apphist.html

THE HISTORY OF APPLETON
Written by Carol Jewell in 1968

The first school that was used by Appleton was a little log one located somewhere between what is now Don Millberger's place and the Silva place. That building was used in the 1880's. In 1893 a little log building stood on the site of the Appleton Schoolhouse. School was held in this building six months out of every year. Three months of school were held during the Fall and three months were held in the late spring, after the snow had melted.
In 1902 that building was torn down and replaced by a lumber one, as there were two sawmills in operation at the time. It was a one room building 16'x 32' in size. It was impossible to pass a levy to build a school at that time, but the people were willing to donate lumber and their spare time to build the schoolhouse.
The first County Superintendent for the Appleton School was Mr. C.W. Ryman, he was also a teacher at Appleton around the turn of the century. In 1908 this lumber building was moved a short distance away (to what is now Louis Nagel's lawn) and was used as a church for some time and then it was torn down. In its place was built a large two-story building which accommodated both elementary and high school classes.
Sometime in the 1920's the high school classes were their biggest with approx. 80 students. Then in 1951 (I think) the Appleton High School started going to Lyle High. The upstairs was then used as the auditorium and stage, as well as a community center. Because of the transportation problem of getting the high school students to Lyle, in 1951 a Willys Jeep was purchased for the use of a bus. Later it was traded in for a larger capacity bus, which was turned over to the Lyle School District at the time of consolidation, which was in 1966. After consolidation the grade school students had to go to Dallesport.
In addition to the school mentioned, there were two other schools in operation around the turn of the century. One was the Hylton School, located along the Old Pitt Road. It was called the Hylton School because there were so many Hylton kids going to the school.
It is still standing just over the hill from the old Hylton House. This area is now owned by Blair Shippey. E.B. Hylton homesteaded this area in 1893. And three of his sons had ranches near the old homestead.
The other school was the Johnson school at the top of Fisher Hill between the Vic Johnson ranch and the Wheeler ranch. Vic Johnson helped to build this school in 1904 when Vic was just a kid. This school consolidated with Lyle after it had operated for a time.
Between 1910 and 1915 there was quite an Apple Boom in the Appleton area and the area surrounding Appleton. Quite a few people moved in and planted large apple orchards. The book "Apple Woman of Klickitat" written in 1918 by Anna Van Renselaer Norris describes apple areas located at the top of Fisher Hill on land now owned by Frank Tuthill or Blair Shippey. In 1918 there were 200 voters in the Appleton area. This was the peak of the Apple Boom. As well as that of a lot of saw mills scattered over the surrounding country.
In 1908 beside the little one-room school, stood a large General Merchandise store owned and operated by George Smith. The upstairs of this store was used as an auxiliary classroom just before the new two-story schoolhouse was built. Dances, parties and community gatherings were held here too. Later this store was purchased by Howard Lindley and John Johnson, brother to Vic Johnson, and Albert Johnson. The store operated until 1926, then closed down and was later torn down in 1936 when the school bought the land it was on.
Sometime around 1912 or 1915 the Appleton Post Office was started. It began in a building near the store. Then it was moved into the store. From there it was moved to a building now owned by Mr. Ray Shirtz, which is located just across the road and to the left of the present Post Office. It operated there for awhile and was moved to its present site. I don't know who operated it at first but in 1931 Mrs. Nagel, mother of Louis and a lot of others, began running it. Then in 1956 Louis took over and is still running it.
The first Post Office for Appleton was not located in Appleton, but was located in as area called Timber Valley, along the old Glenwood Road.
It began operating in 1902. There was a Post Office connected with the General Store there. Later on a bond drive was held. It was so successful that a Post Office was named after it -- Liberty Bond. The Liberty Bond Post Office was established just off the Glenwood Road on the Panakanic Road on the Ewing place. Schools were built at Liberty Bond and at Panakanic, as the sawmills came in, bringing more population with them. At one time the population of Liberty Bond got up to around 500 people. Liberty Bond didn't last long though, it started dying out after a lot of the mills stopped. A couple of years ago the old school house standing there was torn down by Jess Moon. Now all that stands there are a few over turned outhouses, a little of the roof of an old barn and something I think is a chicken house.
In 1910 the "log hall" was constructed. It was used for dances for many years. The log hall still stands and it and the land on which it stand has been acquired by the county for a county park. For years an annual celebration was held at Appleton on the 4th of July. On those celebrations baseball was played on the baseball diamond near the log hall and. general celebration was held. Around 1914 one of the first airplanes was brought up on the 4th of July. It was then assembled and flown around Appleton.
In 1910 Mr. Morginson, who owned a pretentious home at what is now the "4 corners" in Appleton was County Commissioner and Mr. Bill O'Neal, who was Road Supervisor decided to build Fisher Hill to replace a steep grade which came straight up! It took 3 years to complete this road. In 1911 a road was built. It was started and completed in less than one year. This was the Old Klickitat Grade. According to Mr. O'Neal the road was not changed a bit up to the time it was closed. In 1964 or 1965 the new Klickitat Grade was built.
Settlers in Appleton thought nothing of making the trip up and down the hill to Lyle. If the snow was deep they would sled halfway down the hill and then borrow a wagon to finish the rest of the trip. From the Lyle landing they could go to Portland by boat (which was the only way to get there). In 1902, Northern Pacific or Great Northern built a branch line to Goldendale, which connected with the steam boats on the river at Lyle. In 1907 or 1908 the main Line Railroad came in the Lyle.
Appleton was actually settled around the turn of the centuries, but there were homesteaders long before that. One of the first homesteaders was Joe Silva. He came in 1894 and brought one of the first stoves in on horseback. Also coming in 1894 were the Garver Castles. Family who homesteaded on Camas Prairie which is north of Appleton toward Wahkaikus. Among the early settlers who should be mentioned are the Stephen Nagels who came in 1903. The Bill Moores came about the same time, and have resided in the area continuously as did the Victor LeGales, whose family homesteaded in the Liberty Bond area. Mr. Homer James formerly of Lyle, came to Appleton in 1906, and planted quite an apple orchard, part of which is still standing on property now owned by Olaf Baker, but rented and farmed by Lester Jewell.
There used to be two log, houses in Appleton. One was built by George St. Lawrence on what is now a swale just down from the "4 corners". It stood for some time, then it caved in and was burned down by Mr. Gale Lane, who owned the property at the time.
The other log house was built by Joe Smith in 1950. This house burned to the ground in the late spring of 1968. Because (at least my guess with a lot of facts behind it) of a chimney fire. The house has been recently bought by the Phil Waters of Yakima. They had just moved their last lead of furniture in the day before, and the house was filled with antiques they had brought with them.