A. T. Dishman founded this eponymous town in 1889, shooting the granite cliffs just south of town to open a quarry. The Dishman family started a trading company in 1900 and had extensive real estate interests in California, a fishing business in Mexico, and a local building construction company. As of 1941, modern business buildings lined the highway, and during the growing season the town was a busy shopping center. Brick and lime plants and a factory for the fabrication of aluminum truck and bus bodies employed more than 200 people. Stone was cut in the quarry. These industries no longer exist; however, and the town is now a suburb of downtown Spokane.