The Incorporation of La Conner
A local correspondent reports on the first election in the newly minted city of La Conner, following the 1884 legislative session.
The story, cleaned up
A cleaned-up reading of the newspaper page: spelling and layout repaired, one story lifted off a crowded page. It follows the original closely but it is not a transcription. The original page is below; read it if a detail matters.
At the last session of the Legislature, La Conner was vested with all the honors and rights of a city government, and today her city fathers and guardians were elected. The election passed off very quietly indeed. Forty-nine votes were cast, which resulted in the choice of the following ticket: For Mayor, L. L. Andrews; Councilmen, Messrs. Martin, Morrison, Church, Gachea and Cartoon; Marshal, J. Seigfreid. Our town—see what force habit has; city, I mean—is at present covered with two or three inches of snow. Our friend Gilliland says it—the snow—is providential. Besides the three old stores—those of Gachea, Andrews and Martin—there is a jeweler, a fruit and candy store, a notion store, a furniture store, two saloons, two hotels, a meat market, a dentist, one doctor, and one day last week one of your townsmen opened out a stock of books in the jewelry store.
“Our town—see what force habit has; city, I mean—is at present covered with two or three inches of snow.”
La Conner remains a tight-knit community, though its current identity as a vibrant arts destination has replaced the frontier-era focus on general stores and basic city incorporation. This dispatch captures the specific, quiet pride of a small town transition into formal municipal status during the territorial period.
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