January 24, 2020
T he C olumbia P ress
History: Old post office most notable structure
Continued from Page 1
to buy that building in 1990 for
$25,000, but decided to instead
buy the house on East Harbor
(Drive) next to State Farm In-
surance,” Nevan said. “At one
time in the 1940s – I think – it
was a barber shop owned by Le-
roy Dunn’s father. I remember
seeing a bunch of old whisky
bottles under the building.”
Nevan kept an office cat to
keep the rats at bay.
Only buildings in the current
and historical downtown were
surveyed. Several homes in the
area were included. Other com-
mercial buildings of note in the
downtown:
• Iredale Inn, 159 S. Main Ave.,
built in 1925.
• The Club at 119 S. Main Ave.,
now El Compadre Restaurant. It
was built in 1945.
• Fenton Grocery Building, 60
S. Main Ave., also known as Wil-
son’s Drug Store.
• Maize’s Market/Stuckrath’s
Variety Store, now combined
into Main Street Market at 191
S. Main Ave. Maize’s was at the
south end and Stuckrath’s at the
north. It was built in 1925.
• North Coast Shooter’s Sup-
ply at 138 S. Main Ave. built in
1959.
• The former gas station at 238
S. Main Ave., across the street
from City Hall, now housing a
taxi company.
• Trina and Ron’s Place, 45
N.E. Skipanon Drive, historical-
ly known as Kelson’s Café.
• A steel industrial shop at 60
S.E. First St., now home to War-
renton Auto & Marine Repair.
• A World War II-era shop
building at 38 S.E. First St., ad-
jacent to Warrenton Auto.
• A mid-century service station
at 120 E. Harbor Drive, across
the street from Fultano’s Pizza,
it is home to an auto detail shop
today.
• A 1945 storage/shop build-
ing at 390 S. Main Ave.
• The city’s public works shops
at 45 S.W. Second St., which
date to 1940.
• A four-plex apartment build-
ing at 48 S.E. Anchor Ave.,
Post offices of the past
Like its downtown, early Warren-
ton was an amalgam of places.
Long before Warrenton incor-
porated in 1899, there was the
community of Lexington. Lexing-
ton was Clatsop County’s first
non-Indian settlement and the
first county seat.
Lexington’s post office op-
erated between 1850 and 1857
along the banks of the Skipanon
River between Second and Third
streets, about a block behind
SuperMart.
The Skipanon post office was
which dates to 1925.
• Maddox Dance Studio at 389
S. Main Ave., which dates to
1924.
• A circa 1900 building at 87
N.E. Harbor Ct. Once part of
the historic Mason and War-
ren building, all distinguishable
open from 1871 to 1903 in the
area between South Main Ave-
nue and Highway 101 south of
Whiskey Road, an area that’s just
outside city limits today.
The Flavel post office was near
Hammond on Northwest War-
renton Drive, just southeast of
Carruthers Park.
The Graham post office was
on the east side of Northwest
Warrenton Drive, just north of
Alder Creek.
Kindred post office was off
Ridge Road north of the KOA.
features have been removed or
covered.
“The purpose was to get an
idea of the historic properties,
their capacity for preservation
or restoration, and to provide
some insight into any possible
future steps,” the mayor said of
5
the survey.
The survey area also is a focus
of the city’s urban renewal advi-
sory board and Spruce Up War-
renton, a grassroots citizens’
group.
“I am interested in deepening
our citizens’ roots and ties to the
place they live,” Balensifer said.
“If we are to love our city, we
must first feel a sense of place.
It’s the difference between a
house and home, and our city
has grown so fast that we have a
lot of citizens who have no roots
or no idea of the city’s rich his-
tory.”