Serving Waitsburg, Dayton and the Touchet Valley
Serving Waitsburg, Dayton and the Touchet Valley
Top and above: Concrete delivery on a mass scale was required to apply the new surface to Dayton's Main Street in 1991. Now, Main Street's trees are nearly mature, and they were beginning to turn green earlier this week. Below: The dirt lot west of Banner Bank was transformed into the beautiful Flourmill Park in a few short weeks after the March, 1983 town meeting.
DAYTON - In March, 1983, about 300 Dayton residents attended a town meeting at the multipurpose room of Dayton Elementary School.
The meeting was called by the Dayton Chamber of Commerce, whose board president at the time, Mike Chamberlain, decided the time had come to do something about Dayton's mori- bund downtown.
According to several long-time residents who were there, the meeting generated lots of excitement. At the end of the meeting, five separate projects names were stuck to the wall and everyone in the room got up and stood next to the one they wanted to volunteer for. The five were: - Restore Columbia County's tired old courthouse - Form a task force to re- build Main Street - Form a group that would take on several small proj- ects that could be completed relatively quickly and generate some early excitement. - Form a festivals and events committee. - Form a joint advertising committee.
A few minutes in down- town Dayton will high- light the wonderful results of the efforts of the first three groups, including Main Street's new sidewalks and trees, the completely restored Columbia County Courthouse and Flourmill Park
Marcene Hendrickson, who was president of the Dayton Development Task Force for 14 years, recalled what happened after that first meeting. "Very soon after the town meeting a commu- nity revitalization group was started by the Chamber with probably 80 citizens," she said. "There were projects and chairman and they met separately, but the whole group met on a regular basis and reported to the larger group."
The first important proj- ect coming out of the town meeting was completed quickly. A weedy lot along Main Street near the Touchet River Bridge was reborn as Flourmill Park. Grass squares were sold as a fundraising project and, according to Hendrickson, with the help of many volunteers the park was completed and opened on June 26, 1983.
Some of the other proj- ects took a bit longer.
Bill Graham, who had recently moved to Dayton as the new pastor of the First Congregational Church, headed up the courthouse restoration committee. The group raised more than $2 million and spent about ten years on the project.
The most ambitious project was to tear up Main Street, between Front and Fourth Streets, and rebuild it. New sidewalks and trees were added, along with sidewalk furniture. All new sewer and waterlines would also be installed.
In order to accomplish this last project, the Dayton Development Task Force was formed. Hendrickson was its leader during the long planning and construction process for Main Street.
The small projects group, headed up by Owen Agen- broad, completed a number of other important projects. These included a footbridge along the Touchet River dike and a helipad at Dayton me- morial Hospital.
The Dayton Develop- ment Task Force is planning a celebration later this year in honor of its 30th anniver- sary.
In the coming weeks, The Times will interview some of the important leaders who helped bring these products to life.
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