Moses Lake turns 75

MOSES LAKE - It was April 1938: the Ladies Aid and Missionary Society, sitting at a refreshment table, decided to circulate a petition to incorporate and change the name of Neppel to Moses Lake. Sept. 19 of that year, the City of Moses Lake was born.

According to an Aug. 9, 1963 edition of the Columbia Basin Herald, by a vote of 71-41, the incorporation of Moses Lake, named after Chief Moses, was approved in a special election Sept. 9, 1938, and the first mayor, Eric D. Peterson, was elected to serve the 370 citizens of the new town.

"The newcomers - farmers, merchants, implement dealers, lawyers, doctors, construction workers, educators - built a modern city from scratch. They began with a water system and a sewer system. Then came schools, paved streets and sidewalks, a city hall, a library, a hospital, parks, doctor's clinics."

Freya Liggett, manager of the Moses Lake Museum & Art Center, said there was a real need for people to build a community at the time of incorporation in order to built infrastructure, receive city services and issue revenue bonds.

"It was a group of woman primarily that pushed for the town incorporation," she said. "Those things that these people cared about, primarily the women, it's things that affect families and things in the community."

Liggett said before incorporating, citizens would offer to sponsor a fire station or provide electrical services.

Prior to the paving of streets and sidewalks in 1952, farmers lead cattle drives through Broadway Avenue. Current Deputy Mayor Dick Deane still remembers leading about 1,000 sheep through the middle of town, across the frozen lake to the area of Mae Valley.

Deane said one of the lasting impacts to Moses Lake happened the year prior to incorporation, when many were forced to pull water pumps out of the lake due to high costs set by Washington Water Power. The next year, 1938, the Grant County PUD was established.

There have been several times where people thought the City of Moses Lake may disappear, including the closing of the Larson Air Force Base, which spurred the growth of Moses Lake when it was activated in 1942 as a training center during World War II.

"Moses Lake has always found a way to get through those times," Liggett said.

With Moses Lake still growing, Liggett said. "Now we're more than just a rest stop on the way to somewhere else. There's becoming reasons to stop and stay. There's a quality of life worth working toward."

Much of the history of Moses Lake has been preserved at the Moses Lake museum, but Liggett said there are still gaps to what happened in the early days of the city, likely because many historical photos or documents may still be in family collections.

Including the museum, the Moses Lake Library and Grant County Historical Societies are great places to find out more about the history of the city, Liggett said.

To celebrate the 75th anniversary of Moses Lake, City Council and the museum hosted an informal cake cutting yesterday to commemorate.