 Falls City - a logging town .....John Thorp and his son Theodore built a grist mill by the falls 10 miles southwest of present day Dallas in 1852. It lasted for many years, and was known as Thorp's Mill. The mill was moved to Dixie (Rickreall) in 1865 to take advantage of a more central location. Not many had settled in the area by this time. Those who did got their mail at Syracuse, about a mile east, site of a general store on the farm of Frank Hubbard, who also acted as postmaster. .....People began to settle around the falls, so a company of local men organized the Falls City Development Company and platted a town on the north side of the river. H. S. Montgomery, owner of the land south of the river, also platted a town. The various promoters finally got together, and in 1891 the name was changed from Luckiamute Falls to Falls City, and the post office was moved from Syracuse to the new location. Due to its double origin, the town still has two "Main Streets." North Main and South Main run parallel to each other on opposite sides of the river. .....A second sawmill was built on the south side of the river by John Montgomery, and other businesses quickly followed, giving the new town a solid base. A Mr. Watkins built a planing mill in town and a sawmill in he hills, sending his lumber to town by flume.  Falls City United Methodist Church, built in 1892. |