| Settler William "Bud" Wilson had the first claim and built the first log cabin in 1868 where Ellensburg now stands. Cowboys A.J. Splawn and Ben Burch moved a 14 x 18 hewn log house to a spot nearby so they could open it as a store in 1870. John Gillispie, a young settler, made a sign for the store and dubbed it "Robber's Roost." Settlers were few and the post depended on trade in furs and horses with Native Americans to buy supplies. |
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In 1872, John A. Shoudy bought the store and 160 acres of land. A Civil War veteran, he had come to the valley in 1871 as part of a business plan of his family in Seattle to create an improved road connection with the Yakima country. In 1873, John started postal service in Ellensburgh. John and his wife Mary Ellen platted the town and it was officially filed in April 1875. John named the new town Ellensburgh for his wife (Third Street in the late 1800s, pictured above). Between 1878 and 1883, the town grew dramatically. A bank was established, Hook and Ladder Company Number 1 was organized, the first newspaper, Kittitas Localizer, was published July 12, 1883. |
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| With a population of 2,768, Ellensburgh became the county seat of Kittitas County formed in 1883. The City of Ellensburgh was first incorporated on November 26, 1883 under a territorial act effective January 1, 1884. A second Charter of Incorporation was enacted by the Legislative Assembly of the Territory of Washington on January 28, 1886. City government was officially formed with the first election on February 26, and the first council meeting on March 2, 1886. In 1889, Ellensburgh became the home of Washington State Normal School (pictured above in 1900), now Central Washington University. It opened in 1891, and now enrolls more than 7,000 students. |
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| The first train of the Northern Pacific Railroad reached Ellensburgh March 31, 1886 (pictured above, in 1911), helping to fuel a boom in building and population. The first telephone was installed in 1889 to connect two downtown stores. |
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It wasn't until 1889 that Washington became a State, and Ellensburgh could have become the capital if a fire had not destroyed most of the city on July 4, 1889. The fire started in J.S. Anthony's Grocery store on the east side of Main Street, between Fourth and Fifth. Over two hundred homes and ten-city block were lost to the flames. News reports of the day valued the damaged property at over two million dollars. The town recovered quickly, with brick buildings rising to replace the former wood ones (such as the Washington National Bank, pictured above in 1910). Within ten days of the fire, Ellensburg citizens began work on forty-three new downtown business blocks. In rebuilding the town, many owners worked together to coordinate the style of the new buildings, all constructed almost completely of fireproof brick. One local brick manufacturer produced over forty thousand bricks a day, but was still unable to keep up with the demand. |
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The fire came at a time of prosperity and over-speculation in the valley. Many local businessmen invested heavily in the reconstruction, and this worsened the financial recession that occurred in the mid-1890s. Ellensburg was a pioneer among Washington cities in building public infrastructure. The first water system, and the City's sewer system - one of the first in Washington - was installed in 1889. The City purchased the private electric lighting system from John Shoudy in 1890. The post office changed the spelling of the town's name to Ellensburg in 1894. The public library was begun in 1910. New industry included a woolen mill (pictured above, in the early 1900s) and other agricultural industries. |
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| By the 1920s, Pearl (above) and Main streets and adjoining 3rd and 4th streets were at the heart of a handsome commercial district, lined with fine brick buildings, and serving as the economic hub of Central Washington. Today, many of these buildings survive, along with the traditional triple-globe street lamps that still light the downtown streets of Ellensburg. |
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