Walk Through the Past
In 1891,
32 year old Harvard graduate named Guy Waring arrived in the
Methow Valley, spotted a market in the handful of miners and
ranchers living nearby and opened Winthrop's first general store.
After two years of success, the store burned and Waring was
forced to move back east to recoup his losses.
Three
years later he returned to rebuild his business,
having enticed his reluctant wife to return with
him by promising to build her a fine home. This carefully
crafted
log house, called "The Castle" by
locals, is now the centerpiece of the Shafer Museum.
0wen
Wister, author of The Virginian, visited
here twice, drawing some of his story from the area.
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Except for the
old log town hall, Waring owned every building on Winthrop's
main street. Bankrupt in 1916, he again went east, leaving his
stepson, Harry Greene, to live in his showplace home. When the
Greenes left a few years later, it was used by the Episcopal
church. In 1943, purchased by local merchant Simon Shafer, the
Winthrop landmark was made into a museum. Eventually turned
over to the Okanogan County Historical Society, the museum's
village of buildings has been gradually improved and expanded.
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