The History of the Yakima Valley, Washington, Comprising Yakima, Kittitas and
Benton Counties, The S.J. Clarke Publishing Co., 1919, Volume II, page 644

ERNEST J. TWEED.

Prominent among the energetic, farsighted business men of Toppenish is numbered
Ernest J. Tweed, one of the proprietors of the Arcade Department Store, which is
the largest mercantile establishment under one roof in the city. Mr. Tweed comes
to the Pacific coast country from Iowa, his birth having occurred in Wesley,
that state, on the 8th of June, 1885. He is a son of A. J. and Carrie Tweed,
who, in 1904, left the Mississippi valley and made their way to Silverton,
Oregon, where the father took up the occupation of farming, which he there
followed to the time of his demise. The mother is still living in that locality.

After leaving the public schools, Ernest J. Tweed continued his preparation for
life's practical and responsible duties by pursuing a course in a business
college in Salem, Oregon. He then took up bookkeeping in Portland and was thus
employed until 1908, when he came to Toppenish and entered the employ of the
Washington Nursery Company, with which he remained for four years. Ambitious,
however, to engage in business on his own account, he carefully saved his
earnings until his economy and industry had brought him sufficient capital to
enable him to establish a grocery store, which he opened in 1912 on South
Toppenish avenue. He has been active in that line continuously since, and in
1918 he broadened the scope of his interests by combining his business with that
of the Arcade Department Store, his official connection being that of treasurer
of the company. Their establishment is an extensive one, attractive in its
various departments, a large line of goods being carried. Mr. Tweed remains in
direct control of the grocery department and has built up for the business an
extensive and well-deserved patronage.

On the 19th of October, 1911, Mr. Tweed was married to Miss Pearl Wilson, of
Toppenish, a daughter of J. T. Wilson, and they are now parents of one child,
Audrey. Mr. Tweed is well known as a representative of fraternal interests,
having membership in the Elks lodge of Yakima, in the Independent Order of
Foresters and the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. His political endorsement is
given to the republican party, which he has supported since age conferred upon
him the right of franchise. The Commercial Club of Toppenish finds in him a
worthy and substantial representative, always ready to aid in its work for the
upbuilding of the city and the promotion of its interests. He stands for those
things which are most worth while in the life of the individual and the district
at large and Toppenish may well be glad that he decided to cast in his lot here,
for he is connected with that class of progressive men to whom opportunity is
ever the call to action.

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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.