The town of Taylor was part of the triangle with Maple Valley and Hobart in the early days and included in the name of the school district: Ta for Taylor, Ho for Hobart and Ma for Maple Valley, thus TaHoMa.
As early as 1891, logging and sawmill operations are recorded taking place in the timbered lands of what is now the Cedar River Watershed. A logging railroad was begun in 1891 from Barneston to Kerriston. A road to Taylor was constructed 20 years later, and the railroad was extended to Taylor in the late 1890’s.
Taylor was a company town founded on its merits of coal and clay, originally owned by a Scotsman named Sam Galloway who discovered the deposits around 1892. He sold most of his ranch to Puget Sound Clay Company owned by Arthur Denny, a famous Seattle businessman. Galloway earned $65,000 and a future job as mine superintendent.
The company became Denny-Renton Clay and Coal Company. Taylor’s clay, fashioned into bricks, helped to rebuild Seattle after their devastating fire in 1889.
In the boom years of 1899-1900, Taylor’s population rose to 1,000, with people living in tents with wooden floors and half walls until homes were constructed. In 1903, 135 men worked the coal mine which fueled the kilns for the clay products.
In 1910, the first generation population consisted of 250 Americans, 80 Italians, 53 English, 37 Finnish, 13 Polish, 16 Slovakians, 36 Slovanians, 11 Swedish, 11 Welsh, 6 Russians, 2 Scotch, 2 Lithuanians and 1 Letish. In the 1920s, English as a Second Language was being taught in the school in Taylor.
In March 1927, the California firm of Gladding, McBean & Company purchased all the Denny-Renton properties and started a program of modernization. They brought out new lines of building brick and roof tile. Most of the oval, flat roof tile on buildings at Fort Lewis was made at Taylor and Renton. Franklin High School in Seattle was also made from this brick.
Eventually, the early wages of $2.25 for a ten-hour day went to $32 for eight hours.
It was a company town and they owned everything: the houses, the store and mines. Those who lived there said they thought they had it better than a lot of people: they had a sewer system, pumped in water, electricity and the coal was delivered to their homes. They had fire protection and so much water pressure it took four men to hold the hose as the water shot out. The company was very benevolent. They built an outdoor swimming pool and cleaned it out once a year.
Dances were held in a hall above the grocery store as were whisk games, union meetings and Christmas parties.
At one time there were saloons, then strict prohibition with no liquor. One even had to have a prescription for whiskey for “medicinal purposes” only. However, before WW II there was a CCC (Civilian Conservation Corps) camp up there and it has been reported that several of the local men made home brew and lots of Italian red wine, which they traded with the CCC guys for boots and clothes. Others reported if you wanted a drink, you had to go to the Finn Hall in Hobart.
The clay plant was a tremendous four-story building that covered 10 acres. They weren’t making brick there after the 1940s, only pipe. The bricks were moved to Renton.
After WW II, the old town deteriorated; the train passenger service was discontinued, and then the freight trains ceased. The hotel, shops and saloon were torn down; the company store boarded up, and residents shopped in Maple Valley and Issaquah. Each family was later allowed to purchase their home at $180, but the company owned the land.
For four years they were threatened with condemnation as Seattle began looking at Taylor as a source of contamination to their water system. Finally the City Council voted 8-1 to condemn Taylor. The town was dismantled in the summer of 1947 and around 10 homes were moved out to Hobart and Maple Valley.
The Maple Valley Historical Society has photos of the town of Taylor for $25. Contact Dick Peacock, 425-432-0141 or leave a message at 425-432-3470.
The Cedar River Watershed Institute conducts tours of the Watershed every spring, 206-233-1515. Special tours are sometimes arranged into Taylor, where every spring the daffodils are still blooming to greet the nostalgic visitors.
