Editor’s note: This column was first published Feb. 5, 2023. It is being updated and republished in memory of William Craven, who died June 25.
When William Craven became the mayor of Roslyn 50 years ago, he made history not just locally, but statewide.
Craven, a school janitor and cemetery sexton, became the first Black mayor of any city in Washington state, a fact that was celebrated four years ago in this old mining town in Kittitas County.
William Amos Craven was born Sept. 18, 1938, in Roslyn, the son of Samuel and Ethel Craven. Samuel Craven came to Roslyn from Texas to work in the Northern Pacific Coal Co. mines. The company, a subsidiary of the Northern Pacific Railway, provided the coal that fueled the railroad’s steam locomotives.
Blacks first came to Roslyn in 1888, initially brought in by the coal company as strikebreakers, hoping to play to the strikers’ racial prejudices. When the strike ended, the Black miners remained, joined by others, including Samuel Craven, and made up 22% of the city’s population by 1900.
But when the railroad switched to diesel locomotives and the demand for coal dropped, the city’s population declined to 1,000 in the 1970s, with Craven’s family and one other person making up the city’s Black community.
Craven married Virginia Lee Smith in 1966, and they had six children. One of their sons, Tom Craven, was a wildland firefighter who was killed with three others in the infamous Thirtymile Fire near Winthrop in 2001.
William Craven worked as a school janitor and maintenance man and also was a sexton, digging graves for Mount Olivet Cemetery, which was created when Black families were barred from burying their loved ones in the same cemeteries as white people. He was also a member of the Roslyn City Council, first elected in 1971, when the mayor’s position became vacant. The council appointed Craven to fill the post on June 10, 1975.
At that time, no Blacks had ever served as a mayor in Washington state. But Craven was not too concerned about that significance.
“Some people will like me, some people won’t,” Craven said in an interview with the Spokesman-Review newspaper shortly after his appointment. “I didn’t run for this job as a Black man, but as a man. I wanted an equal chance to try — if I can’t do it, the people will vote me out in September.”
When the final election results were tallied Sept. 16, 1975, Craven had won the mayor’s race in a landslide, 272-33.
During his tenure as mayor, which was a part-time job, Craven continued to work for the school district and in the cemetery, preparing the final resting places for many of the city’s residents.
“Some people tell me it isn’t fitting for a mayor to do such work. I tell them the mayor’s got to make a living, too,” Craven said in an interview.
During Craven’s administration, he pushed to have the city’s cemeteries — which were divided into sections based on nationalities and lodge memberships — put on the National Register of Historic Places.
He served as mayor until 1979, but continued his work in the city’s cemeteries, as well as his commitment to the city.
When his son, Tom, was killed in the Thirtymile Fire, Craven and his family made a memorial at Mount Olivet honoring not just him, but also the three firefighters who died alongside him. The memorial includes pictures of the firefighters, burned trees from the fire and a rock taken from where they died.
Gov. Jay Inslee declared Feb. 20, 2021, as William Craven Day, recognizing Craven’s pioneering tenure as the state’s first Black mayor. In August of that year, Inslee and other dignitaries unveiled a monument commemorating Craven’s historic tenure, displaying a copy of the governor’s proclamation and a picture of Craven.
The monument stands outside the Northwestern Improvement Co. building, which used to serve as the company store for the miners, in Roslyn.
Then-Rep. John Lovick, D-Mill Creek, said at the dedication ceremony that Craven opened doors for other Blacks to serve. Twenty years after Craven’s appointment, there were five Black mayors in the state, Lovick said.
“Because of (Craven’s) journey, many of us are able to go farther than we could ever envisioned and dreamed possible,” Lovick said.
At the ceremony, Craven said he was humbled by the support his family has received from the community.
“My mother said do what makes you happy, and that’s why we’re here,” Craven said. “I know she’s looking down and smiling on us, saying, ‘Darling, you did a great job.’”
Craven died June 25, 2025, of causes incident to his age. He was 86. He is buried at Mount Olivet, the cemetery he had watched over throughout his life.
It Happened Here is a weekly history column by Yakima Herald-Republic reporter Donald W. Meyers. Reach him at dmeyers@yakimaherald.com. Sources for this week’s column include historylink.org, blackpast.org, and the archives of the Yakima Herald-Republic and the Ellensburg Daily Record.
