Bingen was first platted by Theodor Suksdorf in 1892. Suksdorf was a native of Germany and immigrated with his family to the United States when he was a child. He named the new town Bingen because it reminded him of Bingen-am-Rhine, located on a wide bend of the Rhine River in Germany which is a river that looks very much like the Columbia River here. During the early settlement of this area, another family, the Jewetts, located their farm on the hillside above Bingen in what is now known as the town of White Salmon. The Jewetts and the Suksdorfs did not get along well and this led to a long lasting feud between the two families and towns. The feud was said to have begun over a disagreement about the placement of the post office. And when the rail line went through, neither town would give in on the name of the railroad station, so it was named Bingen-White Salmon after both. It is the only railroad station in the nation that is named after two towns. Dock Grade Road
The project pictured above was a result of the feud between Theodore Suksdorf and A. H. Jewett in the 1890s. Tale has it that Suksdorf closed the road through his property connecting White Salmon to the river. In response, the citizens of the White Salmon area built Dock Grade Road to ensure their access to the river and docks.
Steamboat Dock and Landing
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