The Sammamish Heritage Society
Discovering, documenting & preserving the history of Sammamish
The historic mill town of Monohon was located on the south eastern shore of Lake Sammamish. The area was named after Martin Monohon, who homesteaded it in 1877. By 1906, there were 20 homes in Monohon. Five years later, it boasted a population of 300 and had a post office with 125 letter boxes, reflecting the growth of the surrounding area. Monohon also had a railroad depot, meeting hall and hotel.
The mill had a cutting capacity of 120,000 board feet daily, enough to build about 20 small houses a day. The loading track could service 20 rail cars at the same time. On June 26, 1925, Monohon was destroyed by a fire that started in the sawmill. All that remained in the community after the fire was a large, steel sawdust burner, ten company homes and the horse barn. Though it was rebuilt, the mill never came back to its earlier production capacity, and in 1980, after a series of fires, it was closed for good.
Monohon had a two-room schoolhouse, two teachers and an average attendance of 50 students in the 1920s. Church services were first held in the schoolhouse on Sunday afternoons. Eventually, a youth club called The Busy Bees helped construct a building for church services.
