William B. Morse
By Steve Lent, Museum Historian
William Britton Morse was born on March 23, 1886 in Burlington, Kansas. He graduated from Kansas State Normal School and taught a year in Kansas before moving to Portland, Oregon in 1906. He attended business college in Portland.
He came to Prineville in 1909 and worked as a bookkeeper for the Collins-Elkins Mercantile store. He also farmed along McKay creek from 1913 to 1926. He purchased the Prineville Warehouse company in 1926. He began to expand his business presence by establishing the Morse Lumber company and the Redmond Potato Company.
He met a local Prineville woman whose family had a long pioneer heritage in the vicinity. Lotta Smith was born on March 28, 1892 and her parents were Colonel Fremont Smith and Angie Sites Smith. They became romantically involved and were married in Prineville on January 10, 1912. They lived in Prineville for the remainder of their lives.
William became an active member of the Prineville Masonic Lodge and was a m50 years holding many officer positions. He also served in many local organizations. He was a former president of the Crook County Chamber of Commerce and past chairman of the Pioneer Memorial Hospital board. He was also the Crook County Red Cross chairman in 1945 and headed the Crook County War Finance Committee from 1945 to 1947. He also served as the first municipal judge for the City of Prineville, served nine years as mayor of Prineville and a four-year term on the Oregon legislature.
In 1948 he constructed a group of four office buildings at the corner of east Second and Main streets. The buildings were made of reinforced concrete. It was named the Morse building and had the date of construction embossed on the front of the building. The building housed several businesses through the years including the headquarters for the Ochoco National Forest, U.S. Post Office, and Marshall Wells Hardware. It was eventually purchased by the Soroptomists and the dividing walls were removed and is now the location of the Neat Repeat Store in Prineville.
William retired from his business operations in 1943 but remained very active in the Prineville community for several years. He died on December 24, 1972. Lotta lived on for several years and she died on August 22, 1984. They are both buried in Juniper Haven Cemetery in Prineville