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Oregon Historic Sites Database

address:19891 Summit Hwy historic name:Matoon General Store
Summit, Benton County current/other names:Summit Store
assoc addresses:Summit Star Rt, Box 70b, Eddyville-Blodgett Hwy
block/lot/tax lot:
location descr: twnshp/rng/sect/qtr sect:11S 7W 6
resource type:Building height (stories):2.0 total elig resources: total inelig resources:
elig evaluation: eligible/contributing NR Status:
prim constr date:1890 second date: date indiv listed:
primary orig use: Department Store orig use comments:
second orig use:
primary style: Vernacular prim style comments:
secondary style: sec style comments:
primary siding: Shingle siding comments:
secondary siding: Horizontal Board
plan type: architect:
builder:
comments/notes:
Survey/Grouping Included In: Type of Grouping Date Listed Date Compiled
   Benton County RLS Survey 2009 Survey & Inventory Project 2009
NR date listed: N/A
ILS survey date:
RLS survey date: 09/30/2009
106 Project(s): None
Special Assess Project(s): None
Federal Tax Project(s): None
(Includes expanded description of the building/property, setting, significant landscape features, outbuildings and alterations)
Storefront has probable original entry doors and windows with transom above door. Flat roofed porch with balcony main façade. One story wings on side elevations, with shed roof and false front. Overhanging eaves. Cornice-style window heads. Cornerboards; frieze and rake boards. The Summit Store is located in the town of Summit, on the northeast corner of Highway 180 and First Streets. The store fronts west, facing the highway and the railroad tracks which are located adjacent to the highway. Original horizontal siding on main volume clad with rectangular shingles. Original foundation comprised of stones. Originally two story porch with roof on main façade; current porch is not original. Side wings did not originally have false front. - Summit - Historic District potential.
(Chronological, descriptive history of the property from its construction through at least the historic period - preferably to the present)
Written by Mary Weber & Kathy Schutt in 11/5/1984: The Summit Store is significant as the only remaining example of a 19th Century general merchandise store building in western Benton County. Other store buildings, such as those in Alsea, Blodgett, and King's Valley, were all built in the first quarter of the 20th Century after earlier stores were lost to fire. The store's location and association, next to the Oregon and pacific Railroad tracks and on the original route of the Corvallis-Yaquina Wagon Road, is intact. Although the building's exterior walls are covered by wood shingles, much of the original building design and materials remain. The historical background of this building is uncertain. It appears that the building was first owned by W.C. and Katie Post, who platted the town of Summit in 1885. The store building was built in about 1890. Whether or not the Posts actually operated a store in this location is in question. We do know that in the early 1890's James Buchanan bought this store. James Buchanan also owned a store in Wren, and later owned a store in Airle. In 1896, the store was sold to L.M. Matoon, who operated the store until 1902, when it was sold to Titus Ranny. M.E. Underhill ran the People's Store here in the early years of the century, although deed records do not indicate that he owned the building. H.L. Bush and later his daughter and son-in-law, Harry and Lessie Williams, owned the store building from 1910 to 1923. In 1923 the store was sold to Edgar Plunkett. The Plunkett family had the store the longest. Alma and Victor Plunkett, Edgar's son and daughter-in-law operated and owned the store until the late 1940's. Until recently, the building has always served as a general merchandise store selling dry goods, groceries, feed, and gasoline.
Title Records Census Records Property Tax Records Local Histories
Sanborn Maps Biographical Sources SHPO Files Interviews
Obituaries Newspapers State Archives Historic Photographs
City Directories Building Permits State Library
Local Library: University Library:
Historical Society: Other Respository:
Bibliography:
Benton County Deed Registry. Benton County Tax Rolls. Plunkett, Alma, Interview, Nov. 15, 1984. "Portrait and Biographical Record of the Willamette Valley", Chapman Publishing Co., Chicago, 1903.