St Francis Regis/ Ward
The whole area where this gate is seen was known as the St Francis Regis Mission. It was established in 1870 by Jesuit Fathers Grassi, Menetry and Bandini. By 1902 the mission had 9 teachers and 150 students including both white and Indian children.
There is a cemetery across the road and up the hill to the north of the original school, which until recently was a bed and breakfast called "My Parents Estate". The little cabin on the north side of the road is one of the few buildings remaining after the mission burned. It has been converted into a vacation bungalo by
Carolyn Suzanne S
app (born 1967),
Miss America 1992 and the former Miss Hawaii 1991. It was part of her childhood home owned by her father, former State Representative, Steve Fhurman. You are free to stop and walk up to the cemetery (a steep climb) and view the Colville River valley below.
After the school closed and white settlers gathered here, a post office was established and named Ward after a settler, Thomas Ward. A railroad station was called Goodwin, after another settler.