Page 286 - PGM Compendium

founder of Vancouver’s first bank, First National Bank. He served also as the bank’s first president. He
continued to preside as president, but left that position in 1889 to serve his second term as Mayor of
Vancouver.

In 1861, at the age of 34, Sohns was elected Treasurer of Clark County, and served for two years in that
position. In 1864 Sohns was elected as the ‘Councilman’ for Clark, Skamania, and Klickitat, serving in
the Washington Territory Legislature. In 1865, Sohns was again elected Treasurer of Clark County.

In 1875 Louis Sohns was elected Mayor of Vancouver, after having already served on the city council and
various civic committees. He served four years, but returned in 1889 to serve another two years as Mayor.
Sohns also served on the Washington Territory Legislature, and was a delegate for the Vancouver area to
the State Constitutional Convention in 1889, serving on the Preamble and Bill of Rights, Apportionment
and Representation, Revenue and Taxation, and Rules committees of the Convention.

In 1886, the Washington Territory Legislature established the State School for Defective Youth in
Vancouver, Washington. The act established a "school for the deaf, mute, blind, and feeble minded". Louis
Sohns and Charles Brown raised money from local civic leaders, purchased property, and built buildings
for the school. They were also added as trustees for the school. Years later the schools were separated into
a State School for the Deaf and the Washington School for the Blind. Louis Sohns retired from his active
business interests at Sohns and Sons in 1892. Although his health was failing, he continued to be active
in civic and personal affairs until his death in 1901.

It was said of M⸫W⸫ B Sohns: “True it is said that he has prospered, but he has not selfishly hoarded his
gains but has with an unstinting hand promoted the interests of the community, striven to anticipate their
wants and labored hard to add beauty to their surroundings. The noble building on Main Street, Vancouver,
is a witness to his public spirit, the new Masonic Hall is evidence of his fraternal feeling, and general
rumor is the only indicator of his unassuming generosity.”

Louis Sohns was elevated to the rank and station of Grand Master of Masons in the Washington Territory
in 1880.

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