History of 531 Newell Street, Walla Walla, WA

Legal Description

Hawley’s Addition to Walla Walla City, Lots 17 and 18, Block C

Title and Occupant History

Washington Territory was created in 1853.  In 1854, the new territorial legislature created Walla Walla County, which stretched from the crest of the Cascade Mountains to the crest of the Rocky Mountains in the present states of Washington, Idaho and Montana.  In 1855, Isaac Stevens, governor of Washington Territory, held a council on the banks of Mill Creek at the present site of Walla Walla with representatives of regional Indian tribes to purchase land from them.  The Yakamas, Cayuses and Walla Wallas were dissatisfied with the treaties and the intrusion by whites into their lands before the treaties’ ratification, and war followed.  Missionaries, former French-Canadian employees of the Hudson Bay Company trading post at Wallula, and soldiers at the military Fort Walla Walla were the primary European occupants of the area prior to 1859, when the treaties were finally ratified and the land was opened for settlement.  The transfer of ownership occurred by virtue of a treaty signed on June 9, 1855 in Walla Walla and ratified on March 8, 1859 by President James Buchanan, in which all of the land in the Walla Walla area was acquired from the Cayuse and Walla Walla Indian tribes. The town of Walla Walla was originally laid out by County Surveyor Hamet Hubbard Case in 1859, prior to its formal incorporation as a city in 1862, as a one-quarter mile square with its eastern side centered on the point where Main Street crossed Mill Creek (at roughly the point where it does now).  Case’s plan was filed and recorded July 5, 1867 in Book A of Plats, Page 1. The City of Walla Walla received a Trustee Town site from the U. S. Government that consisted of 80 acres, issued on July 20, 1869 by the Vancouver, W. T. District Land Office.

531 Newell Street is located on land that was originally part of Roberts Addition. Alvin B. Roberts arrived in Walla Walla from Portland in 1859, and purchased considerable property south of Main Street. He received a U. S. patent for 320 acres on May 2, 1870, a portion of which was platted as Roberts Addition on January 20, 1871. A. B. and Martha Roberts sold approximately ten acres of Roberts Addition to Sarah Jane Hawley in 1869. Sarah Jane and Phillip L. Hawley left Illinois, arriving in Walla Walla in 1860. Phillip Hawley died in May 1877, followed by Sarah Jane who died intestate in October 1878.   Two of the Hawley’s sons had this property surveyed and platted as Hawley’s Addition, containing 90 building lots, filed by W. B. Hawley, County Auditor and Livingston R. Hawley, Deputy Auditor on April 24, 1891. Beginning at the southeast corner of Alder and Howard Streets, the property stretches south approximately three and one-half blocks on Howard. The south and west boundaries bisect several blocks, as may be viewed on the plat map included in this report. 12/23/1859, Certificate of Survey, signed H. H. Case, County Surveyor. 8/28/1869, Warranty Deed, Alvin B. and Martha Roberts, grantors; Sarah Jane Hawley, grantee, “10 acres more or less, “ exclusive of Roberts’ retention of the right to “convey water through said deeded property…” $1. 4/21/1886, Bond for Deed, L. R. Hawley, W. B. Hawley, Thomas B. Hawley, obligors; Walla Walla City, obligee, “… for purposes of [building] public streets… surveyed March 24, 25 and 26, 1886 as Washington, Lincoln and Dr. Newell streets…” $1,000. 6/1/1892, Affidavit, Livingston R. Hawley to The Public, to establish himself and his five siblings are the only lawful heirs of Sarah J. Hawley, deceased. Livingston Hawley had been appointed administrator of his late mother’s will. 2/17/1898, Warranty Deed, L. R., P. B. and H. H. Hawley, unmarried; Thomas B. and Martha E. Hawley; F. W. Rees and Sarah Hawley Rees, grantors; William B. Hawley, grantee, Block C, Lot 17 and 2/5^th of Lot 18, and multiple other lots in Blocks A, B. and C. Hawley’s Addition, $1. Livingston R. and W. B. Hawley were cited earlier; Thomas Hawley was listed as a clerk.

2/10/1904, Warranty Deed, William B. and Stella M. Hawley, grantors; Walter S. Barnett, grantee, Lots 17 and 18, Block C. Hawley’s Addition. This is the first sale exclusively of the two lots that comprise 531 Newell. In the 1904 city directory Barnett was listed as a farmer, residing at 444 Lincoln Street; in 1905, he was listed as a partner in Cox & Barnett, dealers in hardware, agricultural implements, carriages and wagons, located at 28 East Alder Street with residence at 531 Newell Street. 12/7/1916, Affidavit, W. P. Winans, President of the Farmers Savings Bank of Walla Walla, to establish his acquaintance with the Hawley family for many years and certify the six Hawley siblings as the legal heirs of Phillip L. and Sarah Jane Hawley, deceased. 9/27/1919, Statutory Warranty Deed, Walter S. and Rosella E. Barnett, grantors; Sadie E. Loos, Clara E. Loos and Abbie H. Speckhart, grantees, Lots 17 and 18, Block C, $4,000. Sadie Loos and Abbie Speckhart were both widows. Clara Loos was a spinser. 3/1/1935, Affidavit, Mattie C. Cookerly to The Public, as niece of Sarah Jane Hawley, deceased in October 1878, to establish L. R., W. B., T. B., P. B., H. H. and Sarah Hawley Rees as sole legal heirs of Sarah Jane Hawley. 2231944, Warranty Deed, Sadie E. Loos, a widow, and Clara E. Loos, a spinster, grantors; Abbie H. Hanson, formerly Abbie H. Speckhart, and John Hanson, her husband, grantees, $10. 8/9/1950, Warranty Deed, Abbie H. and John M. Hanson, grantors; Anna E. Golden, a widow, grantee, $10 and other valuable considerations. 7/9/1964, Quit Claim Deed, Anna E. Golden, a widow; grantor; Robert and Delphine Golden, grantees, “for and in consideration of love and affection.” Anna Golden appears to have purchased 531 Newell for her son and daughter-in-law, ultimately quit-claiming it to them 14 years later. The widow Golden resided in the Clinton Court Apartments, 602 Boyer, D-5, although at her death in 1970 she was listed as residing at 531 Newell. (Mrs. Golden, born in Michigan in 1883, married Dr. Robert Golden in 1907, moving from Oregon to Walla Walla in 1914.) 9/12/1973, Quit Claim Deed, Maralyn Carey (married daughter of Robert and Delphine Golden), grantor; Genevieve Herigstad, a married woman as her sole and separate property. A search of city directories reveals that the last year the Goldens resided at 531 Newell was 1972. It was rental property until the sale in September of that year. Genevieve Herigstand appears not to have resided there consistently, and used the house for rental income. City directories listed it as vacant some years. 9/9/2015, Quit Claim Deed, Genevieve Herigstad, grantor; Jennifer D. Bittner, et al, grantee, $153,400. According to the current owner, Mrs. Herigstad sold the house to her children, who did not live there, although they had been raised in the house. Initially planning to restore the house, after it had sat empty for three years they sold it. 9/10/2018, Quit Claim Deed, Jennifer D. Bittner, et al, grantor; Brian J. Thonney, grantee.

Construction of Building

The County Assessor lists a build date of 1904 for 531 Newell Street. While research of properties frequently disproves the Assessor build date, in this case it is accurate. This is indeed fortunate, as existing building permit records do not predate 1907. 1904 can be established as the likely build date for two reasons: 1) Walter Barnett purchased Lots 17 and 18, the first sale solely of these two lots, on February 10, 1904, at which time he was residing on Lincoln Street; in the 1905 city directory, Barnett is listed as residing at 531 Newell; and 2) the first edition of the 1905 Sanborn Fire Map clearly shows the house on Newell Street (see above, highlighted in yellow). Both of these normally reflect changes made in the prior year, rather than in the year of publication. The house is of one and one-half stories with a simple fore-and-aft gabled roof with protruding dormers. A three-sided bay can be seen on the west side. A full-width front porch currently is partially removed; concrete steps leading to the front door are a later addition, the original porch and steps doubtless being of wood construction. The porch has a shed roof, an ornamental pediment with faux supporting brackets adding interest to the otherwise plain shed roof. The eaves display brackets that match those of the pediment. The majority of siding is clapboard, though at the peak of the front gable above the windows are fish scale shingles. In its current condition, 531 Newell Street reflects the neglect caused by recent vacancy. The new owner has expressed his intention to restore the house to a condition where he can petition of have it placed on the local historic registry.

Resources

• Whitman Archives
• City Directories, various years
• Sanborn Fire Map, 1905, first edition
• historicjacksonville.org
• ancestry.com
• Walla Walla County Assessor
• Walla Walla Union-Bulletin, 9/14/1970
• Susan Monahan, Kirkman House Museum
• Brian Thonney