La Grande was a interesting town in the early 1900s — famous for it’s all-electric, ultra-modern homes.
Jim Rupert says, “The far right in the far corner of the picture was the paint shop when I worked there in the summers. Virgil Buttler ran that shop. Behind that and the other little square house way in the back had a concrete wall around it. Now it is a switch yard. All the houses were tore down with the last one being John Nordstrom house [two-story house on the right]. There is an entire story behind the houses and why they were tore down.”
Kevin Hoskins adds, “It always amazed me that we as kids would go and play around there, (at the hydro plant) nobody would say, “Scram Kids!” They would always say, “Hi, How are You Doing?”
We had it good in La Grande!”
Regarding the ponds, Sally Lofquist says, “I was always curious about what happened to the pond as it wasn’t there when we lived there. Dad said that one of the Stock kids almost drown so Fred Dorfner (Supervisor) told Harry Stocks to fill it in.”
Thank you Jeff Morrison for the image.
Click on image to enlarge.
Eatonville To Rainier 