Richard Arthur Bogle

Richard Arthur Bogle (September 7, 1835 – November 22, 1904) and he died in Walla Walla, Washington state. He was known as the first African-American businessman in Walla Walla, Washington.

Early life Bogle was born in Jamaica in 1835 to parents who were slaves until 1833. At the age of 12, he escaped by smuggling himself onto a ship bound for New York, where he remained for one year before moving to Michigan. He stayed in Michigan for a short time before joining a wagon train to the Oregon Territory at age 16 in 1851. He followed this trade until 1862 when he moved to visit the mining camps in Florence, Elk City, and Ori Fine in Idaho before returning to the Walla Walla Valley. Bogle married America Waldo, an Oregon pioneer from Missouri. Daniel, who raised America and is thought to have been her uncle, gave them "several gifts of great value with which to start their home."

Newspaper editor Asahel Bush called the wedding "shameful" for its "negro equality sentiment." a 15-acre park consisting of four historic exhibits and a seventeen-building pioneer village, Bogle's life is being presented by a member of the Living History troupe.

Walla Walla businesses Soon after their wedding, the Bogles moved to Walla Walla, Washington. on “proprietor of the tonsorial parlors at No.3 Second Street.”