On May 28, 1917, residents of Pomeroy vote to reorganize their municipal structure by incorporating as a city of the third class. Of the 398 women and men who voted, 342 cast ballots for incorporation, and 54 cast ballots against. Pomeroy is located in Garfield County in Southeastern Washington, not far from the Idaho border.
Pomeroy was originally a stage coach stop on the road between Walla Walla, Washington, and Lewiston, Idaho. The town site was platted in 1878. Pomeroy was first incorporated by an act of Washington's territorial legislature, on February 3, 1886.
According to Lyman's History of Old Walla Walla (published in 1918), "It had become plain that the old charter was no longer adapted to the growing city and hence the change was made by general consent" (p. 384). Pomeroy's city clerk, Harry St. George (b. 1851), filed paperwork certifying the election results with the state on June 12, 1917. It was apparently his outgoing duty before making way for his replacement in the new municipal government.
The officers in the re-incorporated city's new government were Chester Ernest Kuykendall (1869-1948), mayor; W. F. Taylor (ca. 1837 -1927), George Engelson (1878-1959), Barrett Young Rainey (1873-1933), John Dickerson Lyon (1855-1947), James Otto Long (1864-1932), Frank M. Robinson (b. 1883), and Henry Bel Henley (1863-1949), councilmen; Andrew G. Farley (1875-1947), attorney; William B. Morris (b.1878), treasurer; and David A. Taylor (b. 1882), clerk.
