History of 914 Home Avenue, Walla Walla, WA
Legal Description
Beginning at a point in the West line of Home Avenue which is 334.13 feet North, measured along said West line from the point of intersection thereof with the North line of Vine (Chestnut) Street in the Southwest Quarter of the Northeast Quarter of Section 28, Township 7 North, Range 36 East of the Willamette Meridian; thence North 87’12’West, 100 feet thence North 80 12′ West 32.81 feet; thence North 10’17’ West to the center of the channel of the North fork of Stone Creek; thence Northeasterly along the center of the channel of said Creek to its intersection with the West line of Home Avenue; thence South along the West line of Home Avenue to THE POINT OF BEGINNING.
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). The original plat was lost, probably in the fire of 1865. Thus, the earliest plat on file is one made by W. W. Johnson, City Surveyor, in July 1865 that claims to have made corrections to Case’s survey. Johnson’s survey was made the official plat of the City of Walla Walla on September 25, 1866, filed and recorded July 5, 1867.
06/05/1883 – Warranty Deed, Joshua C. Isaacs, a bachelor, grantor, Harry P. Isaacs (Henry?), grantee, $20,000. This Deed covered a large parcel of land within which the subject parcel now known as 914 Home Avenue was a part. It was subject to rights granted to the Walla Walla Water Company to take and conduct away the waters on the land for the purpose of supplying the City of Walla Walla with water. The Isaacs and their son, J.C. Isaacs, founded the Walla Walla Water Company, providing Walla Walla with a reservoir, ditches, conduits and the possibility of irrigation for crops. Isaacs was very influential in the development of Walla Walla as a wheat growing area. Lyman in his History of Walla Walla County states that Isaacs “demonstrated to the farmers that wheat could be produced profitably on the hills and uplands which in those early days had been given over to stock-raising.” He built numerous flour mills through the Northwest and “his knowledge of the manufacture and handling of flour become proverbial and he was recognized as an authority on all matters pertaining thereto.” He established markets for wheat in the Orient, especially China.
06/20/1883 – Warranty Deed, Joshua C. Isaacs, unmarried, grantor, Henry P. Isaacs, grantee. This Deed included other property.
09/16/1886 – Warranty Deed, Henry P. Isaacs and Lucie Isaacs, his wife, grantors, J.C. Isaacs, grantee. This Deed included other property.
04/01/1889 – Warranty Deed, Joshua C. Isaacs, a bachelor, grantor, Miles C. Moore and B.F. Stone, grantees. This Deed included other property. Miles C. Moore was the last territorial governor of Washington Territory, through November 1889 when Washington attained statehood. B.F. Stone, one of Walla Walla’s leading plutocrats, was born in New Hampshire in 1826, and after attending Dartmouth College, followed his brother to San Francisco in 1852. Once in Walla Walla, Stone became co-owner of the Challenge Saloon, operated as a wholesale grocer, was a freighter running pack trains between Walla Walla and Idaho, and was a moneylender. He also operated the first toll road across the Blue Mountains. He was also a friend of Chief Joseph of the Nez Perce.
06/03/1895 – Deed, Walla Walla Water Company, a corporation, grantor, B.F. Stone and Miles C. Moore, grantees. The purpose of this deed was to provide land to excavate a ditch to lay pipe for the conveyance of water.
06/03/1898 – Quit Claim Deed, George D. Stone and Ida Stone Jones, son and daughter of B.F. Stone, deceased, grantors, Henrietta M. Stone, widow of B.F. Stone, deceased, grantee. This included other property.
06/11/1901 – Miles C. Moore and Mary E. Moore, husband and wife, and Henrietta M. Stone, a widow, grantors, James W. Young, grantee. This Deed included other property.
07/16/1904 – Quit Claim Deed, Walter M. Ely, grantor, Mary Belle Ely, grantee. This Deed included other property.
07/21/1905 – Warranty Deed, James W. Young, a widower, grantor, J.L. Elam’s Bank, a corporation, grantee. This Deed included other property.
05/17/1912 – Quit Claim Deed, J.L. Elam’s Bank, a corporation, grantor, Mary B. Ely, grantee. This Deed included other property.
02/14/1920 – Warranty Deed, Mary B. Ely, a single woman, grantor, Carmino Alessio, grantee. (Mary was a resident of Troy, OH at the time of signing). This Deed included other property.
02/14/1924 – Warranty Deed, Carmino Alessio and Chiara Alessio, husband and wife, grantors, Walla Walla Produce Company, a corporation, grantee. This Deed included other property.
12/28/1928 – Warranty Deed, Carmino Alessio and Chiara Alessio, husband and wife, grantors, Walla Walla Produce Company, a corporation, grantee. This Deed included other property.
04/14/1937 – Warranty Deed, The Walla Walla Produce Company, a corporation of Walla Walla, Washington, by Francis E. Offner, President, grantor, Norman Smedes, whose wife is Winifred Smedes, grantee. This Deed included other property. Norman Smedes was a clerk at Stone’s Food Stores.
09/28/1946 – Warranty Deed, Norman Smedes and Winifred M. Smedes, grantors, C.F. Daniel and Effie L. Daniel, grantees. This Deed included other property. C.F. Daniel was listed as a trucker in the 1946 telephone directory.
10/11/1963 – Warranty Deed, Cletus F. Daniel, Gladys B. Cochran, [indecipherable] and Ira Daniel, children of C.F. Daniel, deceased and Effie L. Daniel, deceased, and Judy Lynn Stueckle, granddaughter of C.F. Daniel, deceased (by inheritance), grantors, Alex Heimbigner and Sue Heimbigner, grantees in consideration of $17,000. This Deed is the first to represent only the property boundaries as they are today. Alex Heimbigner was the owner of the Green Lantern tavern.
06/14/1985 – Statutory Warranty Deed, Sue Heimbigner, as personal representative of the Estate of Alex Heimbigner and as an individual, grantor, Mark D. Carlile and Carma L. Carlile, grantees.
11/14/1989 – Statutory Warranty Deed, Mark D. Carlile and Carma L. Carlile, grantors, D. Douglas Treganowan and Dana G. Treganowan, grantees. Douglas Treganowan taught at Pioneer Middle School while Dana Treganowan was an R.N. at Walla Walla General Hospital.
06/24/1991 – Statutory Warranty Deed, D. Douglas Treganowan and Dana G. Treganowan, grantors, Erik J. Senuty and Kendra J. Golden, husband and wife, grantees. Kendra Golden was a biology professor at Whitman College.
10/11/1993 – Quit Claim Deed, Erik Joel Senuty, grantor, Kendra Jean Golden, grantee.
06/30/2000 – Statutory Warranty Deed, Kendra Jean Golden, a single woman, grantor, Stephen M. Zilliox and Lori A. Zilliox, grantees.
Construction of Building
No building permits are available for the property since at the time it was built and first occupied in the 1940s, it was located in the county.
The Walla Walla County Assessor’s office list a construction date of 1941 for this house, which appears accurate, and is consistent with available city directory information for Norman and Winifred Smedes who purchased this property in 1939 and resided at that time on the corner of Fern Avenue near Chestnut. Prior to the 1939 deed to the Smedes, they lived on the corner of Fern and Chestnut, and in the
1941 directory they are listed as living on Rural Delivery route 4 rather than in RD 3 which included Home Avenue. In the 1946 directory they are listed as living on Home near Chestnut in RD 3, and the Daniels who they conveyed the property to in 1946 are listed as living there in the 1948 directory.
It is therefore likely that the Smedes constructed this home circa 1941 following issuance of the city directory for that year.
Resources
- TitleOne Title & Escrow (formerly Pioneer Title)
- Walla Walla Country Auditor’s online property search
- Walla Walla city directories, various years
- Whitman College archives
- Walla Walla Public Library
- Walla Walla 2020 – various research reports
