History of 405 Main Street – Waitsburg, WA

Legal Description

Lot 8 and the North one-half of Lot 9 in Block 17 (previously Block B) to the City of Waitsburg, formerly Preston’s subdivision to the Town of Waitsburg, according to the official plat thereof of record in the Office of the Auditor of Walla Walla County, Washington.

Title and Occupant History

Sylvester M. Wait established the Township of Waitsburg in 1865 around a small gristmill he had built. The original name of the small village that grew up around the mill was Delta; it was decided by popular vote in 1868 to adopt the name Waitsburgh with a posterior “h” affixed. William P. (Perry) Bruce was granted a patent for 160 acres located in the West one-half of the Southwest one-fourth of Section 11 by the Vancouver, Washington Territory Land Office on 7/2/1866. Although one source states that no attempt was made to plat the township until 1869 when Perry Bruce undertook this task, the Waitsburg City Administrator, Clerk and Treasurer has confirmed the date of the first plat as 1868. The house at 405 Main Street occupies Lots 8 and the North one-half of Lot 9 in what was originally Block B, later changed to Block 17, of Preston’s Subdivision of the Town of Waitsburg, platted by William G. and Matilda Preston and recorded by the County Auditor 3/27/1871.

The Territorial Legislature issued a regular Charter to the City of Waitsburg November 25, 1881. William Preston,  mill owner, was mayor. Under the charter, the city was incorporated with the usual powers for the creation of a police  force, fire department and water works, and the enforcement of regulations for the safety, health and order of the city.  Waitsburg remains to date the only city in Washington to operate under a Territorial Charter, as revised in 1886.

6/3/1870, Warranty Deed, William P. and Caroline A. Bruce, grantors; William G. Preston, grantee, in trust for Preston Bros., William Vawter and William Fudge, “commencing at the North West corner of Lot 11 in Block 10 in the Town of Waitsburg, Walla Walla County, W.T. and running thence South to the North West corner of a lot of land sold by William P. Bruce and wife to the Directors of School District No. 3, thence East to a line dividing the original homestead claim of D. Willard and Wm. P. Bruce, thence North along said line to a point due East of the place of beginning, thence West to the place of beginning,” $1,200.

8/14/1876. Warranty Deed, William G. Preston, grantor; Matilda and Platt A. Preston, grantees, Lots 8, 9, 10 and 15, and one-half of Lot 11 adjoining Lot 10, Block B (now Block 17), $1.

4/24/1883, Warranty Deed, William G. and Matilda Preston and Platt A. and Laura J. Preston, grantors; Noah Aubin, grantee, same as above Warranty Deed, $600. Noah Aubin was listed in the 1883 city directory as a boot and shoe maker, residence not noted.

3/16/1891, Deed of Confirmation, to validate the Warranty Deed of 6/3/1870.

3/4/1893, Warranty Deed, William G., Platt and Laura J. and Matilda Preston and Alexander Brown, grantors; Alexander Brown, grantee, Lot 8 and the North one-half of Lot 9, Block B, $450. This transaction marks the first separation of the current property constituting 405 Main Street from a larger parcel. Alexander Brown was listed in the 1892 city directory as a furniture [dealer] and undertaker, no residence listed.

4/13/1893, Indenture, Alexander and Isabella Brown, grantors; Samuel Wood, grantee, Lot 8 and the North one-half of Lot 9, Block B, $1,000 in gold coin. Samuel Wood was listed in the 1892 directory simply as “boarding house.”

7/23/1895, Indenture, Samuel and Mary J. Wood, grantors; John W. Highland, grantee, Lot 8 and the North one-half of Lot 9, Block B, subject to a $300 mortgage of the sellers at 7% interest, due in five years.

1/28/1896, Declaration of Homestead, Lot 8 and the North one-half of Lot 9, in which J. W. Highland declares that he is married and residing on said premises that he estimates has a cash value of $1,000. He is listed in the 1898 directory as a laborer, no address given. Highland was born in Ohio in 1836. He married Mary Elizabeth Highland in Boone, Iowa and they moved west to Waitsburg, where he was listed as a farmer, then a laborer in a livery stable, later as a laborer at Preston-Parton Milling Company and in the 1904 directory his address is listed as 405 Main Street, Waitsburg. This is the first listing of an address of 405 Main Street. He died in 1908 and is buried in the IOOF cemetery in Waitsburg.

10/29/1906, Warranty Deed, John W. and Mary E. Highland, grantors; Mrs. C. E. Miller, grantee, Lot 8 and the North one-half of Lot 9, Block B, $1,300. The 1908 directory lists Catherine M. Miller as the widow of Charles Miller with residence at 405 Main Street, Waitsburg.

5/9/1911, Indenture, Ethel L. and Clyde H. Brown, grantors; J. W. Bruce, grantee, Lot 8 and the North one-half of Lot 9, Block B, $1,000. Clyde Henry Brown was born on 6/15/1878 in Waitsburg. He married Ethel Lee Miller, who likely was the daughter of Charles and Catherine Miller, on 9/10/1901 in Walla Walla. (William Dennison Lyman notes in Vol. 2 of his 1918 History of Old Walla Walla County that the marriage occurred in 1899.) They were the parents of two sons and one daughter.. Brown lived in Walla Walla for about ten years. He died on 27 October 1947, in Walla Walla and was buried in Waitsburg. James William Bruce was born in Eugene, OR in 1856. He married Charlotte Seward with whom he had four children. He died in 1915 and is buried in the Waitsburg City Cemetery.

4/30/1915, Indenture, J. W. Bruce, grantor; Addie L. Bruce, grantee, Lot 8 and the North one-half of Lot 9, Block B, “for love and affection.”

10/31/1929, Lis Pendens, F. O. and Ada P. Cox, plaintiffs vs Mary A. King, Melissa Smith, Homer B. King, Guy B. King, Clement B.King, Ralph E. Smith, A. Cox, the unknown heirs of A. Cox, the unknown heirs of Catherine Matilda Miller, deceased, the unknown heirs of any of said persons who may be deceased; also all other persons of parties unknown claiming any right, title, estate, lien or interest in the property described in the complaint herein, to establish that “the plaintiffs are the sole and exclusive owners of, Lot 8 and the North one-half of Lot 9 in Block B to the city of Waitsburg…”

11/18/1929, Warranty Deed, Addie L. Bruce, grantor; F. O. and Ada P. Cox, grantees, Lot 8 and the North one-half of Lot 9, Block B. Frederick Oscar Cox was born in 1870 in Washington Territory. He and Ada Priscilla Harmon were married and had two children. Cox was a farmer. (Note: Walla Walla 2020 Historic Properties and Plaque Project uses filing dates for all legal documents. Occasionally filing dates occur long after the date of signing and such is the case with this Warranty Deed, that was signed 10/2/1929 placing it well in advance of the above Lis Pendens.)

6/9/1934, Warranty Deed, F. O. Cox, grantor; Ada Priscilla Cox, grantee, Lot 8 and the North one-half of Lot 9, Block B, $10 and other valuable consideration.

3/31/1942, Warranty Deed, F. O. and Ada Priscilla Cox, grantors; R. D. and Esther N. Roberts, grantees, Lot 8 and the North one-half of Lot 9, Block B, $10 and other valuable consideration.

10/8/1970, Bargain and Sale Deed, David H. Roberts as the personal representative of the estate of Esther N. Roberts, deceased, grantor; Jack D. and Patsy Griffen, grantees, Lot 8 and the North one-half of Lot 9, Block B (by this date renamed Block 17), $12,500. David H. Roberts operated the Roberts Farm, a Walla Walla County Centennial Farm until his death in 1991.

11/21/1994, Contract for Deed, Lois Patsy Griffen, grantor; James R. and Sylvia K. Griffen, grantees, Lot 8 and the North one-half of Lot 9, Block 17, $80,000. An article appears in the Waitsburg Times in 2019 that a ring that James “Ron” Griffen had lost 26 years earlier in the Touchet River had been found by a friend. When the friend told Griffen where he had found it, in the Touchet River, Griffen asked to see it and identified it as the very ring he had lost.

9/5/2019, Fulfillment Deed, Lois Patsy Griffen, grantor; James R. Griffen, grantee, Lot 8 and the North one-half of Lot 9, Block 17.

11/6/2020, Statutory Warranty Deed, James R. Griffen, grantor; Twila Johnson-Tate and Gregory Tate, grantees, Lot 8 and the North one-half of Lot 9, Block 17.

Construction of Building

The Walla Walla County Assessor lists the build date for 405 Main Street as 1910, often an estimate based on the appearance of the building. The City of Walla Walla has preserved building permits as far back as mid-September 1907; these are very helpful in dating a structure that was not constructed before that time. The City of Waitsburg has no preserved historic building permits. Another indication of when a house was likely built occurs if a property sold one year for $1,000 and the following year it again sold, but this time for $8,500, as an example. Such a rapid acceleration in value could indicate a house probably had been constructed on the property during that year. Unless a  property in Waitsburg was owned by a prominent person or family it can be difficult to determine a precise date of construction.

Walla Walla city directories during the early years usually included listings for Waitsburg residents, but these are almost always limited to listing only the occupation, although occasionally the street where the person/family resided is included, often without a house number.

A search of Walla Walla city directories that include Waitsburg residents discloses that in 1904 John and Mary Highland were at home at 405 Main Street. No directory was published for 1903. The 1902 and 1900-01 directories list Highland as “hosteler R. H. Chilton livery,” contrary to his 1896 Declaration of Homestead. 1898 and 1893-94 directories list him as laborer and restaurant, no address given. Given the fact that John Highland worked various jobs as a laborer, and the house at 405 Main Street is quite grand, since the Bruces purchased it for $1,000 on 5/9/1911, it is improbable that it was built by Mr. Highland. The Highlands may have lived in a more modest abode on their property. Recall that in his 1896 Homestead Declaration Highland certified that he and his family were residing on the property with a current value of $1,000, lacking any description of what that constituted, but certainly it was not the current house. In addition, a further deed in 1906, ten years later, only lists the sales price at $1,300. Therefore, the probable construction date would be circa 1911 by J. W. Bruce.

405 Main Street is a variation on the turn-of-the-last-century classic box or foursquare style, the term foursquare defining a structure as having four sides of approximately the same dimension. It is two and one-half stories and is surmounted by a hip roof with projecting gables. Cladding is clapboards on the main floor, shingles on the second and the dormers at the third level. The entrance is on the side away from Main Street. The unusual diagonally placed stairs under a small pediment that lead to a porch that wraps around two sides of the house may be a later alteration.

Resources

• TitleOne Title & Escrow (formerly Pioneer Title)
• Whitman College Archives
• Walla Walla City Directories (years that include Waitsburg)
• Walla Walla County Auditor’s online records search
• findagrave.com
• Waitsburg City Cemetery burial records
• Waitsburg Times, 8/1/2019 and various dates
• Lyman, Prof. William Dennison, Lyman’s History of Old Walla Walla County, Embracing Walla Walla, Columbia, Garfield and Asotin Counties, Vol. 2, E. J. Clarke Publishing Company, Chicago, 1918 Torres, Sandra, The Waitsburg Family, 1858-1900: The Beginning, Author House, 2014