting to see gravediggers furiously bailing several inches of water before lowering the casket. Townsfolk abandoned the site as a burial ground sometime between 1902 and 1905. To further complicate things, the Great Northern Railroad had to excavate part of the cemetery in 1909 and 1910 as a portion of the hillside sat in the railroad right-of-way. The Railroad moved about 20 bodies to other cemeteries during the process.
The original community, named Cherry Valley, sat on the banks of the Snoqualmie River at this location. Cherry Valley centered around a market, grange hall, church, and a school which had been constructed from the wood of a single old growth log. Mostly isolated from the larger Seattle-Tacoma region, it relied on boats as the main mode of transportation for timber, farm goods, and people.
Duvall Tavern
Built in 1934, just a year after prohibition, this Tavern has remained in operation ever since. The parking lot on its south side sits on land once occupied by a ramp to the old Stewart Street Bridge that crossed the Snoqualmie River towards Woodinville.
Lon Brown’s home was built in 1914. Brown, the first mayor of Duvall and a colorful entrepreneur, ran a silent movie theater and the confectionary across the street. The building subsequently housed Trim’s Meats, Cherry Valley Plumbing, and currently EarthHeat Geothermal Energy Systems.
Aimer’s Blacksmith Shop (later L.D. Smith Blacksmith Shop) built in 1909 when the town had its short-lived time named Cosgrove. L.D. Smith purchased the business in 1913. It fashioned horseshoes and repaired farm equipment. The building subsequently housed a gymnasium and an art shack. Bella Couture Parlor currently occupies the space.
Hoffman’s Duvall Tailoring Company
Built in 1911 or 1912, this building originally housed Hoffman’s Duvall Tailoring Company. Mr. Hoffman hiked out to logging camps, taking orders and measurements for some classy suits. Customers would then drop in on Saturday night for a final fitting. The building has also served as the original Silver Spoon Restaurant, a barbershop, an antique shop, and an arcade.
Duvall Flower and Gifts, is the oldest building in town. Built in 1905, it housed Hix’s General Merchandise. Originally built on the river in the town of Cherry Valley, it moved to its current location in 1910 when railroad planners laid out tracks that would have come through its front door and out the back. The move took six weeks. The building has served as a general store, the Post Office, and later as Duvall Auto Parts.
Duvall State Bank built in 1912, and later a branch of the Bank of America. Three men with blazing pistols, aided by one man acting as a lookout, robbed the bank of $435 in 1915. Once nearby citizens and the town marshal noticed the robbery, a gun battle ensued with shots fired from every direction. The leader of the robbers, with loot in a pillowcase, headed for the river. Shots continued to ring out and a splash was heard. The pillow case containing the gold and an empty pistol were all that were found.
Built in 1913, it originally housed Franke’s Shoe Store where Joseph Franke made and repaired shoes (including the caulked boots for loggers). Later, the building served as the office of Judge Wright, the grandfather of Broadway star Martha Wright. Later still, it served as the home of the Carnavall Reporter newspaper, a florist shop, the Pumps and Grinds Coffee Shop, and the Duvall Coffeehouse. Today Grateful Bread Cafe occupies the building.
Originally Boyd’s Grocery, this 1912 building initially contained a grocery store as well as a bakery and Post Office. In the 1930’s, cold storage lockers replaced the bakery. Subsequent occupiers included Stretch’s, McDougal’s General Store and the quirky Duvall Book Store, which closed in 2016. The Book Store attracted visitors from afar, not only for its quality collection of used books, but as a cultural attraction that included displays of historic and eclectic memorabilia in an old-fashioned atmosphere with neither telephone nor cash register. Now Pacific Bike and Ski Shop.
The Duvall Civic Club first operated the Duvall Library in this building, constructed in the 1930s with WPA (Works Progress Administration) funds. The Club obtained the Library’s first 71 books by traveling to Seattle and scouring second hand bookshops. Now the Duvall Visitor’s Center.
The Independent Order of Oddfellows Duvall Lodge #311 constructed this building in 1926, where it subsequently hosted weekly dances. The Grange purchased the building in 1933, and it remained as the social center of town for years including serving as the home for Klondike Days, a big local event. In 1977 it became the famous Silver Spoon, serving up arts and crafts as well as fine food and amazing live music upstairs after dinner. Local artists sold pottery and art throughout the dining room where customers sat at tables covered with vintage strawberries, violets, poinsettias and state maps. It is now the Grange restaurant.
Built in 1911, the Duvall Depot originally sat closer to the river, adjacent to the railroad tracks. In 2001, owner Ray Burhen donated it to the City of Duvall. Moved to its current spot to preserve it for public enjoyment, the Depot now serves as a community meeting space.
James Entwistle—born in London in 1832 and later a resident of Seattle—was the first documented non-Native settler in the area now known as Carnation, historically called Tolt. After joining the U.S. Army in Cincinnati in 1855 at age 22, he was stationed in the region and chose to claim 160 acres along the Tolt River in 1856. His farm remained in his hands until the collapse of hop prices in 1894 forced him to give it up.
From the late nineteenth century through the early 1930s, logging formed the backbone of the local economy. Before rail service reached the valley, timber cut in the hills was sent down the Snoqualmie River to mills in Everett. Among the prominent companies operating near Carnation were the Cherry Valley Logging Company, Siler Logging Company at Ames Lake, Lazarus Logging, and Security Logging.
Rail access arrived in 1910 when the Great Northern Railway extended its line south from Monroe. The tracks followed what is now Stewart Avenue on the town’s west side, where a depot, water tower, sidings, and yard were built near the present-day intersection of Commercial and Stewart Streets. A spur line linked the railroad to the Grange store and continued east to meet the Milwaukee Road. In 1917, the Great Northern sold this section of track to the Milwaukee system.
Long before these developments, the Snoqualmie Tribe maintained its second-largest village—and an important administrative center—close to the confluence of the Tolt and Snoqualmie Rivers, an area that today forms part of MacDonald Park. In the early 1900s, John Ames operated a cable ferry at this location, providing a river crossing for travelers headed toward Redmond and other communities east of Lake Washington.
Agriculture gained new prominence in 1908 when E.A. Stewart acquired 360 acres northwest of Tolt to pursue improved dairy production through selective breeding and better feed. His venture became Carnation Farms, which grew into a major local employer and later expanded into pet food as well. Nestlé purchased the company in 1985, and in 2010 the Stewart family regained the property, converting it into a nonprofit focused on nutrition education and sustainable farming practices.
Long before California’s “Home of Happy Cows,” Carnation Farms in the Snoqualmie Valley was famous as “The Home of the Contented Cows.” Founded in 1908 by E.A. Stuart, the farm emphasized happy, healthy cows as key to better milk production.
Stuart’s scientific and compassionate approach included selective breeding, careful attention to bloodlines, and humane treatment—rules still displayed in the barn emphasizing patience, kindness, and respect for the cows as mothers.
Exceptional cow-worker pairings, like Segis Pietertje Prospect (“Possum Sweetheart”) and milker Carl Gockerell, shattered production records, inspiring the world’s only cow monument. Carnation’s foundation herd revolutionized dairy globally, boosting yields, reducing labor, and promoting sustainable practices.
Today, the 818-acre farm, now a non-profit led by Stuart’s great-grandson, connects the community to the land through organic farming, education, and environmental stewardship, continuing the legacy of contented cows.
The Carnation Cemetery borders the Carnation Elementary School to the north. This cemetery dates back to 1905 when Frederick B. Bagwell donated the land that is now the northern section of the cemetery. Bagwell headed up the cemetery association, entirely comprised of Masons, though the cemetery was open to everyone.
The following year the International Order of Oddfellows started its own cemetery association, and its own cemetery, located south across a road from the Masons’ cemetery. Several burials pre-date the cemeteries’ origin – relocated from the nearby Pleasant Hill Cemetery after the 1905 establishment..
In 1957, the two cemeteries combined when the Oddfellows took control of the Masons’ portion. It remained in their possession until the the city officially assumed management in the mid-1990s.
The first school opened in Tolt in 1887 inside a log shack built on Shamgar Morris’s property north of the town. Called School District No. 27, it had a window on each side, a fireplace, and rough cedar benches instead of desks. A Mr. Hill (whose first name doesn’t appear in the historical record) taught four students who had to furnish their own books, pencils, and paper.
A second schoolhouse, also on the Morris property, used a box stove for heat and had rough, double-seat desks. During a heavy snow winter in 1882, the third school built in Tolt began to function on the Prenatt farm. It had more windows than its two predecessors on the Morris property, included a playground, and employed a bell to call the students to class. Miss Bessie Thistlewaite (subsequently Mrs. James Prenatt) served as the first teacher, later succeeded by Margie Stafford. By 1893, this school was known as District 113.
In 1895, the construction of a new Tolt Grammar School began at the present site of Carnation Elementary School. It operated independently from the school on the Prenatt farm. These two elementary schools, known as Districts 27 and 113, merged in 1907 to form District 165. A total of 177 pupils attended the combined district with J.M. Weaver as Principal. The two-story brick school building was torn down in November 1934 because it was too small. A May 10, 1935, dedication ceremony celebrated the completion of a new replacement school.
On December 30, 1936, fire destroyed the original wood frame Congregational Church – dedicated on August 8, 1898, and situated between the Tolt Grammar School and the cemetery. E.H. Stuart, of the Carnation Milk Farm, funded the design and construction of a new church in memory of his wife who had died in 1937. Dedicated as the Nan Fullerton Stuart Memorial Chapel on August 28, 1938, the Gothic Revival style building became the second Tolt Congregational Church. Features include granite quarried in Index, Washington, a design patterned after Scottish architecture, and a Celtic Cross top. The bell tower came from the original church.
Built in 1925, this building originally served as a variety store owned by Albert Prenatt. Albert’s father Joseph Prenatt, an early homesteader, arrived in Tolt in 1868. in 1940, Albert Prenatt sold the store to Howard Miller, who renamed it Miller’s Dry Goods. Howard and Marion Miller ran the store until 1982. Miller’s Dry Goods was known throughout the Valley for providing clothing and equipment to farmers, loggers, and their families. Today Miller’s – A Gathering Place serves as a community and makers space.
Carnation Corners Valley Real Estate in a building originally built for Tolt State Bank in the early 1900s.
Eri Barber Colwes, an early Tolt settler, built the bank and served as the first bank president. He enlarged the building in 1915 where he established a post office and rented space to other businesses. Tolt State Bank expanded with the local affluence and changed its name to Snoqualmie Valley Bank in 1918.
In 1924 a robbery at the bank shook the town and Seattle for days.
The Independent Order of Odd Fellows (IOOF Hall) Lodge No. 148. The club started in Tolt on March 20, 1895. The IOOF society originated in England during the 18th Century and spread to the United States with its lodge system. As one of several secret, self-governing groups popular in America at the time, it had ritualistic ceremonies and varied levels of member rank. The Tolt Odd Fellows held their first meeting in a two story building near the Snoqualmie River owned by James Entwistle. The $20.00 initiation fee contributed towards the construction of a meeting hall. They purchased a lot from George W. Shaw on the southeast corner of Tolt Avenue and NE 40th Street, and began construction. The Odd Fellows dedicated their new building on December 26, 1895.
After 30 years of meeting inside this building, the Odd Fellows felt they needed a larger meeting hall. They purchased a lot on the northeast corner of Stephens and Bird Streets from the Tolt Townsite Company on July 3, 1925 to construct a larger meeting hall. To meet an estimated $10,000 construction cost, the Odd Fellows managed to coordinate $5,000 in bonds, a majority of donated labor, and charitable assistance from their women’s auxiliary group – the Grace Rebekah Lodge. October 22, 1925 saw the first community dance in the new building. A predominant source of local entertainment at the time, community dances also provided a source of revenue for the sponsoring groups. The Tolt Odd Fellows held their first meeting in their new hall on January 14, 1926 and conducted a formal dedication ceremony on May 8th. On May 18, 1929, the Tolt Odd Fellows paid off all debts on the hall.
Gradually, fraternal societies including the Odd Fellows declined in the United States, supplanted by philanthropic service clubs such as the Kiwanis, Lions and Rotary, which admitted women. After 42 years of service, the Tolt Odd Fellows sold their meeting hall in 1971 and joined the Fall City Lodge. The later meeting hall subsequently became the Sno-Valley Senior Center.
The Tolt Middle School on the right sits on the site of the original Tolt High School. In 1914 the communities of Tolt, Stillwater and Pleasant Hill combined resources to construct a two-story brick high school. The school was completed in 1914, built on land donated by Andrew Hjertoos. Ralph W. Keller served as the first principal and the first graduating class, in 1915, included four students. The original school was demolished in 1971, making way for a new structure for students in grades 7-12. In 1993, high school students moved to the new Cedarcrest High in Duvall, leaving the Tolt Middle School for students in grades 6-8.
In 1907, Bergette and Andrew Hjertoos (one of the first settler families to arrive in Carnation) built the beautiful Victorian home – The Hjertoos House, a King County Historical Landmark. In 2019 the Tolt Historical Society opened its museum in the house.
Continue on the gravel road to walk through the Hjertoos Farm and past the Hjertoos barn. The farm was developed in the 1880s among a wave of settlers. When the Hjertooses purchased the farm in 1901 from the Shaw family, it included a two-story log-house, a large house for boarders, and a substantial orchard. In 1907, the growing family built the two-story, wood frame farmhouse to replace the earlier structures. The elaborate two-story front porch, which had fallen into disrepair, was carefully reconstructed in 1988 based on historic documentation. The farm currently produces both Christmas trees and vegetables.
Parishioners constructed St. Anthony Mission Church in 1914 with donations from the Catholic Extension Society. Tolt resident Ronald McDonald donated the land, and continued to live in the house west of the church. Initially the church only celebrated Mass monthly as the rest of the Monroe parish shared the priest.
St. Anthony’s separated from the Monroe parish and acquired its own priest in 1929. After that, it held masses weekly and the size of the parish grew.
St. Anthony’s first Mass celebration occurred in the new building on November 6, 1914, and the Archbishop dedicated the church a week later. Rev. D.P. Kelly served as St. Anthony’s first priest from 1914-1918. Rev. Daniel Grace (1919-1924), Rev. Robert Dillon (1925-1926) and Rev. William Chaput (1927-1929) followed.
People have lived at the site of present-day Fall City for millennia. When American settlers entered the valley during the 1856 Treaty War, they constructed Fort Patterson and Fort Tilton near established Snoqualmie Tribe villages. By 1869, a trading post had been set up near what is now the Last Frontier Saloon, located across the river from the Tribe’s primary village—an area close to today’s Fall City Community Park.
Over time the settlement acquired several names. It was called “The Landing” because shallow stretches and rapids farther upriver prevented larger freight vessels from continuing east. The name “Falls City” also appeared, referencing the nearby Snoqualmie Falls.
For generations the Snoqualmie River served as the region’s main travel corridor, first for canoes and later for small steamboats that carried goods to upriver communities. In the 1880s, Seattle entrepreneurs launched the Seattle, Lake Shore & Eastern Railway with plans to push a rail line across Snoqualmie Pass. Anticipating its arrival, Jeremiah Borst and his wife, Kate Kanim Borst, had Fall City surveyed and platted. Their hopes were dampened in 1889 when the tracks were ultimately built on higher ground and the depot ended up a mile outside town.
Even so, the railway spurred rapid settlement, and hundreds of newcomers arrived over the following decade. The early 1900s brought another major route—the Sunset Highway—through Fall City. Unlike neighboring towns that chose to incorporate in that era, Fall City remained unincorporated. Its growth slowed significantly during the Great Depression and again during World War II, when the highway route shifted away.
Today, Fall City functions largely as a residential community, retaining a historic core of early homes, businesses, and farms.
Paul Holden built the original single-story Riverside Tavern at this site in 1925, near Riverside Campgrounds and a dance pavilion. Owner Mae Brown added a second story with guest rooms and changed the name to Riverside Tavern and Lodge in 1933.
In 1966, Ed DeGrace acquired the building, did some remodeling, and changed the name to the Colonial Inn – a restaurant enjoyed by the community for over twenty years. Scott Krahling of Sammamish and Charlie Kellogg of Fall City purchased the building and business in 2005. After extensive refurbishing, they opened in 2008 as the Fall City Roadhouse. Long-time employees Cynthia Heyamoto and John Manning purchased the Roadhouse in 2018.
Model Garage is Fall City’s longest operating business.
In 1920 Lud Peterson leased an earlier garage on this site and opened the first Model Garage. Around 1926, he purchased the garage building and the large Murphy house that sat on the corner, took down the house, and hired Bill Blaisdell to build a larger 40 x 60 feet cinder block garage on the corner lot. The widening of the Redmond-Fall City Road around 1929 required relocation of the new Model Garage 50 feet south to its current location – one of the few River Street buildings to survive the roadwork.
From 1890 through 1958 large structures built by the Fall City Lodge No. 59 of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows Halls occupied this corner lot for 68 years. The first IOOF Hall (1890-1929) contained a second story meeting room and a large rental space at street level. Dunstan Brothers General Merchandise occupied the street level space from 1904-1929. The widening of Redmond-Fall City Road in 1929 required demolition of the first hall. IOOF then constructed a second hall (1929-1958) towards the back of the lot. After demolition of the second hall in 1958, the current building replaced it. The Riverside Tavern business moved from its original location (now the Fall City Roadhouse) to this site around 1960.
This corner lot, the “Hotel Corner” has hosted a number of hotels and other businesses since the 1880s. Over a couple years beginning around 1886, David ‘Doc’ Taylor built a store here, added a restaurant on the east side, and then added a two-story house for his family on the west side. When these buildings burned down, he built a two-story Taylor Hotel on the lot, which he sold in 1903 to Andrew and Karen Ronnei, and Mike Nelson. They changed the name to Hotel Fall City and added a saloon. The new owners died in the flu epidemic of 1919. Lars and Ingo Johansen bought the building and changed the name to Fall City Hotel; however, it too burned to the ground in 1925. Lars then built a new Fall City Hotel on the site, which he moved to the back of the lot in 1930 when the road was widened.
Just past the alley sits a cinderblock building the Fall City Independent Order of Odd Fellows have used since 1961.
In 1947, the Fall City Fire Department built this small building as Fall City’s First Fire Hall. It housed the fire truck, various pieces of equipment, and space for the volunteer firemen to relax when on shift.
As the tallest and least altered of Fall City’s buildings from the late 19th century, the Fall City Masonic Hall has served as a visual community landmark for well over 100 years. Chartered in 1890, the Falls City Masonic Lodge No. 66 met initially in the hall above Taylor’s Store on River Street (Stop 4). In 1894 the store burned, destroying all the property and records of the Lodge. The members moved quickly to plan and construct the current hall and held their first meeting there in January 1896.
Among the older houses remaining in Fall City, the Neighbor-Bennett House is considered the most elegant for the quality of its detailing. Emerson Neighbor built the house in 1904, and 100 years later in 2004 the National Park Service added it to the National Register of Historic Places. Emerson and his brother owned a general store on River Street and helped establish the town’s telephone service. In 1912, he sold the house to Frank Bennett, who operated a delivery and distribution system for large quantities of milk produced in the area. In the beginning this was by horse and wagon along a rough trail to Tolt (now Carnation), with the 18-mile round trip requiring a relief team of horses.
The large Valley Hotel, built in the late 1890s, occupied this corner in Fall CIty’s early days. It burned in July of 1909 and was not rebuilt.
The original part of the present Fall City Methodist Church building was built in 1899 as the Fall City Baptist Church and sat across 337th Pl SE on part of the large lot belonging to the Neighbor-Bennett House. The Methodists gladly shared the building with the Baptists, having lost their earlier church built on land without a clear title. They subsequently bought the building in 1919 and bought the property across 337th Pl SE in about 1927. In 1929 they moved the church to its current location and turned it to keep the entrance on Main Street (337th Pl SE). In the late 1950s and 1960s additions and remodeling brought the building to its present configuration.
Charles and Minnie Moore moved to Preston in 1903 with their five children. In 1905 they bought this lot in Fall City for $40 and built a house with lumber from the Preston Mill, using inexpensive vertical-plank construction. In 1920 they sold the house to Al and Mary Minor, who rented it to others.
Eugene Parmelee and Elizabeth Alexander met in Fall City in the early 1900s and married in 1912. Gene died in 1937, leaving Elizabeth to raise their seven children. In 1943 she arranged to buy the Moore house for $1000 and it has remained in family ownership ever since. Family members painstakingly restored the house from 2002 to 2012.
Schools block
The David ‘Doc’ Taylor House is the oldest building on “River Street” and one of the three structures that survived the road widening in 1929. Among the early residents of the area, David ‘Doc’ Taylor, his wife Helen, and their three children were the first to settle as a family, in 1872. When Doc sold the Taylor Hotel in 1903, he built this house for his family. Dentists Sabra and Greg Fawcett have operated the Dental Clinic in the building since 1980.
This Fall City “Grocery Corner” has seen a series of grocery stores serving the area since 1922 when Chapman’s Cash Store opened, occupying the area where the current parking lot sits. After subsequently housing five additional grocery businesses over the years, the original building burned in 1972 as a total loss. Don Bluher constructed the current building and leased it to Gene and Carol Stevens, who operated the longest continuous business here – Stevens’ Family Market – from 1972 to 2006. In late 2006, Don Bluher’s son Jay stepped in to remodel the building and opened it as the Farmhouse Market in February 2007.
This small Macrae Building has a rich history. Burns & Son “One Price” Store (1909-1922) originally occupied the west half of the site. Robert Burns sold the store to his son-in-law Jesse Kelley, who replaced it with a concrete building and offered a variety of construction services from the J. E. Kelley Shop until 1944. Jesse and Artie Kelley then sold the building to Artie’s cousins, Howard and Clara Stow, who operated Stow Hardware here until 1954. New owner Jack McClymont then added the east half to the building and operated McClymont Hardware until 1976. Other hardware operators continued until around 1992. In 1993, Ian Macrae purchased the building which has subsequently housed a variety of businesses.
Fall City’s early settlement stems in large part from its favorable landing spot on the Snoqualmie River. Until railroad transport became available, at first dugout canoes and then steamboats carried goods and materials to and from the Snoqualmie Valley towns. The river saw lively steamboat travel until the late 1880s.
The river offered transport, but also presented an obstacle to travel. Before the construction of bridges, small ferries often assisted in river crossing. A classic early photo of Fall City shows the Rutherford brothers’ ferry, powered by the river current.
Construction of the first of the Snoqualmie River bridges in Fall City was a big event. The wooden bridge, with a span of approximately 350 feet, opened in 1889. It fell in the spring of 1900 and was rebuilt the following year with salvaged materials. The first concrete bridge, with graceful arches, replaced the wooden bridge In 1917. Increased vehicle size and traffic volume necessitated construction of the more substantial current concrete bridge, completed in 1980.
Prescott-Harshman House on the corner, now home to Aroma Coffee. From 1912 to 1933 the Prescott-Harshman House served as the home of Newton and Julia Harshman and as the office of their business – the Fall City Telephone Company. The phone company provided vital links among the communities of Carnation, Preston, Fall City, North Bend, Newcastle, Coal Creek and Snoqualmie, and connected them with the “outside world.” After Julia’s death in 1933, her daughter Gertrude and son-in-law George Satterlee continued to operate the company until 1947. Audrey Schroeder completed a meticulous restoration of the home in 1991.
From 1916-1970, the three-story Fall City Brick School sat to the right of the Gymnasium on what is now the parking lot for Fall City Elementary School. Students from kindergarten through high school attended from 1916 to 1944. Only a handful of graduates from the Brick School are still with us. The well maintained Fall City Gymnasium, built in 1931, remains in use today. After the consolidation of Snoqualmie Valley districts in 1944, high school students subsequently attended Mount Si High School. The Brick School continued to house elementary school students until the late 1960s. Demolition occurred in 1970.
Snoqualmie is best known as the home of Snoqualmie Falls, but its story begins long before the city was established. The Snoqualmie Tribe has lived in this area since time immemorial, caring for the land and especially for Snoqualmie Prairie—also called Meadowbrook Farm—the largest traditionally maintained prairie in the valley and a place of deep cultural and spiritual importance. During the Treaty War of 1855–1856, Euro-American forces built the first non-Native structures in the valley, including a military fort near the Tribe’s village at Meadowbrook.
Non-Native settlers soon claimed the prairie for farming, eventually developing the large Snoqualmie Hop Ranch. The arrival of the railroad in 1889 prompted the Snoqualmie Land Improvement Company to lay out the townsite, and Snoqualmie formally incorporated in 1903.
The 1910s brought major transitions. The new Sunset Highway cut directly through town, and across the river the Snoqualmie Falls Lumber Company built a large mill complex along with a planned company town. The highway brought travelers and helped support workers moving through the region. As automobile travel expanded in the 1920s, Snoqualmie grew as a stop for visitors. Around the same time, the owner of Meadowbrook Farm developed a new neighborhood—Meadowbrook—near the site of the old fort, intended in part to house mill workers.
A significant change came in 1940, when a rerouted highway bypassed Snoqualmie’s downtown, reducing pass-through travel and leaving the Falls as the main draw for tourists. By the mid-20th century, the exhaustion of old-growth timber made large-scale logging impractical. The lumber company began gradually stepping away from the community, selling its worker housing in the late 1950s and closing out the last elements of the company town by the 1970s. Over the following decades, the business shifted from milling operations to land development, ultimately paving the way for the creation of Snoqualmie Ridge.
Modern Snoqualmie now encompasses the historic communities of Snoqualmie, Snoqualmie Falls (the mill town), and Meadowbrook. Today its leading employment sectors include professional and technical services, retail, and health care, and most residents commute to jobs in nearby urban centers.
Built with timbers from Weyerhaeuser’s Snoqualmie lumber mill, this open structure shelters an old-growth Douglas fir log typical of those cut in the early logging days. Check out the interpretive sign to learn more about Snoqualmie’s logging legacy. The Centennial Log made appearances in the cult classic TV show Twin Peaks.
The building originally housed the Hotel Snoqualmie, built in 1910. Jacob Burton subsequently owned the building and 1940 tax records included a photo of the structure with “Burton Hotel-Apartments-Rooms” painted on the side. A fire in 1960 prompted remodeling, including the loss of the second story.
The original Snoqualmie Grade School, built in 1911. For a period of time, a complex including this building and an adjacent high school building operated as the Snoqualmie School District, serving first through 12th grades. When the Fall City, Snoqualmie and North Bend School Districts merged, the adjacent building housed the initial Mount Si High School from 1946-1952 before completion of the new Mount Si High School building on Meadowbrook Way. The Snoqualmie Grade School building continued to operate as 1st-8th and later K-8th well into the 1960s when Snoqualmie Elementary and Snoqualmie Middle Schools were built. Subsequently it has served as the Snoqualmie Valley School District headquarters.
Now the third oldest building in Snoqualmie, The Woodman, constructed in 1902, originally housed the Modern Woodman of America fraternal organization. Later that same year the Independent Order of Odd Fellows acquired the building as subsequently did the Fraternal Order of the Eagles. Over the years, many community groups met here including the Veterans of Foreign War and Boy Scouts. The building also hosted the annual Fishing Derby Pancake Breakfast along with many community fundraisers. Later incarnations included an antique store and dance studio before its restoration in the 2000s.
The oldest building in Snoqualmie – the Snoqualmie Depot. Built in 1890 by the Seattle, Lake Shore and Eastern Railroad, the Depot stimulated much of the original development in town. The promise of transportation and commerce brought settlers, tourists, and business folks to the city.
This handsome Queen Anne-style Depot outclassed all the other Valley depots. The Northwest Railway Museum has occupied the Depot since restoring it to its original grandeur in 1981. Open year round, the Museum also offers 2-hour train rides year-round on weekends.
This pair of commercial buildings includes a taller, narrower, southern storefront built in 1910 and the lower northern portion built in 1920. Starting with Latberger’s Barber Shop, a barber shop has always occupied one of these two buildings. They have acted as community information centers for over 100 years. Locals frequently visit to hear the latest gossip while they get their ears lowered or get a cup of coffee next door.
This area originally housed the Nye Brothers General. Built in 1928, this Glazed Brick Building replaced a small wooden building that housed a cobbler shop and a variety store. It represents a unique example in Snoqualmie of a vernacular interpretation of the 1920s Moderne (or “streamlined modern”) commercial design. The original developer and/or owner has not been identified.
Louis A. Wade, who served as a justice in Snoqualmie Falls, purchased the building in 1933. From tax records, it appears that in 1940 the property housed the offices of Valley Insurance and Copass & Hall Lawyers. Now the Black Dog Cafe.
This building originally housed a cafe and tavern in 1921. During prohibition, the tavern operated as a “soft drink” and pool hall. In 1940 the Bennett Confectionery and Ice Cream Parlor occupied the building. Now Copperstone Family Spaghetti Restaurant.
This two-story stucco-clad building was constructed in 1919 as a movie theater, most likely for E.W. Sandel. Sandel operated theaters in North Bend and Issaquah in addition to working as a druggist in Snoqualmie from 1917-1922. He operated the theater as the Dream Theater until about 1923, when William Cochrane acquired it.
Cochrane, who had just built the Brook Theater in Meadowbrook, changed the Dream Theater’s name to the Sunset Theatre. The new name referenced the building’s location on the Sunset Highway (Railroad Avenue).
The main entry is recessed beneath a low, arched opening framed by a larger rectangle. The design recalls a proscenium arch on a stage. At the top of the parapet, a prominent cornice with rounded coronae projects from the building.
Cochrane closed the Sunset Theatre in January 1930 in response to declining ticket sales and the public’s desire for movies with sound not accommodated in the theater’s design. A 1939 remodel readied the building for a new purpose – to house the town hall and the fire station. During World War II it supported the local air raid tower and horn. In 1946, Snoqualmie established its first library on the upper level.
Later it housed the mill workers union hall and today is Sigillo Cellars.
Constructed in 1901, this building for many years housed Kritzer’s Meat Market , operated by Joseph and Mary Kritzer. The date they began operating in this building is uncertain. They first advertised in the 1907/08 Gazetteer as a butcher; and may have moved to this building immediately after its construction. They definitely operated at this location in the 1920s, and continued into the 1940s. Long-time owner Mena K. Mahoney sold the building to Victor Klement in 1962. Klement remodeled the building for use as a jeweler’s shop and added the agate inlay found in the bulkhead below the shop windows. Now it is Down to Earth Flowers and Gifts.
This one-story brick commercial structure containing three separate shop spaces. William Fury built this structure in 1928. Referred to as The Fury Block, it was the most substantial commercial development in the historic district in the late 1920s. Before construction of the Fury Block, the Fury & Kinsey Livery stable occupied this site, and the Livery was converted to a garage in the 1920s.
The Kinsey Hotel Complex occupied this site at the turn of the century, and burned in 1902. The Kinsey Hotel Complex had three stories with five dormer windows across the front on the top floor. A post office and meat market occupied space on the lower floor and a dance hall occupied space on the second floor.
The parents of future famous logging photographers Darius and Clark Kinsey operated the complex with the help of their five sons and one daughter. While operating the hotel, a guest taught all the boys photography.
The current one-story rectangular commercial structure built in 1920 and enlarged to the north in 1926.
The first services were actually held under a maple tree on the river. Church members fixed the probable date of that first Snoqualmie sermon as Sept. 24, 1889. The original church building can be seen across the street. It is now the American Legion Hall and was built in 1892 by Edmond Kinsey who ran the Kinsey Hotel Complex across the street. The current church, built in 1924, caught fire in In 1939 prompting the Snoqualmie Fire Department to get its first fire engine in 1940. Previously the Department only had a human pulled pump cart and hose cart to fight fires.
Originally built as the Methodist church, this building was moved to its current location in the 1920s. First serving as city hall and jail, it quickly became the American Legion Post. This building is the second oldest building in Snoqualmie.
Originally built in 1923 as the State Bank of Snoqualmie, it has served many purposes over the years. In addition to being a bank, the building also housed Snoqualmie City Hall, office space, and the Snoqualmie Valley Chamber of Commerce and Visitor Center.
In November 1990, when the building was City Hall, it was hit hard by flooding. This forced the city office to relocate temporarily to North Bend. It wasn’t until two years later that they were able to move back in. This handsome brick building, currently occupied by Buckshot Honey Restaurant.
This large wood-frame commercial building was built as Reinig Brothers General Merchandise in 1909, Otto Frank Reinig, Proprietor. It replaced a 1902 building on the same site which had been destroyed in 1908 by a fire that had originated in a hotel across River Street.
This building is the only remaining building in Snoqualmie significantly associated with Otto Reinig, a prominent Snoqualmie citizen in the early 1900s. Otto was the son of influential early Snoqualmie residents Leonard and Margarethe Reinig. He started in the grocery business in the early 1900s after spending five years in Dawson during the Klondike gold rush.
Beginning in the late 1940s, it became the Red & White store, it now has been Carmichael’s Hardware for decades.
Built in the 1910s, this building has served as the home of Snoqualmie’s newspaper for over a hundred years, first housing the Snoqualmie Post and then later the Snoqualmie Valley Record. Prior to operating out of this building, the paper operated out of a hotel across the street and the original printing press was daringly rescued from that building when it burnt down.
From 1949 to 1961, Charlotte Paul Groshell and her husband Ed Groshell operated the newspaper, during which time Charlotte wrote several best-selling books about her life operating the newspaper and fictions about life in the Valley during the pioneer era. Her first novel appeared in 1950—Hear My Heart Speak, about a World War I veteran, psychologically damaged from the war, living in a rural Wisconsin community. Stories heard from old-timers of the Snoqualmie Valley provided a rich source of lore for two historical romances, the bestselling Gold Mountain (1953) and The Cup of Strength (1958), later republished as Wild Valley (1981). Her own family’s pursuit of independence was memorialized in Charlotte’s only two nonfiction books, the bestselling Minding Our Own Business (1955) and its sequel, And Four to Grow (1961).
Since 1961, the Snoqualmie Valley Record has been operated by several owners and currently is run by Sound Publishing.
Like elsewhere in the Snoqualmie Valley, multiple Snoqualmie Tribe villages once stood in the area that is now North Bend. American settlers began returning to the valley after the Treaty War in the late 1850s. By the 1860s, they were joined by Lucinda Collins Fare, who established a farm on the land now known as Tollgate Farm. She repurposed the abandoned Fort Smalley as her barn, and her arrival was soon followed by additional women and families who settled nearby.
As the Snoqualmie Pass Wagon Road was built, Lucinda’s farm became an important stop for travelers. Because the toll booth for the road was located there, the property acquired the name “Tollgate.” By the 1880s, the surrounding area supported a growing hops industry and emerging tourism, leading to the construction of a small hotel and store on the farm.
When the railroad reached the valley in 1889, a new townsite was surveyed just across the river. Initially named Snoqualmie Prairie, the settlement had to be renamed because the railroad already maintained stations at Snoqualmie Falls and in the town of Snoqualmie. After a brief period under the name Mountain View, the community adopted the name North Bend.
Commerce gradually shifted from Tollgate to the newly platted town. Around the same time, the railroad continued eastward to Sallal Prairie, where a sawmill and the community of Tanner developed.
North Bend expanded quickly, growing to a grid of four blocks by four blocks, and it formally incorporated in 1909. Nearby, the communities of Edgewick and Cedar Falls took shape, and together with Tanner, they formed the core of what now makes up both the incorporated and surrounding unincorporated areas of North Bend.
Because it sat at the final major stop before Snoqualmie Pass, North Bend evolved into a service hub for travelers. Its economy gradually shifted away from lumbering and agriculture toward providing fuel, meals, and lodging for people crossing the mountains. This role carried the town through much of the 20th century until the construction of Interstate 90 diverted traffic around it in the 1970s. In 1989, filming of the television series Twin Peaks brought national and international attention to North Bend—a legacy that continues today.
Tollgate Farm, located in North Bend, sits on land with deep historical significance, reflecting thousands of years of human presence in the Snoqualmie Valley. For millennia, the area was home to Snoqualmie Tribe villages, who relied on the fertile lands and nearby rivers for fishing, hunting, and gathering. The land’s strategic location at the base of the Cascade foothills made it a hub for seasonal movement, trade, and cultural practices.
Archaeological evidence and oral histories suggest the area was a key part of the tribe’s landscape, providing food, shelter, and spiritual significance long before European settlers arrived.
In the 19th century, Tollgate Farm became a focal point of early American settlement in the region. Pioneers, including Lucinda Collins Fare, established farms here, capitalizing on the rich soils and proximity to routes like Fort Smalley. Over time, the farm became part of the evolving agricultural landscape that shaped North Bend and the greater Snoqualmie Valley, reflecting broader patterns of settlement, land use, and community development. The site earned the name “Tollgate” because a toll station once stood nearby on the road to Snoqualmie Pass, collecting fees from travelers.
Today, Tollgate Farm preserves this layered history, representing both the enduring presence of the Snoqualmie people and the transformation of the land through early American agriculture, making it a site of cultural, historical, and educational importance.
Like many small towns, North Bend received its own theater in 1941. While most towns have either torn down or converted their theaters to other uses over the years, North Bend continues as a working and thriving family theater.
A reporter from the Snoqulamie Valley Record attended Opening Night on April 9, 1941. The article that follows appeared on the front page of the local paper the next day.
New Theatre Opens at N.B.: Many Marvel at Beautiful Interior-Lavish Appointments-Excellent Sound
The opening of North Bend’s new theatre Wednesday evening proved a gala affair. Guests were welcomed in the lobby by Manager and Mrs. Jay Tew and the builder Emmet Jackson and Mrs. Jackson.
The attractive foyer was made more beautiful by the arrangement of many baskets of flowers sent by associates and friends. The event developed into an “open house” with everyone visiting the power room and crying room and commenting on the handsome decorations and modern appointments before taking their seats.
The theatre which has been built, conforms to the latest standards in construction under the supervision of Wm. Blaisdell and Herbert Johnson. The building is 40 by 100 ft. of reinforced concrete and is the “last word” in theatre buildings. W.E. Stoddard of Meadowbrook is responsible for carrying out the interior decorative scheme – yellow and dark red being the predominating colors. With 412 deluxe seats, upholstered in red plush, it will be a real pleasure to watch the pictures.
Indirect lighting from beautiful fixtures at the sides of the main body of the theatre, and one of the newest innovations – a silver screen, back of the main red plush curtain, proved a surprise to everyone. This silver curtain, glistens in either gold or silver depending upon the lighting.
The furniture in the lobby, of cream colored leather, harmonizes nicely with the rich dark red carpet, the whole effect of the building and appointments being stream-lined in the most modern manner. The latest of sound equipment and air conditioning system, will insure patrons the acme of comfort. In fact, one might go on indefinitely describing the beauties of the new theatre and then not do it justice.
A large and beautiful Neon sign, which can be seen for a long distance has been erected in front of the theatre. Mr. and Mrs. Tew and Mr. and Mrs. Jackson are to be highly commended on the successful completion of so beautiful a building.
Originally constructed in 1918, the building was split in 1941 and a portion moved down the block to become a tavern.
The building you’ll see on the western corner of the intersection was known as the Sunset Garage, constructed in 1929. With the completion of the Sunset highway in 1915 over Snoqualmie Pass, North Bend became the motorist’s crucial last stop for food, gas, and lodging before crossing the Cascades. The Sunset Garage, originally built as a mercantile store, quickly converted to the garage to service cars traveling the highway.
The Snoqualmie Valley Museum is a nonprofit institution dedicated to preserving and sharing the history of the Snoqualmie Valley. Its mission is to connect the community to its past through exhibits, educational programs, and storytelling, fostering understanding and appreciation of the region’s cultural and natural heritage. The museum is open Thursday through Tuesday from 10 am to 5 pm and is closed on Wednesdays, welcoming visitors of all ages to explore and learn.
Built in 1941 by Roy Thompson, this building originally housed Thompson’s Cafe. It witnessed World War II, the Depression, and the boom of the timber industry. In the 1950’s, the business changed hands and became known as the Mar-T Cafe, continuing as a regular stop for locals and mountain pass travelers. In 1990, on a scouting trip to find a location for his new series, director David Lynch discovered this cafe and the Snoqualmie Valley and decided to have them serve as settings for his new show. He filmed the now famous TV series “Twin Peaks” which immortalized the cafe’s cherry pie and “Damn fine cup o’ coffee!” Now Twede’s Cafe.
Originally built in 1920, the Kelsko Meat Market added frozen food lockers in the 1940’s when many homes still did not have freezers. Later this building became a local hangout called The Del – run by the Dorothy Scott family – selling hamburgers, soft drinks and ice cream.
Bellinger Bakery, built in 1928 and owned by Carl Bellinger. Remarkably it has remained a bakery and famous North Bend stop throughout the years. In 2014, 4Culture awarded Georgia’s Bakery a Landmarks Capital grant to restore the original facade of the 1928 building. The process involved the removal of an alpine facade, a façade installed by many North Bend businesses in the 1970’s to give downtown a Bavarian feel. Today the bakery operates as the North Bend Bakery.
Unity Lodge #198 – occupies the top floor of this 1912 building (the larger building under construction in the photograph). Gene Hill’s grocery store occupied the floor level of the building. Gene’s wife – Ada Snyder Hill – founded the Snoqualmie Valley Historical Society.
Only a couple buildings remain from the Railroad Era, this being one of them.
The McGrath’s Hotel building has significant association with the history of highway and automotive transportation in Washington State and the development of tourism, recreation and commerce in rural King County. With its particularly prominent design features in the historic center of North Bend, the building serves as an exceptional example of commercial architecture executed in the Spanish Colonial Revival stylistic design mode.
The construction of the new hotel in February of 1926 coincided with a period of increasing auto tourism along the Sunset Highway and was completed “in time for the early spring travelers.” After the hotel unofficially opened in mid-February, the McGraths held formal opening festivities on March 2, 1926. These included a complimentary evening buffet lunch for the community and music provided by Miss Queen’s Orchestra, a live three-piece band.
Through a newspaper notice, the McGraths had cordially invited the community to attend the festivities. Some 200 guests accepted the hospitality, toured the hotel and danced on the cafe’s maple dance floor from 8:00 p.m. until midnight. Managed by Mr. and Mrs. McGrath, it was the largest and most modern hotel in North Bend and the vicinity.
It currently houses the Iron Duck Public House.
The small concrete building that currently houses Cook Real Estate Services. The Bank of North Bend originally occupied this structure.
Earlier downtown photos show a predecessor wood frame bank building with a false front on the opposite side of First Avenue, one block further east. Issaquah banker W. W. Sylvester first organized that private bank in 1908.
By 1911, the new concrete bank with its distinctive corner entrance had been erected there and appears on Sanborn Company insurance maps of that year. Sylvester’s Bank was incorporated in 1913.
C. Beadon Hall and his sister Isadore Hall purchased the concrete bank in 1923. It became part of Beadon’s Washington State Bank system, including banks at Duvall, Tolt and Snoqualmie. The North Bend Post reported in October of that year that “This Bank is Being Built Up.” A 1929 remodel enhanced the bank’s appearance with a heavy classical cornice, moldings above the corner entry, and ornamental lanterns.
With the widening of the Sunset Highway (now North Bend Way) through downtown North Bend in 1941, the bank received compensation for relinquishing land in the right-of-way including a sizeable amount to jack-up and move the concrete building to its current location.
Seattle First National Bank purchased Beadon’s bank corporation in the 1950’s and he retired to his home in Snoqualmie.
Constructed in 1941. Watt and Francis Glazier owned and operated it as Glazier’s Drygoods.
This building, constructed in 1941, operated as Lee Brothers Grocery Store. The store operated from 1932 in a different building at the same address displaced by the widening the highway. Lee Brothers elected to build this Art Moderne structure rather than move the previous building.
This building, originally a small log structure constructed in 1924, housed the office for the North Bend Timber Company. The Company had been located further upstream from North Bend along the South Fork in a town called Edgewick.
After Edgewick’s destruction, the Timber Company took a while to settle its lawsuits and figure out next steps. In 1923 it started logging in the Middle Fork and built this office in town as its administrative hub.
After the St. Regis Pulp and Paper Company acquired the North Bend Timber Company in 1944, the little log building was sold and converted to a restaurant. After construction of a large adjacent structure, the log building was converted to a dance floor, storage, and restrooms. Some of the log walls and old stone fireplace remain.
Today, it houses the North Bend Bar and Grill.
The North Bend area remained largely inaccessible to commerce until the arrival of the Seattle, Lake Shore & Eastern Railroad in 1889. Early settlers William and Mary Taylor platted the townsite – first called Snoqualmie, later Mountain View, and finally North Bend in February 1889. They laid out North Bend Way parallel to the railroad.
The original depot was torn down in 1949, but this depot was built in 1987 to allow the passenger trips to return to North Bend. You can still enjoy train rides from North Bend to Snoqualmie throughout the year run by the Northwest Railway Museum.
Both sides of Ballarat between Third and Fourth Streets housed schools from the 1890s through the pandemic.
