Goodwin Station blossoms into town of Pendleton

Published 11:51 am Tuesday, March 11, 2003

(This article appeared in Pioneer Trails, Vol. 5, No. 1, November 1980, and is available in its entirety at Umatilla County Historical Society museum.)

Pendleton’s Centennial year, 1980, is a good time to look at the city’s early beginnings. In 1868 there were four or five residences and about 250 people.

In December 1868, Moses Goodwin and his wife gave two acres to the city. Until then it had been known as Goodwin’s Station.

G. W. Bailey, an early-day county judge, suggested the name of Senator George Hunt Pendleton, a prominent leader of the eastern Democratic party, since the small community was considered a Democratic stronghold. When Gen. George McClellan was the presidential nominee, Sen. Pendleton was chosen as his running mate for the vice-presidency.

In 1889 Western Union Telegraph Co. established a telegraph system with a telephone switchboard. By 1891 Pendleton telephone subscribers numbered 29.

The internationally-known saddle and western equipment company, Hamley & Co., came here in 1905. Hamley Bros. Harness shop was first established in Ashston, S.D. in 1883. Later in 1893, Hamley & Co. was doing business in Kendrick, Idaho, and advertised harnesses and saddles.

Pendleton Woolen Mills is among the oldest manufacturers of wool in the United States. Its incorporation date, Oct. 17, 1895, marked the real beginning of wool manufacturing with 25 employees on the first payroll. However, the mill first started in 1893 as a scouring plant located on Alta and Vincent streets.

Theron E. Fell, a former sheep rancher and wool handler of Heppner, and E.Y. Judd from a wool buying firm in Hartford, Conn., made plans for a scouring mill. On December 20, 1893 the Pendleton Wool-Scouring and Packaging Company was incorporated with capital stock of $12,000. Its doors opened on May 9, 1894. It continued in operation for the next eight or nine years, when it closed permanently. The Pendleton Woolen Mills was a natural outgrowth of this early scouring mill.

By 1890 there were three locally-governed financial organizations with their doors opened to the public: The First National Bank, Pendleton Savings Bank (later known as the American National), and the National Bank of Pendleton. In 1888 the Oregon Building and Loan Association opened for business. It was the first organization of this type to begin operation in the entire state. In 1936 it merged with First Federal Savings and Loan Association of Pendleton. (later know as Western Heritage Federal Savings and Loan).

The Penland Brothers purchased the first truck to be used in this part of the state in 1914. They hauled groceries into Pendleton from Walla Walla. Prior to trucking they were in the dray business and had horse-drawn rigs delivering groceries all over town.

The Penland trucks were factors in many Pendleton area improvements, including the building of McKay Dam, construction of Eastern Oregon State Hospital and Pendleton Air Base. Penland trucks participated in hauling the massive statue of the former sheriff Til Taylor from Portland in 1929. The 12-ton work of art would not go through railroad tunnels so the Penlands got the job.

Union Pacific preceded other industrial developments. Flour mills were bound to come to the rich wheat country. Hay growing and livestock marketing added to the economy.

In 1937 Smith Canning Company came to the area when it was found that green peas for canning could be raised on the land that produced wheat so well. Then came the Milton Box Company’s decision to be closer to timber so they made their move here, although it had been an industry in Milton since 1912. The name later changed to Harris Pine Mills.

The Round-Up stadium facilities were built almost entirely without cost to the taxpayers. The Happy Canyon pageant originated in 1914.

Even before Pendleton was chartered, Episcopal services were held in the courthouse in 1871. According to legend, the Rev. Lemuel H. Wells had to wait until after the customary Sunday “hoss” race was over before services could begin.

Left from among the early industries are the Pendleton Woolen Mills, Hamley & Company, and the Pendleton Iron Works. The bottling works are gone. Western Milling Co. (the historic Byers mill) burned in 1947. And, Walters Flouring Mill burned on Aug. 30, 1945.

In 1980 a new Main Street bridge is being built, after the discovery of its deteriorating concrete piers. The replaced bridge was built in 1911, soon after the unsafe condition of the then-current Main Street bridge was discovered. When a $250 wheel mule from Thomas Milarkey’s 12-mule team was drowned, citizens became outraged. The next casualty was a drove of beef steers.

A previous bridge lasted until 1882 when a flood carried the bridge span down the river. Rowboats were necessary to ferry north-side residents across the river during this emergency.

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