The Origin
The Man Who Built Tekoa
Long before the mansion existed, Alfred B. "Bert" Willard arrived in Whitman County in 1878 โ when Tekoa was little more than scattered homesteads and tents across the prairie. Like many pioneers drawn westward by opportunity, Willard came to the Palouse looking for a future.
He homesteaded land south of Tekoa and later purchased additional railroad acreage for just $2.60 per acre. At the time, hauling grain to Spokane Falls required a grueling three-day round trip by wagon team, with wheat selling for only about forty cents per bushel. But Willard believed in the region.
In January of 1889, he traveled back east to marry Sara M. McLaren, his childhood schoolmate from Illinois. The couple returned to Tekoa during a remarkable moment in Washington history โ the same year Washington became a state and Tekoa officially incorporated as a city.
"The largest and most costly structure of its kind in the city."
โ The Tekoa Blade, 1908By 1908, A.B. Willard had become far more than a farmer. He organized Citizens State Bank and served as its president, helping shape the business and civic growth of the community for decades. That same year, he commissioned what would become one of Whitman County's most enduring landmarks. Construction cost approximately $8,000 โ an enormous investment for the era.
