By Luke Ellington
Mansfield’s Main Street
Like every surviving town in Douglas County, the seeds for Mansfield were planted by rugged folks who saw a barren land of rocks and weeds and dreamed of more. In fact, four such families came to the Mansfield area in 1889 with dreams to share. The Yeagers, Cailles, and two Marchand families homesteaded on 160 acre tracts and were able to acquire another 160 acres by way of the Timber Culture Act for cultivating 10 acres of fruit trees. Timber from the Columbia River valley offered the necessary home building supplies, and water was hauled in from the “Alkali Wells” spring. Those early pioneers knew at once they had a good thing going. The place was a boom town waiting to happen.
Between 1901 and 1906, roughly 92 homesteads were recorded springing up into Douglas County. Tempted by descriptions of bunch grass as high as a man’s stirrups, many of these homesteaders went to the wheat lands surrounding the Mansfield area. The railroad companies also offered bargain prices on one-way tickets going west. It is likely that some were disappointed upon reaching the land and finding it covered in sage brush and rocks. It would not be long, however, before difficult efforts to seed the land would be rewarded.
The name “Mansfield” was coined in 1905 by R. E. Darling, who wished to honor his Ohio hometown of the same name. The Ohio town was named after Colonel Jared Mansfield, once surveyor-general of these United States of America.
Beginning in 1907, talk became so frequent of a railroad going up the Moses Coulee to Mansfield that the Wenatchee World newspaper began writing articles to the effect that the work on such a project had already begun. It was another year before it was true. The tracks that came from Rock Island stopped just 1 and ½ miles short of the town’s current site. Mansfield, which had already moved once in its history, was quick to move building by building to the townsite Great Northern Railroad had platted by the new tracks. The town boomed and in 1909 had two banks, a blacksmith, a lodging house, two general stores, a harness shop, post office, two real estate offices and a newspaper, the “Mansfield News.” Within another year, J. W. Wright, president of the Wright Lumber Company and first mayor of Mansfield, finished construction of an $8,500 school. The colossal school was needed to accommodate the influx of families to the area. Three stories tall, the building offered classes for grades 1 through 10. Grades 11 and 12 were added later.
“No idle men, no loafers… Twenty months ago there was not a woman in Mansfield. There were but two or three houses. The carpenters were just commencing the erection of the depot…”
With the entire town clamoring for incorporation, it was only a matter of time. In February of 1911, with a population of 250, Mansfield officially became a town. Mansfield’s first 4th of July celebration was held that year, and a parade marched to the “Buckingham Band.” Mansfield’s first years were a time of hard work but also many rewards. The thriving community held many social get-togethers and was active in its sports teams, which played nearby towns.
Ad for T. N. Mayfield’s store
Scenic wheat land
Around 1911, at the peak of the farm town’s glory days, nearly 1,000 people called Mansfield home. It was just then, however, that a series of unfortunate events befell Mansfield, leaving it much as it is today. Mansfield’s roaring fire in 1914 leveled the town’s business district. The two-story buildings burned to the ground as shop owners attempted to retrieve their money and goods. Because of record high prices in wheat during World War I, however, the town was able to rebuild. The prosperous rebirth was short-lived, though, as in 1917 the price for wheat plummeted, and the end of the war in 1918 flooded the market with European wheat. By 1920, Mansfield had less than 500 residents.
Drought, poor crops, and bank failures continued to plague Mansfield, leaving it in the 1930’s much as it is today. Mansfield has maintained a fairly steady population count that only fell below 300 in the 1970s. Today, there are nearly 350 persons who call the town home. As in many small towns, schools are an important aspect of the community’s growth and entertainment. In the 1980s, realizing that the old Mansfield school building was in disrepair, the town spent nearly $2.5 million on the school complex that offers K though 12 classes in the town today. Shortly after that, Great Northern Railroad pulled out of Mansfield. It seemed as if the town’s lifeline had been cut, but the town lives on with an ever-increasing population.
Images from the newly remodeled Mansfield town museum
Mansfield remains the prideful little community that it has always been. Though the numbers of residents and businesses wax and wane, the people that live there know who they are and where they came from. The newly remodeled museum in town is a testament to that fact. Inside the building is a collage of history. The floor you walk on is from the old school’s gym, and the ceiling above your head is a replica of the original tin roof that was in that building when it was a bank. Mansfield’s citizens are also actively involved in the town’s own emergency services. The town has at its disposal 60 firefighters and 16 EMTs, who operate an ambulance the town bought partially with the aid of the Douglas County PUD’s Rural Economic Development Fund. Mansfield even has a town marshal, though without a court, he is unable to write tickets.
Famous “split rock,” East of Mansfield
Main Street sidewalk
Staying incorporated is just about the only reason that Mansfield has stayed alive. It also allows the town to plan some pretty neat events. June is the big month for celebration in Mansfield, beginning with the Motorcycle Rally “Poker Run” the first weekend. Motorcyclists from Chelan come through Mansfield collecting cards for their poker hand. But nothing compares to Mansfield’s Play Days on the second weekend in June. This is when Mansfield really comes alive. The town celebrates with barbeques, a parade down main street and a theater production performed by anyone in town with enough nerve. Memorial day also brings to town the Pacific Aerospace Rocketeers, who swarm into the small town to shoot off over 16,000 rockets (only one has ever gone missing).
Highway 172 that goes through Mansfield, turns into Main Street and split’s the town down the center. Yet it doesn’t keep anyone from yelling across the street to see how someone’s day is going. Mansfield has a strong community supported by its many organizations, including the Lion’s club, which is actively involved with scholarship programs and fundraising for the good of the community. Not much changes in Mansfield, and if its citizens have anything to do with it, it won’t for many years to come. * Special thanks to Marjorie McGrath and Helen Jayne for their work on Mansfield - The Town at the End of the Rails, without which, this account would have been lacking.
Mansfield’s mayor, Tom Snell, moved to the town when he was 4 years old, but that’s still long enough for him to say he has been there all his life. Now at age 60, Tom has been the Mayor of his fair town for 15 years, spends summers working on farms, and has been on the local fire department for 36 years (16 years as chief). Mayor Snell is long retired after having spent 28 years with the County Roads Department but was quick to add, “I may be retired, but I’m not tired.”
Mayor Tom Snell
Times have been tough, says Snell, ever since Initiative 695 was passed, taking away nearly 1/3 of the town’s funding. “There were never many frills, but it’s even tighter now than it was,” said Snell. But the town still gets by, and Tom does what he can to “promote the town” during Town Hall hours which are between 9 and 12 on the first 10 days of the month. The town’s largest employer is its own school district, which offers classes K through 12 in the same school building for roughly 85 kids per year. The next largest employers for Mansfield are the County Roads Department and the Western Farm Services, but while a booming business in the area could help the community grow, that is not something the residents of Mansfield want.
Mansfield’s ex-military fire truck
Blue Stem Memorial Park on Main St.
Snell’s 15-minutes-of-fame came after his favorite toy, a moveable parking meter, was stolen from town. The story made national news, said Snell, who was amazed when his brother in Washington D. C. called to say he heard the story. Snell remembers having a great time wheeling the parking meter up and down Main Street, looking for a car to put it next to. The town even made up little tickets to put on people’s windshields. Snell laughed at the thought of those who came into Town Hall to pay the fine or put coins in the meter. The meter raised $60-70 annually for the town’s Play Days event and was “all in good fun.” With a pranksterish gleam in his eyes, Snell added, “I’m always out to have a little fun.”
When asked if he planned on running again, Mayor Tom Snell just laughed. With a smile on his face, he answered, “I don’t have to run again.” Tom says he has only been opposed one year¾the first year he ran for mayor. Since then, Snell being the mayor is just the way it is. Snell was quick to say that it will be that way as long as he is able.
Margaret Hansen and Sam Buckingham are a couple of Mansfield residents, who despite not having been born in the town, seem to know just about everybody. Sam does non-denominational church services out of the Mansfield Theatrical Company building and Margaret substitutes at the Mansfield School she recently retired from after 35 years of teaching. The two have been known to work together though, providing funeral services. “We’re a regular one-man band,” said Sam, who has performed funeral services for many a Mansfield resident, often to the soft sounds of Margaret’s piano playing. Going through Mansfield’s scrapbooks in the remodeled museum, the two reminisced about the lives of those they had put to rest.
Margaret Hansen and Sam Buckingham
Mansfield Museum on Main Street
Sam’s Story: Sam Buckingham is proud to reside with his family in the original Buckingham ranch house built in 1902. His children are the 5th generation of Buckingham’s to live in that house and in the area that was once the town of Buckingham, just north of Mansfield.
One of Sam’s favorite memories of growing up in Mansfield is of a trip to the post office, when it was in the building that is now the museum. It was Christmas time and Sam desperately wanted to mail a letter to Santa Clause, despite his father’s lack of support in the matter. Sam smiled as he remembered handing his letter to the postmaster, his Aunt Hazel Buckingham, who took the letter and gave it all the attention of a real piece of mail.
Margaret’s Story: Margaret, who moved into Mansfield to teach elementary school children, tells a very funny story about the political affairs of a woman who was once her roommate.
Sally Clauser was Mansfield’s first woman to join the city council and the first and only woman to ever be mayor. Margaret explains how the council had a tough time figuring out what to call her when she first joined them. Nobody wanted to call her a “councilman,” and “councilwoman” didn’t seem to work either. In the end, however, a name was agreed upon. Sally Clauser became Mansfield’s first “council thing.”
