History of Gorst, WA and United Airlines Boeing Connection

History of Gorst, WA and United Airlines Boeing Connection

Gorst (originally called Butler (1880s-early 1900s), then Pleasant Valley (early 1900s-1940s), than Gorst (1940s-present)). The community was never incorporated. It developed as it was at the confluence of the "old" Belfair Highway and the road to Port Orchard. This is the junction you drive through on State Route 3 coming from Olympia and Hwy 16 running through Kitsap and yet most of us don't even stop to see what is or was there. You pretty much have to travel through Gorst to traverse Kitsap to the bane of commuters. It sits at the head of Sinclair Inlet. The locals will say don't blink or you will miss Gorst or armpit of the Puget Sound. I'm told it starts just before the Subaru Dealership and ends at the Railroad bridge, some might budge further to include the quarry. Would you include the Bremerton airport?

This is the communities history and I have tried to link the photos back to their sources on Facebook and other places so you can continue to read what the locals have said, but even in the short span of a day it's hard to find some of those posts, so let me know if you find them or new ones that can add to the tail of Gorst.

The thing that stirs my curiosity is the town itself. You can see, clearly, that there was a full-fledged community there. Streets, stores, schools... But what happened to the stories that went with them? Were they swallowed up by Bremerton? Was there a mayor, fire chief, and sheriff? Seems like there's a huge void from the Gorst family days (fairly well documented) and when the highway came through.

Gorst is named for Gorst families (Sam & John). John Gorst bought 60 acres at the head of Sinclair Inlet in 1888 and his brother Sam arrived in 1890 and they named the nearby creek, Gorst Creek. 

John Gorst's son, Vergne Centennial (Vern C.) Gorst born 18 Aug 1876, Belle Prairie, MN started transportation business at age 13 (1889) hauling chickens across Port Orchard Bay using his own home built log raft. He had a short stint at Seattle business college and then off to the Alaskan Gold rush in 1898. He began the first ferries between Port Orchard, Bremerton and Manette until 1904, moving to North Bend, OR. From 1910 to 1915 he started auto stage lines (bus lines) in OR, WA & CA. Vern was fascinated with aviation since the Wrights started flying in 1903 and named his son Wilbur after them. He was a self-taught pilot in 1913 at 38. Vergne C. 1918 WWI Draft Registration in North Bend Coos, OR says occupation Transportation Auto Line and was 5'11" tall, brown hair and eyes. After stopping flying for 10 years in 1925 he won the bid for the first contracted airmail service between Seattle and Los Angeles, "grandfather" of United Airlines. He died 18 Oct 1953 in Portland, WA. Vergne’s son, Wilbur, wrote a book in 1979 about his father called "Vern C. Gorst Pioneer and Granddad of United Airlines".

Below we see a 1909 Plat Map of Butler (Gorst) with the Gorst family properties and the first school house marked in red. Samuel Gorst property may have been where the first white settlers John Butler and his wife and six kids settled in early 1880's. Mrs. Butler became an unexpected and unplanned roadhouse cook by default because their property was right on the trail between everywhere - Clifton (Belfair), Charleston, or Sidney-Port Orchard. The area was called Butler for many years. Next to Samual Gorst's place was the 160 acre Pleasant Valley Farm, which gave the name to the community. You can several plots for the Port Blakely Mill Company, Bremerton & Charleston Water & Power and Asphalt Paving Company and some Waterfront Garden Tracts.

1909 Gorst Plat Map

Gorst had about 5 logging camps and a sawmill going in the early 1900s. If you walk down behind the Mattress Factory, there are still several pieces from that mill standing by the water. 

John Gorst's daughters May married Charles P. Ainsworth, who owned the below store on Bay Street in Port Orchard. Commerce between Gorst and Port Orchard was common over water and land. (Will move to a future Port Orchard article later.)

C. P. Ainsworth Flour, Grocer, Feed Store circa 1900

In early 1919, Boeing and Eddie Hubbard, the pilot, carried 60 letters in the C-700 from Vancouver, B.C., to Seattle, Washington, thereby delivering the first international airmail. 

Vern Gorst and Bill Boeing were partners, with the Gorst mills providing the wood for the early planes. The need for the many mills was the requirement from the Army to have all the different types of wood milled apart from each other. The pulp mills was located on the right side just past the bend going into Bremerton, there is a pond there now and the mill site is where the Viking Fence company is today. Just past the railroad overpass.

The partners flew between Seattle and Gorst daily, with the Gorst landing field at the logging camp on top of the hill, where the Bremerton Airport is now. They did not deliver mail from Gorst officially until 1938.

1919 Bill Boeing and Eddie Hubbard Mail Flights

Other famous residents include Johnson Curtis sons Edward S. Curtis (Indian photos) and Asahel Curtis (scenic/commercial photos) became well-known photographers. Glenn Jarstad was born in 1921 in Pleasant Valley (Gorst) and grew up to be mayor of Bremerton. I'm sure you know of much more.

Vern C. Gorst started Pacific Air Transport in 1925 for airmail service, Seattle Flying Service in 1928 (flew off Gorst Sand Lot, where Boeing Field is today), Gorst Air Transport 1929, Gorst Air Mail and then Victoria Air Mail and then combined with Pacific Air Transport.


They started carrying people with them, at first Navy Officers, then civilian employees from the shipyard. They were charging a pretty good fee for the service. Some locals were pilot instructors for the Army in WWI and taught at Boeing Field. After the war some became the first paid pilots by United, which involved flying 6 roundtrips daily, 7 days a week, with sightseeing flights added on Sundays.

1929 Gorst Air Transport

United Air Lines was named at the Gorst family home. Owners of four small airlines met to discuss joining forces. In coming up with a name one of them said "AH ... we're united. Let's call it United." One of the others was William Boeing of Boeing Air Transport. On July 1, 1931, Boeing formally consolidated its own corporation United Aircraft and Transport with Varney Air Lines, Pacific Air Transport (Vern Gorst), and National Air Transport to create United Air Lines. Boeing had flights from Gorst to Lake Union and Renton.

Pacific Air Transport (PAT) was formed in January 1926 by Vern C. Gorst, an Oregon bus line operator. He saw the potential competition that would arise from the award by the United States Post Office Department of contracts to carry airmails. Airmail Route CAM 8 was planned by the USPO to carry the post from Seattle, Washington to Los Angeles. It took 12 more years for the First Air Mail Flight from Bremerton May 19, 1938 (airport in Gorst).

The community was never incorporated. It developed as it was at the confluence of the "old" Belfair Highway and the road to Port Orchard. The first school started in 1891 or 1904? and it was known as Pleasant Valley Elementary, named after the largest farm in the area. Asahel and Edward Curtis supplied wood to keep the boilers going on the small mosquito fleet boats. The "shopping center" was new during WWII. 

In the 1940s when the post office was being established the official name of Pleasant Valley became Gorst. It's possible the Bremer family owned the mill where you can still see the old mill pond. 

This photo is the way the Pleasant Valley School looked in the 1950s. The building is still there inside what more recently was Bates Technical School. The community was never incorporated. It developed as it was at the confluence of the "old" Belfair Highway and the road to Port Orchard. The first school started in 1891 and it was known as Pleasant Valley. 

Here is a picture from 1934 showing "flying aircraft carrier" USS Macon heading toward Bremerton above what is now the Gorst Highway. 

1934 USS Macon

During WWII Sinclair Inlet was filled with ships all the way up to Gorst.

U.S. Navy, Sinclair Inlet view from Port Orchard

Asahel and Edward Curtis supplied wood to keep the boilers going on the small mosquito fleet boats. The "shopping center" was new during WWII. The post office was in the other grocery closer to Bremerton. The Bremer family may have owned the mill where you can still see the old mill pond.

Local memories from the 50's.....The pulp mill stank so bad we had to seal all the doors and windows. There was a short row of stores connected with a boardwalk, where you could buy penny candy. Feigley road was paved for one block, then it was a dirt road, and a great place to play. Sometimes in the summer a carnival came to town. At Pleasant Valley elementary at recess the kids would play in the tunnels in the blackberries back by the creek, and boy did they get in trouble! It really was a great place to grow up.

There is a rock quarry just past the mill site. With the crushed rock conveyor belts moving material over the highway and railroad tracks to awaiting barges in Sinclair Inlet. Rock from the quarry was used in construction of the first University of Washington buildings. The first campus was downtown Seattle in the general location of the Olympic Hotel.

Windy Point by Quarry Prior to Hwy 16 1940s?

Before Highway 16 traffic went over Erlands Point. A lot of rock had to be blasted to make room for a road and the railroad the Navy wanted.

1950's New Highway 16

Ted and Mel's —John Theodore Thompson and his brother-in-law, Mel Lovik — was the beginning of the Thompson family's small grocery empire in Kitsap County and beyond. The businesses grew out of the Gorst store to include groceries in Port Orchard, Manette, East Bremerton, Neah Bay and even Sitka, Alaska. Eventually, they took on a third partner, Bill Tenneson, and founded TB&M grocery stores in the area. Locals after picking strawberries go to Ted and Mel's for fudgesicles or ride the mechanical horse. Next to this store was the Circus Lunch, a place shaped like a circus car. This is the store in Gorst.

1949 Ted & Mel's Market

Who remembers Cliff's Cycle Center 1930s?, which became Ted and Mel's (TB&M Market in 1950s, and more recently torn down for a sewer pumping station abt 2013 and a pocket park. There is  plaque with history at the site, so stop and look. To the left of TB&M is where Navy city Metals is today. Others remember Jack's Cafe.

1949 Ted & Mel's Market

For many years there was an automobile wrecking yard on the waterfront on the Gorst side of the railroad overpass. The Bremerton watershed is west of Gorst and supplies 1/3 of Kitsap's tap water.

Coming from Port Orchard into Gorst Highway 16 used to be called Highway 14 until they were renumbered in 1964.

Gorst Highway 14 now 16

Nobody can forget driving by the Strip Clubs along the waterside. Before that it was Bill's Baypoint Restaurant.  I'm sure many of you know what the inside looks like, but I don't. 

The Bremerton Motel is where the Subaru place is today. This is photo is when it was new (prior to 1959) and later the fire department burned it down for practice about 1982. Looking North North East with Pleasant Valley Elementary to your back.

1950s Bremerton Motel in Gorst

Gorst traffic in the 1980s before the overpass. Do you remember the stop lights. I drove this route in the 1984 period before overpass when they added dividers on Highway 16 north of Gorst and it was a hot summer as that project backed up traffic.

1980s Gorst Traffic

There was also a Skating Rink, Merit Mart, Kozy Korner Cafe, and Kozy Korner Beauty Salon. Some may call Gorst the armpit of the Puget Sound or Kitsap, but having researched Gorst now and its history I have a greater appreciation for its contribution to the community. Could it use some prettying up? Yes, but it looks a lot better than it had. What else can you remember?

Some other great reading resources about Gorst is the Sidney Museum and Arts Association Newsletter article Gorst, Ainsworth, and Siegner History Vol 29 #2 and Vol 29 #3. The Biography of Vern Gorst doesn't include much about the community. Some of Asahel Curtis' photos of the Gold Rush (1898) may have some photos of Gorst, but haven't had time to check that out yet.

While not used in the writing of this blog I have learned that information about Pleasant Valley School is included in a small book printed at the School Superintendent's office in Port Orchard. "'The History of Kitsap County Washington' Its people and its school districts written with the co-operation of its children." Gives a history of Kitsap County, and each school district and has a little history about who originally settled there and the main occupation for the area.

I have actually done quite a bit of shopping in Gorst. I bought my recent Nordic Pine Cabin there, got the metal roofing material, shopped for mobile homes back in  the 80s and brought stuff for metal recycling. It's seen quite a few changes in its time from sawmills to traffic going over Erlands Point, to converting Charleston Beach Road to Hwy 16 to Highway overpass and 4 lane roads. Check out the history of Gorst and learn some amazing stuff. I'd like to learn more about the history of Gorst. What's in the Kitsap County History volume is pretty fragmented, so please share in the comments.

In this picture you can see the Bremerton Airport in the bottom left corner. 

2015 Gorst at head of Sinclair Inlet

Mark Kelpe purchased the original Gorst "tee-pee" Wig Wam Pub sign and in the process of restoring the neon on it. The Wig Wam Pub is located at 3548 W Belfair Valley Rd and still in operation today with some of the best BBQ and Texas-style Chili around. 

In future posts, I'll talk about what is in Gorst now like the Jimmy D's Steaks Ribs and Lounge,  Future Homes (bought my cabin there), roofing, steel and many other industrial products. Post in the comments some of the current places you would like me to include.

History can be so fascinating when it is presented this way. Thanks to all those who shared on Facebook and other places as that is what inspired me to compile this.

Photos also posted on my Kitsap Cares Community Pinterest.