Duvall: The Town That Moved Up the Hill

Duvall sits on a hillside that Francis and James Duvall homesteaded in the 1870s. That is not where the town started. While the Duvalls were felling trees, the original townsite, called Cherry Valley, was half a mile downstream, on the banks of the Snoqualmie River. [1]

Many of the first settlers were Civil War veterans who had received homesteading rights. The valley and its wooded hillsides, with a river connection to Snohomish and Everett, were ideal for logging. The first Cherry Valley school, built in 1879, was made from the wood of a single log. Until 1890 the river was the main lifeline to Puget Sound: trees were floated down it, and steam paddle-wheel boats brought goods up. Dairy farms spread across the fertile valley, and many farm families built on higher ground to cope with the flooding, which comes almost every year. [1]

In 1909 the Great Northern and the Chicago, Milwaukee and St. Paul railroads began building a line along the river, and Cherry Valley was in the way. After much negotiation, the railroad agreed to move the town to its present location, and over the next year homes and businesses were moved south and up the hill. Some of those buildings, such as Hix Market and the Grange Hall, are still standing. The move proved good for many residents. The old townsite had been conveniently close to the river, but flooding reached even parts of it that were not in the floodplain. The Cherry Valley Cemetery, moved to the neighboring community of Novelty, had often been so wet that graves had to be bailed out minutes before a burial. [1]

The new town was briefly named Cosgrove, after Governor Samuel G. Cosgrove, who had died in office after serving only one day, but the name was soon changed to Duvall. The move set off a real estate boom: a train depot, streets and sidewalks, a movie house, a drug store and a new school for 80 students, which had 139 a year later. By 1911 four hotels served travelers, and the town newspaper, the Duvall Citizen, had started. Duvall incorporated on January 6, 1913. Some believe it incorporated in order to open a saloon, which required city status. [1]

Its first mayor, Lon Brown, also played in Duvall's band, and the band sometimes performed on top of the big rock in the ravine of what is now Taylor Park, while townspeople sat on logs below. The town toughed out the Depression, and dairy farming became its chief economy. The railroad closed the depot in 1936, and the last train through Duvall blew its whistle in 1973. Seattle water did not arrive until 1962, and the first stoplight went in in 1995. The big rock can still be found, and the old depot, donated to the city, was moved to Depot Park. [1]