The answer man: A nearly forgotten Union lake and legacy

Jun. 18—UNION — Denny Langford fondly recalls his rollicking experiences with friends at Union's Goodbrod Lake while he was growing up in the 1940s.

"When I was in fifth, sixth, seventh and eighth grade I had a ball down there," said Langford, who has lived in Union almost all his life.

Langford and his friends particularly enjoyed paddling wooden rafts to Goodbrod Lake's two small islands. There they caught water snakes and crawdads.

"The islands were full of them. We just had a big time," he said. "It was a fun place."

The 2.5-acre, 5-feet-deep man-made lake, which was about a quarter mile south of the Eastern Oregon Agricultural Research Center on the west edge of Union, vanished in the 1950s, Langford said.

Today, however, the lake's story is resurfacing and so is the intriguing tale of the man who created it.

Long forgotten information about Goodbrod Lake and its namesake, A.J. Goodbrod, are coming to light with the help Union resident Steve Wadner, a Union County Museum volunteer who has done extensive research on both the man and the lake he built. Wadner will give a presentation on his findings at 7 p.m. Tuesday, June 21, at the Little White Church building on Main Street in Union.

Goodbrod Lake's story dates back to the early 1890s when Goodbrod created the lake over a three-year span from 1892 to 1894. The site's features included a dance hall and the presence of an old cannon that may have come from England, Wadner said.

The lake was in a picturesque setting, according to a story about Goodbrod in the Feb. 21, 1909, Oregon Sunday Journal.

"He has built a lake on his place which is one of the most beautiful in Eastern Oregon," the article said.

Small boats were available at the site that people could rent, Langford said. He noted that they were gone by the late 1940s. In addition to being a recreation hotspot, the lake had a utilitarian purpose, for Langford noted that his father used water from the lake to irrigate his farm.

It is not known how the lake was created, Wadner said. The man responsible for what today remains a bit of an aquatic mystery arrived in Union in 1876 as a Civil War veteran with battle scars. He was a member of Company B of the 11th New York Calvary and fought in the battle of Fairfax County Courthouse in Virginia, where he was seriously wounded.

"He was hit by a .52 caliber mini ball. He spent five months in a hospital recovering from it," Wadner said.

Goodbrod later rejoined Company B, which was based in Louisiana and Tennessee, at the end of the Civil War.

Protecting Lincoln

Company B was initially based in Washington, D.C., where it fought in area battles and provided protection for President Abraham Lincoln. The Army unit was responsible for escorting Lincoln and his family to and from the Soldiers' Home each summer. The Soldiers' Home was a cottage on a hill about 3 miles from Washington, D.C., then known as Washington City. The Lincolns spent their summer nights at the cottage because it was cooler there.

Wadner said it is not known if Goodbrod ever helped escort the Lincolns but the chances that he did are not out of the question.

"It is just as likely that he did as he didn't," Wadner said. "In my mind it was 50-50."

Goodbrod could have spoken with Lincoln if he did accompany his family on rides to and from Soldiers' Home.

"Lincoln was known to sit and visit with soldiers," Wadner said.

The Union County Museum volunteer said that even if Goodbrod never escorted Lincoln, he would have talked with fellow soldiers who met with the president.

"It is still part of the story," Wadner said.

He noted that he found a published account during his research in which a Company B soldier told of a long talk he had with Lincoln.

Active in Union community

The end of the Civil War did not mark the end of Goodbrod's military career. He reenlisted in the Army in 1866 and was sent to California and Oregon to fight in Indian wars. Goodbrod later left the Army, and he came to Union in 1876. He purchased Union's old Centennial Hotel about a decade later and began operating it around 1887.

Wadner said registers from the hotel indicate that people from as far away as Mexico and Germany stayed there. He noted that some of the hotel's visitors may have been individuals interested in investing in the flourishing gold mines of Baker County.

Goodbrod sold the Centennial Hotel around 1891 and got busy creating his lake and working as a fruit farmer.

"He was hardworking and industrious," Wadner said.

Goodbrod, who died at age 70 in 1914, was always a big part of the Union community during the 38 years he lived there. Wadner said his name pops up all the time when examining Union documents and news articles from that era. So frequently does Goodbrod's name appear that Wadner wonders why he is not better known today.

"Anyone who is interested in the history of Union should know about A.J. Goodbrod," he said.

Dick Mason is a reporter with The Observer primarily covering the communities of North Powder, Imbler, Island City and Union, education, Union County veterans programs and local history. Dick joined The Observer in 1983, first working as a sports and outdoors reporter.