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North Bend Beginnings: Snoqualmie (renamed Mountain View, renamed North Bend) Post Office opens on May 20, 1870.

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The North Bend Post Office was originally called Snoqualmie and then Mountain View. On May 20, 1870, the Snoqualmie Post Office is established. Jeremiah W. Borst (1830-1890) is appointed the first postmaster. Borst located the post office at his trading post, the only one in the upper Snoqualmie Valley.

On March 3, 1890, the name Snoqualmie was changed to Mountain View. Alfred A. Fisk was postmaster at the time of the name change. He distributed mail from his store at a road tollgate.

The U.S. Post Office Department objected to the name Mountain View, and on December 31, 1890, the name was changed to North Bend. Fisk still was acting as postmaster at the time of the name change.

The North Bend post office is located on the Snoqualmie River at the northeast quarter of Section 9 Township 23 N Range 8 E. This should not be confused with the Snoqualmie Post Office, established in 1889, and located three miles northwest of North Bend, which continues (in 1998) to operate.

Sources:
Guy Reed Ramsey, "Postmarked Washington, 1850-1960," Microfilm (Olympia: Washington State Library, February, 1966), 559-560.

By Greg Lange, December 06, 1998

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