Online Histories of Snohomish County

The Bryant General Store  © by Louise Lindgren First published in The Third Age, December, 2003

"About three and a half miles north of Arlington, on the line the Northern Pacific, is the small lumbering village known as Bryant." Thus begins the entry in the 1906 "Illustrated History of Skagit and Snohomish Counties, Washington." Well history again is begin written in that small, but close-knit, community as it faces the challenge of coping with a major change proposed to its beloved store/gas station

In 1906 the community was just on the verge of growth with the purchasae of its first small logging mill (established in 1892 as Bryant Lumber and Shingle Company), by a much larger operation, the stimson Lumber Company. That business proceeded to take over the existing five-mile logging railroad and build a new railway to Marysville, to send its lumber directly from the woods to the sea. Under the terms of its charter that railway also was required to carry passengers and freight, making Bryant an important transportation junction.

The community of 1906 consisted of a general merchandise store, a pool room, railway depot, post office, saloon, farmhouses and numerous dwellings owned by the lumber company for the benefit ofits workers. Now in 2003, Bryant has a fire station, church and grange hall, but only one business, the Bryant Store.

After the first mercantile burned, Charles H. Smith bought the property and in 1929 built the combinationresidence and store that would remain in his family until 2003. A garage was built next to the store in 1930 and was dedicated by the Smith family for many years to the service o f the first fire department. It still stands intact, with its original wood drop-siding, tall windows sliding back door, hydraulic lift (long enough for a fire truck) and two sets of three-fold paneled and windowed doors covering its broad bay.

Unfortunately, due to an accident in the 1990s, those doors were somewhat damaged and have been covered from view and protected by board and batten. If they were restored, the public would be given a true view to the past and the age of early automobile travel.

Recent interviews with patrons of the store reveal a record any family could be proud of, in service to the community. Following in the footsteps of his father in 1953, Norm Smith donated land just northof the store for the building of a new fire station. He also dedicated a large field north of the new station to the community's use for the game of softball.

One informant, Clayton Kline,moved to Bryant in 1952 and said that five generations of his family had patronized the store and played many a game of fast-pitch softball on the Smith's field. The teenage Bryant team was called "The Hoodlums" and they played the fire department's team, growing stronger with years, untilthey came out winning many a time.

Clayton remembers fondly the old-pot-belly stove, around which many tales were told about catching extremely large fish, besting comrades in fights, fixing old cars, talking politics and sports, and generally making sure that everyone knew everyone else's successes and tribulations. If someone needed help in the community,that was often initiated in a discussion around he stove. The same thing goes on now, only it is done at a worn kitchen table next to the microwave, as people relax with their lattes.

Norm Smith is mentioned time and time again by those who come into the store and share their memories. He served as fire chief and ran successful scrap iron drives for the support of the department. One story Claytontold is of the old fire department ritual of initiation of new members, when Norm was a firefighter. As the trainee climbed theladder with the hose, the water would be turned on suddenly , and the trick was to keep your balance while both man and ladder were pushed away from the wall by the now actively jumping snake of charged rubber and canvas.

Of course, then as now, all the firement were volunteers, willing to wake up at any hourof the night to help out their neighbors. Just that service, if nothing else, makes for a sense of community.

One customer, Jim Downing, recently surprised an "outsider" by going behind the counter, making his own coffee, and then opening the till to pay the current owners. Jim knew all the ins and outs of counter service, having worked at the store for many years, doing anything and everything to help out and keep the service flowing. He had served as assistant Boy Scoutmaster and told of working with Norm, who in addition to running the store and serving as fire chief, also helped the scouts and drove the school bus. It's hard to find any community activity that Norm Smith's name is not associated with, and many in the community are also grateful for his policy of extending credit and trusting his neighbors.