Then and Now: Dishman now part of Spokane Valley

Addison T. Dishman, born in 1865, moved to Spokane in 1887. He and his brother ran a livery stable in Spokane until it was lost in the 1889 fire.

In the aftermath of the great fire, Addison quarried rock for rebuilding the city. For a few years the Dishman brothers lived in Sandpoint. Wilton constructed buildings and Addison was an avid prospector. Addison started Spokane & Idaho Lime Co. in Bayview.

Addison moved back to Spokane in 1892 and built the Dishman Trading Post in 1895, giving it to Wilton to operate. The store was near the corner of Mullan Road and Sprague Avenue. The area was sparsely populated – just a few farmers trying to make a living off the rocky prairie. Apples were the main crop.

A blacksmith, a saloon and other businesses soon cropped up nearby, starting a new business district. Dishman was a stop on the electric railroad from Spokane to Coeur d’Alene.

The apple market dried up in the 1920s and tens of thousands of trees were pulled out and replaced with vegetable farms. Spokane Valley diversified through the 20th century with lumber mills making matches, the paper mill in Millwood, the Navy Depot and industrial development.

But the Dishman brothers’ namesake town never incorporated as a city and competed with the nearby Opportunity Township to enlist residents for a Dishman Township. Rural townships died out in the 1960s, when they lost the right to levy taxes to support themselves.

In 2002, residents voted to incorporate Spokane Valley, and Dishman joined Veradale, Opportunity and other unincorporated areas in the new city.

Addison Dishman died in 1954. Wilton died in 1961.