Riverside, Washington — They Built the Courthouse Before Winning the Election

Riverside once prepared to become the Okanogan County seat with enough confidence to build a courthouse before voters had agreed to the arrangement.

The town sat along an agricultural and transportation corridor on the Okanogan River, and local boosters had reason to expect growth. In 1908, Riverside challenged Conconully for county government and prepared a building for the job.

The electorate declined to cooperate. County offices stayed elsewhere, and Okanogan ultimately won the seat in 1914.

Riverside remained a small agricultural community beside the river, leaving behind one of the region's better lessons in civic optimism: the building was ready before the voters were.