Walla Walla faced many of the same funding issues it faces today.

By Terry McConn for the Union Bulletin
Postcard images courtesy of Brenden Koch, WallaWallaHistory.com

Looking back, one might view these past few years of growth in the Walla Walla Valley as a turning point.

A time to reflect on the character of the region, but also to look ahead.

To focus on future needs as we determine if the Valley will be altered forever by a rapidly changing landscape.

It's definitely been a period of preparation as we welcome new residents who have discovered our secret - Walla Walla is a great place to live.

Attracting tourists, recruiting for job openings and promoting economic development remain priorities. As a result, local officials continue to respond to a growing number of requests from people interested in relocating here.

The allure of wine - which contributes to a colorful and robust economy - has spawned spirited debate.

Arts are emphasized.

Downtown is humming with activity and new construction, businesses are opening, Isaacs Avenue is being improved. And we're working on a better highway to Wallula.

But prosperity doesn't come without a price. Wages for many aren't keeping up with the cost of living. Some local experts worry about a growing divide between the "haves'' and "have-nots.''

People are complaining about escalating property tax bills and wondering how they can be reduced, just as more public needs are being identified.

Historical preservation is a hot topic. For example, county commissioners agreed to spend more than $150,000 on the Courthouse.

Money continues to be pumped into schools, as well, but not everyone agrees on facility improvements.

Walla Walla High School - with its portable classrooms dotting the campus - is bulging at the seams and needs renovating. A bond issue, which officials called a one-time opportunity to modernize the facility at a reasonable price, failed at the polls.

Debate raged among residents divided on the issue. But in the end, supporters failed to gather enough votes.

Do we have enough water for emergencies? What about overcrowding of inmates? How can we cut down on the number of traffic accidents? How quickly can we fix the holes in our streets?

What can we do about aimless youths who congregate downtown?

These are dilemmas of an "ultra-progressive society.''

After all...

Face it...

It's 1915.

The more things change

Seems like yesterday doesn't it.

But the words, hopes, struggles and concerns conveyed in fragile pages of the Walla Walla Union and Bulletin newspapers aren't even distant memories anymore.

They're from people who by now are long-dead, but still sing haunting melodies of the past interspersed with serenades for survival in the future.

The glimpses are of a society that's gone around - and come around - in a decidedly eerie fashion.

Yes, it's all true.

Nearly 100 years ago - back when minstrel shows were popular, a local censorship committee was in the works, and looming prohibition would temper our state - Walla Walla was getting noticed in big ways.

Downtown was bustling with business and enterprise. Cultural offerings at theaters and opera houses were cherished.

On Oct. 7, 1911, during the first year women could vote, President William Howard Taft spoke to about 12,000 people who gathered in what's now known as Pioneer Park. He complimented them "upon the country, city, evident prosperity and everything else he could think of,'' according to an article in the morning Walla Walla Union.

Even eastern newspapermen who accompanied Taft "were profuse in their praise'' and "all expressed a desire to live here.''

Three years later, city and county fathers were touting community development and tourism. (Fathers were the "lords and masters,'' after all. Mothers were still being taught how to vote.)

In February 1914, the Union reported that letters were coming in "frequently'' to the Commercial Club from easterners seeking information about Walla Walla. Apparently many were in the market for acreage to grow fruits and vegetables.

An article in the Walla Walla Evening Bulletin the following year detailed unanimous support among officials for a hard-surfaced road to Wallula. Well-respected city leader J.M. Crawford referred with admiration to Los Angeles' aggressive building plans. "They didn't wait there for state aid; they built roads and are reaping a harvest of profit from tourists who use them,'' Crawford was quoted as saying.

"We must advertise honestly, and when we say we have something, back it up with the goods. We can get people here once without good roads, but not more than once.''

Crawford - and many others whose names now are words on street signs and buildings - could only imagine what the next millenium would bring.

They surely didn't know that in 2006, Money magazine would declare Walla Walla one of the best cities in the nation in which to retire, sparking a spate of requests for information from the Chamber of Commerce.

They couldn't have anticipated that the next phase of widening U.S. Highway 12 would be to Wallula or dreamed that an organization named Tourism Walla Walla would start a "Sweet'' customer service program.

It was just common sense for proprietors of saloons and hotels not to overcharge during Frontier Days or Chautauqua events.

Some business practices, it seems, aren't as fleeting as years on a calendar.

Everything old is new again

During the past few decades, owners of downtown buildings have spent millions in structural renovations. The old Gardner's and Baumeister buildings were redone, Die Brucke was renewed and the Dacres Hotel rescued from obscurity.

What emerged was an award-winning Main Street.

Such pride apparently is our heritage.

"Altogether about 35 business men made improvements to the store fronts or otherwise remodeled their place of business,'' said the Union in an article Jan. 7, 1914.

"This work alone made a great improvement in the appearance of the business district...In some respects the year 1913 was a period of remodeling and preparation for better times.''

Looking ahead, the writer predicted that $160,000 would be spent on improvements to the high school, a new Congregational Church would be built and a new St. Mary's Hospital was expected. In addition, Pacific Power & Light Co. was planning about $40,000 in improvements, and "a great amount of street work will likely be started.''

Indeed, 1 miles of city streets including Clinton, Birch, Valencia and Estrella were tapped to be graded, curbed and paved at the expense of adjacent property owners. Isaacs Avenue from Bellevue Avenue to the east city limits got its initial coat in 1915.

But a lot of work remained.

"Probably never before in the history of the valley - in recent years at least - have the roads in the country and the (compressed stone) streets in the city been in such deplorable condition,'' the Bulletin wrote at the time.

More than nine decades later, city motorists again are finding rough routes and detoured around a much-discussed reconstruction of Isaacs.

What is permanently set in concrete, however, is an inevitable controversy surrounding one of life's certainties.

Taxes.

Back to the future

Largely because of the influx of out-of-town home buyers from more expensive markets, property values in Walla Walla the past few years have skyrocketed 50 to 100 percent.

Therefore, tax bills - calculated on assessed value - also have spiked. Real estate agents have heard of people moving from the area or selling property because they can't afford the added expense.

A century ago - when Davis-Kaser Co. was advertising dining tables for $19.25 and $11 a week was a decent living wage - residents also were bemoaning high taxes.

In newspaper stories, the state's taxing system was called antiquated and unjust because of its heavy reliance on a general property tax.

And at the time, collections by the city of Walla Walla and the school district were at or above the legal state limits.

In October 1911, the Union reported, "A hue and cry has been raised for several years back regarding high city taxes, which were necessary on account of the many improvements voted by the people.''

That year, the city's portion of the property tax rate was $13.08 per thousand of assessed value to raise the necessary $124,000. That included money to continue paying off bonds for construction of City Hall, which was completed in 1908, water projects and other unspecified ventures.

The annual assessment rate for city property owners today is $2.85, a fraction of the 1911 amount. But a typical home was worth only about $3,200 back then, compared to the current $178,000.

Also in the early 1900s, taxpayers funded new elementary schools, including Washington, Green Park and U.H. Berney.

But one proposal that didn't pass muster with voters was the high school project.

In February 1914, a 20-year, $175,000 bond request was presented for an addition to the east side of the existing building situated off Birch Street between Park and Palouse streets, the site of the current YMCA.

"It will be built of the same brick and stone material as in the present building and will immediately adjoin the old building,'' the Union newspaper said.

Existing space would double, a "revolutionary'' junior-high style teaching system called "six and six'' would be implemented with grades seven, eight and nine moving to rooms at the high school, and the two portables on site would be removed.

An editorial in the Union urged passage, saying the opportunity "cannot come again, in many years, if the proposition fails now.''

On Feb. 14, 1914, most voters - about 54 percent - said yes to adding an initial 83 cents per $1,000 of assessed value to their annual tax bills. But that wasn't enough to overcome the 60 percent requirement.

The same proposal failed again two months later.

As a result, the school board decided on more than $16,000 worth of stopgap measures, including adding six more portable units around the high school.

"There is unquestionably an overcrowded condition of the schools, and it is up to the board of education to provide proper facilities for the school children of this district,'' wrote the Union on April 30, 1914, in a scathing editorial chastising voters for turning down the bond issue. "Many tax payers voted against the school bonds simply on account of high taxes. Very few looked into the actual condition of the schools, and know very little of the real situation. They believe that taxes should not be increased, no matter what the necessity and regardless of actual conditions.''

A similar sentiment was expressed in 2006. Some voters believed the cost of a $53.95 million bond measure, partly to modernize the current high school on Abbott Road, was too high. Many balked at razing structures on the now 40-year-old campus, despite the board's efforts to reduce the price tag by securing state matching funds that may not be available in the future.

Preserving history

Not all public construction projects are controversial. Buildings start wearing out after nearly 100 years, and nary a peep was heard when county commissioners borrowed money to help pay for last year's $2.2 million retrofitting of the heating, cooling and lighting systems at the County Courthouse.

If only the decision to build the structure - which cost about $180,000 including furniture and architect's fees - was as easy.

In 1913, the then-existing courthouse was about 33 years old and aging prematurely.

An architect firm that included the locally renowned Henry Osterman inspected the building and found that roof construction over the courtroom was too weak. Also, the structure was settling, walls were too thin, inferior brick and mortar had been used, and plumbing was unsanitary and dilapidated.

The courthouse was condemned that summer, with county offices moving to the Elks building, a block away.

Thus sparked a 1-year debate on whether to fix the building - which some thought could be done for about $10,000 - or replace it with one that surely would last for decades.

A huge, grand, $300,000 structure was first proposed, but a local Taxpayers League was organized to oppose it. The influential Commercial Club was against it, as well.

In August 1914, Harry A. Reynolds, an appointed commissioner and respected businessman, wrote to the Bulletin to outline his platform.

"At the time of my appointment I believed the courthouse could be repaired, but a careful investigation changed my opinion. I am still of the opinion that a new courthouse should be built, to cost not more than $150,000.

"Such a building would remove all question of safety, would furnish adequate quarters for many years, would give perfectly safe storage for county records, and would not create a burdensome tax.'' He estimated that if bonds were secured, the rate per $1,000 of assessed value would run about $2.50 a year for the first 10 years.

One fellow commissioner supported him; another held out for repairing the old building, on which the county still owed more than $19,000.

The matter wasn't settled until after the November election in which Reynolds was narrowly elected. Buoyed by support for him at the polls, commissioners on Dec. 11, 1914 - by a vote of 2 to 1 - decided to raze the courthouse and build a new one that Osterman was to design.

A construction contract was signed with a Spokane firm in June of the following year. Specifications called for the new courthouse to be built of Indiana limestone and contain Alaska marble finishing.

Aside from the recent retrofitting, the building has remained structurally the same since it opened at the end of September 1916.

Apparently commissioners didn't authorize bonds, because the Walla Walla Union reported at the time: "The building is being paid by direct tax and it has already been partially paid for.''

It never ends

Amid today's sprouting of classy restaurants and half-million-dollar houses is a growing need to address social concerns.

Residents worry about large numbers of idle young people hanging out downtown. Dealing with some of the unruly behavior is as challenging for law enforcement as it must have been nearly 100 years ago when officials tried to control the increasing problem of boys frequenting back rooms of taverns and bars.

Also, more of our neighbors now are cropping up with no permanent place to live. A bottleneck of people needing housing has formed at the Christian Aid Center, reprising the dilemma that plagued the city in 1911.

Although Walla Walla generally was thriving by standards of that era, homeless men known as ``Weary Willies'' challenged the pocketbooks and generosity of townsfolk. The proliferation of paupers going door-to-door seeking handouts prompted officials to form an association of charities.

"Some office, perhaps at the Salvation Army headquarters downtown, will be maintained for relief of the poor, and those who are approached by beggars will direct them to this office,'' the Union reported late that year.

All the while, requests by public entities during the period continued piling up.

In January 1914, the Union newspaper listed the following needs cited by Walla Walla's Chief of Police Charles Andre in his annual report to city commissioners:

"Three more patrolmen, additional signal lights, 600 feet of rope for use in roping of streets in case of fires, ordinances to prevent any vehicle passing a street car while the latter is stopping to take on or let off passengers, an ordinance to prevent trucks and express wagons standing on Main Street except when loading and unloading, summer uniform for police, more pay for the plain clothes man.''

On Feb. 4, 1914, the Union reported: "There are now 25 prisoners in the county jail the largest number that Jailor Honeycutt has had under his care in the three years he has been in charge of the county bastile.''

Dec. 7, 1914 - Voters approved construction of a storage reservoir to assure a supply of pure water for emergencies.

The necessities and concerns of a small, modern city.

Yesterday.

Today.

And tomorrow.

After the beginning of the next century, a newspaper reporter may dust off these yellowed pages or stumble upon them in a digital archive.

And find history from this ghost writer repeating itself.