Monohon was a town located on the east side of

Lake Sammamish Lake Sammamish is a freshwater lake east of Seattle in King County, Washington, United States. The lake is long and wide, with a maximum depth of and a surface area of . It lies east of Lake Washington and west of the Sammamish Plateau, a ...

(then known as Lake Squak), near the present-day intersection of East Lake Sammamish Parkway and SE 33rd Street in the city of

Sammamish Sammamish ( ) is a city in King County, Washington, United States. The population was 67,455 at the 2020 census. Located on a plateau, the city is bordered by Lake Sammamish to the west and the Snoqualmie Valley to the east. Sammamish is situa ...

. The community was originally part of a town named Donnelly, founded by Simon Donelly who built a

sawmill A sawmill (saw mill, saw-mill) or lumber mill is a facility where logging, logs are cut into lumber. Modern sawmills use a motorized saw to cut logs lengthwise to make long pieces, and crosswise to length depending on standard or custom sizes ...

there, but then grew big enough and was far enough away from Donelly that residents created a separate town, Monohon, in 1888. The new town was named after Martin Monohon who had homesteaded there in 1877. The railroad along the east side of the lake was completed in 1889, and the Donnelly mill was moved to the site of Monohon. By 1900, there were twenty homes in Monohon, and the lumber mill was updated with the latest machinery. The mill also completed a new water system for the community. This brought both new wealth and new settlers to the community, and by 1911, the town's population had reached over 300. A 20-room hotel was built overlooking the lake, along with a church and a community meeting hall. The dock was used to ship lumber and dairy products on the lake. During the height of the

prohibition era Prohibition is the act or practice of forbidding something by law; more particularly the term refers to the banning of the manufacturing, manufacture, storage (whether in barrels or in bottles), transportation, sale, possession, and consumption ...

, the town was raided by King County Sheriff officers looking for

bootleggers A bootleg is the upper part (or shaft) of a boot. Bootleg, bootlegging or bootlegger(s) may also refer to: Common meanings * Rum-running, the illegal business of transporting and trading in alcoholic beverages * Moonshine, illicitly made an ...

. 50 gallons of moonshine whiskey were reportedly confiscated. In 1925, the town was largely destroyed by a fire, with only about 10 homes surviving. The mill was rebuilt, but the town never recovered, and all but disappeared when the

Great Depression The Great Depression was a severe global economic downturn from 1929 to 1939. The period was characterized by high rates of unemployment and poverty, drastic reductions in industrial production and international trade, and widespread bank and ...

hit in 1929. The sawmill continued to operate for many years after, but was repeatedly burned and rebuilt. The mill finally closed permanently in 1980.A Hidden Past: An Exploration of Eastside History; pp.8-11; Sherry Grindeland; published by the Seattle Times, 2002;

References

{{King County, Washington History of King County, Washington Ghost towns in King County, Washington Ghost towns in Washington (state)

See also

References