In February 1903, the Skamania County Pioneer heralded the arrival of Dr. Thomas Carr Avary from Atlanta, Georgia, who proposed to practice medicine and become permanently identified with Stevenson and Skamania County. In December 1907, Stevenson voted to incorporate and Dr. Avary became the first mayor. He was elected because, by his own hands, he had helped clear land equal to 20 town lots, the stump land later crowned by the sanatorium, and was known as a skillful practitioner and stump-lifter. In the 1920's, Dr. Avary operated a clinic upstairs while the Stevenson Post Office and Alexander Drug Store occupied the lower street level. Ella Murray, a Stevenson resident for 98 years, called the Avary Building the most elegant in town for its gabled architecture, characteristic of the early 1900's.