Battle Ground
In the past 25 years, the Battle Ground population has more
than tripled, to 4,700, and the city rates as one of the
fastest growing in the state.
If a census had been taken in 1930, "you might have gotten
400 if you had counted all the children, dogs and chickens,"
said longtime resident Florence Robison.
One of the biggest changes she has observed since the '30s:
"When you walk down the street in the earlier years you knew
everyone you met. Now if you know one in 40 you're lucky."
The area was settled initially by Indians and it was from
a non-battle that the town gained its name.
In November 1855, the settlers back in Vancouver were apprehensive
about the Indians and a contingent of volunteers was dispatched
to check on them. Negotiations of some sort are said to have
occurred before the parties separated for the night. During
the darkness, Chief Umtuch was shot and killed.
It was never established who did the deed or whether there
was provocation. That incident was the "battle" for which
the town was named.
Peter Onsdorff, an early merchant, and D.B. Dickey filed
the first plat of Battle Ground in 1903. It consisted of six
blocks.
Cheese produced
A Columbian correspondent visiting Battle Ground in 1928 said
the community "is known far and near for its manufacture of
cheese."
The cheese-making plant was running shifts both day and night.
At the time, the school system had 300 students. Consolidation
of schools had started a couple of decades earlier.
School in the 1920s was taught in a large white building
about where the library now stands at Parkway and Main. Grade
school was downstairs, and high school upstairs, said Robison.
Later, a new high school was completed and Robison was a member
of the first class to graduate from the building in 1929.
This later was the junior high school but has since been removed.
Battle Ground's position as what some called "the agricultural
heart of Clark County" was enhanced when the county fair moved
there for the 1941 event and stayed for several years before
the fair was moved to its present site in the 1950s.
The town was incorporated in 1951, with P.L. Rasmussen as
first mayor. Everett Eaton was one of the best-known earlier
officials, serving as marshal from 1952 to 1961. Later he
served as mayor for several years.
Businesses move
In the 1970s, some businesses were moving west on Main Street,
getting closer to state Highway 503. The move to Battle Ground
Plaza by AG-CO Thriftway in 1976 brought in the biggest business
up to that time.
Retirement of Dr. Henry Skinner, physician and surgeon, in
1978, reflected some of the changes taking place at Battle
Ground.
"The days of the country doctor are gone," he said. "Solo
practices are as obsolete as a buffalo on a prairie."
Reconstruction and widening of Main Street to accommodate
increasing traffic was a priority. This job was completed
in 1986, and traffic continues to increase, especially around
the intersection with Highway 502.
Food Pavilion now occupies the old AG-CO Thriftway building,
and other major retailers are clustered at the west edge of
town, although other businesses still extend eastward to the
railroad tracks.
The Lewis & Clark Railroad, with a history dating back
before the town was established, has its headquarters in Battle
Ground. In the early days it was planned to extend from Vancouver
as far as Yakima, but it was never built beyond northeastern
Clark County.
The current Lewis and Clark Railway carries passengers on
excursions to Moulton Falls, 10 miles beyond Battle Ground.
The company also hauls freight, mostly chemicals, plastics,
building materials and timber products, and connects with
the Burlington Northern Railroad near Northwest 78th Street
and Lake Shore Avenue.
Traffic heavy
The state Department of Transportation plays an important
role in the Battle Ground area, too, trying to ease the growing
traffic congestion of this fast-growing area. DOT may start
work as early as September on of four lanes of Highway 503
between 144th Street and Battle Ground, partly on a new alignment.
DOT officials reported average daily counts of vehicles has
climbed steadily at the intersection of highways 503 and 502,
Battle Ground's busiest crossing. For 1992, the count was
12,600 vehicles on 502 just west of 503. On 503, the total
was 9,200 daily on the south side of 502 and 8,100 on the
north side.
The city is especially lacking in east-west through streets,
and much of the traffic funnels along Main Street, which ties
in with Highway 502 at the intersection with 503.
In Battle Ground traditions, none ranks higher than its annual
colorful Rose Parade float. "We put another float in the Portland
Rose Festival parade this year, just as we have done for 40
years, and came back with a prize," said Robison. "The town
turns out beautifully to work on the float. It takes a lot
of work."
Battle Ground also has a variety of other assets, and Robison
mentioned among these a good water system, Chamber of Commerce
and community education program.
The advent of the C-Tran bus system several years ago has
been "a Godsend to the elderly," she said.
Battle Ground has become home to a lot of retired people,
Robison said, in addition to the younger people who are building
houses in the area.
"I can't believe all the houses," Robison said. "They just
seem to jump out of the ground."
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