Leander Liggett
By Steve Lent, Historian
Leander Liggett was a pioneer of Central Oregon and became one of its leading citizens. Leander N. Liggett was born in Polk County, Oregon on December 23, 1853. His father was elected sheriff of Polk County in 1866 and the family moved to Dallas, Oregon. Leander attended schools in Dallas and then attended Oregon Agricultural College in Corvallis graduating in 1873. After graduating he went to Linn County and began teaching. He was elected as Linn County Superintendent of Schools in 1878 and served two years in that position.
He married Catherine E. Cowan on February 6, 1878. Their only child, Florence, was born the following year. Leander came to Central Oregon in the fall of 1880 and established a homestead on the Crooked River and Camp Creek. He also taught in the Maury School for a while. Liggett Table that lies to the east of Camp Creek and south of the Crooked River is named for him.
The family moved into Prineville in 1893 and Leander served as Principal of Prineville schools for three years. He bought the Prineville Review newspaper in October 1895 and operated the paper for three years then sold it to William Holder. Leander also served three terms as mayor of Prineville.
A rival newspaper wrote of an embarrassing moment for Liggett while he was mayor and newspaper editor. A couple of gals from the local sporting house had a slow night and decided to have a little fun downtown. They visited one of the local saloons and got very drunk and passed out. The saloon keeper did not know what to do with the unconscious women and called in the town Marshal. He did not know what to do either, so he called Leander who was mayor, and between them they decided to bundle the women into a wheelbarrow and unceremoniously wheel them to their house of operation and then dumped them on the steps and ran off. The editorial the next day related that Mayor Liggett had carted off “Soiled Doves” in a wheelbarrow in the middle of the night.
Leander was involved in several social organizations in Prineville and was the chairman of the Democratic committee for Crook County. He was one of the major leading citizens of Prineville and Crook County. He was in the prime of his life when he suddenly died on January 30, 1905. He was buried in Juniper Haven cemetery but later his family exhumed his body and moved it to a burial plot in Washington State. One of the most beloved and prominent men of early Central Oregon was gone.