A view of A Street in what was formerly Little Falls — now known as Vader — was taken about 1910.
Until 1913, the town of Vader was named Little Falls for this natural feature on Olequa Creek.
Officials in the city of Vader may be waxing a bit nostalgic, at least when it comes to an idea they’re exploring to change the city’s name.
Nearly a decade after a proposal to change the town’s name back to Little Falls failed by a mere 11 votes, the Vader City Council is preparing to possibly give it another shot.
“Now that almost 10 years have gone by, we’re getting some sentiment to explore changing the name back to what it was originally,” Mayor Ken Smith said Tuesday. “The idea’s been bantered about informally for the past several months.”
Smith said the discussions about holding a vote to revert the town’s name to its original moniker came about as part of the budget discussions for the city’s upcoming fiscal year. A name change would almost certainly require that the city spend an as yet undetermined amount of money in administrative costs, Smith said.
“If there’s going to be an effort made, we would have to set the money aside for it to succeed,” Smith said. “As far as how much, I’d prefer not to speculate until we’ve got our specific talking points in order.”
What is now known as Vader in the late 1800s, according to the Tacoma Public Library’s Washington Place Names database, was named Sopenah by the Northern Pacific Railway as another Little Falls existed on their line — this one in Minnesota. A group of local citizens asked the Washington Legislature to rename the town Toronto, but an argument ensued and an eventual compromise was reached to name the town after a German resident with the last name of Vader.
In fact, it was the Legislature that named the town what it is today, and it has stuck since March 25, 1913. The situation is described in a historical document by George T. Reed, who served as assistant to the president of Northern Pacific Railway Company. He noted that the name change simply came about because the Legislative committee asked the railroad company to pick a unique name.
Then came an idea from a gentleman in the room.
“After canvassing the matter briefly, one of the gentlemen mentioned the name of an old German by the name of Vader and we finally recommended his name to the committee,” Reed wrote, “and that name was inserted into the bill and it became a law.”
A bit of humor in the naming of the town came when, according to Reed, the man the town was named after was actually miffed by the gesture.
“The humor of the matter is that we supposed the old gentleman would be highly flattered in having the town named after him but instead of that he took it as a personal indignity and immediately moved to Florida,” Reed wrote.
Reed noted that the name change simply came about because the legislative committee asked the railroad company to pick a unique name. Thus came an idea from a gentleman in the room.
“After canvassing the matter briefly, one of the gentlemen mentioned the name of an old German by the name of Vader and we finally recommended his name to the committee,” Reed wrote, “and that name was inserted into the bill and it became a law.”
The matter was brought before the public in 2005 as a vote of the people to return Vader to the name of its origin narrowly failed. Ninety-five people voted to change it back, but eleven more votes for the opposition ensured the signs you see off the freeway and state Route 508 still point to a town named Vader, Washington, ZIP code 98593.
Smith considers himself a history buff — after all, he pointed out that he received his bachelor’s degree in the subject — and said he feels the turn-of-the-century renaming of Little Falls as “a mild injustice” upon the citizens of that day. Personally, he said he wants to see the name changed.
“I for one am supportive of it, not to mention the fact I feel the individual Vader is named after didn’t want the community named after him in the first place,” Smith laughed. “It’s got somewhat of a stigma. Little Falls to me captures the essence of our family-friendly community.”
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Christopher Brewer: (360) 807-8235
