Editing Mansfield, Washington (section)

==History==
R.E. Darling named Mansfield in 1905 after his hometown of [[Mansfield, Ohio]].<ref name=majors>{{Cite book| last = Majors | first = Harry M. | title = Exploring Washington | publisher = Van Winkle Publishing Co | year = 1975 | page = 103 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=CoWrPQAACAAJ| isbn = 978-0-918664-00-6}}</ref>  Mansfield's land was purchased and first developed in 1909 by the [[Great Northern Railway: Mansfield Branch (1909&ndash;1985)|Great Northern Railway]]. Mansfield was officially incorporated on February 23, 1911.<ref name="lionsclub">http://www.mansfieldwashington.org/history/ Official Town Website. Retrieved July 6, 2010</ref>

===Fires===
By 1914, the town had grown substantially, and had acquired two hotels, a bank, a doctor's office, and many more amenities. What had started as a town based on agriculture and the railroad had grown into a popular resort destination.<ref name="lionsclub" />

In June 1914, a fire broke out in Mansfield's Knox Store, known as "Mansfield's greatest store".<ref name="lionsclub" /> The fire was pushed by the wind and spread over both sides of the first block of Mansfield's Main Street. The fire caused roughly $200,000 US in damage. In November of the same year, fire destroyed the second block of Main Street. After the fires, a town ordinance was passed requiring all new buildings within certain areas of the town to be built of fire-proof materials.<ref name="lionsclub" />

In 1922, the Cross Hotel, owned by contractor Robert Cross, burned to the ground. The hotel was one of Mansfield's greatest attractions, and was considered to be one of the best hotels in all of North Central Washington. Though his hotel was lost, many of the houses built by Cross are still in use today.<ref name="lionsclub" />

===The Great Depression===
Mansfield's economy continued to grow throughout the years leading up to the [[Great Depression]]. The town's enormous amount of wheat production proved very lucrative, and the town continued to grow.<ref name="lionsclub" />

In the mid-1920s, a terrible drought hit Mansfield and the surrounding area. That, along with the beginnings of the Great Depression, caused many people to leave Mansfield in search of work.<ref name="lionsclub" />

===After the Depression and Mansfield today===
The town's crops and economy eventually recovered, but the damage had been done. Mansfield would never fully return to what it once was. The railroad eventually closed its service depot in Mansfield. In the 1950s, the train station was sold off and moved. Finally, in the 1980s, the railroad departed from Mansfield for the last time. The railroad was no longer able to serve the communities it passed through in Central Washington. The rails were dismantled, leaving Mansfield as "the town at the end of the rails".<ref name="lionsclub" />

Today, Mansfield is still a town based on agriculture. The town's grain elevators process around 1.7 million bushels of wheat annually.<ref name="lionsclub" />