Deer Park Historical Timeline
1883 -Carter and Brown built a water powered sawmill on Dragoon Creek west of Dalton Road.
1884 -The families of R. R. Hazard, Louis C. Gemmill, J. B. Grove, Joseph Tarbert and many others begin to settle the Wild Rose and Half Moon Prairies south of Deer Park.
1885 -Construction began on the "Little Brown Church" on Wild Rose Prairie that became the Methodist Church that many Deer Park area people attended before other churches were built in Deer Park.
1886 -A group of Indian warriors rode through the area causing a scare.
1889 -The Spokane Falls and Northern Railroad was built through Deer Park
-The name "Deer Park" came into use either as a description of the area by railroad surveyors or from a pen in which the Kelly boys kept deer.
-P. J. Kelly built the first store.
-Peter Meyers and the settlement of Forreston had the areas first post office.
1890 -William Hopkins Short and George Crawford rented a portable sawmill and operated it in Deer Park on a railroad siding.
1891 -The Deer Park Open Door Congregational Church was organized on Nov. 8, 1891.
-The Short and Crawford Lumber Company purchased the portable mill and the land in the northwest area of Deer Park.
-The first Short Boarding House is built.
1892 -A new saw mill replaces the portable one and a new company, the Washington Mill Company, is incorporated.
-Dr. H. H. Slater and his family move to Deer park.
1893 -The Financial Panic of 1893 slows development in the area.
1894 -William Hopkins Short returns from his visit to the east.
1895 -Formal planning is complete and construction of the Open Door Congregational Church begins.
1896 -The Congregational Church is dedicated on March 29, 1896.
-The P. J. Kelly house is built.
-W. H. Short marries Florence Hodges on July 28, 1896.
1897 -Short moves to Spokane for a short time.
-About this time the post office is moved from Forreston to Deer Park.
1898 -The new Short Boarding House was finished about this time.
- Short moves back to Deer Park.
-J. J. Hill secretly buys a controlling interest in the Spokane Falls and Northern
-Railroad effectively making it part of his Great Northern Railroad.
1899 -P. J. Kelly circulates a petition to establish the town site of Deer Park.
-By this year a school had been constructed east of the Congregational church on Main Avenue.
1900 -Deer Park had a population of 300 with several stores and churches.
-Future mayor A. J. Peters arrives in Deer Park.
1902 -On June 29, 1902 P. J. Kelly moved into his new store.
1903 -The Kelly store was enlarged and the Short an Crawford sawmill burned.
1904 -The "old" Short and Crawford saw mill is rebuilt on the site west of the railroad tracks and the Congregational Church.
1906 -Louis Olson entered the merchantile business.
-F. L. Daggett and J. D. McIntyre incorporate the Arcadia Irrigation Association with a $428,420 Mortgage and $30,000 in outstanding bonds.
-The newspaper "Deer Park Union" began publication.
-Frank C. Young arrives in Deer Park.
-In 1928 Young purchased Jim Danials' grocery store which he ran until the 1940s.
1907 -Arcadia Irrigation Association reformed as Arcadia Corporation with
capitalization of $1.500.00 and a $100,000 bond issue is floated.
1908 -Mayor A. J. Peters files papers for incorporation of the city of Deer Park.
-The hotel on the corner of Main and Crawford is built by Louis Olson.
-Floyd Daggett's son Gordon takes pictures of the Arcadia Orchards construction operations.
-A dirt filled timber dam is constructed on Dragoon Creek by the Arcadia Corporation to help fill the Low Line irrigation canal.
-McIntyre was forced out of Arcadia Corporation.
-The business district of the town of Clayton burns on August 5, 1908.
1909 -The first electricity is delivered to Deer Park from a hydroelectric plant on the Little Spokane River at Milan.
-The Arcadia Irrigation Association is reorganized as the Arcadia Orchards Company by F. L. Daggett, Olaf Olson and E. D. Robinson with $10,000,000 capitalization.The company borrowed $408,000 from Netherlands American Mortgage Company with the note due in 1914.
1910 -A new high school is being built on east Crawford.
-F. L. Daggett forced out of the Arcadia Orchards Company.
1911 -The new high school opens.
-The Spokane Falls and Northern Railroad (Great Northern Railroad) announces plans to build a new depot south and east of Main and Crawford.
-Standard Lumber's new mill operating on the east bank of the Dragoon Creek reservoir constructed by Arcadia Orchards Company.
-Standard Lumber's new mill operating on the east bank of the Dragoon Creek reservoir constructed by Arcadia Orchards Company.
-Loon Lake water was opened into the Arcadia Orchards Company's high line canal. Arcadia Orchards Company maps show that about 16,570 acres were owned. Eight thousand acres were estimated to have been cleared and about 5000 acres were planted with apple trees.
-Louis Olson completes construction of his business block and hotel.
-The first Methodist Church was completed.
1912 -Telephones are being installed in Deer Park.
-Apple market collapses and Arcadia Orchards Company borrows another $100,000 from the Netherlands American Mortgage Company.
-The second St. Marys Catholic Church is finished on the corner of Main Avenue and Fourth Street on land donated by J. A. Reuthinger.
1913 -A new concrete dam on Dragoon Creek is finished replacing the dirt filled timber original.
-Hunzicker Hardware is capitalized and open for business.
-Jeff Moore's Commercial Hotel closes.
-Follevaag opens an office in the Olson Block.
-The Deer Park Central Railroad is under construction north from the Standard Lumber Company's sawmill towards the White Pine Camp and the Garden Spot area. Ten new logging flat cars were delivered to the Deer Park Central Railroad on May 19, 1913.
-Plans are under way to build the Inland Empire Highway from Spokane to Deer Park.
1914 -Standard Lumber is sold to Wilson and Leuthold for $465,000 and becomes Deer Park Lumber Company.
-Arcadia Orchards Company cannot begin to repay either the principal or the interest on the loans from the Netherlands American Mortgage Company.
-A hard surfaced road from Spokane to Deer Park is under construction.
1915 -Arcadia Orchards Company borrows another $73,405 from the Netherlands American Mortgage Company to finish the Deer Lake to Loon Lake canal.
-Frosts and World War I caused shipping problems cause Arcadia Orchards Company production costs to exceed sales income.
-A Spokane Attorney, William E. Cullen, Jr., joins the company.
1916 - Olaf Olson leaves the Arcadia Orchard Company.
-Roy R. Grove and his brother-in-law J. R. Neaville purchased the Olson Mercantile.
-Al Bishop arrives in Deer Park, later he will own the Deer Park Creamery for many years.
-The foundations for the grain warehouse were poured.
1917 -The United States declares war on Germany.
-William E. Cullen and E. D. Robinson sole managers of the Arcadia Orchard Company.
1918 -Arcadia Orchard Company has the best harvest to date.
-The Inland Empire Highway has been completed to Clayton and beyond.
1919 -As the Arcadia Orchard Company had failed to reduce the amount of loaned principal it owed and failed to make interest payments it was declared in default and the assets were secretly deeded over to the Arcadia Holding Company.
1920 -The spring and apple growing season was cold with thousands of smudges used in an attempt to save the apple crop.
-The apple market collapses again and the harvest could not be sold for the cost of production.
1921 -The Arcadia Holding Company advertises the sale of its lands.
1922 -A new grade school at the corner of Main Avenue and Fourth Street is constructed.
-Delinquent Arcadia Orchard owners tracts are auctioned off in wholesale lots by the Spokane County Sheriff.
-The Inland Empire highway between Spokane and Deer Park is paved with concrete.
1923 -A new high school gymnasium and athletic field are built across Crawford from the high school.
1925 -E. D. Robinson is finally removed as manager of the Arcadia Orchards and the company essentially ceases to exist.