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1908 Building HIstory
1908 Building HIstory
1895 federal survey of Twisp area. Glover homestead in blue oval.
1898 Glovers-Ville short plat. Blue rectangle is 1908 building.
Okanogan County Assessor map, 2024. 1908 building outlined in yellow.
In 1907 the E. F. Magee Company bought a Glovers-Ville lot from Joshua Risley for a commercial business at the northwest corner of Glover Street and Second Avenue. Magee, Henry Seneff and J. C. Beach were the officers of the E. F. Magee Company, and they raised $25,000 by community subscription for a two-story brick department store building. The unincorporated town was bursting with optimism for the future with new businesses opening and more settlers moving into the small community.
The Twisp Department Store opened at the end of 1908. Eldie Magee moved his parents’ dry goods into the front half of the building, and Seneff and Beach ran a grocery and mercantile store in the back half of the main floor with a separate entrance on Second Avenue. The gallery area upstairs had rooms for storage and lodging. It was a 90 x 40-foot building made of brick from butcher Otto Hoffmann’s Red Bluff clay cliff next to the Loup Loup turnoff. The foundation and basement were rock and cement 18-24 inches thick, and 100,000 bricks were used in the walls.
Magee Family. Back row left Nellie, Greta, Eldie, Frankie.
Seated William and Francis Magee.
Eldie Magee had come to Twisp in 1902 with his parents and three sisters. He clerked at the first bank owned by L. L. Work on the corner of Twisp Avenue and Glover Street. Magee was also a notary public and mineral assayer. He married Cecile Colwell, daughter of postmaster James Colwell. Magee clerked at the local bank and was the Twisp mayor from 1916-1917. He was affiliated with other businessmen who started the Twisp Opera House, and he managed the Methow Valley Creamery for some years. Magee sold his interest in the store to M. C. Alsabrook, a local mercantile owner in 1912. Eldie, Cecile and daughter Etheylee moved to Seattle after failing to make a living in Twisp.
Henry Seneff
Henry Seneff arrived in the 1900s with his wife Barbara and son Edgar, and he was Secretary of the E. F. Magee Company and the owner of the H. E. Seneff and J. C. Beach grocery and hardware store.
Dan McAlister
In 1910 Dan McAlister, Barbara’s brother, joined the family and worked at Seneff’s store. The Seneffs lived upstairs in 1910. McAlister became a part owner, and in 1913, Seneff sold his interest to Peter L. Filer.
The front of the brick building changed its name from Twisp Department Store to Filer and McAlister Store. The Seneff family moved to Alaska.
Like many businesses in the Methow Valley, the building had a series of management changes. In 1918 Alsabrook closed his business, and the Filer McAlister Store took over the whole building.
Peter Filer in his new orchard with Red Bluff in the background. The brick used in the 1908 building came from The Red Bluff clay cliff.
George Gibson, who was Dan McAlister’s nephew, moved to Twisp after World War I and worked initially at the Commercial Bank. But in 1927 he partnered with his uncle Dan and bought out Peter Filer’s interest.
George Gibson was an extraordinary man. After serving in World War I, his father was in failing health, and George brought his parents, three younger brothers, and three grandchildren and supported them. His friend said, “George thought he couldn’t afford to be married when he was younger. Then when he got older, he didn’t care.” George was also very civic minded, serving as mayor and serving ice cream at Twisp Park on the 4th of July. He was a Mason, managed the Beaver Creek Cemetery Association and helped the American Legion construct their building. George His hobby was mining, but he just dabbled at it. He was a handsome man with a big heart.
1924 4th of July Parade
Right before the big fire where most of the buildings burned. The "1908 Building" did not burn down since it was the only building make of brick.
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