| Litch Building
The original building on this lot was a one-story wood building constructed in the early 1880s, and housed a saloon (1890 Sanborn Map). In the early 1890s, A. Levy purchased the property and started a general merchandise store in the structure. Levy was an early merchant in Oregon, listed as an Oregon taxpayer in 1867. By 1880, he was operating a dry goods store in Union, Oregon. Charles E. Funk started working as a clerk in Levy’s store in 1896. Levy sold the building and four lots to Funk and his father William J., and brother James A. in 1899. The Funks paid $1,000 for the property and store.
On August 29, 1902, a fire started in the store and destroyed the building. The September 4, 1902 Chieftain reported that a dog started the fire by accidentally knocking over an oil lamp. The fire spread quickly before the local fire department reached the building; the fire fighters had trouble extinguishing the fire because of equipment problems. Although the building was a loss, some of the merchandise was salvaged. With the insurance money on the store, the Funks rebuilt the one-story, wood-frame building in 1903.
The family operated the store for many years before selling part interest in the building to Samuel and Ella Litch for a sum of $10,000 in 1907. Two years later, Sam Litch announced plans for a Bowlby stone addition to the existing wood building. The April 1, 1909 edition of the Chieftain newspaper announced:
“Sam Litch states he will build a stone business block on his lots just west of the building occupied by the W.J. Funk & Co. store, in which Mr, Litch owns a half interest . . . . The new building will have a frontage of 60 feet on Main Street and a depth of 90 feet. Two store rooms will extend back 60 feet from Main street, and back of them will be a room, 30’x60, that will be used as a wareroom for W.J. Funk & Co., the present wooden warehouse being moved to the C.E. Funk lot across the alley. This new firm will occupy the east room of the new building, archways being cut between it and the present store. The west side of the new building is not yet rented. A basement will be extended under the east room, and warehouse part.”
Litch hired La Grande architect Calvin Thornton to design the building, and contractor and stone mason Samuel Haworth to construct the structure. The two men shared an office and also worked together on the Wallowa County Courthouse and the Enterprise Hotel. By April 15, 1909, ground was broken for the new addition, and by the end of May, the foundation walls were complete. Work progressed throughout the summer.
In August, Litch decided to build second stories on both the new stone building and the adjacent 1903 wood building occupied by W.J. Funk & Co. Architect Thornton revised the plans, adding the second story to the stone building and an upper story to the original wooden building. The wooden portion of the building was covered with decorative iron panels with a stone pattern to better match the new Bowlby stone addition.
The upper stories were designed with “eleven modern office suites of two rooms each, seven on the Main street front and four facing River street . . . . The stairway will go up from River street, where the office of W.J. Funk & Co. is now. The offices will be modern in every respect, with all conveniences of water, closets, toilets, etc. and there is already a big demand for them. Among the tenants will be Doctors Hockett and Anderson, Dr. Ketcham’s dental parlors, The Wallowa L.L. & A. Co., Attorneys J.A. Burleigh and T.M. Dill. The west store room on the first floor has been rented by the drug firm of Jackson & Weaver” (Chieftain, August 26, 1909). By November 1909, the new building was almost completed; Jackson & Weaver began moving into their new quarters in the Litch Building.
On December 1909, tragedy struck the building site when architect Thornton fell from the 20’-high scaffolding as he tried to apply the iron siding below a second story window. Three days later, he died of his injuries. At the time of this death, Thornton was staying in Enterprise while working on the Wallowa County Courthouse and the Litch Building. A funeral was held in La Grande at the Methodist Church for Thornton (additional biographical information below).
Despite the accident, work continued on the Litch Building and by the end of 1909, W. J. Funk & Co. had moved his hardware and grocery store into the new building. The clothing, shoe, and dry goods were in the corner showroom in the remodeled older structure. The building was touted as the “Finest Store and Office Structure in County – Steam Heating Plant.” A $3,000 steam heat system, distributed by registers to the various rooms, warmed the building. The tenants also had hot water from the tap. There were several rooms on the second floor reserved for people seeking overnight stays. The remainder of the upper floor was used for professional offices. The new building was cited as the most modern building in Enterprise (Chieftain, December 30, 1909).
In 1914, W.J. Funk & Co. separated the business into three divisions; dry goods, clothing, and shoes; groceries; and hardware. At this time, Sam Litch took over ownership of the building and dry goods store, one of the largest in the county, and Charles and James Funk became the owner of the hardware and grocery store; Charles then separated from his brother and became proprietor of a drug store until he sold the business in 1917. In April 1914, the Funk & Co. Store was purchased by E.M & M. Co. and the new company took over the show and storerooms in the Litch Building, still owned by Litch. In 1916, the R.S. & Z. moved into the Litch Building. Samuel and Ella Litch retained ownership of the building until September 1924 when Jonathan Haas purchased the property. Haas was Ella Litch’s cousin.
Subsequent Owners
In 1926, after owning the property for two years, Jonathan Haas sold the building to the Tri-State Loan Company, a locally owned group of investors; Haas did not want to manage the property. The Tri-State Loan Co., under the management of Daniel Boyd, remodeled the upstairs of the corner building into three-room apartments, only retaining a few of the office spaces along Main Street. The storefronts were also remodeled to include more display windows. At that time, the steps leading up to the corner storefront were removed and a concrete ramp installed for easier access. In 1928, the loan company leased some of the storefront to Clark & Lindley; C.A. Miller, reliable Dress Co. and Mayfield & Farrell.
The Tri-State Company owned the building until the early 1930s when it went into foreclosure. Sheriff Miller sold the building at a public auction in October 1932 for $16,935.16 to the Eastern Oregon Federal Savings and Loan of Baker, Oregon (Chieftain, October 8, 1932). In 1935, the property was finally deeded to the savings and loan company after legal dispute with the previous owners.
The loan company retained ownership of the property until 1944, when the building was deeded to H.P. Rowe. Rowe continued to rent the building for business, professional, and apartment uses. Many long-time Enterprise residents remember going to the doctor and dentists in the upper story of the Litch Building. In 1935, the corner store was remodeled for use as a music store operated by Lester Daggett. Since then, the first story storefronts have been remodeled many times over the last 40 years to accommodate various businesses. The Litch Building is still owned by connections to the Rowe family, The Rowe Building LLC.
Bowlby Stone
Locally quarried on the land once owned by Enoch and Lulu Bowlby, the stone is classified as a consolidated volcanic ash found in Northeastern Oregon. The lightweight gray stone is almost the weight of wood, and when wet can be easily cut with a saw or nailed. The stone was taken from the quarry, cut by local stonemasons, and left to dry and harden. When dry, the stone was a hard, suitable building material used for the construction of houses, commercial buildings, and foundations. The stone was hauled from the Bowlby property for a cost of $1 for a 4x4x8 cord. Many of the early buildings in the commercial district of Enterprise were constructed of Bowlby stone including the Bowlby Building, Wallowa County Courthouse (1909-10), the Enterprise Hotel (1903), the Fraternal Hall (1908), the Litch Building (1909), the Enterprise Mercantile and Milling Company Building (1916), and the Chieftain Building (not an inclusive list).
The Funk Family
William J. Funk, one of eleven children, was born in Marietta, Ohio, November 13, 1839. After receiving his early education in Ohio, he married and began a family. While visiting his parents, who had moved west, his wife and children died of an illness; William never went back. He settled in Portland, Oregon, where he married Zelphia Jane McCubbins in October 1867. Zelphia, born in Missouri on July 26, 1851, came to Oregon on the Oregon trail with her parents at the age of one.
The Funk’s first child, Charles E., was born on April 11, 1869. A year later, the couple moved to a homestead in Kansas, where four more children were born: Anna, James, Etta, and Ida. In 1880, the family moved back to Oregon, where another three children were born: Margaret, George, and Warner. William started ranching with his sons, who helped tend the sheep. By 1890, the family had moved to Enterprise, but Funk continued to operate his sheep and cattle business.
William, along with his sons, Charles and James, decided to create a business partnership buying and selling herd stock. A few years later, they once again joined into a partnership after Charles began working in Enterprise at the general merchandising store of A. Levi. In 1898, the father and sons partnership purchased the mercantile of Levy and continued to operate the general store. By 1900, the Funk family moved to Portland except Charles and James who remained in Enterprise (Zelphia died June 23, 1923 and William died October 21, 1923). The brothers were active in the store affairs for many years; Charles managed the mercantile and James, eventually operated the grocery store.
Samuel Litch
Samuel F. Litch was born in Schuykill County, Pennsylvania on November 6, 1862. His father died when Samuel was an infant and his mother, Mary, married Daniel Kellar. After Kellar died, Mary left Pennsylvania with her son Samuel, her married daughter Kate and husband, Jonathan Haas, and daughter Flo. In 1881, the family headed west to San Francisco by wagon train, then by boat to Portland, Oregon, and then moved to Central Oregon near Pendleton. Five years later, the Litches settled in Wallowa County. Samuel filed a claim on Trout Creek and began working in the sheep industry. He subsequently bought hundreds of acres near Enterprise and built a house southwest of Enterprise. Litch brought electricity to the ranch; one of the first farms to have electricity in Eastern Oregon.
Samuel married Ella N. Wagner on December 25, 1891, at the home of his sister’s Kate Haas. The couple had five children; Maude Litch Ortman, Charles, Harry, William (killed at age 28), and Rita Litch Miller. After working in the sheep industry, Litch started in the cattle business, owning several ranches. In 1916, the Litches moved to Enterprise, and his son, Charles took over the ranch on Alder Slope (the family owned the ranch until the early 1960s)
Besides his ranch work and managing the Litch Building, Samuel was active in civic affairs. He was one of the organizers of the Enterprise State Bank, served over four years on the County Board of Commissioners, helped secure Enterprise as the Wallowa County seat, promoted the construction of the new high school, and served on the school board. A member of the Christian Church, the Odd Fellows, Samuel Litch died on July 5, 1933 and is wife Ella died on August 14, 1941. The couple is buried in the Enterprise Cemetery.
Architect Calvin R. Thornton
Calvin R. Thornton, born in Dexter, Iowa on February 16, 1859, into the Quaker family of Joshua and Louisa Thornton. Calvin’s father was a furniture maker and home carpenter. Thornton worked as a jointer before moving to Kansas c. 1884. He then continued west, settling in Weiser, Idaho where he worked in the drug store business. In 1886, Thornton moved to La Grande, Oregon and started working as an architect. His move coincided with the fire in La Grande that destroyed eight city blocks in downtown. Thornton designed many of the early buildings in what is now downtown La Grande National Register District.
Thornton married Para Farris on February 1, 1893. The couple settled on a farm 12 miles from Enterprise. They moved back to La Grande a year later, where Thornton made his office in the Haworth-Thornton Building with Samuel Haworth, his wife’s cousin and a contractor/stone mason. The two men formed a partnership that lasted until Thornton’s death.
In 1909, Thornton temporarily moved to Enterprise to supervise the construction of the Wallowa County Courthouse and the Litch Building. He had previously worked in Enterprise on the Enterprise Hotel, Burnaugh & Mayfield Warehouse, remodeling the E.M.&M. Store, and designing the residences of Dr. Ault and J. H. Dobbin.
While overseeing the construction of the courthouse and the Litch Building, Thornton fell from the second story of the Litch Building, while trying to secure the iron panels under the second story windows. Calvin stepped back off the scaffolding to the sidewalk below. Thornton suffered severe head injuries and never recovered from his injuries. Thornton died on December 16, 1909, three days after the fall. After the funeral service in Enterprise, Thornton was buried in La Grande. His wife Para L. Farris Thornton, and his adopted son and daughter survived him.
Chain of Title
1899 A. Levy to William J., Charles E., and James A. Funk
1905 Charles and James A. Funk to William J. Funk
1905 William J. Funk to Charles E. Funk (1/3 interest)
1905 Charles E. Funk to William J. Funk (1/3 interest)
1907 W.J. Funk, et ex to Samuel Litch
1913 Samuel Litch to W.J. Funk Company
1914 W.J. Funk Company to Samuel Litch
1924 Samuel and Ella Litch to Jonathan and Kate Haas
1926 Jonathan and Kate Haas to Tri-State Loan Company
1932 Sold in a Sheriff’s sale
1935 Sheriff deeded to Eastern Oregon Federal Savings and Loan of Baker, Oregon
1944 Eastern Oregon Federal Savings and Loan of Baker, Oregon to H.P. Rowe
2009 Current owner The Rowe Building LLC |
