Cloverland, Washington — Garage Outlived Almost Everything Else

Cloverland once supported hundreds of residents in the uplands southwest of Asotin. Around 1910, roughly four hundred people lived in the surrounding farm-and-ranch community.

Then transportation changed the bargain.

Automobiles initially made a local garage indispensable. Fuel, tires and repairs mattered enormously when vehicles were less reliable and the nearest larger town was not a casual trip. The Cloverland Garage became part of that everyday infrastructure.

Eventually the same automobile helped hollow the community out. Better roads and more dependable vehicles made it easier to reach services elsewhere, while farms consolidated and the local population declined.

The garage survived long enough to land on the National Register of Historic Places.

There is a pleasing irony in that. The machine that helped make the garage necessary also helped make the town around it unnecessary.