The History of Little Rock, Washington
All of the first settlers of Little Rock, except one, came to the area by way of the Oregon Trail. These settlers were Parson Quinn, Bruce Dodge, Thomas Rutledge, John Shotwell, William Marcy and Austin Young. George Washington Rutledge came to the area by way of the Isthmus of Panama, then to Olympia by boat.
Parson Quinn, Bruce Dodge and Thomas Rutledge came to the area in 1853, while Bruce Dodge came out on a wagon train. On this wagon train there were approximately 1,500 settlers. John Shotwell came in 1854, George W. Rutledge in 1859, William Marcy in the early 1860's and Austin Young in 1862. All these early settlers were homesteaders except three. Parson Quinn, Bruce Dodge and John Shotwell had donation claims. The above-mentioned settlers all took claims in the Black River Valley.
Thomas Rutledge had a pre-emption claim (pre-emption meaning processor to homestead). George W. Rutledge bought Parson Quinn’s place when Quinn moved to Eastern Washington. Austin Young and William Marcy both had homestead claims.
In 1854, John Shotwell and Thomas Rutledge slashed the first road between Little Rock and Tumwater. The slashed road follows very closely the present route to Tumwater. Prior to this time, the only wagon road was an old military road which was reached by crossing Black River about 1 ½ mile south of Little Rock to Mima Prairie; here travelers could use the military road which went through the hills west of Little Rock. From there the road went to Black Lake. It was necessary to ferry across the lake to reach Tumwater.
Houses of the early settlers varied in their construction. Parson Quinn, Bruce Dodge and Thomas Rutledge had log cabins. John Shotwell had a split lumber house which was two stories high. It had three fireplaces which were still standing in 1910 when the house was torn down. In 1859 after he had bought Parson Quinn’s place, George W. Rutledge built a house made of lumber purchased in Tumwater. This was the first house in this area built of sawed lumber, and had two fireplaces.
Thomas Rutledge’s house was built around 1862. It is a large two story house and has two fireplaces, the barn, one of the largest in Thurston County, has been in continuous use since its construction in the early 1860’s. This structure of Mortise and Tenon Construction has hand-hewn timbers. No nails were used wooden pegs hold the framework together. Dale Rutledge lives in this house now.
Austin Young built his home in the center of Little Rock. A large two story structure, it was vacant for several years but was being renovated when it burned to the ground on December 23, 1962.
Three fireplaces, one of them upstairs, distinguished the William Marcy home. This was also built in Little Rock and was occupied for many years by the, Vincent family. In the middle 1950s it was torn down.
During the 1860s Bruce Dodge acquired considerable land on Mima Prairie adjoining his claim. On this new land he built a big home with five fireplaces and three stairways. There was a windmill and water tower attached to the house. Mr. Dodge also built an enormous barn which collapsed during the 1962 Columbus Day storm. At one time the Dodge farm included 2,000 acres. An interesting note on this house is that the bricks for the five fireplaces came from Scotland. Another interesting note is that Bruce Dodge was Betty Hedge’s grandfather.
In 1861, the first school for the Black River Community (now Little Rock) was organized. This was a one room school, and was one fourth of a mile south of Little Rock. When the school was first opened there were only thirteen pupils enrolled. The first teacher’s name was Nathan S Porter. The school opened on 10/21/1861 with the school term lasting only three months. Twelve of the thirteen pupils were Sarilda Cleveland, Charles Cleveland, George Cleveland, Helen Doyle, Emma Doyle Henry Ferguson, Margaret Rutledge, William Rutledge, George Shotwell, Mary Shotwell, William Snyder and Eliza Snyder.
In the winter of 1880-1881, a heavy snow collapsed the one room school. Another one room school was built by Austin Young and Frank Rutledge on the same site. In January 1893, they moved to a new one room school on the site of the present school. Eventually the new one room school was divided into two rooms. Then after a while a room was added onto each side. There were now four rooms. The grades went up to the ninth grade.
Around 1912, a two story school was built. This school contained a grade school and a high school. The first graduating class from the high school was in 1926 and the last graduating class was in 1932.
Some of the early teachers in the one room school were Mr. Mushrush, Mr. Guess, Joe Conine, Luella Miles Rutledge, T.N. Henry, Fred J. Brown, Mr. Bryant, Alvena Williamson, Mrs. Kate Young and Theodore Young. During the early 1860’s when Luella Miles Rutledge taught the wages were $100.00 a term and she also did the janitor work, rang the bell, and more. Mr. Bryant taught several years in the mid 1890’s teaching in the last school at the old location and the first in the new location.
In 1870, Mr. H. K. Hines donated 40 acres for the Methodist Campground. For ten days in August, every year until 1902, religious meetings were held there. Around 1870 the Methodist Church included the Little Rock Community in its Circuit District, although there was no church buildings until 1885. Prior to that time the preachers held services in homes when they visited Little Rock.
In 1885, George W. Rutledge and Thomas Rutledge financed and erected a substantial church building on the camp ground property near the school house in the woods. The church remained in this location for twenty years.
In 1905, since the center of population had located in Little Rock, it was decided that the church would be moved there. Two lots were purchased from the Everett family, and since the church couldn’t be moved in one piece because of Beaver Creek, it was decided that it would be torn down and rebuilt. Thomas Rutledge agreed to move it for the forty acres which was valued at $400.00. He hired John F. Brown to do the carpentry work. So it was carefully torn down and all of the lumber, even the flooring, was used again with the exception of the shingles. Also in 1905 a lot was purchased across the road from Thomas Rutledge for $40.00 to build a parsonage. The church was remodeled in 1911, which consisted of digging a deep basement to be used for a gymnasium as there was no other place in town to play basketball. However, the basement was never completed because it flooded every year. The gravel that was dug from the basement was sold to the county road maintenance dept.
An annex and several classrooms were added to the old structure. The old windows were replaced by stained glass, a belfry was built, and a slanting floor was made in the sanctuary.
The following is a list of some of the early day ministers that preached there:
| J.F. Ward | 1871-1873 |
| C.H. Hoxie | 1873-1874 |
| T.M. Riese | 1874-1875 |
| William Butts | 1876-1877 |
| W.G. Casper | 1877-1879 |
| C. Derrick | 1879-1881 |
| John Flynn | 1881-1884 |
| A.K. Crawford | 1884-1885 |
| Robert Phillips | 1885-1886 |
| Ebenezer Hopkins | 1885-1888 |
| J.I. Smith | 1888-1889 |
| J.F. Mead | 1889-1890 |
| W.H. Johnstone | 1890-1891 |
| Hopkins | 1890-1892 |
| H.F. Tyler | 1892-1893 |
| R.H. Massey | 1893-1896 |
| A. Anderson | 1896-1902 |
| E.H. Thompson | 1902-1903 |
| Charles Meyers | 1903-1904 |
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Mr. Charles Meyers had on his charge little Rock, Grand Mound, Rochester, Gate City, Mima Prairie. He was also the first resident minister for Little Rock. Prior to that time the ministers lived somewhere else, and only came on Sundays. Charles Meyers boarded at Thomas Rutledge’s house because there was no parsonage as of yet.
In 1879, Thomas Rutledge made application for the establishment of a post office in this community. He moved a large rock and put it in front of his Yard, intending to name the post office “The Rock”. However, the post office objected and changed it to “Little Rock”.
In June 1879, the post office was established in the Thomas Rutledge house, he being appointed the post master. The rock was used for a mounting stone, for those who came on horseback for their mail. The post office remained there until the middle 1880’s when it was moved into the Eshom home; the former Marcy House.
It was moved because the road between Mima Prairie and the present Road ( Shotwell place 1 ½ miles south of Little Rock) was closed because of low ground, Since the post office served Mima Prairie, the distance was shorter when it was in Little Rock. It remained in the Eshom home until 1889, when it was moved to the Austin Young home, where it remained for only two years.
About 1890, an effort was made to change the name of Little Rock to “Viora”. The name was composed from the names of some of the early settlers. “Vi” from the Vincent family who came here in 1889 “O” from Young, “R” from Rutledge and “A” from Marcy, leaving out Shotwell, Quinn and Dodge.
In the 1880s the mail was carried by a man by the name of Glenn. He made one trip a week on horseback between Olympia and Montesano. Even though the mail came only once a week, it was a great improvement over having to go to Tumwater for it. Later the service was improved to twice a week mail. Some of the time a small stern wheeler came up the Chehalis and Black rivers as far as the Shotwell place and thence by horse the rest of the way.
While Black River is very shallow in places, the boat could operate most of the year. It was often said jokingly that boats of that type could go over the prairies on a heavy dew. After the coming of the railroad, the mail was carried that way and of course, arrived at least twice daily.
In 1890, a railroad was built between Tacoma and Grays Harbor. The Tacoma, Olympia and Grays Harbor Rail Road Company. The rail road took away the comparative isolation of the town. Shortly there were several sawmills constructed and where there were only two houses in Little Rock at that time, it wasn’t long until there were more that forty houses, The business district grew up west of the railroad and mostly on the south side of the road. Mr. Davis built the first store, and the post office was moved from the Young house into the store. Austin Young built a small hotel and called it, “ The Viora House.”
Around 1900 Ed Dowling purchased the store from Davis. He enlarged and operated it for several years, before he sold it because of poor health. It had a big hall used for community programs, dances, club meetings, parties, etc. It also had a large warehouse used for storing feed, and was located so that the feed could be unloaded right into the warehouse. He really did a thriving business, as the area was opening up to settlement and there was lots of logging.
Around 1901 William Rutledge purchased the hotel and added a lot onto it, so it had about 25 rooms. It was run in connection with the livery stable. It was very successful. They also served meals family style. However, the coming of the automobile made it less profitable by the late teens.
The Hotel. Owner: Clarence Rutledge.
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Inside of Roy Young's store. Pictured left to right:
Roy Young, unknown, Ralph Hammond,Len Young,
Bill McAffrey, Harry Hart, unknown, Mon Rutledge,
Pat Monahan, Tracey Smith, Jim Simms, unknown.
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In 1893, Thurston County purchased the G.W. Rutledge’s farm 1 mile south of Little Rock and used it for a county poor farm. They paid $6400 for the farm. In October 1893, the institution was opened with five inmates, all elderly and ill. In the few years that it operated, the dead were buried out on the prairie, None of the graves were permanently marked, and so the location is not really known. This was the first poor farm in Thurston County.
In the middle 1890s, the Young family operated a creamery for a few years. However, the markets were too far away and the building was abandoned and moved to Broadway; now 128th street and used as a store.
In 1912, the Catholics of the community erected a church. However, there weren’t enough Catholics in the community and it was abandoned after 4 years. Since that time it has been used as a private dwelling (located across from the school).
The Socialists built a hall about three blocks south of Dooley’s Store. This was in about 1912.
In 1912 the grange was organized in this community, but it didn’t last long. Another one was organized in about 1918, and it also died quickly. In 1929 another one organized with R.A. Alm as its first master who was also the principal of the high school in Little Rock. The grange was disbanded in 1979. The building is now the posse hall.
Around 1923 the Little Rock Community organized various types of entertainment to raise money to buy a community park. $125 was paid to the Thomas Rutledge Estate for a piece of ground on Beaver Creek, adjoining what is now the Posse Hall property. The Posse Hall was not built until 1932. Community affairs like the Fourth of July Celebration, picnics and other community gatherings were held in the park.
In 1905, Will Rutledge bought a new five passenger Cadillac touring car, a one cylinder, chain driven, and cranked on the right side, It was the first automobile in Little Rock. It also had lots of brass trimming, no glass windshield, only an ising glass curtain that you could lower in bad weather. It also had carbide lights.
Since the buildings in the business section were close together, a wooden water tower was constructed for fire protection. A gasoline powered pump was installed on the river bank, and the tank was filled with river water.
Since there was a lot of timber in Little Rock area, the railroad was the answer to getting it on the market. John Dowling in 1891 built a sawmill and shingle mill on Black River ½ mile north of Little Rock near Otto’s on the corner of 123rd and LaFrance Rd.
A shingle mill, owned by Clark and Horner, was constructed on the site of the present mill. This mill was then purchased by Flynn and Katick, and it operated for several years.
In the late 1890s, a man by the name of Allen, built a sawmill about one mile north of Little Rock, between Black River and the railroad tracks. It was probably the largest sawmill in the area. These mills were all located on water, although they were run by steam power. The water was used just for floating the logs and shingle bolts. These mills operated for several years and operated until the First World War, when shortage of timber forced their closure.
About 1895, the farmer’s alliance store (co-op) was built for the purpose of buying and selling farm produce, and for the handling of groceries. Upstairs there was big hall used for meetings. It went broke in the panic of 1893. The store eventually passed into the hands of private partners and they partitioned off the upstairs for living quarters. In 1906 James Dooley bought the store, and carried a line of hardware goods. The store remained in the family for about 50 years, when it was torn down and a new store was built. This is where the upholstery store is today.
In the early 1890s the Little Rock area was platted under the name of Viora. The main street running east and west was named Broadway St. in now named 128th Ave SW, and had two Oak trees in the middle of it. One was in front of Dooley’s Store, and the other was across the railroad tracks, in front of the post office. These trees were removed about 1940.
By 1925 the business district near the railroad tracks consisted of a drugstore, a confectioner’s store, a general store, a post office with the community hall upstairs, a hotel and livery stable, a barber shop, several blacksmith shops, that had been converted into garages, and the train depot with the upstairs being used as living quarters.
On June 27, 1925, a fire started in a vacant house on the west side of the hotel and all this burned along with several houses and the water tower that was supposed to furnish fire protection. The Olympia Fire Department finally came out to keep the fire from spreading. A strong west wind prevailed that night, and showered sparks on the other side of the tracks, setting several roofs on fire including the church and school.
In 1933, the survey for the Olympia to Grays Harbor canal went through Little Rock, calling to mind that the Indians traveled this same general route. They would come from Puget Sound to Black Lake, then down Black River to Little Rock. They would leave the river here because of its swift shallow condition. They would drag their dugouts and enter the river about a mile south of Little Rock. The portage (the carrying of boats or goods overland from one body of water to another or around an obstacle) they made as they drug their dugouts can still be seen on the prairie south of Little Rock. They crossed Beaver Creek near where the present bridge is. The canal issue was nothing new having been proposed by Jefferson Davis in the 1850s.
In the late 1930s the Weiks family started a milk bottling and distributing business, under the name of Evergreen Dairy, later called United Dairy, eventually sold out to Darigold.
One of the novelties of this area was a deer park owned by Thomas Rutledge. He fenced in 75 acres and had as many as forty deer at one time. Since it was next to the Methodist campground many kids spent a lot of their time in the park. The deer park was maintained until about 1920.
Some of the local folks were rather ingenious in using what they happened to have. Austin Young dammed up the small stream in his backyard, and put in an undershot waterwheel to operate a grain grinder he had. While it didn’t work too well, it was better than nothing.His only other option was to take the grain to Tumwater.
Thomas Rutledge had an underground pipe to furnish running water in his house when it was built in the early 1860s. The pipe was in eight foot sections bringing water from the hill across the road. It was the first house around to have running water.
The town now consists of a grade school, a post office, an upholstery shop, two churches, a gas station / grocery store, Hillbilly Beans Espresso, a tavern, and a posse hall.
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