Jessie and staff of the Star

I read about your hunt for information on the oldest building in the coulee area and someone said the old store building in Belvedere was close to that. The store was owned by a family named Grey. They did live in the back and the front was the store. In the winter they would open the doors early so we kids could wait for the school bus inside out of the cold weather.

Yes, it is vacant now but still standing as it was the marker that helped me find the old road up to the ranch, which is now owned by the Ray Green family. My dad and mom bought the ranch around 1942 from William and Adeline Bell. In the deed that describes the property was a clause that states where the spring is on the ranch. It was to be fenced and maintained because it was the water supply for the town of Belvedere.

Many people feel that the town was named after Bill Bell. My dad sold the ranch to Johnny Edyvean and wife and then later Ray Green and family bought it from them. The Greens moved a nice modular home on a ridge just above the old farm house. They fixed up the old house and it is now rented. So this makes me wonder how old it is and how long the Bells owned it, and did they maybe build it?

The other two businesses that were there when I was a little girl was another building, which may have been a tavern I was told to stay a way from, and a sawmill which burned down when some oil rags caught fire from a spark from a saw. The owners did not rebuild.

The pond that held the logs is not there any more. It was located across from the store. I think the only business there now is Shaw’s Fruit Stand. I can remember a few of the families that lived on the old dirt road that I walked on to catch the bus — the Hopkins grandparents of Tommy and Jerry Seaton and a family named Follett I never met.

The only family I knew that is still living there are Harley Shaw and his sister Donna. They have seen a lot of changes I am sure. The biggest is their fruit stand. I hope this gives a little more insight to a little town called Belvedere.

Roberta Warden Gamble