COURTESY OF BENJAMIN BIGFORD

Valley resident Benjamin Bigford photographed the contemporary view of the landmark Thomas-Nelson home site from "the old river road" where it rises to meet South 277th Street on a grade separation over the Burlington Northern tracks.

IN 1853 JOHN and Nancy Thomas, a young Kentucky couple, headed up the White (Green) River Valley hunting for a farm site and chose what in time became their namesake community. It was the railroad, when it came, that named the place for him, and John was appointed the Thomas postmaster.

The settlement was conveniently located near what was the navigable head for the shallow draught steamers that would later probe the river during the wet months when it was running well. In 1878 the Thomas family built a "salt box" home with a bell tower that survives as one of the valley's few pioneer landmarks.

In the 1890s John and Sophia Nelson purchased the Thomas home site and attached to the salt box the classic Italianate foursquare shown here. The Nelsons' third son, Emil, poses with his wife, Maud, beside the well-groomed hedge.

You will still find Thomas on the map midway between the larger communities of Kent and Auburn. And if you drive east less than a mile from the Valley Freeway on South 277th Street you will soon site the old Thomas house first. Or you can catch a glimpse of the venerable Thomas landmark to the left of the Nelson box addition in the contemporary photograph.

King County purchased the historic Thomas-Nelson home site from the Nelson heirs in the late 1990s in order to preserve the farmland and the homes. Now, however, there are rumors that the second of these admirable goals may be sacrificed. We may imagine how residents of the Green River Valley in the year 2105 will honor the citizens of this year who have power to save from destruction the Thomas salt box (at least) with its little tower — if they do it.

Paul Dorpat specializes in historical photography and has published several books on early Seattle.