Walla Walla is a long way from any big cities - local wags like to say "it's not the end of the Earth, but you can see it from here." But this town of 33,000 people has a lot of history and culture, and has in recent years become a center of high quality wine production. This walk takes in the buildings and activities in the revitalized old downtown, goes through the prestigious Whitman College, and includes a plethora of beautiful old houses and civic buildings. The walk is 4.4 miles long, but is flat.
The walk starts at the Marcus Whitman Hotel. This Walla Walla landmark opened for business in 1927, after community leaders raised 1/3 of the $450,000 construction cost - a downtown "first class" hotel was seen as an essential attribute of any thriving community. After a period of decline the hotel was spruced up starting about 15 years ago and is now an elegant place to stay once again. The lobby and other first floor sitting rooms remain designed in elegant 1920's style. If you stay overnight you will eat a sumptuous breakfast buffet in the morning. The hotel is named after the first European-American in the area, a missionary who built a mission in Walla Walla and was, in 1847, killed by Native Americans after he was blamed for the deaths of half the local Cayuse tribe in a measles epidemic.
Go out the front door of the Marcus Whitman Hotel on 2nd Avenue and turn left. On the next block to the right is the United States Post Office, constructed in 1914, and on the National Register of Historic Places. Unlike the beautiful old post offices in many cities that have been replaced with ugly modern structures, this building remains the main post office for the community.
Continue on 2nd Street another block to Oak Street. Ahead on the right is the 1914 Northern Pacific Railroad Depot, now repurposed as a restaurant. In the parking lot is this old train car, also a restaurant. The depot is on the National Register of Historic Places. Rail passenger service to Walla Walla ended in the 1950's.
Turn right on Oak Street, after one short block turn right again onto Colville Street, and then after one more block turn left onto Cherry Street. At the corner of Colville and Cherry, on the right, is the
Kirkman House Museum. The museum is located in this 1880 historic mansion, constructed by Walla Walla farmer and rancher William Kirkman. It was built in an Italianate Victorian style, and is yet another Walla Walla site on the National Register of Historic Places.
Continue on Cherry Street another block, and to the left is the Norman Francis Butler House, constructed in 1882 in a Queen Anne architectural style. No surprise - it is also on the National Register of Historic Places.
At Palouse Street turn right and proceed three blocks to Main Street. Before you cross Rose Street, on your left is the Walla Walla Elks Lodge. The building itself is undistinguished, but the giant Elk on top of it is certainly unusual. The Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks is one of the largest "fraternal" organizations in the U.S., although like all such organizations, its membership has plummeted nationally in recent decades, from 1.6 million in 1976 to 850,000 today.
Continue one more block on Palouse Street to Main Street. At this five-way intersection, take a 45 degree left turn onto Boyer Avenue. You will be heading into the Whitman College campus. This prestigious private liberal arts college converted from a seminary to a more general educational establishment in 1882. It has approximately 1,500 undergraduate students on its 117-acre campus. After crossing Park Street the Hunter Conservatory of Music, located in this attractive brick building, will be on your right. The building was constructed in 1910.
Continuing on Boyer Avenue, Memorial Hall will be on your left. The chief administration building for Whitman College was constructed in 1899, with a classic campanile/clock tower adorning its top.
Continuing along Boyer, on the right side of the street is one of several interesting sculptures on the Whitman campus. This colorful work is entitled "Carnival," and was carved by artist Jim Dine in 1997 from a single tree. It is popularly known by campus denizens as "Venus," due to its vague resemblance to the famous Venus de Milo statue in Paris' Louvre Museum. If you are interested in other sculptures on the Whitman campus,
this guide provides a walking tour and descriptions.
If you are on the south side of Boyer, cross to the north side, and if you are on the north side, stay there. Take the trail veering away from Boyer along the north side of Campus Creek. This gently flowing stream provides benches for sitting and enjoying the garden-like landscape.
Eventually you will skirt the side of the admissions building, located in what was originally the President's house. Behind this building is "Treaty Rock," placed in this location in 1955 to commemorate the treaty signed in 1855 between five area tribes and the U.S. government.
Continue on the path as it skirts the edge of the large college quadrangle to the left. Eventually you will reach the edge of campus on Stanton Street. Continue straight ahead on University Street one block until you reach what appears to be a glorified alleyway, but which is actually Brookside Street to the right. Take this street and enjoy the quiet residential atmosphere and the attractive pre-World War II homes on either side of the street.
Brookside Street ends at Boyer Avenue. You will turn left, but to the right is the imposing
Washington State Odd Fellows Home. This retirement community is operated by a non-profit associated with the Odd Fellows fraternal organization. The main building was constructed in 1925, with modern senior apartments on the periphery.
Continuing on Boyer, the next intersection is at Clinton Street. To the left is this house at 571 Boyer, a 1909 neoclassical architectural gem.
To the right is this five-story apartment building, the
Clinton Court apartments. This building was constructed in 1922, and although Yelp indicates that it is closed, the building looks open and occupied from the outside. Continue on Boyer another long block to Division Street, then turn right. On your left is Wildwood Park, which has a restroom should you need it. Continue on Division for three blocks, crossing Mill Creek, until you get to Alder Street.
On your left once you cross Alder is Pioneer Park. Turn left on Alder and follow the park frontage to Sassayama Drive, which enters into the park. Pioneer Park was completed in 1906. At the end of Sassayama, in the middle of the park, and to the left is this playful covered wagon sculpture. Straight ahead is a gazebo-style bandstand at the park's center.
Continue straight, past the bandstand, and then veer to the right to head for the park's southwest corner. Near the edge of the park is this large aviary, with lots of different birds to watch. At the corner of the park is a small rose garden.
Exit Pioneer Park at the intersection of Division and Whitman Streets and proceed west on Whitman. Across the street from the park at 835 Whitman is this attractive Victorian-style home, built in 1904.
Continue three blocks on Whitman Street, past some attractive early 20th century residences. At Howard Street, on your right, is Sharpstein Elementary School. This school was constructed in 1898, making it the oldest continuously operating elementary school in Washington State. Fortunately the school authorities in Walla Walla did not follow the easy path of demolition taken by other school districts around the country with beautiful old school buildings. Instead the building was remodeled to meet modern health and safety codes for schools.
Continue on Whitman two more blocks to Catherine Street. At the corner of Whitman and Palouse, to the right, is this farmhouse-style home with a large wraparound porch built in 1905. At Catherine Street turn right, then right again onto Newell, and then left onto Palouse Street. Along all of these blocks, and on the next two blocks of Palouse Street, you will find a number of beautiful historic houses. Many of these homes are more thoroughly described on the "Historic Walla Walla Walking Tour, which is a pdf document that can be accessed by googling the above search term.
After crossing Poplar Street Walla Walla's Carnegie Library, built in 1905, is located on the right side of Palouse Street. It is now the Carnegie Art Center.
Over 1,600 of these libraries were built in the United States, funded by the philanthropy of steel magnate Andrew Carnegie. It's a reminder of the good that can eventually come from massive accumulations of private wealth, a truth that is being proven today by the Gates Foundation.
At Alder Street, after the Carnegie Library, turn left, but before doing so note the two imposing, historic churches on the northeast and northwest corners of Palouse and Alder. On the left is the Covenant Presbyterian Church, constructed in 1912. On the right is the First Congregational Church with its imposing spire, built in 1931. In front of the Presbyterian Church, along Alder Street, is the small Volunteer Park, dedicated in 1904, with a statue commemorating soldiers of the Spanish-American War.
Continue on Alder Street one block, then turn right onto Spokane Street. You are now entering the Central Walla Walla business district. On the right is the
Charles Smith Winery Tasting Room, only one of many in downtown Walla Walla, featuring popular "black label" wines such as Velvet Devil merlot and Boom Boom syrah. After one block on Spokane Street, turn left onto Main Street. On the first block, on your left, is Heritage Square, a small park area that seems to be a congregation spot for homeless persons at times. On the next block, past Colville Street, is the former Liberty Theater, built in 1917, and now incorporated into a Macy's department store.
Continue along Walla Walla's main street, one of the
finest small town main streets on the West Coast. The retail stores mix both touristy places such as wine tasting rooms along with stores that serve more general local retail needs. This sidewalk clock, located between First and Second Avenues, on the left side of the street, dates from 1910.
Main Street showcases a number of historic structures, more thoroughly described in the online "Historic Walla Walla Walking Tour" pdf document mentioned above. This building, on the left between Fourth and Fifth Avenues, is the Dacres Hotel, built in 1899.
Continue on Main Street to Fifth Avenue, then turn right. But before doing so, take a look at the monumental Walla Walla County Courthouse, on the National Register of Historic Places. It was built in 1916. To its right is the former County Jail, built in 1906. In front of the courthouse is a statue of Christopher Columbus donated by Walla Walla's Italian-American community.
Once on Fifth Avenue continue two blocks to Sumach Street. After crossing Rose Street (the first block) you will see this concrete channel for Mill Creek, which you have already crossed twice on the walk. Beyond is a sign of prosperity for downtown Walla Walla - new townhomes between Sumach Street and the creek. The Vue Twenty-Two development was completed in 2008. A couple of the homes are listed on VRBO in an attempt to attract affluent wine country visitors.
Go one block on Sumach Street and then turn left onto Fourth Avenue. On your right is a large institutional building which houses a large U.S. Army Corps of Engineers office. After one block on Fourth turn right on Cherry, and then right again on Third Avenue. On your left is the historic Whitehouse-Crawford building constructed in 1904 as a woodworking mill but transformed in 2000 for occupancy by the
Seven Hills Winery. The Whitehouse-Crawford restaurant and the winery tasting room are open to the public.
After one block on Third Avenue turn right on Rose Street. On the right at the corner of Third and Rose is the Walla Walla City Hall, built in 1908 and a grand civic building in its own right. At Second and Rose you will return to the Marcus Whitman Hotel, the start of the walk.
