The Dollar family

compiled by Columbian staff in 1989

When Mr. and Mrs. S.L. Dollar bought property about three miles west of Battle Ground in 1917, they probably never dreamed their family name would be engraved forever on Clark County maps.

The property was near what is now the intersection of Northeast 72nd Avenue and Northeast 219th Street and sat at the edge of a huge swamp that earlier pioneers had called Patterson Swale.

In 1925, the Dollars built a small filling station on the northeast corner of the intersection on a lot they had bought from a man named Rogers. It is said the price was $150 and two cows.

The family added candy and groceries to their service station and soon had a thriving business. Sheriff's deputies during the 1920s were sent out each morning to patrol as far as the intersection and would report back they had gone as far as Dollars Corner, thus giving the intersection its name.

Just after World War II, the Dollars built another building that housed a restaurant, hardware store and barber shop. A son, Virgil Dollar, added a garage and filling station across the street, which he operated for 17 years. He also operated the Battle Ground Lake Resort from 1964 to 1968.

Virgil Dollar, who died in 1980, was proud of the community that bears his family name, calling it "the hub of Clark County."

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