In its heyday, this was a bustling town of 1,500 people, most of whom were employed in the shops of the O.-W.R.&N. railroad; the monthly pay roll in 1905 amounted to $20,000. The bell, given to the Presbyterian Church by General Starbuck, once sounded from the tower of the town hall; unfortunately, the town hall no longer exists.One of the factors in the decline of the town was the introduction of the Mallet locomotive, which generated enough power to negotiate the runs on this section of the line without helpers. In 1932 the shops were closed. By 1941, the natural process of disintegration was being accelerated by wreckers, who were moving the town piecemeal to Walla Walla. A number of wheat farmers and sheep ranchers continued to make the town their headquarters. The town was named for Gen. W. H. Starbuck, a Nantucket Yankee and early railroad financier. He donated a bell to the first church built in Starbuck in acknowledgment of the honor paid him.
Starbuck
Points of Interest 
Bank of Starbuck
A simple and modest brick building, the bank is one of the few survivors of Starbuck’s heyday as a railroad town. The history of the bank is murky, but it appears that shortly after opening in 1904, a cashier left town with much of its assets. The bank closed for a time, then re-opened, but closed for good in the early 1930s. Since then it has been used as the Starbuck City Hall.
Points of Interest
Bank of Starbuck
A simple and modest brick building, the bank is one of the few survivors of Starbuck’s heyday as a railroad town. The history of the bank is murky, but it appears that shortly after opening in 1904, a cashier left town with much of its assets. The bank closed for a time, then re-opened, but closed for good in the early 1930s. Since then it has been used as the Starbuck City Hall.
