Our valentine to you: This week’s dispatches from history doesn’t require a subscription to read. Love, Chas.

A store in Banks goes bankrupt, a cow is killed after being smothered by a haystack near Gales Creek, and so many more snippets from exactly a century ago in rural western Washington County.

In 1924, nearly every week saw a rural western Washington County resident fall afoul of the law as it pertained to the possession, distillation, or transport of liquor. This week, it’s three Banks men who had their Ford seized by Forest Grove police.

A 1924 ad for dynamite, the tiny community of Watts (where Stringtown Road and Gales Creek Road meet) considers merging their two community halls, and a Banks man says the water system is coming along fine in this week’s Dispatches from History.

In 1924, one Banks-area man—Bennie Lyda— just refused to die after being crushed by a tractor near Banks. This and more in the news clips from one century ago. (No subscription required for this one-Happy New Year!)

One hundred years ago, a short-lived early newspaper in Banks was absorbed into the Beaverton Review. This and more in the news of a century ago.

Mole trappers will pool their mole skins countywide to sell as a lot, the Gales Creek Cemetery puts out a bid for water infrastructure, and more from a century ago in western Washington County.

A century ago in western Washington County: Roy resident Albert Vandehey is killed by a train, the KK is pelted with eggs in Forest Grove, and a farmer would really like someone to pick up the stray horses that wandered onto their Dilley farm.

Hayward may be a tiny community with a cemetery and a handful of homes, farms, and a cemetery today. But in 1923, it had a hotel, a school, and by November 29, 1923, a sidewalk.

One hundred years ago, work began on the first water system in Banks right before Thanksgiving.