 The struggle to name a county seat would continue through both houses of the Washington Territorial Legislature in 1883, to Governor William A. Newell of the Washington Territory, and eventually reached the Congress in 1884.On July 18, 1900 (despite a city ordinance which mandated fire-proof materials for downtown buildings; there had been fires in 1890 and 1898 as well) fire destroyed half of the small town's business district.The recovery took two years as the destroyed buildings were rebuilt using brick - a building boom for the small community.