Archives West Finding Aid

The town of Pampa (near present day LaCrosse, Washington) was founded in 1889 by David and Rachel Bowman. The expansion of the Union Pacific Railroad increased settler access to the region. Two notable families were the Hoopers and the Turners, who had been in the region since the 1870s. There was a post office from 1894 until 1919. The town dissolved in 1929, when the school was consolidated with the LaCrosse school.

The Gordon Brothers General Merchandise Store was established by 1888, at which time it was owned by T.H. Logsdon and J.H. Mason. In 1893, they sold it to Charles Woehr, who owned it until 1898. Emory and Frank Gordon bought the store in 1898 and sold it to Ai Camp in 1905, who eventually closed the store in 1919. The store sold a wide range of goods and served as a meeting place for the surrounding community. The busiest day of the week was Saturday, but the store was open every day. The store engaged in barter, including trade for the Hoopers’ annual apple harvest.

When the Gordon brothers bought the store in 1898, it cost them $200 and had an inventory of goods valued at $1,825.55. They added a coal house and an oil house in 1901. James Emory (b. 1867) and Frank L. Gordon (b. 1871) were two of six children of Jonathon F. and Lizzie Gordon. Their father was a carpenter, and their parents moved from Burlington, Iowa in 1870, traveling first to Ogden, Utah and eventually ended up homesteading in Covello, near Dayton, Washington. Frank attended business college in Portland in 1890 and 1891, and returned to work in Dayton, Washington. Emory raised livestock with his brother Worden for several years, but eventually went into business with Frank when they bought the general merchandise store. Frank Gordon married Alice Bowman (the daughter of the Tampa founders) in 1909, and Emory Gordon married Mary Steward in 1907.