Town Relocation

After the first Euro-American settlers began to settle in this area of the new Washington Territory in the 1860s, a small commercial center grew up just north of the gap in the Ahtanum Ridge where the Yakima River flows through.  This center was called Yakima City.

By the early 1880s, the area had attracted enough settlement to interest the rapidly expanding railroad companies. The Northern Pacific Railroad sent their land commissioner to survey the area around Yakima City. His report stated that “the location of the old town of Yakima City was undesirable [for a depot][due to] the swampy character of the land…[and] it would be necessary to change the location to a point some two or three miles northward in order to make a good town…” This evaluation stating that Yakima City was unhealthful, however, is only part of the story.

Railroads were expensive to build, and the companies made money in only two ways. First, in the American West, the United States Government gave the railroads land bordering the tracks in place of direct cash support. The railroads could then sell this land to recapture some of their costs. Second, the railroads relied on regular freight business (as passenger traffic rarely ever made money). In both cases, an abundance of good quality land that was both saleable and perfect for freight generating businesses was crucial.  There was not enough of such land around Yakima City; what little quality land existed there was already claimed and was being offered to the railroad at a high price.  Thus, building the depot 2-3 miles north, where there was much more unclaimed good land, had a strong financial advantage for the railroad.

Therefore, a new town site called North Yakima was established, based upon the Northern Pacific Railroad agent’s recommendation that “…the location of the new town of North Yakima is, in every way, attractive and desirable. The soil is good. The land dry.” The first freight car arrived in North Yakima on December 23, 1884, delivering six barrels of whiskey and vinegar, and the new depot, originally in a converted railroad boxcar, was officially dedicated on January 14, 1885. Naturally, the residents of “old” Yakima City were not happy with the decision to bypass their town, but the railroad, which realized it needed these people, offered free building lots in the new town and encouraged the residents of Yakima City to move their business buildings and homes to North Yakima. Many accepted the offer, and during the spring and summer of 1885, there was a steady moving of buildings from Yakima City to new North Yakima.  Small logs were placed under the structures as rollers as horses pulled the buildings north to new locations. The first building to move was The Guilland House, a hotel originally built in 1876. It was said that you could tie your horse to a moving building, go shopping inside, and your horse would walk alongside the building as it moved.

Masonic Lodge

Fraternal organizations came to the Washington Territory in December 1858 when four lodges, Olympia, Steilacoom, Grand Mound, and Vancouver met at Olympia and organized the Most Worshipful Grand Lodge of Free & Accepted Masons of Washington. On September 28, 1874, a dispensation was granted to a lodge in Yakima City (now Union Gap). This lodge was chartered a year later and christened Yakima Lodge No 24 on February 8, 1878.

Like many new organizations in new communities, Yakima’s Masonic Lodge #24 struggled with growing pains, factional divisions, and lack of funds in its early years. But things soon stabilized and in 1908 the 158 members of Yakima Lodge No 24 committed themselves to build a permanent lodge hall. They hired architect, William (Billy) de Veaux to design a temple on the prime corner of 4th Street and Yakima Avenue in downtown Yakima.  Since de Veaux was not a Mason, he partnered with the Masonic Architect F. H. Heath of Tacoma, and the result was a $350,000 six-story structure with commercial space for rental on the lower floors and the lodge rooms on the top. Ground was broken on September 10, 1910, the corner stone laid on April 1, 1911, and the top floor lodge room dedicated on September 27, 1912. The commercial spaces attracted leading retailers, professional offices, the Chamber of Commerce, and even, for a time, the offices of the City.

This building, recently rehabilitated, still proudly stands in downtown Yakima and the lodge rooms, although no longer in use, remain as built. The structure has a number of unique elements. The keystone over the main entrance was carved from a 960-pound block of stone quarried in Jerusalem at the same place where the original material for King Solomon’s Temple is believed to have been obtained. It was secured with the help of the American Consul in the Holy Land and shipped to Yakima where, accompanied by the Overture from Tannhauser, it was ceremoniously brought to the building site for carving.

The lodge room is amazing. Although not constructed as a copy of King Solomon’s Temple (there is little evidence of the exact design or proportion of that ancient structure), the architects drew upon early 20th century knowledge of ancient Assyrian, Babylonian, and Egyptian building design. The columns, friezes, ornaments and wall panels are all based upon the work of archaeologists who uncovered the palaces and temples in what we now know as the Middle East.  And individual elements are conscious symbols of the sun, deity, justice, authority, and merit.  It remains intact although the portable furniture and other pieces were removed when the new Masonic Lodge on North Naches Avenue was built in the early 1960s.

The structure recently rehabilitated and opened as the boutique hotel, La Maison.