In the past 25 years, the Battle Ground population has more tripled, to 4,700, and the city rates as one of the fastest growing in the state.
If a census had been taken in 1930, “you might have gotten 400 if you had counted all the children, dogs and chickens,” said longtime resident Florence Robison.
One of the biggest changes she has observed since the ’30s: “When you walk down the street in the earlier years you knew everyone you met. Now if you know one in 40 you’re lucky.”
The area was settled initially by Indians and it was from a non-battle that the town gained its name.
In November 1855, the settlers back in Vancouver were apprehensive about the Indians and a contingent of volunteers was dispatched to check on them. Negotiations of some sort are said to have occurred before the parties separated for the night. During the darkness, Chief Umtuch was shot and killed.
It was never established who did the deed or whether there was provocation. That incident was the “battle” for which the town was named.
Peter Onsdorff, an early merchant, and D.B. Dickey filed the first plat of Battle Ground in 1903. It consisted of six blocks.
A Columbian correspondent visiting Battle Ground in 1928 said the community “is known far and near for its manufacture of cheese.”
The cheese-making plant was running shifts both day and night.
At the time, the school system had 300 students. Consolidation of schools had started a couple of decades earlier.
School in the 1920s was taught in a large white building about where the library now stands at Parkway and Main. Grade school was downstairs, and high school upstairs, said Robison. Later, a new high school was completed and Robison was a member of the first class to graduate from the building in 1929. This later was the junior high school but has since been removed.
Battle Ground’s position as what some called “the agricultural heart of Clark County” was enhanced when the county fair moved there for the 1941 event and stayed for several years before the fair was moved to its present site in the 1950s.
The town was incorporated in 1951, with P.L. Rasmussen as first mayor. Everett Eaton was one of the best-known earlier officials, serving as marshal from 1952 to 1961. Later he served as mayor for several years.
In the 1970s, some businesses were moving west on Main Street, getting closer to state Highway 503. The move to Battle Ground Plaza by AG-CO Thriftway in 1976 brought in the biggest business up to that time.
Retirement of Dr. Henry Skinner, physician and surgeon, in 1978, reflected some of the changes taking place at Battle Ground.
“The days of the country doctor are gone,” he said. “Solo practices are as obsolete as a buffalo on a prairie.”
Reconstruction and widening of Main Street to accommodate increasing traffic was a priority. This job was completed in 1986, and traffic continues to increase, especially around the intersection with Highway 502.
Food Pavilion now occupies the old AG-CO Thriftway building, and other major retailers are clustered at the west edge of town, although other businesses still extend eastward to the railroad tracks.
The Lewis & Clark Railroad, with a history dating back before the town was established, has its headquarters in Battle Ground. In the early days it was planned to extend from Vancouver as far as Yakima, but it was never built beyond northeastern Clark County.
The current Lewis and Clark Railway carries passengers on excursions to Moulton Falls, 10 miles beyond Battle Ground. The company also hauls freight, mostly chemicals, plastics, building materials and timber products, and connects with the Burlington Northern Railroad near Northwest 78th Street and Lake Shore Avenue.
The state Department of Transportation plays an important role in the Battle Ground area, too, trying to ease the growing traffic congestion of this fast-growing area. DOT may start work as early as September on of four lanes of Highway 503 between 144th Street and Battle Ground, partly on a new alignment.
DOT officials reported average daily counts of vehicles has climbed steadily at the intersection of highways 503 and 502, Battle Ground’s busiest crossing. For 1992, the count was 12,600 vehicles on 502 just west of 503. On 503, the total was 9,200 daily on the south side of 502 and 8,100 on the north side.
The city is especially lacking in east-west through streets, and much of the traffic funnels along Main Street, which ties in with Highway 502 at the intersection with 503.
In Battle Ground traditions, none ranks higher than its annual colorful Rose Parade float. “We put another float in the Portland Rose Festival parade this year, just as we have done for 40 years, and came back with a prize,” said Robison. “The town turns out beautifully to work on the float. It takes a lot of work.”
Battle Ground also has a variety of other assets, and Robison mentioned among these a good water system, Chamber of Commerce and community education program.
The advent of the C-Tran bus system several years ago has been “a Godsend to the elderly,” she said.
Battle Ground has become home to a lot of retired people, Robison said, in addition to the younger people who are building houses in the area.
“I can’t believe all the houses,” Robison said. “They just seem to jump out of the ground.”
Katika miaka ya hivi karibuni, idadi ya watu wa Battlefield imeongezeka mara tatu hadi 4,700, na kiwango cha mji ni moja ya kuongezeka kwa kasi zaidi katika jimbo. "Ikiwa sensa ingekuwa imefanywa mwaka 1930, ""ungeweza kupata 400 ikiwa ungehesabu watoto wote, mbwa na kuku,"" alisema mkazi wa muda mrefu Florence Robison." "Mmoja wa mabadiliko makubwa ambayo ameona tangu miaka ya 1930 ni kwamba ""Unapotembea barabarani katika miaka ya mapema ulijua kila mtu uliyekutana naye.""" Sasa kama unajua moja katika 40 wewe ni bahati. eneo hilo lilikuwa makazi awali na Wahindi na ilikuwa kutoka kwa si-vita kwamba mji alipata jina lake. Mnamo Novemba 1855, wahamiaji waliokuwa Vancouver waliwaogopa Wahindi, na kikundi cha wajitoleaji kilitumwa huko ili kuwachunguza. Inaelezwa kwamba mazungumzo ya aina fulani yalifanyika kabla ya pande hizo kutengana kwa ajili ya usiku. Wakati wa giza, Mkuu Umtuch alipigwa risasi na kuuawa. Haikuwahi kuthibitishwa ni nani aliyefanya tendo hilo au kama kulikuwa na uchochezi. Tukio hilo lilikuwa "vita" ambavyo vilimpa mji huo jina. Peter Onsdorff, mfanyabiashara wa mapema, na D. B. Dickey aliandika kitabu cha kwanza cha Battle Ground mwaka 1903. Lilikuwa na vitalu sita. "Mwandishi mmoja wa habari wa Colombia aliyetembelea eneo la Battle Ground mwaka wa 1928 alisema: ""Jumuiya hiyo inajulikana sana kwa kutengeneza jibini." Wakati huo, shule hiyo ilikuwa na wanafunzi 300. Kuunganishwa kwa shule kulikuwa kumeanza miongo michache mapema. Shule ya shule ya shule ya shule ya shule ya shule ya shule ya shule ya shule ya shule ya shule ya shule ya shule ya shule ya shule ya shule ya shule ya shule ya shule ya shule ya shule ya shule ya shule ya shule ya shule ya shule ya shule ya shule ya shule ya shule ya shule ya shule ya shule ya shule ya shule ya shule ya shule ya shule ya shule ya shule ya shule ya shule ya shule ya shule ya shule ya shule ya shule ya shule ya shule ya shule. Shule ya msingi ilikuwa chini, na shule ya sekondari ilikuwa juu, akasema Robison. Baada ya hapo, shule mpya ya sekondari ilikamilika na Robison alikuwa mshiriki wa darasa la kwanza kuhitimu kutoka jengo hilo mwaka 1929. Baadaye shule hiyo ilikuwa shule ya sekondari lakini tangu wakati huo imeondolewa. "Mkakati wa vita, uwanja wa vita ulijulikana kama ""moyo wa kilimo wa Kaunti ya Clark"" na uliongezwa wakati maonyesho ya kaunti yalihamia huko kwa tukio la 1941 na kukaa kwa miaka kadhaa kabla ya maonyesho hayo kuhamishwa kwenye tovuti yake ya sasa katika miaka ya 1950." Mji huo ulijengwa mwaka 1951 na mji huo ulijengwa mwaka 1951. Rasmussen kama meya wa kwanza. Everett Eaton alikuwa mmoja wa maafisa wa zamani maarufu, akitumikia kama sheriff kutoka 1952 hadi 1961. Baadaye alitumikia akiwa meya kwa miaka kadhaa. Katika miaka ya 1970, biashara kadhaa zilikuwa zikielekea magharibi kwenye Barabara Kuu, zikikaribia Barabara Kuu ya Jimbo 503. Kuhamia Battle Ground Plaza na AGCO Thriftway mnamo 1976 kulileta biashara kubwa zaidi hadi wakati huo. Baada ya kuhamishwa kwa daktari Henry Skinner, mwaka 1978, mambo yalibadilika. "Siku za daktari wa mashambani zimepita", akasema. "Mazoezi ya mtu binafsi ni ya kizamani kama nyati kwenye nyanda". Ujenzi na upanuzi wa Main Street ili kukidhi ongezeko la trafiki ulikuwa kipaumbele. Kazi hiyo ilikamilika mwaka wa 1986, na trafiki inaendelea kuongezeka, hasa karibu na makutano ya barabara kuu ya 502. Food Pavilion sasa inamiliki jengo la zamani la AG-CO Thriftway, na wauzaji wengine wakuu wamekusanyika kwenye ukingo wa magharibi wa mji, ingawa biashara zingine bado zinaenea mashariki hadi reli. Reli ya Lewis & Clark, yenye historia inayorudi nyuma kabla ya mji kuanzishwa, ina makao yake makuu katika Battle Ground. Katika siku za mapema ilipangwa kupanuka kutoka Vancouver hadi Yakima, lakini haikujengwa zaidi ya kaskazini mashariki mwa Kaunti ya Clark. Reli ya Lewis na Clark ya sasa inasafirisha abiria kwenye matembezi hadi Moulton Falls, maili 10 zaidi ya Battle Ground. Kampuni hiyo pia hubeba mizigo, hasa kemikali, plastiki, vifaa vya ujenzi na bidhaa za mbao, na inaunganisha na Reli ya Kaskazini ya Burlington karibu na Northwest 78th Street na Lake Shore Avenue. Idara ya Usafiri ya jimbo ina jukumu muhimu katika eneo la Battle Ground, pia, kujaribu kupunguza msongamano wa trafiki unaoongezeka wa eneo hili linalokua haraka. DOT inaweza kuanza kazi mapema Septemba juu ya mistari minne ya Barabara kuu 503 kati ya Mtaa wa 144 na uwanja wa vita, sehemu ya usawa mpya. Idadi ya magari ya kila siku ya wastani imeongezeka katika makutano ya barabara kuu 503 na 502, makutano ya shughuli nyingi zaidi ya Battle Ground. Mwaka 1992, idadi ya magari ilikuwa 12,600 kwenye barabara ya 502 upande wa magharibi wa barabara ya 503. Katika mwaka wa 503 jumla ilikuwa 9,200 kila siku upande wa kusini wa 502 na 8,100 upande wa kaskazini. Mji huo una maporomoko ya barabara ya mashariki-magharibi, na mengi ya trafiki huingia kwenye barabara kuu, ambayo inaunganisha na barabara kuu ya 502 katika makutano na barabara kuu ya 503. Katika desturi za Battle Ground, hakuna inayoongoza kuliko maandamano yake ya kila mwaka ya rangi ya Rose Parade. "Tuliweka mtumbwi mwingine katika maandamano ya tamasha la Portland Rose mwaka huu, kama tulivyofanya kwa miaka 40, na tulirudi na tuzo, ""Robison alisema." <unk>Mji hutokea vizuri kufanya kazi kwenye float. "Battle Ground pia ina mali nyingine mbalimbali, na Robison alitaja kati ya hizi mfumo mzuri wa maji, Chumba cha Biashara na programu ya elimu ya jamii. """ Kuanzishwa kwa mfumo wa mabasi ya C-Tran miaka kadhaa iliyopita kumekuwa "baraka kutoka kwa Mungu kwa wazee", alisema. "Kama ilivyoelezwa hapo juu, ""Mji wa vita umekuwa nyumba ya watu wengi waliostaafu, pamoja na vijana ambao wanajenga nyumba katika eneo hilo.""" "Siwezi kuamini nyumba zote", Robison alisema. <unk>Wanaonekana kama wanaruka kutoka ardhini.<unk>