Auburn was originally
incorporated as "Slaughter," named after William Slaughter,
who died in an Indian skirmish in 1855. At the time, the main hotel
in town was called the "Slaughter House." In 1893, a large
group of settlers from Auburn, New York moved to Slaughter, and renamed
the town to "Auburn." [4] Due to this history, when Auburn
was building its second high school in the mid-1990s, there was a
grass-roots effort to name the high school "Slaughter High School,"
but it was eventually decided that the name would be too politically
incorrect, and the High School was named "Auburn Riverside High
School," whose mascot is the Raven. There are several locations
in Auburn on the National and State Registers of Historic Places,
such as the Neely Mansion.
The city of Auburn, located 20 miles south of Seattle, was home to
some of the earliest settlers in King County. Nestled in a fertile
river valley, Auburn has been both a farm community and a center of
business and industry for more than 150 years. Auburn is located near
the original confluence of the Green and White rivers, both of which
contain runoff water from the Cascade Mountain range. The valley was
originally the home of the Skopamish, Smalhkamish, and Stkamish Indian
tribes. The first white men in the region were explorers and traders
who arrived in the 1830s.
Settlers first came to the valley in the 1850s. On October 27, 1855,
an Indian ambush killed nine people, including women and children.
In November, a military unit led by Lieutenant William Slaughter camped
near what is now present-day Auburn. On December 4, 1855, a group
of Indians attacked, killing Lt. Slaughter and two other men.
A new treaty was written which provided the establishment of the Muckleshoot
reservation, which is the only Indian reservation now within the boundaries
of King County. The White River tribes collectively became known as
the Muckleshoot tribe.
White settlers,
the Neely and Ballard families began returning to the area. In 1891,
the town of Slaughter incorporated. Although many older citizens considered
the town's name as a memorial, many newer residents understandably
felt uncomfortable with it. Within two years, the town was renamed
Auburn, taken from the first line of Oliver Goldsmith's poem, The
Deserted Village: "Sweet Auburn! Loveliest village of the plain."
Auburn had been a bustling center for hop farming until 1890 when
the crops were destroyed by aphids. After that, the farms were mostly
dairy farms and berry farms. Nevertheless, flooding was still a problem
for Auburn farmers up until the Howard Hanson Dam was built in 1962.
This dam on the Green River, along with the Mud Mountain Dam on the
White River, provided controlled river management, which left the
valley nearly flood-free.
Another impetus
to Auburn's growth was the railroad. The Northern Pacific Railroad
put a rail line through town in 1883, but it was the Seattle-Tacoma
Interurban line that allowed easy access to both cities starting in
1902. The Interurban allowed farmers to get their product to the markets
within hours after harvest. The railroad, along with better roads,
caused many new companies to set up business in Auburn, among them
the Borden Condensery (which made Borden's Condensed Milk) and the
Northern Clay Company.
Auburn grew through the twentieth century like many American towns.
The 1920s were prosperous for citizens, but the Great Depression of
the 1930s left many in need. World War II brought great hardship to
many local Japanese farmers when they were moved to internment camps
and their land taken from them. At the same time, local boys were
sent to fight in the Pacific, and some died in battle.
The postwar era was prosperous to Auburn, bringing more businesses
and a community college to the city. In 1963, The Boeing Company built
a large facility to mill sheet metal skin for jet airliners. As time
went on, many farms disappeared as the land was converted to industrial
use. In 1995, the Supermall of the Great Northwest was built in the
valley, enticing consumers from all over the Puget Sound region.
Auburn has made the transition from small farms to large industries,
but much of the city's history remains. A monument in the memory of
Lieutenant Slaughter, erected in 1918, still stands in a local park.
The Neely Mansion, built by the son of a pioneer in 1891, has been
refurbished and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
Auburn's downtown still maintains a "Main Street U.S.A"
appearance.
