Maryhill, Washington

Welcome to Maryhill, Washington

In 1907, Samuel Hill purchased 5,300 acres of land along the Columbia River with the dream of establishing a Quaker farming community. He formed the Maryhill Land Company, named after his daughter, and set about building a town. The village included a store and post office, a Quaker church, an inn, a blacksmith’s shop, and a stable. In 1914, work began on a Hilltop Mansion that was to be Hill’s home. But the remote location of Maryhill and the lack of irrigation proved insurmountable obstacles and the land company failed. Construction of Hill’s mansion stopped in 1917. It was then that a friend of Hill’s—Loïe Fuller, a pioneer of modern dance living in Paris—convinced him to turn his would-be mansion into a museum of art. Fuller’s close association with well-known artists in France, helped build the core of the museum’s collection, including the acquisition of more than 80 works by French sculptor Auguste Rodin. Hill also transferred his own art collections to the museum. Although still unfinished, the museum was dedicated in 1926 by Sam Hill’s friend, Queen Marie of Romania (the granddaughter of Britain’s Queen Victoria), in a ceremony that received national attention and was attended by more than 2,000 people.