The History of the Yakima Valley, Washington, Comprising Yakima, Kittitas and
Benton Counties, The S.J. Clarke Publishing Co., 1919, Volume II, page 1042 

ELLWOOD P. HINMAN.

The rapid growth and development of some of the western cities is a matter
marvel to the staid, conservative east, but when one considers that it is men
enterprise who are seeking opportunities that have been the builders of such
cities, the reason for their rapid development is found. To this class belongs
Ellwood P. Hinman, who was born in Henry county, Illinois, on the 19th of May,
1878, a son of W. W. and Elizabeth (Townsend) Hinman. The father is now deceased
but the mother survives and is now living in Moline, Illinois. In pioneer days
in that section of that country W. W. Hinman took up a homestead claim in Henry
county, Illinois, and became actively identified with its interests. He was a
son of Willis Hinman, a native of Ohio, who left that state, accompanied by his
wife, two sons and a daughter, and made his way westward to Illinois, where he
cast in his lot with the pioneer settlers of the early '30s. At that time there
were still many evidences of Indian occupancy in that section of the country and
the work of progress and improvement seemed scarcely begun. With the further
upbuilding of that section both Willis and W. W. Hinman were closely associated
for many years.

Ellwood P. Hinman there acquired his public school education, passing through
consecutive grades until graduated from the high school. He next entered the
employ of the Farmers National Bank at Cambridge, Illinois, where he spent six
years, becoming assistant cashier of that institution. He afterward removed to
Wyoming, Illinois, and was cashier of the National Bank of that place for five
years. Then, attracted by the opportunities of the growing west, he made his
way to Coeur d'Alene, Idaho, where he spent eight months, and in July, 1910, he
arrived in Toppenish, where he spent eight months, and secured the position of
assistant cashier of the Central Bank of Toppenish, thus remaining until
November, 1916. In the fall of the following year he purchased an interest in
the store of E. H. Dorbin and in 1918 they incorporated their interests under
the name of the Arcade Department Store. They have a fine new building, which
was erected by Mr. Dorbin and is two stories in height, seventy-five by one
hundred feet. They conduct a general department store, carrying a well selected,
large stock, and their business methods insure them a liberal patronage. They
hold to high standards in the line of goods carried, in the personnel of the
house and in the treatment accorded patrons and their progressiveness in these
particulars has won for them a very satisfactory patronage. In addition to his
commercial interests Mr. Hinman owns fine ranch land on the Yakima Indian
reservation.

On the 14th of June, 1905, Mr. Hinman was married to Miss Bessie B. Long, of
Moline, Illinois, but who was born in Lynn, Henry county, that state. By her
marriage she has become the mother of two children, Isla and Ellwood P., Jr.

Mr. Hinman gives his political allegiance to the republican party where national
questions and issues are involved but casts an independent ballot at local
elections. He has served as a member of the city council and exercised his
official prerogatives in that connection in support of many progressive public
measures. He belongs to the Toppenish Commercial Club and every feature of the
city's growth and development is of interest to him. He is a Mason, holding
membership in Toppenish Lodge No. 178. A. F. & A. M., and he has taken the
degrees in the various Scottish Rite bodies, while with the Nobles of the Mystic
Shrine of Mohammed Temple of Peoria, Illinois, he has crossed the sands of the
desert. He and his wife are members of the Congregational church and are people
of the highest respectability and worth, enjoying the warm regard of all with
whom they have come in contact, while the hospitality of the best homes of
Toppenish is freely and generously accorded them.

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Submitted to the Washington Bios Project in January 2008 by Jeffrey L. Elmer.
Submitter has no additional information about the subject of this article.