Business Leaders Rally to Keep Fort Walla Walla
The Commercial Club appoints a committee to lobby General Funston to prevent the garrison from being abandoned.
At the meeting of the directors of the Walla Walla Commercial Club last night, President Harry H. Turner appointed Oliver T. Cornwell, C. L. Whitney, Milton Evans, H. S. Blandford, W. P. Reser and W. A. Ritz a committee to arrange for the holding of the Farmers' Institute in Walla Walla. President Turner was also instructed to name a number of the leading business men to call on General Funston when he visits Fort Walla Walla and arrange a conference with that officer, if possible, in order that the proposed abandonment of the garrison may be discussed. The committee will present General Funston with facts and figures in favor of the retention of the fort.
“The committee will present General Funston with facts and figures in favor of the retention of the fort.”
The economic anxiety surrounding the potential closure of military installations is a theme that has persisted in Walla Walla for over a century. The Commercial Club’s mobilization to protect the garrison shows how deeply the fort was tied to the city's economic identity in 1903.
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