Archives West Finding Aid

Murray David Henry was a Pullman pioneer and businessman. He was born on May 26, 1865 in Clarion County, Pennsylvania, to David Steward Henry (d. 1911) and Rebecca Cline Henry (d. 1912). Murray Henry was one of five children. His siblings included Mrs. J. T. (Mary) Chilton, Whittier, California; George N. Henry (1853-1926), Pullman; John T. (1862-1926), Pullman and Spokane; W. D. Henry, Chambers; and Mrs. Alice Hardy, Palouse. In the late 1860s the family began moving west for Oregon. Due to misfortune they only traveled as far as Missouri. In the spring of 1879 the Henrys left Missouri by wagon and finally headed west. After six months on the trail, they arrived in the Palouse country. Instead of continuing on to Oregon, they stayed in Washington Territory and farmed land on Union Flat near Pullman.

Murray Henry was a businessman in Whitman County, Wash., for all his adult life. In 1881, at the age of sixteen, he began operating a freight wagon between Almota and Colfax. By the late 1880s, he farmed a section of land on what later became Pullman's Military Hill. He also farmed what was known as the Drinkwater place north of the town.

In 1889, Henry constructed his first of several business buildings in Pullman. It was destroyed in the fire of 1890. He then constructed the first brick block built after the fire. He was also associated with his brother, John T., in the contracting business. Henry served on Pullman's first volunteer fire department. He also was a member of the city council for nineteen years. Henry retired from business shortly after the First World War, but he remained a long-term investor in Pullman real estate, both business and residential property.

Murray D. Henry married Lou S. Clark of Oregon on July 20, 1892. They became parents of five children, Mrs. Mabel Henry Tatham and Arthur Henry of Pullman; Mrs. Laurel Henry Goff of Walnut Creek, California; Ernest Henry of Opportunity, Washington; and Harold Henry of Salem, Oregon. Lou S. Henry passed away on October 17, 1926. In 1933, Murray Henry married Edith Cox of Pullman. She died in 1945. Murray D. Henry died on August 28, 1948, in Pullman after suffering a stroke.