The town of South Bend began in 1869, when a saw mill was built by Captain Valentine Riddell and his brother John Riddell  on  the site just northwest and down river from the present day main business center.

     In the next two decades,  numerous homesteaders took up land bordering the river - above, below and across the river from the mill.  Among these were John Skidmore, Samuel Soule, John Wood, Charles Brown, William Axford, Mathias West, Gus Faber and Thomas Potter. These, along with other who worked in the mill, comprised a trading center centering on the mill waterfront and wharf.  In 1884, in addition to the original mill, there were two other large sawmills, a tannin extract company, a sash and door factory, a planning mill, and a salmon cannery.

     The first school began classes in a house on Nob Hill in 1875, and in that year a post office was established at the mill.  The first postmaster, John Wood, gave it the name South Bend because of it's location on the large South Bend of the Willapa River.  At the advent of Washington statehood, this little settlement included, besides the Riddells and other mill employee homes, the Foster House, the Mill store, stores  built  by Charles Foster and P. V. Larsen, a bunkhouse and Odd Fellows and Masonic Hall Building.

     In 1889 the South Bend Land Company was formed by George V. Holcomb, Lewis N. Eklund, Captain P.W. Swett, and Charles H. Warner.  The Company purchased nearly 2000 acres from several of the homesteaders, and proceeded to plat the city.  The land acquired included the original Plat of South Bend.  Later South Bend Corrected Plat, which included the waterfront, lots, Central Ave. Addition, Baleville, the Island, Eklund Park, and the Land Company's addition.  As the boom took off there were later added South Bend Addition, Saint Paul Addition, Commerce Addition, Denver Addition, Hewitt Addition, Montana Addition, and Alta Vista

     Fueling the boom was the prospect of an extension of the Northern  Pacific railroad to South Bend from Chehalis.  To encourage this the Land Company gave considerable land to the Northern Pacific, which in turn set up the Northern Land and Development  Company and  sent Thomas Cooper  to manage it's development. In 1889 there were approximately 150 people in the town.  The 1890 census revealed a population figure of 836.  During 1893 and 1894 the town's population increased to 3500.




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