An Old-Timer Returns to a Changed Walla Walla
After two decades away, a pioneer’s son finds his childhood home replaced by warehouses, reflecting the city’s rapid transformation at the turn of the century.
Returning to Walla Walla after 23 years' absence, Isaac Simmons, a former resident of this city, now a prosperous mining man of the Greenhorn district, sees great changes in the city. Row upon row of fine residences and business blocks, an increase of more than double in population, has changed the town so completely that but for a trip here ten years ago, he would hardly have recognized his old home. Mr. Simmons' father was an early resident of Walla Walla and was the first surveyor of the county. The Simmons home was in North Second street, but the house was long ago removed and on the site sit a number of warehouses.
“Row upon row of fine residences and business blocks, an increase of more than double in population, has changed the town so completely that... he would hardly have recognized his old home.”
Isaac Simmons’ observation of a city physically transformed beyond recognition remains a quintessential Walla Walla experience. As the town grapples with modern development pressures, the tension between preserving the historical footprint of early pioneers and the inexorable march of new 'warehouses' or housing developments continues to define the local civic debate.
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