How We Started
Our History
Walla Walla gun Club started out as a group of cavalry NCOs trying their hand at the then-new game of trap-shooting in 1892. Annie Oakley’s exploits with Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Show were taking the nation by storm, and people everywhere were learning that they, too, could hit moving objects with a “scattergun”.
In 1896, the first Walla Walla Gun Club was organized at Fort Walla Walla, and a makeshift trap range was established down by the fort’s dump area. By then, townsfolk had joined the soldiers for aerial target shooting fun.
Unfortunately, the frontier forts were closed down by an act of congress in 1909. Although Fort Walla Walla lasted until 1911, it was clear that a new venue for the club would have to be found.
That new venue was located on Melrose Avenue about where it now intersects with Clinton St. At the time, the small town of Walla Walla was still a good distance away.
In the 1920s, a boom hit Walla Walla, as it did everywhere. Soldiers returning from the Western Front in Europe were looking for new frontiers to conquer. Walla Walla expanded, pushing the Club to move further east on Melrose.
Another war was brewing in Asia in the 1930’s, and on December 7, 1941, it hit the USA. Quickly shotgun shells became unobtainable at retail, and it was feared the Club would have to close down for the duration of WWII.
However, as luck would have it, Uncle Sam decided to build an Army Air Force base on the site of what is now known as the Walla Walla Airport.
The new base trained bomber crews, and these gunnery crewmen needed to learn to hit moving targets. Skeet shooting just the ticket to train them! All of a sudden, there were plenty of shotshells to be had at Walla Walla Gun Club, courtesy of the US Army.
While the soldiers were not allowed to sell the shells, enterprising Club Members were on hand to provide training and assistance to the Army in exchange for a box or two of ammo.
The Walla Walla Gun Club was the only Club in Washington State to remain open and functioning during WWII.
After the war, the Club’s liaison with the Army was used to gain access to the then-surplus Army Air Force base. Club President Joe Webster and Club Secretary H. G. “Andy” Anderson managed to gain a long-term lease on almost 29 acres of the old base. This become the home of WWGC and remains so to this day.
The club moved into the new location in 1950, and officially incorporated in 1949.
Several old-timers still in town were employed as trap boys and roust-abouts.
Today, WWGC is one of only 2 trap clubs in the Pacific Northwest that can boast 18 trap fields. We host a number of the largest trap shooting events in the Northwest, including the very largest each March—the Camas Prairie Handicap.
Members today can be sure that they are following in the footsteps of a lot of good people who kept alive the spirit of individualism and firearms ownership that has had a lot to do with making the United States the greatest nation on earth.
What’s Next? Please Come Join Us!
We are expanding every day. Be part of the change and join now!