. English: Logging crew with electric donkey engine, ca. 1922 . English: Caption on image: Kinsey Photo No. 87 PH Coll In the early 1890s, the town of North Bend was called Snoqualmie, and the town of Snoqualmie was called Snoqualmie Falls. What is now Snoqualmie got its name - and the railway depot that was originally slated to go to North Bend - by wooing railway officials when North Bend's founder (land speculator Will Taylor, who platted the city) was out of town. To avoid confusion, railroad officials created rules against nearby towns sharing similar names and so 'forced (what i
. English: Logging crew with electric donkey engine, ca. 1922 . English: Caption on image: Kinsey Photo No. 87 PH Coll In the early 1890s, the town of North Bend was called Snoqualmie, and the town of Snoqualmie was called Snoqualmie Falls. What is now Snoqualmie got its name - and the railway depot that was originally slated to go to North Bend - by wooing railway officials when North Bend's founder (land speculator Will Taylor, who platted the city) was out of town. To avoid confusion, railroad officials created rules against nearby towns sharing similar names and so 'forced (what is now) North Bend to change its name and made Snoqualmie Falls drop 'Falls' from the town's name. The railroad depot, on Railroad Avenue in Snoqualmie's old downtown core, soon attracted other business interests to the city. Edmund and Louisa Kinsey, who are believed to have purchased the first lots in the new town, quickly became community stalwarts. The couple and their six children are widely considered Snoqualmie's 'first family.' 'In the 1890s, they provided newborn Snoqualmie with a hotel, store, post office, church, meat market and community center' reads the inscription on a plaque commemorating the Kinsey family that hangs outside the 1923 building that housed the town's first bank. (The building was used as a city hall until a 1990 flood forced the city staff into a newer building). The Kinsey family was also responsible for building the town's first livery stable and a hall for the Good Templars, 'an amazingly strong political force' that influenced the national prohibition movement. Two of the Kinsey sons - Darius and Clark - went on to regional fame photographing logging camps and farming operations. Newcomers flooded into Snoqualmie after an underground power plant was built at Snoqualmie Falls in the late 1890s, producing electricity and local jobs. A small company town, including a railroad depot, grew up around the falls. A second powerhouse was added in 1911.
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Photo credit: © History and Art Collection / Alamy / Afripics
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