The Pioneer Who Found His Home on the Fairgrounds
A celebratory gathering honors 'Grandpa' Waldrip, an 82-year-old pioneer who once helped settle the land now occupied by Whitman County’s fairgrounds.
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.
A notable gathering occurred at the residence of Mr. and Mrs. T. K. Waldrip, near Lee Siding on Saturday, March 17, in honor of Mr. Waldrip's father, James Waldrip—or as the young people love to call him, 'Grandpa' Waldrip—whose eighty-second birthday was celebrated. Grandpa Waldrip is one of the sturdy pioneers who crossed the plains to Oregon in 1852. After a residence of six years in that state, he moved to Chehalis County, Washington, in 1869. He helped to make that part of our state 'blossom as the rose.' Mr. Waldrip tells of the time in Chehalis when the rivers were the sole highways, the only mode of ingress and egress being by canoe. While in Chehalis, he served two terms as county judge. He was also a representative in the territorial legislature from Chehalis and Mason counties in 1864-65. From western Washington, Mr. Waldrip moved to Whitman County in 1873 and settled on the land now occupied by the fairgrounds, the Waldrip home being just south of where the grandstand now is, and near the spring. While in Whitman County, Mr. Waldrip served one term as county judge—the second judge ever elected in Whitman. Later he sold his place to Abner Lloyd and removed to southern California, where he resided until more recent years, when he became a resident of Mexico. Last June, Mr. and Mrs. Waldrip came to visit their eldest son, T. K. Waldrip, and are still here.
“Mr. Waldrip tells of the time in Chehalis when the rivers were the sole highways, the only mode of ingress and egress being by canoe.”
This piece highlights the early, shifting ownership of land that would eventually become the permanent public infrastructure of the county fairgrounds. It’s a reminder that beneath our public spaces lie the private homesteads and personal histories of the people who occupied the ground before us.
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