Wednesday, May 15, 2019 The Nugget Newspaper, Sisters, Oregon
HISTORY: Sisters
started tiny and has
grown mightily
Continued from page 3
attendees on a trip through
the earlier days in Sisters,
talking about the fire look-
out tree, Sorenson9s Motor
Court and service station, his
father9s grocery store in the
building that now houses the
Habitat for Humanity Thrift
Store, and the fires of 1923
and 1924 that leveled a good
share of Cascade Avenue
businesses. He has a note-
book full of historic photos of
buildings no longer standing
or repurposed for different
uses. He will tell the true sto-
ries behind the false Western
fronts.
Alex Smith came to Sisters
in 1900 and bought some
land. He sold part of that land
to his brother Robert. A year
later, the two brothers had
six city blocks platted as the
original town site. The area
lay within the boundary of
Cascade Avenue on the south,
Adams Avenue on the north,
Elm Street on the west, and
Larch Street on the east.
They dedicated public
easements for the streets and
alleys. All of the city lots
were the same size: 40 feet
wide by 114 feet deep. All
blocks measured 240 feet
square and were bisected east
and west by 12-foot-wide
alleys, which still exist today
in most blocks. The streets
were a generous 80 feet wide.
The Davidson Addition
was added to the south
of town, including Hood,
Washington, and Jefferson
avenues (all named after
peaks in the Cascade Range).
About two decades after
the original platting, in
1919 a part of the original
John Smith homestead was
donated, in two additions, by
the McCaffreys 4 Benjamin
29
PHOTO PROVIDED
Peter J. Leithauser, great-grandfather of Floyd Leithauser, in front of his barber shop in 1911 Sisters.
and Frank and their wives;
and John and Myrtle Dennis.
The addition contained six
blocks west of the original
town site and two blocks east
of it.
In the early 1970s, the
city limits east of town were
extended to include the Edge
O9 the Pines addition, which
included sites for mobile
homes as well as houses.
Since then, the city has
expanded to include the light
industrial area and the airport
north of town. Other expan-
sion included the land to the
northwest out on McKinney
Butte Road, including the
middle and high schools and
many of the churches. To the
east, expansion included the
Timber Creek neighborhood
off East Cascade Avenue. The
Sokol family9s development
of Pine Meadow Village to
the west joined the city in the
early 2000s.
Like many early small
towns in Oregon, by 1904,
according to an article in a
Salem publication, Sisters
was able to support <two
good stores, a hotel, a black-
smith shop, a saloon, a real
estate office, a livery barn,
and a splendid school house
costing $1,800, and a short
distance from town a fine
lumber mill. The largest store
in town, owned by Smith
and Wilt, carried $5,000 in
stock: groceries, hardware,
harnesses, stationery, and
drugs.= A stage arrived from
Prineville every afternoon.
The town had a jail but the
story goes that it never held a
prisoner.
Leithauser will pick up
the story there, painting word
pictures of the buildings,
businesses, and people of ear-
lier Sisters.
CUSTOM HOMES • RESIDENTIAL BUILDING PROJECTS
Serving the Sisters Area Since 1976
CCB # 159020
CCB # 16891
Strictly Quality
John P. Pierce • 541-549-9764 jpierce@bendbroadband.com
New Name New Location
(formerly y Howells Realty Group)
414 W. Washington Ave., Sisters
PHOTO PROVIDED
Floyd Leithauser, pictured here in the 2018 Sisters Rodeo Parade, will lead
a history tour of Cascade Avenue on Saturday, May 18.
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541-480-0183
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— Dale S. & Robin G.
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541-408-1343
Serving Black Butte Ranch & The Greater Sisters Area
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503.949.0551
sheilajones.sisters@gmail.com
Exclusive Onsite Realtor for the Ranch
Don Bowler, President and Broker 971-244-3012
Gary Yoder, Managing Principal Broker 541-420-6708
Ross Kennedy, Principal Broker 541-408-1343
Carol Dye, Broker 541-480-0923 | Joe Dye, Broker 541-595-2604
Shana Vialovos, Broker 541-728-8354
Open daily, 9 to 5, by the Lodge Pool Complex
541-595-3838 Black Butte Ranch • 541-549-5555 in Sisters
see all our listings at blackbutterealtygroup.com