Another scene of what is now Yukon Harbor Drive, taken around 1906. The wooden sidewalk was built as a community project so schoolchildren could navigate the muddy paths during winter months. In the distance is the picnic grounds noted in an earlier photo.
The Tom and Georgeina Grant home, which stands today, looked like this in the 1920's. It stood above the Grant & Sons Store, above the pier and waterfront.
- What is today residential waterfront property was once a popular picnic spot and campground between Colby and Curley Creek. This photo, probably taken around 1930, looks North toward the lumber mill, with the road now called Yukon Harbor Drive in the foreground. Photo provided by Shirlee Toman.
"Downtown" Colby in the 1940's, as seen from the direction of the lumber mill and looking North. The Grant & Sons store is on the left, the Fancy Groceries store is on the right, with the pier in the distance. Photo provided by JoAnn Grant Lorden.
Long Lake, shown here in the 1920's, has always been the center of recreation and industry. In the early days, it was the home of a shingle mill and a lumber mill, as well as farms. Photo provided by Shirlee Toman.
- The Niblock Inn, a hotel that stood on the hill above the Colby Landing about 1886. It was probably run by the Weed Family, shown here.
The Independent Order of Good Templars Hall (left) c1888, where the pier would later be built in Colby. It had a meeting room upstairs and a store below, with an adjacent warehouse (right). It was built by Civil War Vet John Anspaugh, as was the white two-story residence/boarding house (background).By far and away, the single largest business in Colby in the 1800's was the Colby Mill, which was located between the townsite (to the right of this scene) and Curley Creek (in the distance). Photo provided by Shirlee Toman.
Colby, as it was seen from the pier, had stores, stables, a blacksmith shop, a hotel, and lots of people. The lumber mill is to the left, and the First Street residences is to the right. This composite was prepared by JB Hall.
First Street of Colby (now known as Cole Loop) consisted of a group of upscale homes, including this "hip-roofed foursquare" probably built by Civil War Vet John Anspaugh for the Rust Family in 1901. The bell mounted in the front yard was taken from the Grant & Sons store.
We’re just beginning to collect photographs and documents relating to the area and have posted a handful here, but there are many more within the primary website postings in the lefthand column.
The one below, taken from an old newspaper article, shows the Harper Ferry Dock area about 1958. The Shell Gas Station has since been converted to an expresso shop, and ferry service has been transferred to Southworth.
The next photo was taken by AK Kuppler. It shows the brick-built Rust Grocery Store, which was located at the base of the Colby Pier. Originally, a two-story grocery store and Town Hall were built on this site, but that structure was taken down and replaced by this one in 1926. It was run by the Rust Family for many years, but eventually was abandoned. Jo Ann Grant Lorden mentions the store in her “Strolling Through Colby” feature, noting that it’s use as a grocery was long since gone by the time she passed by it, but it was used for storing and sorting ornamental bushes picked locally. Beyond repair and not worthy of saving, it was torn down about 2005 and replaced with a modern residence. The houses above (left) and to the north (right) are still there.
- Probably the most famous building in Old Colby was Grant & Sons Store, built in 1888 and torn down in 1967
I’ve lived on Yukon Harbor Rd for the last 44 years. I was really pleased to see your article in the Independant and to now see how much work you’ve put into the website. I do a lot of genealogy, so if there is need for that type of service, I’d be glad to help.
If you would like to include the town Of Olalla in your Historical Society I have some old photographs and local history to add. We also just built a Mediterranean style house in Olalla that is setting the new image/trend of the town.
I have an old photo of my Great Grandmother, my Grandmother and Grandfather with their son, my uncle and at this time my grandfather, Charles S Hall worked at I think the Colby Lumber Mill, at least that is what it says on his Military Registration Card, dated 12 April 1918. My Uncle was born in 1907, Snohomish Co, my mother in Startup WA, 1913. Would you interested, and how do I send it? It is a very old and worn photo, not torn or anything, but faded.