west of Southwest Capitol Highway, Mr. Raz added that the building was being demolished.
WEST SIDE, Lake County. This post office was named by Will C. Fleming, who was first postmaster when the office was established in June, 1923. It was named for the West Side Store, which was on the west side of Goose Lake.
WEST STAYTON, Marion County. West Stayton railroad station was established on the Oregonian Railway narrow gage line in the '80s to serve the locality about four miles west of Stayton. The railroad did not go through Stayton, and West Stayton was the nearest shipping point on the narrow gage. The station was of course named in contradistinction to Stayton. For origin of name see under STAYTON. In the latter '80s a post office was petitioned for to serve the locality of West Stayton, but postal authorities refused to establish an office with the name West Stayton for fear of mail confusion and suggested that the local people interested should choose another name. A meeting was held and Hugh McNeil suggested the name Ale, which was short, and duplicated no other post office name in the country. Mrs. Maude Porter Boone of Aumsville informed the compiler that the name was suggested by the finding of an empty ale bottle beside the road near the station. Ale post office was established on December 18, 1888, with Levi J. Hollister postmaster. The office was discontinued on July 26, 1890. It was opened again on January 21, 1891, with Henry B. Condit postmaster. Mr. Condit ran the office, in conjunction with the railroad station West Stayton, until September 3, 1902, when Ale post office was closed due to the extension of rural free delivery from Aumsville. The later development of the locality brought new demands for a post office, and West Stayton office was established October 12, 1911, with D. M. McInnis first postmaster. This office was still in service in 1946.
WEST UNION, Washington County. The name West Union, applied to various places in Washington County, is of great historic interest and has been in use over a century. On May 25, 1844, a few members of the Baptist Church met in the cabin of David T. Lenox, a pioneer of 1843, who had taken up a claim on the north part of Tualatin Plains. A constitution and covenant was drawn up for the West Union Baptist Church, the first Baptist Church established west of the Rocky Mountains. The text of this document, as printed in the OHQ for September 1935, contains the express statement that the churchmen "have been thrown together in these Wilds of the West, and ... Agree that we Constitute and come into union." West Union Baptist Church was built in 1853 on a site given by Lenox on the east edge of his claim. The congregation met in the new church on December 24 and 25, 1853. The church still stands on the Germantown Road about a mile northwest of the community of West Union. West Union post office was established January 27, 1874, with Stephen A. Holcomb first postmaster. This office was in operation until March 17, 1894. The writer does not know its exact location, but it was probably near the present community of West Union, which is close to the Holcomb claim. West Union community does not now have a post office. It is at an intersection just south of the Germantown Road and about a mile and a half northwest of Bethany.
WEST WOODBURN, Marion County. West Woodburn is about two miles west of Woodburn. For information about origin of the name,
