Baumeister, Edward J.

Washington State Senator, 1901-1905; Asotin, Washington, merchant and banker.

Edward Baumeister was born in Saxe-Weimar, Germany on June 24, 1848. He and his family emigrated in 1854 and settled in New York City where he attended public schools. In April 1860 he and his brother, Maximilian Baumeister (1840-1909), moved to California and then, in 1863, to Walla Walla, Washington, where they worked for 19 years as barbers and then two years as real estate and insurance agents. Edward moved to Lewiston, Idaho in 1885 and worked for seven months at John P. Vollmer & Co., a general store. In the fall of 1885 he again moved, to nearby Asotin, Washington, where he built a general store just outside of the town. This later became the new location for the modern city of Asotin and the business center for Asotin County.

The general store also served some of the functions of a bank for the community and in 1900 Edward established the first bank in Asotin County. In 1908 he sold the general store, but retained the bank. Edward Baumeister has been called the father of Asotin and from 1901-1905 served as state senator for Asotin, Garfield, and Columbia Counties.