Abe Loewen built a garage on Main Street in Wilson Creek

Abe first had a garage behind the family home and later build a garage on Main Street in Wilson Creek. Other Loewen family history below also. Read on.

Wilson Creek area history

The Rev. David H. Crawford compiled and published a history of families in and surrounding Wilson Creek titled, "Family Memories of Wilson Creek Area." The book was printed in 1978, which was the 75th anniversary of the town. David's son, John Crawford, has given permission for those memories to be a part of this column.

Today we begin the story of the Loewen Family

Abe Loewen, head of the Loewen family was born in a rural town north of Regina, Saskatchewan Canada in the year of 1903. Stella Rice was born August 12, 1913 in Republic, Washington. They were married in 1932 at Davenport.

Abe and Stella had six children; Betty Joy born at home in Wilson Creek, December 23, 1933; Ray Cole born May 4, 1935 in Wilson Creek; Jean Marie born May 11, 1937 at Stratford; Agnes Ellen born December S, 1939 at Stratford; Robert Blair born July 21, 1941 at Stratford and Dorothy May born July 2, 1943 in Spokane.

Abe worked at Grand Coulee Dam, farmed at Stratford and worked as a mechanic at an Air Base in Spokane before settling down in Wilson Creek in 1943 to raise his family.

Abe had his own business, a garage behind the family home in Wilson Creek. At this time he also drove school bus for the Wilson Creek School. He built a garage on Main Street, located near the grain elevator and went into partnership with A1 Kirchener. The partnership was later dissolved and Abe continued to run the garage his self until selling it to the County in 1955. He then went to farming in Grant Orchards.

Both Abe and Stella were active in community affairs. They also were members of the Presbyterian Church, singing in the choir and being active in church events. Abe was on the city council and Stella belonged to the P.T.A. and the Rebekah Lodge,

All of the children went to the Wilson Creek schools. Ray graduated in 1953 and Agnes graduated in 1957.

Stella passed away April 16, 1957 in Wenatchee and was laid to rest at the Wilson Creek cemetery. Abe and family then left Wilson Creek and lived in Soap Lake.

Jean Marie Loewen passed away May 4, 1964 at Medical Lake and was laid to rest at the Wilson Creek Cemetery.

Grant County history

The Grant County Historical Society has compiled several volumes of Grant County history. The books are available for purchase at the Historical Society Museum gift shop in Ephrata.

I bought the series in 2009 and secured permission to relay some of the history through this column. Memories of Grant County, compiled from taped interviews by the Grant County Historical Society.

Today we backtrack a bit and then continue the story of Wilson Creek by Cris Mordhorst, recorded Feb. 10, 1976: When we arrived in town we found the Tichachech rooming house, three stores and one drug store. There was the Big Bend Land Office, a bakery shop, a lumberyard, blacksmith shop, livery stable, laundry, Big Bend Chief newspaper, and the bank, plus a two-chair barber shop. The barbers were Ben and Frank Butler.

I would like to say that when not busy barbering, Ben Butler would be busy repairing watches. Also four attorneys--Southard brothers, Ed and Ben; Lambert and Jeffers. There were three dray lines -Lords, W iggins and Clarence Doty. I have a picture of Clarence Doty's dray wagon and he is delivering a full load of keg beer to the Blue Front Bar. This was before prohibition was voted in, so you can imagine what. they were doing before we had prohibition.

We had Malbie and Friel Hardware and Furniture. The only church building in Wilson Creek was a one-room building on the main street next to the city hall and fire station. A small jail built out of two by fours and iron bars across the windows. A harness shop, also shoe repairing by Clyde Miller. Two grain buyers?: the late F.P. Schroeder and A.E. Nicholes.

Art Semro (his name is on the Legion Post down here as the first man killed from Grant County in World War I) was at the depot when the train came in and he asked my mother if she would like to go to a hotel. My mother said, "Yes, where is your bus?" Mr. Semro said they had no bus, we would have to walk, but he would be glad to help carry the luggage. When we came to Wilson Creek the Great Northern had quite a depot.

There was an ice house next to the butcher shop and Carl Galley and Blue Front Saloon each having some storage for ice . The reason I mention this is that as a kid my dad used to send me down to help haul ice because we work out part of our bill at the butcher shop that way.

We had started farming. If none of you have made ice on a lake or creek, they would have a saw and mark it off and saw in a ways with the team. Of course whenever the ice started getting thin they wouldn't dare put a horse on that side, so from then on they'd saw it off with a big, huge ice handsaw. They had chutes and one horse. Then they would hook onto several blocks of ice with hooks and slide in your wagon. All you had to do was hold your team and the men would load your load and then you'd tie a chain around the end so the blocks wouldn't slide out and haul it to the ice house.

There, of course, you had to work the house with ice tongs and rope. So it was quite a deal making the ice those days. I hauled ice off of Stratford Lake and Section 9 between Wilson Creek and Stratford. They had sticks to measure just so far from the wall and it was all tamped full of sawdust. If some cakes would get broken they were all taken in and then broken to pieces and then filled in the cracks with ice. It was quite solid when it was in the house, of course.

When it was taken out the blocks seemed to find the seams and then they'd pry it apart, but it would all freeze together.