Among the earliest settlers in the late 1800s was Swedish-American immigrant August Lovgren. After leaving his native Sweden and working as a carpenter in several mid-western communities, Lovgren arrived in Seattle just after the Great Fire of 1889. He invested money he had earned as a carpenter in a mill site at Preston. After a rough start during economic hard times in the 1890s, the mill began to prosper, and Lovgren was able to build an elegant home surrounded by landscaped grounds. The mill and logging operation were built next to the Seattle Lake Shore and Eastern Railway that twisted through Snoqualmie Pass on the way to Seattle. The Preston Mill, located within rock-throwing distance of what is now heavily traveled Interstate 90, was to become one of the powerful forces in carving out the future of the area. The mill drew hundreds of families to Preston and Fall City, most of them of Swedish descent. Preston Baptist Church was founded by mill owner August Lovgren. So dominant were the Swedish in the town of Preston that the Baptist church in the lower part of town conducted services in Swedish until 1939. Not much remains of the historic mill that burned down about 1990, after nearly 100 years in operation. There are a few buildings remaining on the 15-acre site, recently bought by King County for park purposes. One includes old sawing equipment, and the sawdust is still on the floor.
Preston is a community east of Issaquah on the Raging River in central King County. It was named by Daniel H. Gilman, for his associate in building the Seattle, Lake Shore & Eastern Railway through the area, William T. Preston. Mr. Preston served as the district engineer of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers during World War One and was responsible for the construction of Fort Ward on Bainbridge Island.
Kinsey Brothers Photographs of the Lumber Industry, 1890-1945
