The History of the Yakima Valley, Washington, Comprising Yakima, Kittitas and
Benton Counties, The S.J. Clarke Publishing Co., 1919, Volume II, page 30
A portrait of Chester A. Congdon appears in this publication.
A photograph of the former residence of Chester A. Congdon appears in this
publication.

CHESTER ADGATE CONGDON.

Chester Adgate Congdon, lawyer and capitalist, who first visited the Yakima
valley in 1887 and made investment here in 1889, was born in Rochester, New
York, on the 12th of June, 1853, his parents being Sylvester Laurentius and
Laura Jane (Adgate) Congdon. He was descended in the paternal line from James
Congdon, a Quaker, who came from England about 1640 and settled in Rhode Island,
becoming the founder of the family in the new world. The line of descent comes
on down through his son John, John (I), John (III), and his second wife, Dorcas
Huntley, and through Hannibal and Mary (Satchwell) Congdon, who were the
grandparents of Chester A. Congdon. The latter's father was a minister of the
Methodist church.

In the public schools of Elmira and Corning, New York, Chester A. Congdon
acquired his preliminary education, which was supplemented by study in the East
Genesee Conference Seminary at Ovid, New York. His collegiate work was done at
Syracuse University, from which he was graduated in 1875 with the degree of
Bachelor of Arts. He studied law under the preceptorship of Hiscock, Gifford &
Doheny at Syracuse, New York, and in 1877 was admitted to the bar of that state.
After admission to the bar in New York state, Mr. Congdon taught school for
about a year in Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin, before he went to St. Paul,
Minnesota, in 1879, where he was admitted to the bar of that state and and there
established himself in the practice of law. In 1892 he removed from St. Paul to
Duluth, becoming a member of the law firm of Billson & Congdon as the partner of
William W. Billson. In 1893 they were joined by Judge Daniel A. Dickinson and
the firm style of Billson, Corgdon & Dickinson was adopted. On the death of the
judge in 1902 the surviving partners resumed their original firm title and thus
continued until 1904, when both retired from active practice.

In the meantime Mr. Congdon had extended his efforts to various lines of
commercial, industrial and financial enterprise in his adopted city. He became
a prominent figure in connection with the development of the iron and copper
mining resources of the Lake Superior country and at the same time his advice
and assistance were sought by many business and financial institutions on the
directorate of which his name never appeared. He was general counsel of the
Oliver Mining Company before its consolidation with other companies, now forming
the United States Steel Corporation. He was also the president of the Chemung
Iron Company and the Canisteo Mining Company, the vice-president of the American
Exchange National Bank of Duluth and a director in the Calumet & Arizona Mining
Company, the Hedley Gold Mining Company, the Greene Cananea Copper Company, the
Marshall-Wells Hardware Company, the Gowan-Lenning-Brown Company and various
other banking, mining and jobbing enterprises which claimed his attention and
profited by his cooperation and direction. He also became interested in
agricultural pursuits. making extensive investments in farm lands in the
northwest. He first came to the Yakima valley on a tour of inspection in 1887
and in 1889, in association with several old friends, formed a syndicate which
in connection with the Ontario Land Company made investment in land adjoining
North Yakima, afterward platting the Capitol addition and also lands to the
south of it. This syndicate, of which Mr. Congdon was a member, and the Ontario
Land Company also furnished the money for the construction of the Yakima Valley
canal. The first investment amounted to thirty-five thousand dollars, which was
used in the acquirement of the aforementioned property, while seventy-five
thousand dollars were invested in dry lands at Wide Hollow and Nob Hill. The
Yakima Valley canal aforementioned was built in 1894 for irrigating all of Nob
Hill, and in 1898 or 1899 Albert S. Congdon, a brother of our subject, took
charge of this undertaking, which was the second large irrigation project of
the valley. The Sunnyside Canal project had been launched before Mr. Congdon's
first visit to Yakima but had encountered difficulties and was idle at the time
he became interested in Yakami Valley projects. After carefully investigating
its affairs Mr. Congdon decided not to take hold of this enterprise because in
his opinion there were better lands available for development than those under
the Sunnyside and also for the reason that he was not entirely satisfied with
the sufficiency and validity of the Sunnyside water right. It is a fact anyhow
that the Sunnyside Canal project has gone through reorganization since 1889 and
that the Yakima Valley Canal Company is, if not the only one, one of the very
few that has never had to be reorganized. The Northern Pacific Railroad urged
him to undertake the Sunnyside project, but he gave his attention to the
irrigation of the upper valley on Nob Hill. This system irrigated three thousand
acres at first and later was extended to irrigate thirteen hundred acres
additional. It was built to irrigate the land owned by the syndicate and the
Ontario Land Company, most of which land, in which he had an interest, had been
sold by 1905, in which year Mr. Congdon began to buy the land which became his
ranch. A large part of the present ranch consists of property which he and his
associates sold some years before, after the completion of the canal, and which
he later bought back. Mr. Congdon was so fond of the Yakima Valley that he
wanted to have some interest here which would require his attention once or
twice a year, and with the sale of the last of the land which he and his
associates had originally acquired, his excuse for visits here was more or less
worn out. Therefore he personally acquired properties which now constitute one
of the fine ranches of the valley.

With the advent of Mr. Congdon in the business circles of the northwest he
became a very active supporter of all those interests which he believed of value
and benefit to the state. He was very active in the state capital fight in 1889
and gave land for the capitol site. When it was decided that Olympia should be
the capital of Washington, he, with others, gave the park site to the city of
Yakima, but upon the refusal of the city to improve the park, the land reverted
to the Ontario Land Company, which had made the donation at the beginning. The
large landed interests of Mr. Congdon were developed and much of the property
sold, but he kept or bought back enough so that he was owner of more than nine
hundred acres. He had more than three hundred and seventy-five acres in fruit,
while the balance was farm land. He developed one of the largest Aberdeen-Angus
cattle herds in America, his stock being shown all over the United States at
the various cattle exhibits, winning prizes everywhere.

In 1914 Mr. Congdon erected a beautiful home, built all of native stone. It is
the largest private residence in the valley and regarded one of the show places
in Washington. While it is not consciously patterned after any special style of
building, its design largely resembles that of the large Mexican houses. It is a
story and a half, built around a court, and is erected on the edge of a bluff,
requiring a good deal of retaining wall and thus to some extent having the
appearance of an old war castle. Mr. Congdon was a great traveler and considered
the Yakima Valley the best agricultural district of the world. He spent much of
his time here and did as much as any ether man for the development and
upbuilding of this section of the state. He contributed quietly and
unostentatiously but most generously to all public projects for good, including
churches, nor did he confine his efforts alone to the Yakima Valley. He became
a heavy investor at Tacoma, Grays Harbor, South Bend, Raymond and other points
in Washington. He was a personal friend of the officials of the Northern Pacific
Railway, including President Hannaford, and he cooperated with the railroad
company in the improvement of many localities. In 1913 he built a
seventy-thousand-dollar storage and packing plant in order to house the fruit
raised in the district and he developed one of the largest orchards under
individual ownership in the northwest.

On the 29th of September, 1881, at Syracuse, New York, Mr. Congdon was married
to Miss Clara Hesperia, a daughter of the Rev. Edward Bannister, a clergyman of
San Francisco, California, and to them were born seven children: Walter
Bannister, Edward Chester, Marjorie, Helen Clara, John, Elisabeth Mannering and
Robert Congdon. The family circle was broken in the death of Mr. Congdon in St.
Paul, Minnesota, on the 21st of November, 1916. His life had been one of great
activity and usefulness. He had been called to various offices of trust and
responsibility, serving from 1881 until 1886 as assistant United States
attorney for the district of Minnesota, as a member of the Minnesota house of
representatives from 1909 until 1913, and from 1903 until his death he was a
member of the Duluth charter commission. Minnesota in 1916 made him a member of
the republican national central committee and his opinions carried weight in
the councils of the party. He was a member of various professional, historical,
scientific, social and fraternal societies and associations. He had membership
with the Kitchi Gammi, Northland Country, Commercial and Duluth Boat Clubs, all
of Duluth; the Minnesota Club of St. Paul; the Minneapolis Club of Minneapolis;
the University Club of Chicago; the Duquesne Club of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania;
the Bankers Club of New York; the Commercial Club of North Yakima; and with
various college fraternities, including the Upsilon Kappa, Psi Upsilon, Theta Nu
Epsilon and Phi Beta Kappa. A contemporary biographer has said of him: "Those
who really knew Mr. Congdon found in him a man of tender heart and warm, human
sympathies. His philanthropy was general and quite well known, although he
sought to keep it under cover and shrank from publicity in this regard. He was
a close student of government and state policies, a foe of waste and
inefficiency, a friend of political progress as he saw it, a champion of clean
public life and sound government. He was always the good citizen, eager to have
his part in every forward movement in directions that he judged to be wise." The
northwest has reason to be grateful to him for what he accomplished in
connection with her upbuilding. He was acquainted with most of the old-time men
of prominence in this section of the country. The Yakima Valley -- its growth,
its development and its beautification -- it is said was his hobby; yet it was
more than that because he always expected to derive profit as well as pleasure
from his activities here. Unfortunately, he did not see his ranch return a
profit to him, but this was largely for the reason that at the time of his
demise many of the trees were yet too young. Though an idealist, there was yet
sufficient business man in him to expect interest on his investments here and
undoubtedly the fine ranch, in spite of the large investment in improvements,
will turn out to be a successful enterprise even from a monetary standpoint. Mr.
Congdon was known nationally in financial circles, being recognized as a man of
wonderful business judgment, but there were also qualities which endeared him to
those who came within the circle of his companionship. knowing and loving him
not for what he accomplished but for what he was.

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Submitted to the Washington Bios Project in December 2007 by Jeffrey L. Elmer.
Submitter has no additional information about the subject of this article.