Page 11 - FINAL EARLY SPRING 2019 SWHS Newsletter

Clinton Union Store

Several things are needed to start a
town: good transportation, industry, a
store, a school, a church, and a post of-
fice. Old Clinton had all of them.
When Henry Hinman and his broth-
er Edward founded Clinton in 1880 at
what is now Brighton Beach, the little
waterside town quickly grew. Henry
built a small general store and then a
larger one in 1903 in partnership with
the Seattle Labor Exchange. (Above and below) A 1905 photo of the Clinton Union Store which was built in 1903.
In 1905 it was reincorporated as the
Clinton Union Store Company and was
owned by local families with names of
Hinman, Ball, Nelson, Simmons and
Salisbury.
The town kept growing, so much so
that it eventually went uphill, literally,
as ferry traffic from Columbia Beach
bypassed Old Clinton on a new road.
The beachside store closed in 1926
and a new Cinton Union Store was built
up the hill in 1931 by Sidney Nourse,
who had also built a store in Midvale
about 1922. The Clinton store also fea-
tured a gasoline pump.

t A 1931 grand opening ad. p Clinton Union Store in the late 1940s.

p Stella Colvin operated a small convenience grocery (right) under Coca-Cola sign)
operated near the ferry landing in the 1940s.
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