honoring enterprise in Jefferson County
• Port Townsend's Chinese community • Evolution of the modern marine trades • Four generations of Huntingfords • Over 60 legacy stories told by businesses
IN OUR
125
TH
YEAR
1890
St. John Hospital was founded by the Sisters of Charity of Providence in 1890. It began as a two room house that was transformed into a hospital. Led by Mother Joseph, a self trained architect and builder, the construction of St. John Hospital began.
1920
The first big hospital, a four story wooden structure opened in July 1891. In that year, there were 43 patients. In 1929, the Sisters added on a three story brick wing which increased the capacity to 130 beds. The water side was extensive gardens and pastures. In 1965, the wooden hospital building was razed. Expansion of the hospital began in early 1990s when the new hospital building bond was approved by the voters after three tries. The construction started in 1994. The grand opening of the new, three story, 67,000 sq. ft. hospital and medical ser services building was October 1995.
1960
Today, Jefferson Healthcare is the largest employer in Jefferson County. It is a fully accredited system of networked medical care with multiple clinics, and a comprehensive array of inpatient and outpatient health care services. Our quality patient care is recognized and awarded by international, national and state organizations such as DNV, World Health Organization, Human Rights Campaign Foundation, Washing Washington State Hospital Association, and Consumer Reports.
1990
2000
Jefferson Healthcare will undergo transformation again in 2015 as it starts with a 50,000 sq. ft. expansion project on the Sheridan side of the campus. The space will house outpatient services such as lab, women’s imaging, orthopedics, cancer care, cardiology, medical short stay, wound care, and a larger emergency department. Our commitment to improvement will continue to grow with our upcoming ISO certification, accreditations for our Oncology program and further implementation of the Strong For Surgery, Healthy Hospital Initiatives and Partnership For Patients.
2015
Implementing our strategic plan will drive improvements to the patient care experience and position Jefferson Healthcare to meet the growing health and wellness needs of our community for the next decade. Mike Glenn, CEO
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The Port Townsend & Jefferson County Leader • LEGACIES
Jefferson Healthcare (360) 385-2200 JeffersonHealthcare.org
A new generation of HOPE Local young professionals acquire ownership of HOPE Roofing & Construction help us minimize waste and maximize productivity,” said Jordan. “This has allowed us to allocate more time towards training and high-level certifications for employees.” In addition, the owners are looking to expand their current capacity to meet the growing demand for services. “We see the market returning and we project a fair amount of growth in the construction industry within the next few years.”
Engaged in the community…
In the beginning…
Pitching in comes naturally to Jordan Eades, who was inspired by her father, Cape George resident Mike Smith. “My dad is a great mentor; I have always admired his commitment to community and willingness to take on leadership roles,” she said. Since 2011, Jordan Eades has served on the board of the Jefferson County Chamber of Commerce. She currently acts as director of the Young Professionals Network and is incoming President. “As a business owner and community member, I value the opportunity to work with the JCCC,” she said. “Our young professionals program provides much-needed business building programs, mentorship support and leadership opportunities. Jefferson County is transforming into the land of local opportunity for young professionals, which in turn helps to build a more resilient and sustainable local economy.” Zach joins her in supporting community events and charities.
A beautiful roof by HOPE Roofing.
In the summer of 1971, Jim and Marsha Eades left Seattle and hitchhiked to the Olympic Peninsula. This young, pioneering couple saw Port Townsend as the perfect place to start a family and nourish their entrepreneurial spirits. Jim looked to the trades for opportunity. As a former metal artist, he discovered he could apply his creative talents to carpentry and roofing. In 1977, HOPE Roofing was born. In the beginning, HOPE consisted of Jim, a handful of employees and Marsha, who balanced the raising of four small children and office management. As time went on, Jim and Marsha’s three sons – Aaron, Joab and Zach – signed on and HOPE Roofing became a family business. Seeing an opportunity for growth, Jim began employing principles outlined in the “E-Myth” which transformed the business from a mom and pop operation to a full-scale roofing and construction company serving Jefferson, Kitsap and Clallam counties.
ʻRock starʼ employees…
In addition to happy customers, it is the “rock star” team that makes owning HOPE Roofing & Construction so rewarding, said the owners. “I believe the secret to HOPE’s continued success is our employee’s deep passion for their craft, explained Zach. They are dedicated individuals, each possessing a high degree of integrity, industry knowledge and desire to see HOPE succeed. Roofing Manager Keith Caldara has been with company for 10 years. “Keith’s enthusiasm for roofing is inspiring. Along with a love for our industry, he possesses tremendous leadership skills and truly understands what it takes to meet our customer’s needs” shared Zach. Lead Estimator Matt Wallace, former owner of Cherry Street Roofing, joined HOPE in 2014. Clients appreciate Matt’s ability to easily articulate the complexities of the roofing process and his wealth of material knowledge. Repair Manager Dave Howden is our client’s go-to solution for resolving issues such as leaks and failures. He is a master problem-solver, utilizing his 30-plus years of experience. Dave also serves as part of HOPE’s training team, frequently mentoring the crews on specialty issues concerning flashing and venting. Lead Foreman Pepe Hernandez ensures that jobs are completed safely; that they adhere to HOPE’s quality standards; and are accomplished in a timely manner. Pepe’s work ethic is second to none and he is well-known for his ability to motivate crews and delight clients. Office Manager Stephanie Nickasio ensures that our clients receive timely communication regarding estimates and projects. Her welcoming personality, combined with attention to detail ensures that clients feel comfortable and well taken care of throughout the roofing process.
Zach and Jordan, second generation…
HOPE Roofing & Construction was purchased in 2011 by Zach Eades and his wife Jordan. Stepping into the role of business ownership was a goal for both Jordan and Zach. “We both desired an opportunity to challenge ourselves and further develop our skills sets. Additionally, we felt that it was important to honor the legacy established by Jim and Marsha by continuing to provide steady employment and quality roofing services which help fuel economic development and provide quality of life for residents of Jefferson County and the Olympic Peninsula.”
Jim, Marsha and baby Zach Eades.
38 years later…
In 2015, HOPE will celebrate 38 years total and three years under Zach and Jordan. Zach Eades is proud to be a part of the legacy left by his parents. “It takes incredible fortitude to sustain a business for three decades,” says Zach. “I feel fortunate to have had the opportunity of working with and learning from my folks, and now to have the opportunity to continue building on that experience.” In those three years, HOPE has achieved several milestones. This included the negotiation of two multi-family reroof contracts (97 buildings) with Forest City Military Communities for work on the Bangor Naval Base. HOPE Roofing & Construction has also been awarded the exclusive Owens Corning Platinum Preferred Status and GAF Master Elite status; accreditation achieved by less than 1% of contractors.
Looking ahead…
Thinking forward, continuing to invest in best practices and providing the highest quality service and craftsmanship will be top of the list for HOPE. “HOPE has adopted lean-thinking strategies to
Zach and Jordan Eades.
The HOPE legacy…
105 Louisa Street, Port Townsend (360) 385-5653 •hoperoofing.com
Since 1977, thanks to Jim and Marsha Eades, HOPE Roofing & Construction has been built on an ethos of integrity and dedication to craftsmanship. Even today, craftsmanship, quality and professionalism are the business cornerstones. “At the end of the day, it’s our work and our word that matters to our customers,” said Jordan. “We are committed to continuing to lead our company with the core values of honesty, integrity and quality. Our aim is to complete projects carefully and efficiently, with the goal of minimizing inconvenience, maximizing value, and creating beautiful, enduring homes for our customers.”
LEGACIES • The Port Townsend & Jefferson County Leader
3
Legacies A rare respite for an ambitious town: Port Townsend’s waterfront, with ships of sail and steam at anchor, was captured in 1898. Photo from the Jefferson County Historical Society
The past as prelude
W
e proudly present “Legacies,” as unique a magazine as you’ll ever find. Anywhere. Legacies is devoted to the way in which the past creates the future. Much of the fabric of Jefferson County is formed by the thick threads of enterprises and communities which sprung into being decades ago, which sustain themselves today, and which study the future. Here, the past is not a dead object. It is a legacy of hopes, ambitions and principles that guide lives today and tomorrow. Inside you’ll find in-depth stories about some of these thick threads. Equally important, however, is that every advertisement in Legacies is also a story – a narrative of the origin and evolution of over 60 keystone enterprises and buildings. They unveil their founders, their values, their dreams for the future. All advertisers have roots at least a decade deep, and many of them much deeper. An index to these advertisers is on the right, and our thanks go to them both for telling their legacy stories and supporting this magazine. We hope you enjoy every page of it. – Scott Wilson
BROUGHT TO YOU BY Publisher: Scott Wilson Designer: Sara Radka Marketing: Catherine Brewer, Jen Clark, Ken Hulick, Katie Kowalski Graphic artists: Chris Hawley, Marian Roh, Sara Radka, Drew Elicker Copy editing, rewrite: Cate Reeder, Jennifer James-Wilson, Fred Obee 4
One of the earliest photos of Port Townsend’s first downtown, circa 1864, shows Emma Barthrop’s News Depot, a gathering place for the curious. Photo from the Jefferson County Historical Society
table of contents
Fowler’s building; Jones’ newspaper 20
Evolution of marine trades 6
Four generations of Huntingfords 32
PT’s Chinese community 12
History alive 44
advertiser index Abracadabra .......................31 Ajax Cafe .............................50 Aldrich’s Market ..................43 April Fool & Penny, Too........30 Aurora Aircraft Maintenance .......................33 Autoworks PT......................27 Bergstrom Sewing Machine Center ...................35 Bergstrom’s Antique & Classic Auto .....................35 Bishop Victorian Hotel.........10 Bonita’s Four-Legged Friends ................................31 Branan Ward .......................45 Centrum ..............................22 Chevy Chase Beach Cabins.......................33 City of Port Townsend .........17 Copper Canyon Press ...........40 David T. Chuljian DDS ..........39 Dentistry Northwest ...........21 Don’s Pharmacy & Soda Fountain ...................7 Finnriver Farm & Cidery ......43 First Federal ........................35 G. Little Construction ..........23 Geoduck Restaurant & Tavern ..............................16 Hadlock Building Supply .....52 Hastings Estate Co., Inc. ......15 Homer Smith Insurance Agency................34 Hope Roofing & Construction ......................3 InHealth Imaging................21 Jefferson County Courthouse .........................34 Jefferson County Community Foundation ......47 Jefferson Community School .................................26
Jefferson Healthcare .............2 Jefferson Land Trust ............39 Key City Public Theatre ........45 Kitsap Bank .........................19 Life Care Center of Port Townsend ................49 Mad Hatter & Co..................16 Mount Baker Block Corporation ...........................5 Munn Bros. .........................11 Nowak Plumbing ..................9 OlympusNet ........................31 Peninsula Community Federal Credit Union ...........40 Peninsula Paint Co...............45 Pet Town .............................42 Port Townsend Athletic Club .......................40 Port Townsend Marine Science Center ........43 Port Townsend Paper Corp......................36,37 Power Trip Energy ...............41 Printery Communications ...25 Resort at Port Ludlow .........13 San Juan Villa Dementia Care ....................41 Silverwater Cafe ..................43 SOS Printing ........................30 Sound Hardwood ................50 Sport Townsend ..................29 Sunrise Coffee Co...................9 Terrapin Architecture ..........23 Terry’s Lock & Safe...............41 The Business Guides............29 Townsend Bay Property Management ......................16 United Good Neighbors of Jefferson County .............47 Victorian Clipper Barbershop .........................23 Wynwoods Gallery ..............16
COVER PHOTO: Port Townsend turned out in force and with a marching band to welcome a locomotive on Water Street in October 1925. The train met a steamer from Seattle that was the first to ferry autos to Port Townsend. But the town's railroad dreams were always thwarted. Photo from the Leader collection
The Port Townsend & Jefferson County Leader • LEGACIES
Mount Baker Block Building 1890 • Water & Taylor Streets THE BUILDING Charles Eisenbeis got more things started and finished in young Port Townsend than any other man. He was a baker, brewer, brick-maker, builder, banker and the “Baron” who built for his home “The Castle” (now the Manresa Castle). He was also the town’s first mayor and the leading member of the “Big Five Syndicate,” the five investors who made most things happen Shortly after its completion in 1890, the Mount Baker Block Building is surrounded by a plank sidewalk and muddy streets. during Port Townsend’s boom years. The top two floors were unfinished, and remained so for 110 years. P.M. Richardson photo courtesy of Jefferson County Historical Society But without question his crowning architectural contribution was the construction of the massive building that even today anchors downtown Port Townsend, the Mount Baker Block Building. Originally designed by local architects as a five-story, 96-room hotel, Eisenbeis scaled it back to a four-story commercial building as construction began. It was a wise move. In late 1890 the local bid for a railroad collapsed, and with it the economy. While the Merchants Bank moved into the prime corner space on the first floor, the upper two floors of the 40,000-square-foot building sat empty and unfinished for many decades. The building remained in the Eisenbeis family for almost a century. With his sister Ann, Mark Welch, Eisenbeis’s great grandson, took ownership of the building in 1975. He later helped his friend Bobby McGarraugh raise pigeons in the empty top floor. The upper floors were finally finished in 2000. The building is home to diverse tenants – retailers, travel agents, website designers, artists and nonprofits.
THE BUSINESSES
The Port Townsend Film Festival occupies this fourth-floor space. There are vacancies – call to learn more.
Here are some of the 40 businesses now active in the historic Mount Baker Block Building
A parade of important local businesses have called this building home. They include Merchants Bank, Eisenbeis Stationery (the town’s first book store), Bergstrom’s Army-Navy Store, the Torka Studio, Redding Studio, Port Angeles Savings and Loan, Welch Insurance, and Kortors Popular Bar (slogan: “Drink and The Gang Drinks With You! Swear Off and You Go It Alone!”). Sam Kyle bought the building in 1985. In 1995, he launched a massive renovation that introduced an elevator, structural supports and – finally – the completion of the upper floors, wired for a high-tech use. Some 40 businesses now occupy the building. Upper-floor tenants include the Port Townsend Main Street Program, winner of national awards for reinvigorating the historic commercial district, and the Port Townsend Film Festival office.
Bridging Yesterday with Tomorrow
frameworksnw.com 360-385-3809
quimpersound.com 360-385-2454
ptmainstreet.org 360-385-7911
wanderingangus.com 360-301-0913
ptfilmfest.org 360-379-1333
porttownsendchocolatecompany.com 360-385-3961
UNDERTOWN 360-344-4144 redravengallery. blogspot.com 360-385-1493
To lease a piece of history, contact: Mount Baker Block Corporation (360) 385-7275 • Office: 211 Taylor St., Suite 15A
Mount Baker Block Building PORT TOWNSEND, WASHINGTON
www.mountbakerblock.com LEGACIES • The Port Townsend & Jefferson County Leader
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Legacy A legacy of boatbuilders Marine trades pioneers came for different reason over 40 years
T
By Ernie Baird Special to the Leader
here is nothing else on Puget Sound quite like the marine trades in Port Townsend.
We possess the only publicly owned 300-ton travel lift, every level of boat service from bottom paint to mega-yacht, and we have preserved the jewel of Point Hudson in the midst of downtown development. Our marine trades industry was made possible by a remarkable combination of public money, private initiative and astounding talent. This is an account of its history by someone who has worked in the marine trades as a shipwright and business owner since 1979. The stage was set for the development of the marine trades in Port Townsend following World War II. The Port of Port Townsend spent public money to buy the harbor and buildings at Point Hudson. It also purchased land adjacent to the little harbor which was constructed at Boat Haven in 1926. In 1964 the Army Corps of Engineers dramatically expanded the harbor at Boat Haven by building a breakwater and dredging the enclosed area. The spoils from the dredging were used to fill large sections of Kai Tai lagoon along the shore. Much of the 17 acres of Port land adjacent to Boat Haven were created by that fill. By the mid-‘60s the Port had created the places that would eventually be occupied by the marine trades. The first boat builders at Boat Haven targeted the market for fiberglass boats. The Arthur family brought Skookum Marine from Seattle to Port Townsend in 1968. They built the first large metal building in the Port. By the early ‘70s they were joined by Chinook
ABOUT THE AUTHOR Ernie Baird has worked in the marine trades as a shipwright and business owner since 1979, and was the owner of Baird Boat. 6
Kit Africa of Haven Boatworks is one of the Port Townsend boatyard’s most experienced shipwrights still working today. Photo by Charles Espy
Marine. In 1975, Gary Jonientz took over a small repair business, renamed it Fleet Marine and built the building now occupied by Shoreline Marine Diesel. In 1973, Ron Radon bought the old Navy building at Point Hudson and moved his operation to Port Townsend from California. Radon specialized in the construction of fast fiberglass fish boats. Cecil Lange started Cape George Cutters outside of town, producing sailing vessels that were a marriage of fiberglass hulls and wood decks. These were conventionally organized businesses. Most had some capital in the bank.
BURN AND PEACOCK LAUNCH BOAT WORKS
In 1974 the Port bought its first Travel lift, and a whole new breed of boatbuilder came to the
The Port Townsend & Jefferson County Leader • LEGACIES
“Our marine trades industry was made possible by a remarkable combination of public money, private initiative and astounding talent.” Boat Haven. Extensive repair of large hulls out of the water was now possible, including commercial fishing vessels. The publicly owned Travel lift could move a boat to many locations within the Port. The wood boats that were hauled out didn’t have to be inside a building for major work. Money earned in the salmon fishery was available to pay for repair and refit work. Those
things in combination (the Travel lift, money from fishing, and big jobs on wood boats) were the basis for utilizing the Port uplands. The first people to really see the potential market were Mark Burn and Jim Peacock. They started Port Townsend Boat Works in 1977. Jim moved on after a year. Mark stayed to be the founder of an industry. That industry depended in part on an effect of the cultural turbulence of the 1960s and early ‘70s. Talented young people who might otherwise have had careers in business or academia found employment in commercial fishing or construction or just went sailing. The result was an injection of brains and talent into the blue BOATBUILDERS, Page 8▼
Don’s Pharmacy spans Port Townsend’s history 157 years of service
In 1855, a few years after Alfred Plummer built Port Townsend’s first cabin, Dr. Samuel McCurdy started the U.S. Marine Hospital in the seaside village. Dr. P.M. O’Brien joined him and started the town’s first pharmacy in 1857. The wooden pharmacy building was located at the current site of the N.D. Hill Building, Water and Quincy streets. O’Brien sold the pharmacy to Dr. G. Calhoun and James J. Harned in 1867. In October of that year, they in turn sold it to Nathaniel D. Hill, newly arrived from Whidbey Island. In October 1867 in the Weekly Messenger, Hill was advertising drugs, chemicals, paints and perfumery for sale from the pharmacy. By 1879, Hill’s oldest son Daniel bought into the pharmacy and the business name changed to N.D. Hill and Son. A younger son, Howard, joined in 1886. In the late 1880s the Hills joined the town’s construction boom and built the three-story brick building, completed in 1889, that still bears the N.D. Hill name today. When the father retired in 1889, the sons continued the pharmacy. In September 1913, Daniel and Howard Hill also purchased the McMurry Pharmacy uptown on Tyler Street. They moved the uptown store to 1016 Lawrence St., current site of the Uptown Pub. That store included drugs, toilet articles, soaps, rubber goods and stationery. N.D. Hill Building, constructed on the site of an earlier wooden When Daniel Hill died in 1937, his son Daniel Hill Jr. continued in the pharmacy. Historical photos courtesy of Jefferson County Historical Society N.D. Hill and Sallie Hill. pharmacy business with his uncle Howard. In 1945, Harry Baker purchased both stores from the Hill family. Baker operated the uptown pharmacy under its original name, N.D. Hill and Sons, but changed the downtown store, now moved to the Mount Baker Block Building, to Baker’s Drugs. The stores were consolidated downtown in the late 1950s. In his downtown pharmacy, Baker operated a successful soda fountain with famous pies. Don Hoglund Sr. was born and raised in Port Ludlow and went through Chimacum schools before graduating from the UW’s pharmacy school in 1953. He started working for Baker at the Lawrence St. location. In 1962, Don Sr. purchased the pharmacy and soda fountain from the Baker family. Renamed Don’s Pharmacy, the enterprise was moved to its present location in the Port Townsend Plaza in June 1967. Product lines were expanded to include many household goods. Donna Hoglund, Don Sr.’s wife, took over the pharmacy and variety store in 1977. Don Hoglund Jr., raised in Port Townsend, graduated from WSU’s pharmacy school in 1984 and immediately joined the fami- Don Hoglund Sr. inside the Lawrence St. pharmacy in the Don Hoglund Jr. has sustained and expanded ly business. This year he is in his 30th year behind the counter; he also the pharmacy and store since 1984. 1960s. owns and operates the store and the Soda Fountain. Don’s Pharmacy remains unique in Jefferson County. Its pharmacy features highly personal service, including two generations of pharmacists named Hoglund who had been meeting the needs of local families for a combined 52 years. This service is backed by compounding technology that accurately produces customized medicine to fulfill all prescriptions, and an automated dispensary. The historic Soda Fountain offers great breakfasts and lunches at reasonable prices, and the best milkshakes in town. The variety store’s inventory has filled out to meet the needs of almost all household goods. Don’s is a genuine “general store” for Port Townsend and Jefferson County. Research on this history done by Pam McCollum Clise.
151 Water St. Port Townsend
(360) 385-2622: store (360) 385-0969: pharmacy
Don’s Pharmacy today is Jefferson County’s “general store,” with a huge variety of household goods, a historic soda fountain serving breakfast and lunch, and a family-friendly pharmacy.
LEGACIES • The Port Townsend & Jefferson County Leader
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Boatbuilders: Burst of business in 1980s ▼Continued from page 6
collar work force. A bunch of it showed up in Port Townsend. Mark assembled a crew of people with skills acquired in Seattle, California and New England. By 1979 he was hiring and training inexperienced people to keep up with demand.
DIFFERENT STORY AT POINT HUDSON
A different sort of development occurred at Point Hudson. The Port granted a 35-year lease for the entire property, later extended to 50 years, to George Rowley in 1952. Rowley got the property for a song, and as a landlord he was pretty casual. In the mid-70s some of the buildings still stood vacant. Sam Conner started building wood skiffs in the bottom of the old Armory building. Word got out that there was paying work on Rowley’s 50-foot motor yacht moored in the harbor. Two groups of “alternative” boat builders arrived at Point Hudson to take advantage of the opportunity. One was the crew of the Moclips, a ferro-cement hull. The other was a group that had been completing a Skookum 47 hull in Bellingham. The new activity in Point Hudson was concentrated by the relatively narrow limits of the property. The first Wooden Boat Festival was born out of this mix of young people, new ideas and the need to find work. Sam met one of the founders of Wooden Boat magazine, Tim Snider, who was traveling the West Coast. Tim thought the harbor and the community at Point Hudson a likely place to host a celebration of wood boats. With a few others they organized the first Wooden Boat Festival in 1977, and incorporated the Wooden Boat Foundation in 1978. Response exceeded expectations. In 1979 10,000 people attended the Festival. Work came in to Point Hudson. A succession of young builders occupied the lower floor of the Armory building. Carol Hasse and Nora Petrich established Port Townsend Sails on the upper floor, a business that would achieve national and international acclaim.
RAPID GROWTH: CO-OP, BOAT SCHOOL, EDENSAW, BAIRD BOAT
The success of the first businesses created a burst of additional activity. In 1980 the Port Townsend Shipwrights Co-op was formed. In 1981, thanks to the encouragement of Libby Palmer and Henry Yeaton, a Seattle-based boatbuilder steeped in traditional skills and tools named Bob Prothero, established the Northwest School of Wooden Boatbuilding in Port Townsend. The new 60 ton lift, purchased by the Port in 1982, gave the capacity to haul purse seiners as well as trollers. In 1984 the Boat Works launched the China Cove, a new 48’ troller. By 1985 the activity of “tailgaters” expanded dramatically, including charter members who left the Shipwright’s Co-op, notably David Thompson. Charlie Moore and Jim Ferris, both graduates of the boat school, formed Edensaw Woods in 1984. Edensaw would grow 8
ABOVE: The Baird Boat crew gathered in front of one of their projects on a bright day on the hard at the Boat Haven in 1999. From left: Stephen Gale, John Zimmer, Tom Foley, Steve Blais (kneeling), Ernie Baird, Milton Femrite, Mike Gruber, Cheyenne Brown, Bronwyn Hughes, Daniel Neville, unknown and Walt Trisdale. Ernie Baird (author of this article) retired in 2004. RIGHT: In 1993 the 161-foot Evviva, built from lightweight composites by the Wakefield family’s Admiral Marine, inched toward water across the Boat Haven beach. The company left for Port Angeles shortly afterward.
into the region’s major supplier of imported and domestic hardwood. In 1988 I left my job at the Boat Works to start Baird Boat Company. In 1979 Seattle boatbuilder Earl Wakefield brought his family and his company, Admiral Marine, to Port Townsend. Initially they built several fiberglass yachts in Glen Cove. The early 80s were hard economic times. When the market for new construction dried up Admiral’s emphasis shifted to sub-contract work for larger regional yards. Later in the decade, as the national economy recovered, Admiral moved to the Port and brought with it yet another kind of business: the construction of very large motor yachts for very wealthy clients. The first of these was Crazy Horse commissioned by a California restaurateur, followed by
The Port Townsend & Jefferson County Leader • LEGACIES
Hawkeye for the inventor of a self-tapping metal screw. Starting in 1985, Admiral built three buildings in fairly rapid succession to house their projects. These were large enough to create the controlled environment necessary to construct a huge fiberglass boat.
THE BIGGEST: ADMIRAL’S 161-FOOT EVVIVA
By 1989 Admiral had contracted to build the 161-foot Evviva. When launched in 1993 she was the largest foam core fiberglass yacht ever
made. Her size exceeded anything the Port had to launch her. Monroe House Movers from Quilcene was hired to take her out over the tide flats at low tide and, after a few anxious hours of men racing around the mud flats, she floated off her blocking as the tide came in. Evviva was a size and scale never before built in Port Townsend. The size of the boats and the business at Admiral had multiple effects. Around 75 people were directly employed. A number of small firms profBOATBUILDERS, Page 9▼
▼Continued from page 8
fort to bring the best possible product to market.
ited from subcontract work producing the parts and services Admiral required.
The term “marine trades” came into use in late 80s and early 90s as the businesses at Boat Haven promoted their interests as tenants of the Port. The Port was increasing rates and imposing more control on businesses. Environmental regulation was becoming more stringent.
A chandlery was started. But there was also some discomfort within the community. Marine architect Tim Nolan left to start his own design firm. Following the launch of Evviva, Admiral offered to buy a 300-ton lift and build the dock it required so they could continue building and launching huge yachts. Two of the three Port Commissioners were suspicious of the allocation of a large part of their public facility to support one large private enterprise. During the long debate the Port of Port Angeles made a competing offer to Admiral to relocate to Port Angeles. Admiral accepted and left Port Townsend, taking their jobs with them. It was a shock.
GLOBAL SHIFTS AFFECT PT BOATYARD
Events in the larger world shaped the work done in Port Townsend. In 1979 the United States claimed a 200-mile territorial limit beyond the coast. The Japanese were effectively excluded from fishing the Gulf of Alaska. They became buyers of fish harvested in the Gulf by American fisherman, particularly salmon and black cod. The Japanese paid well. On the other hand, they wanted a significant improvement in the quality of the fish delivered by American fisherman. The new income to the American fleet supported the refit and upgrade of its boats. A lot of that work was done in Port Townsend. Mark Burn created an ingenious new refrigeration system, the Hydrochiller, as part of the ef-
Businesses at Boat Haven formed a “Marine Trades Committee” from time to time to present a unified front to the Port Commission. The Port provided a significant benefit to the trades in 1992 when it obtained a blanket “Boatyard Permit” for the management of toxic waste. The marine trades actively lobbied for the construction of a larger travel lift. After Admiral left, the chagrined Port was moved to reconsider its opposition to the project. The swing vote on the Port Commission was won over when the businesses agreed to pay a three percent surcharge on all the work invoiced to large vessels. The Commission authorized a $20 million revenue bond to finance purchase of the new lift, reconfiguration of the harbor and an extensive re-grading of the Port to meet requirements of the Federal Clean Water Act. Some tension developed between the marine trades and the Port moorage tenants. The tenants feared moorage rates would be raised to pay off the bond. That tension further defined the marine trades as an identifiable group. New work, made possible once the heavy haulout went into operation, brought favorable notice to the marine trades from the larger community. BOATBUILDERS, Page 48▼
Nowak Plumbing: A story of two families LEFT: Scott Swantner, left, and Ron Nowak worked together for some time before Scott and his wife Colleen bought the plumbing business from Ron and RoseAnn in 1995. BELOW: Swantner also bought Nowak’s big van, a roaming toolshop, which the Swantners converted to propane. They are “protecting the health of the community” through good plumbing.
Nowak Plumbing sustains the tradition of personal, friendly and trustworthy plumbing services initiated by Ron Nowak in 1978. Ron came to town in 1962 as an engineer at the paper mill. 16 years later, ready for a change and noticing there was only one plumber in the phone book, Ron consolidated his tools, knowledge and male progeny and started plumbing. They used their home, garage and home phone and called the business “R.E. Nowak and Sons.” Ron and RoseAnn then acquired the RotoRooter franchise from Port Angeles and purchased a large step van to use as traveling shop. The business thrived, but was never too busy to keep Ron from helping the elderly or low-income clients with his time and sliding scale prices. In 1995, as Ron contemplated retirement, Scott Swantner was completing his fifth year as director of the Wooden Boat Foundation. Already having his master plumber qualifications, Scott started riding along with Ron to help with jobs. Scott and Colleen decided to buy the business and of course the “big orange van.” They kept the name and incorporated to become Nowak Plumbing, Ltd.. The first thing Scott did was to convert the big van to propane. Later they added a new logo, hand painted on the side of the van by daughter Chloe
and her boyfriend. That logo, which evokes a medical symbol, represents both Ron’s and Scott’s approach to plumbing: “Protecting the Health of the Community” via safe and reliable plumbing. In 2009 Scott received a public health hero award for this commitment. Thanks to this long business tenure, today Scott is deeply familiar with the plumbing of many residences and commercial buildings. Though many building owners have changed, Scott has often been retained as their principal plumber. He is still helping many of Ron’s original clients and has earned the trust of dozens of new ones. Nowak maintains the honest tradition of a time and materials approach to costs. In 2008 the Swantners sold the RotoRooter franchise so Scott could focus more on repairs, though he may still do the occasional drain cleaning. He still prefers the old buildings, just as he prefers the older style boats and motorcycles. From the Nowaks to the Swantners, the business principals remain the same: “We do the best job we can. We use the best materials. We stand by our work.” Scott and Colleen are very grateful for the opportunity to carry on this business and wish to thank all their customers. They expect to keep the big orange Nowak Plumbing van rumbling along for many years to come.
Nowak Plumbing • 738 Oak Street, Port Townsend • (360) 385-2935 LEGACIES • The Port Townsend & Jefferson County Leader
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Bishop Building 1891 • 714 Washington St.
The Building: 1891
William Bishop, Sr. is one of the more storied pioneers of Jefferson County. With William Eldridge, he went AWOL from a British Navy ship in Canadian waters and in 1855 arrived to stake a claim of rich farmland in the Chimacum Valley. While Eldridge stayed on the farm, later in his life William Bishop Sr. took a new wife to Port Townsend. In 1890 he authorized the construction of The Bishop Block, which was completed in early 1891 at a cost of approximately $15,000. The architect was Charles Packard. Built three stories high with a full basement, original street-level occupants were I. D. O’Neill and Co. Insurance, and an attorney named Oliver Wood. The versatile O’Neill also carried a large stock of carriages, buggies and agricultural implements. His farm wagons were made to order and very reasonably priced. The upstairs rooms were converted to residential units and had tenants starting in 1907. Port Townsend Soda Works, operated by Tanner and Swan, was operating on the ground floor during 1911-1920. On April 23, 1923, the wooden two-story Learned Opera House on the west side of the Bishop (now the parking lot) burned in a spectacular fire. The Bishop was miraculously saved thanks to 16 metal window shutters that blocked the flames, and the hard work of volunteer firefighters. There was no electricity or water upstairs until those rooms were converted to apartments during World War II. Many young couples just starting out in the late 1940s and early 1950s made an apartment in the Bishop their first home. Furniture stores began occupying the storefront by 1971. In 1980, John Pickett purchased the building, made renovations and was operating the Bishop Victorian Guest Suites by 1982.
The date of this photograph is unknown, but it was taken after the W.H. Learned Opera House burned to the ground in 1923. The metal shutters visible on the Bishop Building saved it from the flames of its wooden neighbor. Photo courtesy of the Jefferson County Historical Society
The Bishop Building, an elegant 16-suite Victorian Hotel, as it appears today. Photo by Scott Wilson
The Business: Bishop Victorian Hotel
Current owners Joe and Cindy Finnie have redecorated the Bishop Building’s interior and exterior with refined taste. The 16 suites offer distinctive period furniture, fixtures and artwork. Each has at least one bedroom, full bath, sitting room, fireplace and kitchenette. A continental breakfast and free off-street parking are available. The grand new lobby, which reflects the concepts of William Morris, features monthly art exhibits and has been called “Port Townsend’s premier interior space.” In 2001, the Finnies celebrated the opening of a beautiful garden and gazebo behind the building, now used for catered outdoor gatherings. The Bishop welcomes children and pets, and the staff will assist visitors with travel and tour arrangements. The Bishop is recognized as “the destination site” for discriminating travelers to Port Townsend and the North Olympic Peninsula.
360.385.6122 • 800.824.4738 • bishopvictorian.com 10 The Port Townsend & Jefferson County Leader • LEGACIES
The lobby, decorated in the style of William Morris, welcomes travelers from all over the world. Photo by David Conklin Photography
Real estate’s Munn Brothers have deep roots Munns part of county growth since 1889 Brothers Jim and Bruce Munn launched Munn Brothers Hood Canal Properties in 2010. But the Munn family’s roots in the Lake Leland and Hood Canal area are 125 years deep and entwined through county history – farming, railroads, sawmills, telephones, mail delivery, newspapers and real estate, to name a few. In 1889, James Hector Munn came west on the Canadian National Railroad from eastern Canada, and Ana Mae Edwards came west on the Union Pacific Railroad from Kansas with her family. They met in the booming city of Port Townsend later that year and were married three years later. James filed claims and purchased land near Lake Leland, eight miles from a wharf at the head of Discovery Bay and 20 miles south of Port Townsend. Ana, at first a school teacher, was determined to spend her life near the lake in that valley. James was a tireless builder. Ana became the business woman, postmistress and, for 63 years, the family matriarch. The Munn farm became a skimming station for other dairy farms – a hub to collect, process and transport milk to the Glendale Dairy near Chimacum.
Just on the other side of the bridge they built over Lake Leland, the Munn family had this house and outbuildings along with other nearby structures. This photo was taken in 1903. Photo from the Jefferson County Historical Society
TELEPHONE SWITCHBOARD In 1903, with William Bishop, James and Ana helped organized the Inter-Farmers Telephone Co. It would provide phone service for farms and rural residences in Leland, Quilcene, Discovery Bay and Chimacum. The switchboard was located in the Munn home for 30 years. The operators were Munn daughters and the linemen were Munn sons. At Lake Leland, James also started a sawmill, a shingle mill, a fruit cannery and built a famously huge red barn. In 1921, Ana became the Leland correspondent for the Leader (often writing about her extended family) and, in 1922, the local postmistress. James Munn died in 1926. Ana kept the farm, phone company and post office going. In 1934 the switchboard was moved to Quilcene. Ana died in 1955, 84 years old. The couple had six children, some of whom maintained the farm. Their lives were chronicled in a book, “Jim and Ana,” written by their grandson, Hector John Munn.
Circa 1897, this photo shows Munn family and friends. James Hector Munn stands atop the stump on the left with his dog Bruno. Ana Munn sits to the right with two girls on her lap. Photo from the Jefferson County Historical Society
Munn Brothers Hood Canal Properties 294843 Highway 101, Quilcene
MUNN BROTHERS Among the more recent Munn farm workers, as kids, were Jim and Bruce Munn, greatgrandsons of James and Ana and the sons of
Hector John Munn. After graduating from Seattle Pacific University in 1986, Jim started selling real estate in Seattle, later working for a real estate firm in Quilcene. In 2010 he joined his brother Bruce to establish their own company – Munn Brothers Hood Canal Properties. Jim is the owner and designated broker; Bruce is a managing broker alongside Brandon Bird. They list and sell real estate, provide property sale information, and help customers with deep knowledge of water view and waterfront properties. Their focus is residences and land around Hood Canal, Dabob Bay and Quilcene. As in the family tradition, Munn Brothers is evolving with the times. Now expert in internet marketing and online information, they still know it’s their personal service and genuine love of the Hood Canal area that makes the difference for customers. The Munns are also active in the community. They help run the three-day music festival called Moonfest. Bruce is on the Jefferson County Fair Board. Jim has been an officer in the Quilcene Yacht Club for many years and today is Commodore. Their goal? To help families live their own dream with the right kind of property or home along beautiful Hood Canal – as the Munns have done for several generations.
Bruce (left) and Jim (right) Munn today.
Jim Munn: (360) 301-4700 Bruce Munn: (360) 301-4026
www.munnbros.com LEGACIES • The Port Townsend & Jefferson County Leader
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Legacy
The Chinese Community in Port Townsend One Family’s Story (1890s-1907) ABOUT THE AUTHOR Gloria Lung Wakayama’s great-grandfather immigrated to Port Townsend in the 1880s and her grandmother was born there in 1896. Her family moved to Seattle around 1907, but Gloria renewed her ties to Port Townsend some 80 years later when her law firm, Harris, Mericle & Wakayama, opened an office in Port Townsend. She first prepared this report for a “First Friday” history presentation hosted by the Jefferson County Historical Society.
L
By Gloria Lung Wakayama Special to the Leader
ike many West Coast cities, Port Townsend once had a thriving Chinese community during the town’s early development in the 1890s to 1907. This is the story of my own family, which was part of that community. I knew my family had Port Townsend roots; but my interest in that history was piqued 20 years ago when my law firm, Harris Mericle & Wakayama, opened an office in the Mt. Baker Block Building to augment our main office in Seattle. Malcolm Harris, my partner, was also well connected to Port Townsend due to his love of jazz and participation in Centrum’s Jazz Port Townsend. Malcolm and I had several clients from Port Townsend and the surrounding area as well as our shared interest in the Port Townsend community and its history. I have often wondered about my family history. While some families trace their history back 150 years or more, my knowledge about my family history is more limited, dating back only about three generations to the late 1800s.
THE FIRST CHINESE
It has been reported that the first Chinese in the Pacific Northwest arrived in 1789 as part of the crew that landed on Vancouver Island. Although there were small groups of Chinese
ABOVE: A Chinese kite is flown in the midst of what was then Port Townsend’s Chinese neighborhood – what is now Memorial Field. Note the Hastings House on the bluff in the background. Photo from the Jefferson County Historical Society RIGHT: Today, what was much of the Chinese neighborhood is Memorial Field. The Hastings house remains on the bluff behind.
in the Washington Territory, the large-scale Chinese migration began shortly after the discovery of gold in California in 1848. Like other gold seekers, many Chinese men immigrated to “Gim San” or “Gold Mountain” in search of their fortunes. Most of the early immigrants came from seven districts in the southern district of Guangzhou or what was formerly known as Canton. Three years after the discovery of gold, there were approxi-
12 The Port Townsend & Jefferson County Leader • LEGACIES
CHINESE, Page 14▼
This panoramic view of the Resort at Port Ludlow shows the Inn with its restaurant, the waterfront neighborhood across the bay, and the 300-slip marina.
Quintessentially Northwest: Port Ludlow Originally settled by members of the S’Klallam tribe, Port Ludlow was named in 1841 for a naval war hero, Lt. Augustus C. Ludlow, during Lieutenant Charles Wilkes’ U.S. Navy expedition to chart Puget Sound and the waters around the Olympic Peninsula. In 1853, Port Ludlow became the site of one of the Northwest’s earliest sawmills which supplied lumber to pioneers and settlers until 1878, when Andrew Pope and Captain William Talbot purchased and invested heavily in renovating the operation. Pope & Talbot, as the venture came to be known, transformed the small mill into a thriving logging, milling and shipping enterprise. Port Ludlow became a swash-buckling shipbuilding town and with the money came businesses, churches, and plenty of social options from card playing to dance halls and bawdy houses. The mill closed in 1935 as a result of the Great Depression; however the 1950s brought a new beginning to Port Ludlow. The value of Port Ludlow’s real estate offerings began to grow as post-war population growth created a market for recreational home sites and property. In the early 1960s, when the Hood Canal floating bridge was constructed, easy access from Kitsap County and the greater Puget Sound area to Port Ludlow was now available. In 1966, Pope & Talbot recognized that Port Ludlow’s unique water and mountain views and pristine natural environment — now with easy access to the Puget Sound regions — would provide a spectacular place for a residential community. Thus they began the first phase of a master planned resort community at the site of the original Port Ludlow mill.
The Resort at
Port Ludlow
Stylish, sustainable growth
Above: The first sawmill at Port Ludlow opened in 1853, and became Pope & Talbot in 1878. The mill provided millions of board feet of lumber to build San Francisco, Seattle, Port Townsend – and Port Ludlow. Photo from the Jefferson County Historical Society Top left: The Inn at Port Ludlow features the Fireside Restaurant with fresh, locallysourced ingredients. Bottom left: A championship 18-hole golf course was designed by Robert Muir Graves. Below: A new project, Ludlow Cove Cottages, offers 42 waterfront, woodland, park-front home sites and a selection of both single level and two story home designs.
Today, Port Ludlow Associates continues to create Pope & Talbot’s vision of a vibrant residential community. Complete with a beautiful boutique waterfront inn, a restaurant featuring locally-sourced ingredients, an 18-hole championship golf course designed by renowned architect Robert Muir Graves, and an expansive 300-slip marina and fuel dock, over 1,500 residences have been built with two community and fitness centers, and nearly 30 miles of maintained trails. There are plans for a little over 400 more residences to be built within Port Ludlow. Its newest neighborhood, Ludlow Cove Cottages, offers waterfront, woodland, park-front home sites and a selection of both single level and two story home designs created to suit both full-time and vacation lifestyles. In addition to new homes, Port Ludlow has plans for sustainable and careful expansion over the next few years with new retail offerings, additional community amenities, and expanded biking and pedestrian trails. Our goal is to enhance the community and the lifestyle of Port Ludlow, while maintaining the natural beauty and integrity of the area.
More information Inn at Port Ludlow and Fireside Restaurant One Heron Road, Port Ludlow (360) 437-7000 • (877) 805-0868 www.portludlowresort.com Ludlow Cove Cottages Joe Buskirk of John L. Scott (253) 359-313 www.ludlowcovecottages.com Port Ludlow Golf Club (360) 437-0272
golf | marina | inn | homes LEGACIES • The Port Townsend & Jefferson County Leader
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Chinese: Over 400 residents by the 1880s guished-looking man who learned to speak English very well and was favorably regarded by the community. According to the 1889 Chamber of Commerce booklet, the Zee Tai Company cleared $100,000 per year. The Ng clan retained control of the company for three generations and, in 1930, sold the company to businessman George Welch. Port Townsend’s second largest merchant company was the Yee Sing Wo Kee Company, which was founded in about 1888 by my great-grandfather, Eng Hock Gem, who was also known as Ah Kly, or Jay. His wife, my great-grandmother, was Lai Gok Sue. Like Ng Soon, Ah Kly was well respected. After the birth of his first son (my great-uncle William), Ah Kly celebrated the event with an open house at which he was presented with a gold cup by members of Port Townsend’s Caucasian community.
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mately 25,000 Chinese in California, and by 1880 more than 300,000 Chinese had come to the United States.
GROWTH OF IMMIGRATION
The Chinese migration to the Washington Territory began in the 1860s and continued through the 1870s primarily on the West Coast. The 1860 Washington Territorial census listed one Chinese, even though it was known that there was a group of men from San Francisco working in the Port Gamble lumber mills in 1857. That man was probably Chin Chun Hock, a houseboy who was also on record as the first Chinese resident of Seattle. The 1870 Census listed seven Chinese in Port Ludlow, site of a huge lumber mill, and seven in Port Townsend, five at Port Discovery and 13 at Port Gamble. These numbers largely underestimated the Chinese population as there were over 50 Chinese employed at the Port Gamble lumber mill in 1878.
Unfortunately, such generosity did not always extend to financial matters. A local banker thought to have been Colonel Henry Landes, Founder of the First National Bank of Port Townsend, had extended a $650 loan to my great-grandfather. Shortly after an ill-advised sugar beet investment depleted the Chinese community of cash, Landes apparently called the loan and demanded that it be repaid by the close of business that very day. Wanting to make good on the loan, Ah Kly went to each of his customers to whom he had extended credit and proceeded to collect his debts. Every few hours, my great-grandfather would return to the banker with a few hundred dollars. By the end of the day the loan had been repaid in full.
Chin Gee Hee, one of the early Chinese pioneers, worked in the Port Gamble lumber mill before he and his partners founded the Wa Chong Company. Wa Chong Company eventually became the largest of the Chinese labor contractors which provided Chinese laborers for the lumber mills, canneries, and railroads and working as house servants.
PORT TOWNSEND CHINESE NEIGHBORHOOD
In the 1880s there were an estimated 453 Chinese in Port Townsend. One historical report put the Chinese population of Port Townsend at 25 percent of its total population by the early 1880s. As more Chinese arrived, a robust Chinese community emerged in the Port Townsend waterfront area, along Washington and Water streets (near the current Memorial Field). Chinese laborers contributed to one of Port Townsend’s first major public works projects. This project involved the removal of hard glacial till from the bluff that separated the original beachfront downtown from the southwestern waterfront. At this town’s founding, the bluff was much more extensive, protruding to the waterfront. Much of the project was worked by Chinese laborers, using dynamite and sluicing via high-powered hoses. Most of that bluff remains, and today is the site of the Post Office Building and the Jefferson County Courthouse. The Chinese in Port Townsend were also visitors from other parts of the Northwest. Historical accounts say that Port Townsend was visited by Chinese employees of nearby lumber camps or fish canneries, mostly single men, who came for Chinese food, gambling houses or opium dens. The Chinese were variously referred to as “Chinese” or “Celestials.” The Chinese roots in Port Townsend can also be seen in artifacts from the Chinese community. Bill and Kitty Sperry’s 1990 renovations
ABOVE: A Port Townsend Chinese merchant and child walk near the Zee Tai Store. Photo from the Jefferson County Historical Society RIGHT: This may be a photo of Chin Chun Hock, listed in Washington Territory’s 1860 census as the sole Chinese resident of the region. However other Chinese were known to be working in area lumber mills. Photo courtesy of the Wing Luke Museum
to the Port Townsend Antique Mall (near Washington and Adams Streets) recovered dozens of these artifacts, including buttons, cloth, bottles, rice bowls, coins, opium pipes, ceramic jugs, gambling buttons and boars’ tusks. Another cultural artifact of the Port Townsend Chinese community is the Chinese Gardens which is the name that now attaches to the brackish pond at the edge of Fort Worden State Park facing North Beach. For decades, this area was in fact a huge garden, tended primarily by Chinese farmers who produced vegetables for much of Port Townsend. The remote North Beach site was also known as a place where undocumented Chinese immigrants could safely land and were welcomed to begin their hoped-for entry into the United States. Local historian Tom Camfield writes about one China-born farmer, Ah Tom, who arrived here legally at the turn of the century, then sold produce from his big garden door-todoor into his 70s and 80s, dying in 1967.
14 The Port Townsend & Jefferson County Leader • LEGACIES
ANTI-CHINESE SENTIMENT GROWS
ZEE TAI AND YEE SING WO KEE MERCHANT COMPANIES
The largest and most successful merchant company in Port Townsend was the Zee Tai Company which opened in 1879 in Port Townsend’s uptown neighborhood. The company later relocated to Water Street. Ng Soon, the original owner and manager of Zee Tai Company, arrived in Port Townsend in 1870. He was described as a cultured, distin-
In the early 1880s, partly in response to economic pressures, an anti-Chinese movement that first began in California spread elsewhere along the West Coast. Some viewed the Chinese as stealing jobs from the non-Chinese, although many of the jobs that the Chinese fulfilled such as the back-breaking work of building the railroads by hand were not jobs that the non-Chinese wanted. As a result of the anti-Chinese sentiments, the 1882 Chinese Exclusion Act was passed by Congress. (The Act was not repealed until 1943). This Act barred the immigration of Chinese laborers and prohibited the Chinese from becoming naturalized American citizens. The Chinese were the only nationality singled out by the Act, which led to a drastic reduction in immigration and, at the same time, opened up the new industry of smuggling Chinese immigrants to the Olympic Peninsula and other Northwestern coastal areas near and in British Columbia. Stories were told of Chinese passengers being pushed overboard if a smuggling ship was discovered by Customs officials. In 1886 anti-Chinese riots broke out in sevCHINESE, Page 18▼
After 124 years, iconic building ready for rehabilitation Pioneer Hastings/Dudley family committed to downtown redevelopment Loren B. and Lucinda Hastings arrived on the Port Townsend beach in 1852, by way of Vermont, Illinois, Utah, Oregon and California. L.B. Hastings and Francis W. Pettygrove had staked their Port Townsend claims in 1851, the third and fourth people to do so. After L.B. died in 1881, Lucinda and several of their children remained in Port Townsend as business leaders. They established the Hastings Estate Co. in 1890 as they developed the iconic Hastings Building. Lucinda began construction at Water and Taylor streets using Elmer H. Fisher’s design in 1889; it was completed the next year. The Morning Leader observed in November 1889 that the building was “conceded by all to be the most elegant building in the city.” It featured two interior staircases, redwood wainscoting and eight-foot tall plate glass for first floor storefronts. PREMIUM LOCATION The building was the first equipped for gas or electricity throughout. It quickly filled with tenants: A real estate office, cigar store, dry goods, investment broker, accountants, physicians, an architect and more. Upstairs offices opened into an interior court with a skylight. During World War II, the upper floors were converted to soldiers’ apartments until – after the war – some were briefly used for the Port Townsend Summer School of the Arts, a Centrum forerunner, in the 1960s. The upper floors remain empty today. HASTINGS/DUDLEY STEWARDSHIP The Hastings/Dudley family has always been involved in managing this and other properties in town. Lucinda’s great-granddaughter Jean (Hastings) and her husband Elmer Dudley passed away at young ages. The company was passed to their three children – Lucinda Dudley Eubank, Harry Dudley and Jonathan Dudley. Lucinda and Harry were pursuing careers in other parts of the world, so Jonathan came to Port Townsend in 1975 in his early 20s to represent the family. He bought the historic family home, then spent the rest of his life, 30 years, running the family business and other companies of his own, including the old A&W, later Macadoos (and
Lucinda Hastings
Loren B. Hastings
now The Cup) at 600 Sims Way. He also donated considerable time and Hastings Estate resources to community programs. After Jonathan passed away in 2007, his siblings created a new company to continue his legacy – Sail On JD, Inc. – which now owns the restaurant property. Today, Lucinda and Harry still own the companies, and are joined by Harry’s wife Zoe Ann Dudley on the Hastings Estate board of directors. REHABILITATION PROJECT Harry and Zoe Ann’s daughter, Heather Dudley-Nollette, is the project manager and owner representative of the family’s plan to rehabilitate the Hastings Building and construct The Hastings Building prior to the turn of the century. Note the dirt streets and wooden sidewalks. adjacent to it a new structure on the footprint of the old Surf Restaurant. With 22 years in business administration and project management, Heather is also an actor, co-founder of The CoLab and is raising two young children in Port Townsend schools. The plan is to build a 62-room boutique hotel and passenger vessel terminal on the combined site of the Surf and the historic Hastings Building. Current plans show most of the hotel suites and the passenger vessel terminal on the water side, with an historic rehabilitation of the Hastings Building as additional hotel suites, a grand lobby and other amenities. The project is in the final phases of funding. Through the project, the Hastings family seeks to continue its legacy of developing properties that sustain a robust maritime-based economy in the heart of downtown Port Townsend. The project will restore an historic icon and add visitors and local jobs to the downtown core. “I’ve spent a lifetime witnessing the deep commitment that my elders have given to this community,” said Heather Dudley-Nollette. “They have The Hastings Building today. Photograph by Joe Lipka an abiding love for this place and these people, and they’ve taught me that love. Their vision is to breathe new INC life into the Hastings Building, so it Heather Dudley-Nollette, Project Manager can – in turn – bring new life to our heather@hastingsestate.com www.hastingsestate.com (206) 387-9846 town.”
Hastings Estate Company
LEGACIES • The Port Townsend & Jefferson County Leader
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Townsend Bay is the local expert in rentals Doney family’s business is in its 21st year Townsend Bay Property Management was started in 1993 by John and Donna Doney. John, a prominent community volunteer, passed away, leaving Donna the sole owner and managing broker. In earlier careers, Donna was in marketing and office management. But she loves property management. Being in business for 21 years has made Donna and her staff deeply acquainted with the area’s housing stock and how the rental market operates. Her staff enjoys having a positive impact. Everybody wins when the right house or property goes to the right renters. The property owners have their property off their worry list, the property management company makes an honest living providing a valued service, and families are secure in affordable homes. Townsend Bay Property Management started with 100 homes. Today it manages about 275 properties in East Jefferson County. It is the largest inventory of residental rental properties in the county. Continuing education in the field is a passion of Donna’s. She is the only member of the National Association of Residential Property Managers in Clallam and Jefferson counties. Strict attention to Fair Housing and tenant/landlord laws are a hallmark of this ethical company. Unlike other property management firms,
Townsend Bay provides only property management services. Their attention to excellence and focus on the rental market is not distracted by sales or vacation rentals. The staff respects and honors relationships with both our tenants and property owners, many of whom have entrusted their property to Townsend Bay for many years. Donna is very involved in Port Townsend’s Sunrise Rotary Club. Townsend Bay Property Management chooses one to three families in the community to adopt during the holiday season. Working with friends, property owners and businesses to gather donations, they provide a special holiday meal, gifts and sometimes even a Christmas tree. It’s always been a family business, and that tradition continues. Donna’s daughter Christina Nelson has worked in the business for 20 years as a trust account bookkeeper and property manager, and raised her own family here.
Townsend Bay Property Management 412 Logan St., Port Townsend • (360) 385-3896 tbpm@townsendbay.net • www.townsendbay.net
Wynwoods Gallery & Bead Studio
In the fourth grade, Lois Venarchick told her family that she would be living on the Olympic Peninsula when she grew up. Most of her family in rural Pennsylvania thought the far west was still inhabited by wild Native Americans. Somehow, she ended up marrying into an old homesteading family in the Port Townsend area. Lois arrived in Port Townsend in August 1976, and like so many old hippies, she began selling her artwork at the People’s Guild in Flagship Landing. She has been selling art, beadwork, and many other items continuously since then. Her retail background spans the decades and the businesses in PT. “At one time I think I had keys to almost every business on Water Street.” Lois always knew she would have her own shop, and on Rhody weekend of 1992, she opened Wynwoods Gallery & Bead Studio. Today, her shop in the historic James & Hastings building at 940 Water St. is a color-filled space where she can watch the PT world go by. 940 Water Street 360-385-6131 wynwoods.com
Mad Hatter & Co
- An Eclectic Collective
Jones.
Featuring Port Townsend’s own ‘Mad Hatter,’ Janice Tucker, who has been designing and creating hats in Port Townsend for over 30 years. Janice started her company in the early eighties with a pair of knitting needles and a free sewing machine. She traveled to Arts and Crafts Fairs for 20 years. In 2002 she joined several women in a downtown retail shop. The shop evolved over the years eventually ending up as Mad Hatter & Co with her now long-time business partner Marlene Bennett.
926 Water St
Mad Hatter & Co Port Townsend, Wa. 98368
Everyone is ‘family’ at the Geoduck THE BUILDING
The building that houses the Geoduck Tavern was first a bunkhouse for the Izett Logging Company at the turn of the century. When the logging company disbanded, the bunkhouse was abandoned. In time, an enterprising soul moved the sturdy building to the spot where the Dosewallips State Park’s day picnic area is now located. In the 1930s blasting for the Highway 101 project made a place for what would become the third and final home of building. The structure was skidded into place in the 1940s and used as a restaurant with gas pumps out front. It ran only during the summer when tourists were around. Tony Pennini bought it in 1950 and ran it until 1952. He sold it to Denny Judge who supposedly died of a heart attack after bouncing one of the patrons. Then came Chet Dalgleish who owned and operated the tavern for many years, followed by Don Campbell as proprietor. — Compiled from The Port Townsend Jefferson County Leader, February 1990
307103 U.S. 101, Brinnon, WA 98320 (360) 796-4430
THE BUSINESS Current Geoduck Owner Melissa Flick-Westervelt said she doesn’t know all the previous owners “although there are pictures on the wall, some very old pictures of previous owners along with some of the most memorable people that were part of the Geoduck. When I say ‘part of the Geoduck,’ I mean ‘part of the family.’ If you were a regular and were out and about in the community, then it’s like there are many different families here, even if they don’t share a home or the same blood. The Geoduck has been part of my family since the 1970s.” Melissa was born in 1970 and recalled coming to Brinnon when her mother Sue McQuade was dating Murray Perley, one of the owners of the Geoduck. “I remember hearing stories about how there was an outhouse that overlooked the canal. Stories about ev the piano that played itself and everyone was everyone’s friend.” She remembered there was a laundromat next door, so
16 The Port Townsend & Jefferson County Leader • LEGACIES
and dad and she knows everyone. I enjoy watching history repeat itself in this building,” she said. When Sue passed away Sept 7, 2009, Melissa became the sole owner. “I have great memories… there are days now that I gaze out into the water, or the wall of people who have passed on, or the house that that people could come throw the use to have a family in it,” recalls laundry in, have dinner and a beer, Melissa. “ The Geoduck is a very friendly place. People care about and swap laundry in-between. one another and that is really what The Geoduck Tavern burned keeps me here.” down in Feb 1, 1990. Six months later, Murray opened up again. Murray built it back in place, just GEODUCK MAKES bigger and better. He made sure ESQUIRE’S 2011 BEST BARS the men’s room was built so that IN AMERICA LIST: guys could still see out the window (Esquire writer Chuck Thompson first found “rustic paradise” in 2004.) “The Geoduck Tavern while using the urinal. People to has its own salmon derby. That’s one reason this day come in and talk about this antlered, clubhouse-style hangout with a the old building. Murray passed away in August deck overlooking piney Hood Canal is a rustic paradise. The other is the Burger Dip. (Owner Sue of 2002 from a brain aneurism. Perley: “I saw this big logger come in one day, Sue kept the Geoduck running and I said, ‘I’ll bet he’d like to dip that burger in and Melissa would come over something.’”) It’s a hybrid hamburger and French from Seattle to and help out in the Dip sandwich, invented here in tiny Brinnon, summers or on a band night. Washington, a way station for Olympic Mountains “ Now I have my own grand- hikers in summer, a rainy Twin Peaks stand-in the daughter here with her mom rest of the year.” Longtime Geoduck owner, the late Murray Perley started the Geoduck Salmon Derby in the early 1980s. Now in its 34th year, the popular derby takes place the first weekend in March.
360-379-1859
City Hall 1891
Port Townsend was founded in 1851 and a rudimentary city government was soon to follow. It was first housed in simple wooden structures in the young town. But when the town surged in population, investment and ambition due to dreams of becoming a railroad terminal fueled a demand for bigger and more permanent buildings. Port Townsend voters cast ballots in 1890 and 1891 approving the sale of bonds toward the construction of a $30,000 City Hall. This commitment was made after the city’s economy began to slow, marking the project as a sign of faith that prospects would rise again. They didn’t, at least for a long time. In the mid-1890s a financial panic combined with the railroad’s rejection of Port Townsend as its terminus spiraled down the town’s prospects and population. It wasn’t until 1947 – 56 years after the bonds were issued – that the debt on the building was finally paid with interest, for a total of $85,000. But the town had its new City Hall. The building was the fire station, the jail, the city court, the city council chamber and held all city offices. By the 1940s the fire station had been moved. The jail also moved and the basement chambers were closed. In 1947 the roof and third floor, including the distinctive tower, were in deplorable condition due to wind and rain leaks and were removed. Beginning in 1951 the Jefferson County Historical Society (JCHS) moved into the northern half of the building – the old fire house and courtroom – to display the community’s rich historical artifacts. In 2000, the last of the city’s departments moved out of the building and into leased quarters in the nearby Waterman & Katz Building, as the city finally grappled with the need to renovate the leaky old building, and decided to construct a new Annex next door. This structure would serve as the new home of city offices and would also stabilize the old building against earthquake damage. The new Annex was designed to be “the princess” in comparison to “the queen” – the historic City Hall. The Annex opened in 2005. The Historical Society expanded its use of the old building. But the historic City Council Chambers were restored and remain in use for Council meetings – the oldest continuously operated Council Chambers in Washington State. Another structure that the city has proudly preserved for the enjoyment of future generations is the Bell Tower, constructed in 1890 on the bluff above Tyler Street to alert volunteer firefighters about fires and to house a fire engine. The pyramid shape was a clever design to deflect strong southwest winds in winter. The structure has undergone renovations in 1950, 1970 and 2014.
It’s easy to make history! Get involved in city government. Keep posted via the city website: www.cityofpt.us
Top: This drawing was presented in 1890 by architects Edward Batwell and Andrew Patrick to show their winning design for City Hall. It was built as is. The wind-battered third floor was removed in 1947. Courtesy of the Jefferson County Historical Society Above: The Jefferson County Historical Museum occupies most of old City Hall except for the City Council Chambers, which are still in use by city government. Behind the 1891 building is the new Annex, now home to all city offices, and whose solid structure now provides earthquake support for the original building. Right: The 1890 Fire Bell Tower sits atop the bluff overlooking downtown Port Townsend. It once summoned fire volunteers and housed a fire engine. The city invested in a major renovation and reinforcement to secure this unique structure into the future. Below: The City Council Chamber is the oldest continuously used municipal chamber in Washington State. Citizens and visitors are invited to all Council meetings, held the first and third Mondays of each month at 6:30 p.m.
City Council meets first and third Mondays, 6:30 p.m. Call us: 385-3000 Visit us: 250 Madison St., Port Townsend
LEGACIES • The Port Townsend & Jefferson County Leader
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Chinese: Merchant companies thrived ▼Continued from page 14
eral West Coast cities, including Seattle, and Chinese families were forcibly removed or departed due to widespread threats. According to a University of Washington history of that period, Port Townsend distinguished itself by taking a more moderate tone toward its Chinese community. Historian Daniel Liestman wrote in the Pacific Northwest Quarterly in July 1994: “Not all white communities in the Pacific Northwest reacted so violently against the Chinese. The anti-Chinese movement certainly touched Port Townsend, Washington, on the Strait of Juan de Fuca, but it had a different outcome there. The community decided at one point in early 1886 to attempt to remove its Chinese population, particularly as many were arriving from towns on Puget Sound from which they had been expelled. But whites tried to proceed against the Chinese in a more lawful fashion, by boycotting their businesses and firing them from jobs in white-owned businesses. These methods did not work, however, in part because white employers and consumers came to realize how much they depended on Chinese labor for the smooth running of the town economy. Moreover, contrary to the perception that Chinese sojourners sent all their earnings home, white leaders in Port Townsend came to understand that the Chinese had invested a considerable amount of money in the town itself. To expel the Chinese, then, was to create significant economic problems for the community.” Still, the report concluded that “Port Townsend never went about integrating the Chinese socially into the community, and over time the population of Asian immigrants there dwindled as a result. But at least some white people in Port Townsend recognized the economic contributions that the Chinese made, and this recognition likely prevented in Port Townsend an expression of the kind of unrestrained hostility that had been unleashed elsewhere.” Although the Chinese Exclusion Act prevented the immigration of laborers, it did not prevent the immigration of the Chinese “merchant class.” As a means of circumventing the restrictive immigration laws, many Chinese pooled their money and became shareholders in Chinese merchant companies. These companies emerged to provide rice, tea, food and other goods for the Chinese laborers.
FAMILY LIFE
Although most Chinese immigrants were single men who had entered the country as laborers, my great-grandfather Ah Kly was one of the fortunate few able to marry and have a family. My great-aunt tells the story that her parents’ marriage was an arranged one, a common practice in that time. My great-grandmother, Lai Gok Sue, was much younger than Ah Kly and her family was said
to have been living in Portland where she was born. Her parents, whose ancestors had once lived in the Imperial Palace, returned to China where they lived a very comfortable life. My great-grandparents had nine children, five of whom were born in Port Townsend. My grandmother Fannie was the eldest, born on March 1, 1896 in Port Townsend. One son, Jimmy, was the grandfather of Jamie Ford who is best known for his New York Times bestselling book, “The Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet.” My great-grandparents made sure that their children were well educated and appreciated the fine arts. They hired piano and music teachers for them. My grandmother was a voracious reader, always carrying a book in her hand; she also played the guitar and fluently spoke French.
PORT TOWNSEND FIRE
There was a mysterious and disastrous fire in that district in the early 1900s. Port Townsend’s Chinatown neighborhood was almost completely consumed and destroyed by the fire since almost all the buildings were built of wood. While nothing has been proven about how the fire started, one story that has persisted is that local firefighters were more engaged in protecting the nearby commercial buildings of the white community than protecting the Chinese-owned buildings. After the great fire, Chinese started leaving Port Townsend for Seattle. But some
18 The Port Townsend & Jefferson County Leader • LEGACIES
ABOVE LEFT: Eng Hock Gem, the author’s great-grandfather, founded Port Townsend’s second largest merchant company, the Yee Sing Wo Kee Company, in 1888. He was also called Ah Kly and was respected by both the Chinese and Caucasian communities. Photo from the Jefferson County Historical Society ABOVE RIGHT: Lai Gok Sue, the young wife of Eng Hock Gem, was photographed in Port Townsend around 1900. She is the author’s great-grandmother. Photo from the Jefferson County Historical Society RIGHT: Author Gloria Lung Wakayama’s great-grandparents were important merchants in Port Townsend before the turn of the century.
Chinese-owned businesses remained. The Yee Sing Wo Kee Company was located in a two-story building on the corner of Adams and Washington Streets. Although it was unusual for women, particularly Chinese women, to own property at that time, the recorded buyer of the property in 1902 was Li Gook Seo, (similar spelling to Lai Gok Sue, my great-grandmother.) In 1907, my great-grandparents sold their company and store and relocated to Seattle, where they continued as merchants and operated an import-export business. I grew up in Seattle, graduated in Economics from Seattle University and obtained a law degree from the University of Santa Clara School of Law. In the late 1980s my Seattle law firm, Harris, Mericle & Wakayama, opened an office in Port Townsend where we advise clients about estate and succession planning, wealth and charitable gift transfers, and the forma-
tion, qualification and operation of for-profit and nonprofit limited liability companies, partnerships, corporations and foundations. Before leaving Port Townsend, my great-grandmother took a cutting of a plum tree on their Port Townsend property and planted the cutting at their new Seattle home. As their children each moved to their own homes, each child, including my grandmother, took a cutting of that plum tree and planted the tree at their own homes. Every summer, my siblings and I ate the plums from my grandmother’s tree and enjoyed a little taste of Port Townsend.
Your Local Community Bank for 106 Years Beginnings In August 1908 Kitsap Bank opened its doors in a small concrete building at the corner of Bay and Frederick Streets in downtown Port Orchard, WA. Six years later, while visiting the Puget Sound area from his home in North Dakota, Frank Langer fell in love with the Puget Sound area and vowed to return when he had completed his schooling. After graduation from Harvard Law School, Frank Langer returned to enter the banking business under the tutelage of Otto Strizik, Kitsap Bank’s third president. Mr. Langer eventually purchased controlling interest from Strizik in both the Kitsap County Bank and the First National Bank of Poulsbo. At the same time, he married Hannah Norum, whose father was director of the Poulsbo bank. Frank Langer served as President of Kitsap Bank for 22 years from 1930 until his death in 1952. A History-Making Decision Upon Frank’s death, Hannah Langer was faced with the crossroads for her future. Though she was encouraged by many to sell the bank, she decided not to sell and was elected by the directors as the fifth President of Kitsap bank, becoming the first female bank president west of the Mississippi River. The Legacy Continues Hannah Langer remained as Kitsap Bank’s President for over 20 years, and then served as Chairman of the Board of Directors. In 1986, Frank and Hannah’s daughter, Helen Langer Smith was elected Chairman of the Board, serving 25 years. Helen’s daughter, Cydly Langer Smith, was elected Chairwoman of Kitsap Bank’s Board of Directors in 2011, and Helen now serves as Vice Chairman. Kitsap Bank Today The Bank now operates 20 locations in six Western Washington counties. With over $960 million in assets, Kitsap Bank provides a full range of financial services to commercial and individual customers.
Port Hadlock Branch 69 Oak Bay Road Port Hadlock, WA 98339 360-344-3424
Serving you in our second century! Port Ludlow Branch 74 Breaker Lane Port Ludlow, WA 98365 360-437-7863
Port Townsend Branch 2313 E. Sims Way Port Townsend, WA 98368 360-385-0123
Port Townsend Loan Office 215 Taylor Street Port Townsend, WA 98368 360-379-5626
www.kitsapbank.com • 800-283-5537
LEGACIES • The Port Townsend & Jefferson County Leader
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Fowler’s building; Jones’ newspaper Town’s first masonry building played role in PT and Seattle history ABOUT THE AUTHOR Scott Wilson is the sixth publisher of the Leader, since 1889. Research for this article came from Tom Camfield, Pam McCullom Clise, Elaine Naylor and the Jefferson County Historical Society.
R
By Scott Wilson
elentlessly beaten by 140 years of saltwater winds. Pounded through 98 years of deadline-driven footsteps of newspaper reporters, printers and publishers. The Fowler Building in downtown Port Townsend looks its age. But for 15 years after its 1874 construction, the two-story sandstone building at 226 Adams Street was the uncontested queen of the young city. It was the first substantial stone building amidst a clapboard town, the community’s gathering place, and just one creation of the busiest of the new town’s entrepreneurs. His name was Enoch S. Fowler. He hailed from Lubec, Maine, coming to California during Gold Rush days as shrewd, sharpeyed skipper. While not listed among Port Townsend’s founders, he was first mate on the ship that brought founders Alfred Plummer and Charles Bachelder here from San Francisco in 1850. According to some reports, he talked the men into staking claims at Port Townsend instead of their original target, Olympia. They wintered over in Steilacoom and, in the spring of 1851, arrived on the Port Townsend beach. Fowler followed a year later, filing local claims in 1852, while building up a fleet of ships which he bought and sold. These included the swift schooner R.B. Potter, hired by Territorial Gov. Isaac Stevens to carry mail and supplies to Puget Sound’s few towns and military posts.
The Fowler Building was built from Indian Island sandstone in 1874, the first substantial stone building in wooden seaside village. It was a store, a performance hall, the county courthouse, a seamen’s bethel and, since 1916, home of the Leader. In this photo from the early 1950s, the original sandstone blocks show through weather-beaten gaps in the plaster coat. Note the cars by the side windows. Port Townsend’s current street level has filled in to the bottom of those windows. In front stand two Leader publishers, Richard McCurdy and Ray O. Scott. Photo from the Leader collection
DOING TREATIES WITH STEVENS
In 1854, when the driven Stevens set out on his mission to get almost all Northwest tribes to cede almost all of their territory to the new government, Fowler’s ship carried the governor and negotiators from place to place. That included Point No Point in 1855, where Stevens, Fowler, a young James Swan and a younger S’Klallam chief named Chetzemoka gathered together in one place. Fowler was present when the chiefs there at first resisted the treaty that would include most of the present Olympic Peninsula. He was there the
20 The Port Townsend & Jefferson County Leader • LEGACIES
next morning after Chetzemoka had convinced the skeptical and the hostile to trust the whites and affix their “X” marks. A later treaty at Neah Bay for the Makah tribe was negotiated and signed aboard Fowler’s ship, James Swan still present as translator. Stevens and Fowler were fast friends. Stevens named him the region’s Indian Agent, and Fowler loaned Stevens money for a mortgage. Stevens moved back East, serving in Congress but, in 1862, was killed at the front of his Union troops resisting Stonewall Jackson FOWLER, Page 24▼
LEFT: Port Townsend’s first major entrepreneur was Capt. Enoch Fowler. Is this him? RIGHT: Or is this him? Or both? Both images come from the county historical society.
InHealth Imaging – First To Bring 3D Mammography To The Pacific Northwest InHealth Imaging, LLC is a private, outpatient medical imaging practice founded by Dr. Manfred Henne. We are located in Poulsbo and serve the Kitsap and Olympic Peninsulas and the West Sound. Dr. Henne opened InHealth Imaging in 1998 because he felt that area residents should be able to access high quality, state-of-the-art medical imaging services locally. InHealth Imaging specializes in the diagnosis of a wide spectrum of medical conditions and diseases using the latest technology and our board certified radiologists have years of additional training and expertise.
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Dr. Henne was the first to bring 3D Mammography to the Pacific Northwest. He was attending a conference where this new technology was introduced and he purchased it on the spot. And now, InHealth has upgraded it’s mammography equipment and is the only center offering Low Radiation 3D Mammography on the West Sound. On September 2, InHealth Imaging installed a 3Tesla MRI (the only magnet of this strength on the West Sound) and a Low Radiation 64-Slice CT scanner. The addition of these two new pieces of equipment mean that area residents have access to exceptional quality imaging technology close to home. What truly sets InHealth Imaging apart is the interaction of our radiologists with our patients. You have the choice to personally meet with one of our radiologists to review your images following your exam. At InHealth Imaging, we believe that all of our patients should be presented their results without delay. Additionally, there are no added fees (such as a facility surcharge) for our services. We encourage patients to comparison shop before making an appointment because we are sure that our higher quality, personalized service, and affordable pricing cannot be matched. InHealth Imaging is also a proud community supporter of such organizations as the American Cancer Society, Relay For Life, Kitsap Cancer Services, and the Kathleen Sutton Inspirational Fund, just to name a few. InHealth Imaging looks forward to serving the needs of patients on the West Sound for years to come! 20700 Bond Road, NE, Poulsbo, Washington, 98370
360-598-3141
D N: Founded in 1978 by Dr. John Barrett, Dentistry Northwest is one of the longest-serving dental clinics in Jefferson County. One secret of its long success is that Dr. Barrett keeps up to date with the latest technology and training for his exceptional staff. Both the office and the business have a long history. Dentistry Northwest is located at 131 Randolph Street, three blocks from the Port Hadlock QFC The house occupied by Dentistry Northwest was built in and a block from the bluff overlooking the bay. The 1887. This is a view from the back. Victorian house was built in 1887 as the home for the manager of the Port Hadlock mill. It has been tastefully renovated into a comfortable dentist’s office, retaining a family setting beneath its arching maple trees.
Dentistry Northwest office today.
Dr. John Barrett 131 Randolph St., Port Hadlock (360) 385-1000 • (800) 458-2509 www.dentistrynw.blogspot.com
For the past 36 years, Dr. Barrett has seen generations of clients – now including the grandkids of original customers. A graduate of Baylor College of Dentistry and many specialized courses, he is both friendly and highly professional. He respects his staff and they respect him. They ensure that clients get prompt appointments and are treated in an efficient and friendly manner.
Dr. John Barrett and his staff operate one of the county’s longest-serving dental clinics in a Victorian house in Port Hadlock.
Parks and Recreation, and for three years as a Girl Scout Troop Leader. Today she’s president of the Port Townsend Swim Team. Christine has been on staff since 1999, as laboratory technician and sterilizer; she also helps with local food drives. Juliene, on board since 2007 is a dental assistant, and has Today, Dentistry Northwest has the equipment to The long tenure of most of his staff tells you two coached Little League teams. things -they know their business and enjoy their do Cerec same-day crowns, Invisalign, a clear alDentistry Northwest’s staff is engaged in offering work. Carol has been with the clinic since 1983, now ternative to metal braces, implants, and digital 3-D you the best possible care for your teeth and mouth, working as dental assistant. She has also volunteered imaging. Customers come from all over east Jefferson County, from Brinnon to the south and Port for 18 years to build up East Jefferson Little League. and emphasize preventative care at every step. They Rebecca has been on board since 2005, working the are equally engaged in their community. Townsend to the north. front desk, and has been a volunteer board member Dr. Barrett is also an avid pilot of his own single-enfor five years with the Friends of Jefferson County gine airplane, and has donated his work to assist in Third World medical and dental clinics. He and his wife Anne have five adult children. He is a charter member of East Jefferson Rotary, was treasurer for the Tri-Area Chamber of Commerce and was one of the founders of Jefferson Days.
LEGACIES • The Port Townsend & Jefferson County Leader
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Centrum’s legendary porch jam
photo: Roz Powell
THEN
& NOW The bell-bottoms may be gone (along with the sideburns), but the universal joy and personal value earned at Centrum continues to last a lifetime.
Since 1974, Centrum’s mission has remained unchanged.
The Centrum Foundation exists to connect artists and learners of all ages through direct and shared artistic experiences. As primary tenant at Fort Worden State Park, Centrum promotes the value of arts and creativity through multi-generational workshops and festivals in an astonishing array of disciplines and art forms. While today’s Centrum is the legacy of founder Joseph F. Wheeler, Centrum’s future is being influenced by the children and grandchildren of Centrum’s earliest participants. Third generation participants are today attending Centrum’s workshops, and every year, new artists, musicians and writers of all ages are discovering the community, camaraderie, and shared spirit of learning and discovery that is uniquely Centrum. In 2014, Centrum welcomed participants from 17 countries, 46 out of 50 states in the U.S, and from 77% of the counties in Washington State. 27% of participants were age 18 or younger; the range of ages spanned from 4 to 96; and $150,000 in scholarship assistance was awarded to those in need. We are proud of our legacy serving Port Townsend, Port Ludlow, the Olympic Peninsula and the world.
To support Centrum, or make a legacy gift, please contact us at (360) 385-3102.
centrum.org
facebook.com/ptcentrum twitter: @ptcentrum flickr.com/photos/ptcentrum/sets/
Festival of American Fiddle Tunes / Writers’ Conference / *Chamber Music / Explorations / Jazz Port Townsend / Acoustic Blues Festival Choro / DANCE This! / Big Band / Voice Works / *Kitchen Culture / Tales Texts & Theater / *Emerging Artist Residency / Water World *Ukulele Festival / Advanced High School Writer’s Studio / Independent Artist Residencies / *Migrant Student Workshop / *YAWP
* New or expanding program for 2015 YAWP = Your Alternative Writing Program (Writers’ Residency)
LEGACY_CENTRUM.indd 1
22 The Port Townsend & Jefferson County Leader • LEGACIES
10/24/2014 10:24:13 AM
25 years of clipping hair, sharing stories Debi started Victorian Clipper in 1989
ARCHITECTURE
PC
RichardRICHARD Berg moved to Port BERG, ARCHITECT ERIC KUZMA, ARCHITECT, AIA Townsend with his wife Kristin and their young family in 1991 to become the in-house architect at Timbercraft Homes. After six years full of good camaraderie and learning at Timbercraft, Richard decided to strike out on his own in January 1997, forming Richard Berg Architects. At first the firm picked up a few local jobs, but much of the work came from the world of timber-frame clients and builders that Richard knew from his Timbercraft days. As time went on, the timber-frame work receded and local work grew as Richard’s local reputation grew. Residential projects have always represented a majority of the firm’s work, although projects with a more public presence have also happened throughout the years, including the site plan for the Treehouse neighborhood near Fort Worden, restoration of Point Hudson buildings, the new sanctuary at Quimper Unitarian Universalist Fellowship, and most recently the new Port of Port Townsend administrative office building.
Debi Hinton recalls the day Jim Wilson offered her a job as barber if she went to hair school. Always a self-starter, Debi painted the interior of a house to earn the $800 needed for school. In the end she decided to open up her own shop and did so the day her license arrived. The year was 1989. At Victorian Clipper, Debi has always worked to give a good haircut, efficiently, for a reasonable price. Most of her loyal clients are seniors, her “ol’ guys,” who enjoy the warm décor, the cozy seating area and Debi’s warm personality. She is genuinely interested in the lives, the stories and the family updates that she hears. “It means a lot that they’ll share with me,” she said. Looking ahead, Debi wants to keep it as is: Reasonable prices, a great haircut, a friendly chat. Men, she noted, are pretty loyal to their barbers – she is on her second generation with some, the dad showing up 20 years ago and sons coming in today.
Debi also believes in being involved in the community. She’s a member of the Elks Lodge and volunteers for veterans’ support. She donates a lot of haircuts through community fundraisers, collects warm clothing for the homeless, supports Christmas and Thanksgiving dinners. “I think barbershops in general are fading away as the old barbers pass on, and people move toward hair salons,” she said. “Barbershops are social gathering places for men. They come in, read, tell stories and wait their turn. They are patient and loyal. I believe they have my best interest at heart when giving me advice. The value is being part of their lives for many years.” And many years to come.
Currently Terrapin employs 3 architects including Richard, continues to do residential design, and looks forward to working with growing local businesses such as Finnriver Cidery and Mt. Townsend Creamery on their new facilities. Richard Berg, Principal Architect www.terrapinarchitecture.com Amy I. Dahlberg and Tamara Halligan, Associates 727 Taylor Street, Port Townsend, WA 98368 360-379-8090 www.terrapinarchitecture.com
Construction runs in the Little family. Bob Little grew up in a construction family and worked for his father. Now, Bob is proud to have his own son, Gage, as a partner their family owned construction business. G. Little Construction has a long history in the Port Townsend community. The company began in 1979 when Bob Little and Whitey Johnson teamed up to form Johnson & Little Construction. In 1984, Bob Little took sole ownership of the company and changed the name to Little & Little Construction and continued to build on the company’s reputation for building quality custom and luxury homes. Over the next 20 years, Little & Little restored some of Port Townsend’s most beautiful historic homes and built some of the area’s unique modern homes, drawing attention for quality and craftsmanship. In 2006, Bob expanded beyond custom home construction and founded Kitchen & Bath Studio, complete with a local showroom and a team of kitchen and bath designers. Little & Little Construction built their first floating home in the Port Townsend Shipyard in 2011. When the home was launched into Port Townsend Bay, it drew a large crowd as the community gathered to see the unique sight and support the company. Since then, G. Little Construction has built several floating homes bringing a new industry to the local economy.
Mon~Fri 9-5 • Sat 9-3 • Sun 9~12 • 530 Kearney St., Port Townsend 360-385-4893 • www.victorianclipper.com
In 2012, Bob partnered with his son Gage and brought Little & Little Construction and Kitchen & Bath Studio together as one company, renaming the company G. Little Construction. This move ensured the Little family would remain in construction for many years. G. Little Construction is proud of their long history of supporting the community by working with local tradesmen. Bob Little is quick to point out that he is confident of the quality of his work in large part because of the quality of the tradesmen he works with. G. Little has built a reputation because of their approach to building a home. The construction process is a team effort with the home owner being part of the team and having a seat at the table equal to the builder or sub-contractor. G. Little is a family owned business which focuses on the family of everyone who works for the company. G. Little has maintained consistent quality over the years because of their dedicated and devoted staff. Two of the company’s craftsmen have been with the company for over 20 years. Five more have been with the company for over ten years. G. Little has made a shift from focusing on custom and luxury homes, to adding small projects, remodels, and kitchen and baths to the mix. Now, customers can get the same luxury quality G. Little Construction is known for on a smaller scale.
Bob and Gage Little
360-385-1020
1210 W. Sims Way Lic. # GLITTL1886KZ
LEGACIES • The Port Townsend & Jefferson County Leader
23
Fowler: A city grows up around an 1874 sandstone building ▼Continued from page 20
in the Civil War battle of Chantilly, Virginia. By that time, Fowler had given up the seagoing life and settled into Port Townsend. He built a home at Jefferson and Polk, still there. He acquired hundreds of acres of land, including what is now Fort Worden. It appears he started the first bakery, employing a young Charles Eisenbeis who would become the town’s lead capitalist a decade later. He donated land for the Laurel Grove Cemetery, and donated land for a school, now the Port Townsend Community Center. He built the town’s first deepwater pier at the foot of Water St., although it was soon eaten by teredos. He helped start two newspapers, one almost 30 years before the Leader was born in 1889. He built and owned stores and constructed many wooden commercial and residential buildings. The Legislature chose him to be the territory’s brigadier general, and he was the county’s first treasurer.
Territorial Gov. Isaac Stevens hired Capt. Fowler and his fast schooner R.B. Potter to carry him to four Indian treaty negotiations in the mid-1850s, including the Point No Point and Neah Bay treaties. The latter was negotiated and signed aboard Fowler’s ship. The two became friends; Fowler even loaned Stevens mortgage money.
A STONEMASON NAMED CARKEEK
An artist’s rendition of Port Townsend in 1876 shows the square, flat-topped Fowler Building on Adams St. surrounded by a wooden village. Fowler’s building was the only stone structure.
In 1874 Fowler decided to build a “commodious fireproof store,” and brought English master stonemason Morgan J. Carkeek in for the job. Carkeek had come north from San Francisco. Carkeek quarried sandstone from an Indian Island quarry in the southeastern quadrant of the island, and hauled it across Port Townsend Bay by barge. The sandstone blocks were two feet thick and laid together with lime-based mortar. Huge floor and ceiling joists were milled from clear-grain fir. As a finishing touch, Carkeek put Fowler’s name and the year at the top of the building. At first it was a dry goods store, Fowler using his fleet to import supplies from San Francisco. It became the town’s first performance hall for dances (upstairs) and theater (downstairs). It was the Masonic Temple. It was purchased by Jefferson County and used as the county courthouse from 1880 to 1892, workers adding steel shutters to the windows for security. James Swan, now a self-taught lawyer and probate judge, had his office across the street and used the courtroom.
In 1855, S’Klallam chief Chetzemoka helped convince skeptical chiefs to sign the Point No Point Treaty, saying the whites of Port Townsend had proven friendly and trustworthy.
A decade later the town has grown. Brick buildings rise amidst the wooden downtown. The Waterman & Katz Building, left, was built in 1886. The Fowler Building faces a dirt street, wooden sidewalks, has a wooden staircase and an outhouse in the back. From 1880 to 1892 it was the Jefferson County Courthouse. Photos from the Jefferson County Historical Society
It was still the courthouse when Chief Chetzemoka died on Indian Island in 1888. His sons brought his body to Port Townsend by dugout cedar canoe. The town elected to honor their old friend by laying his body in state for two days in the main downstairs room, the pioneers and their descendants invited to pay their respects. In 1892, the “new” brick courthouse was completed on the bluff, and county offices moved.
LOST AMIDST ORNATE BRICK
By then, a new brick Victorian commercial district had grown up on all sides of the Fowler Building. A building boom surged in the late 1880s and, in 1889, with ambitions to FOWLER, Page 25▼
James Swan appreciated the region’s Indians, especially the Makah, and Chetzemoka. He served as an interpreter for Gov. Stevens. Later in life he was a Jefferson County judge, at least briefly holding court in the Fowler Building, across Adams Street from his office.
24 The Port Townsend & Jefferson County Leader • LEGACIES
By 1893, brick buildings have risen everywhere. City Hall, left with the conical tower, was built in 1892. The three stories of the N.D. Hill Building (top center) were built in 1889. The Fowler Building, center, has a garden in what is now the parking lot, and is dwarfed by a new neighbor, the Tucker Building (now site of Bank of America). Note two other buildings: Front left, the Yee Sing Wo Kee Co. building represents the robust Chinatown of the town, and middle right, is a white two-story building that housed Judge James Swan.
Fowler: Builder helped Seafirst grow ▼Continued from page 24
become a railroad terminal running rampant and Washington statehood a certainty, ornate brick buildings went up everywhere, trampling underfoot the pioneer wooden town and quickly overshadowing the unadorned Fowler Building. Street levels rose with fill dirt. The Fowler Building’s entryway has a unique dip that marks the sidewalk level of an earlier era. In the basement, now well below street level, is a window with metal shutters. In 1893, a national financial panic combined with the railroad’s decision to stop at Tacoma and Seattle. Port Townsend slipped into recession and the boom population slipped out of town. Upper floors of some new buildings were never finished. The Fowler Building was used for a seamen’s boarding house, a cigar factory and a store. For several years it was abandoned. Finally in 1916, a new tenant moved in. The Morning Leader newspaper had started publication from a Water St. location in 1889, 27 years earlier. It needed a new office, and moved in the bottom floor. Apartments were created in the upstairs. The Leader Company bought the building from the county in 1928, and remains there today.
HOW TO BE A POPULAR BANKER
Enoch Fowler had long since passed away. This energetic, busy man died at the age of 63 in 1876, just two years after his building was completed. He is buried not far from Chetzemoka and James Swan (who died in 1900) at the Laurel Grove Cemetery. His widowed wife and his stepson later built the Fowler-Caines Building, now the home of El Serape Restaurant. A footnote to the Fowler Building involves the Bank of America. Morgan Carkeek, after completing the Fowler Building, was hired by a young Seattle banker named Dexter Horton to build a sandstone bank in that young city, the downtown district now called Pioneer Square. In 1875, Carkeek’s one-story building went up amidst the wooden structures of that town. Its design and construction were strikingly similar to the Port Townsend building, but smaller. He also built a massive stone vault in the back of the building. In 1889, a great fire swept through Seattle, destroying the entire commercial district including all the banks in wooden buildings. The shell of Dexter Horton’s bank survived, but more importantly its interior stone vault was the only one in the city that preserved the stocks, bonds, cash and other perishable valuables of Seattle citizens. After the fire, Horton and his unique-
Carkeek’s Dexter Horton Bank was Seattle’s first stone building and only stone bank. Its design and construction are similar to PT’s Fowler Building.
The 1889 Seattle fire demolished Seattle, all wooden banks and their contents. Only Carkeek’s stone vault, seen through the doorway, survived.
ly reliable bank quickly rose to dominance in Seattle, and the Northwest. In time his bank became Seattle First National, shortened to Seafirst, acquired by the Bank of America in 1983 and now part of one of the world’s largest banks. Carkeek went on to become very prominent in Seattle, rebuilding much of the burned city, donating hundreds of acres of park land that today bears his name and helping launch the Seattle Historical Society, today called the Museum of History and Industry. Fowler. Stevens. Swan. Chetzemoka. Carkeek. Men of enterprise whose actions shaped the formative years of a coastal frontier. Long gone, but one thing they left behind is a sturdy sandstone building on Adams St.
Master stonemason Morgan Carkeek built the Fowler Building in 1874 from Indian Island sandstone.
Dexter Horton, Seattle banker, hired Carkeek to build a sandstone, one-story building in Seattle.
Yes, it was a garage: Family-owned Printery launched 38 years ago The Printery got its start in 1976 when founder Mike Kenna opened the business in a two-car garage at Point Hudson. In 1979, the Printery purchased and restored several historic buildings in the Uptown National Historic District, where it remains today. The Printery may be the longest-serving local startup still operated by its founder. It has always been a family enterprise. Pat Kenna was a co-owner until recently. Sons Aaron Kenna and Rory Kenna work there today, along with 19 other talented and committed employees. The Printery provides one-stop marketing solutions for businesses, agencies and individuals. It was the first shop to provide complete print and marketing solutions on this side of Puget Sound. It has done so with a steady commitment to doing its work in the greenest manner possible. “Providing green and sustainable printing solutions for businesses has been at the core of our mission since the beginning,” Mike said. Over the years, the Printery has won several regional and national environmental and quality awards. Together with its environmental commitment has been a commitment to remain at the cutting edge of technology. “We are committed to growth with investments in new
631 TYLER ST UPTOWN PT / (360) 385-1256 / WWW.PRINTERY.COM
technology,” said Mike. “We have a very unique and robust retail website including hundreds of products and services.” The Seattle sales office with its focus on corporate accounts is run by Aaron Kenna. That has helped the Printery build a regional and national customer base. It includes United Way of King County, Starbucks, Amazon, Ricoh and Microsoft. But the Printery’s first focus is local, said Mike. “Most important to us has been providing successful business solutions to our local customers over the last 38 years,” he said. Community partner The Printery has been a community partner since its inception. Mike was a Port Townsend City Councilmember for 12 years and served as mayor pro-tem. He has been involved with Port Townsend Rotary for more than 30 years. He and his business are generous donors to and partners with community causes and charity endeavors. A major reason for the Printery’s success is its staff, many of whom have served customers for more than 20 years. Diane Ketcham estimates and schedules. Lisa Cloward manages the bindery. Wayne Martin and Keith Leaney work the presses. Chris Olsen manages pre-press work. Shannon Callahan and Liz Lawson form the backbone of the Star Copy & Media Center. At the Printery, shared values inspire top performance and are great motivators for the staff, said Mike. When owners, employees and customers alike see values practiced within the firm and sustained as part of a continued legacy, those values become a powerful part of a company’s culture – and a strong foundation for decision-making. One company slogan says it simply: “There is no limit. The Printery can do it all.”
The Star staff at Printery Communications / Star Copy and Media Center
From left: Aaron Kenna, Mike Kenna, and Rory Kenna. Star staff not shown in Pics: Ned Luce, Diane Ketcham, Marsha Slomowitz, Bonnie Corra, and Megan Woodward
LEGACIES • The Port Townsend & Jefferson County Leader
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Jefferson Community School
Jefferson Community School is an accredited independent school serving 7-12th grade students located in the heart of historic Port Townsend. Jefferson Community School offers a unique experiential education for local, national and international students. JCS boasts engaged academics, learning through experience, and an opportunity for personal growth and challenge in a supportive school community that fosters a global awareness.
History The concept of Jefferson Community school was first sketched out in 2004 by a group of parents and educators committed to individualized education, experiential, and expeditionary-based learning. Their founding goal remains today: ignite students’ intellectual passions. Three talented educators co-founded and lead the school in its infancy. Crystie Kisler, Julie Marston and James “Robbie” Roberts. Together, they wanted to create a school with “a heart so big that all who entered its doors would be loved, a school with eyes so wide that the whole world could be viewed from its open windows, and a school with students who were ripe to learn and with teachers who were passionate to learn with them.” Kisler, 2010.
Most schools reflect the personality and culture of the surrounding community, and JCS is no exception. East Jefferson County is known for being creative, flexible, intellectual, community-minded, and proudly unique. Over the course of 10 years, JCS has enjoyed the contributions of many talented and committed faculty and administration to create a school that is all that and more. Just last year, the school became authorized under Federal law to enroll nonimmigrant alien students, opening its doors to learners from around the world. During the 2007-2008 school year, the JCS community celebrated the opening of its current campus in the historic Good Templar’s Hall in vibrant downtown Port Townsend. The building is owned by an LLC known as Friends of JCS. The campus is ideally located for experi-
ential education. A block from the shore, it is surrounded by history and commerce. Memorial Field is across the street and is host to fabulous PE, down the street is the museum and NW Maritime Center, and many learning opportunities are within walking distance. “It’s the true center of the community, which is where our young people need to be.” Marston, 2008. After a temporary closure in 2013, parents, students and community rallied together to re-open, much in the same way as the original founding parents did 9 years earlier. Under the leadership of Rita Hemsley, Ph.D., the school reopened and is now thriving with 30 full-time students. Current Board members are: Steve Sullivan, Stan Cummings, Richard Berg, Anne Kearson, Gerald Braude, Doug VanLeuvan, Keith Hansen, Michael Klupfell and Juli Valentine. Faculty and experts-in-residence include: Bob Berreth, Matt Nienow, Dianne Hammons, Craig Frick, Lindsay Bulso, Dan Groussman, Geoffrey Hughes, Darcie Johansson and Norma Avila. Julie Marston, one of the three founders and visionaries of JCS, will be honored with the dedication of the 2nd floor Great Hall in her name on November 23rd. All wishing to celebrate her legacy and participate in her vision of creating the Marston Arts Program for JCS are welcome to join us for High Tea at 4:00pm at the school. Contact the school with questions: rhemsley@ jeffersoncommunityschool.com or (360) 385-0622.
jeffersoncommunityschool.com 26 The Port Townsend & Jefferson County Leader • LEGACIES
❝ Increased amount of attention by teachers allowed my son to find his voice. He made improved choices and kept an open mind. Because of support, attention and community he realized he could lead. He was accepted at all the colleges he applied to, even his reach school…❞ JCS Parent ❝ My daughter is taking the lead in her freshman classes at Scripps. After six years at JCS her leadership, discussion and academic skills are really shining. ❞ JCS parent ❝ I was amazed by the kids I met today. I want MY children to attend that school! I never imagined students so articulate, confident and comfortable in a formal, social setting. They truly impressed me.❞ Chely Wright, award-winning singer/songwriter, after attending a JCS luncheon and discussion in her honor, PTFF Oct. 2012.
Facts: Student teacher ratio 1:7 95% of graduating students attend college or professional school current enrollment 30 7th – 12th graders 4 full-time and 5 part-time faculty Vision: All students will be academically and socially prepared to be successful citizens of their community and the world. Mission: Jefferson Community School inspires students to be responsible global citizens through individualized, experiential, and expeditionary learning programs.
DuMond marks 10 years at AutoWorks Family firm combines latest equipment with strong community spirit It was 10 years ago this month that Mark DuMond took over the AutoWorks vehicle repair business in Port Townsend, purchasing the shop behind the Westbay NAPA Auto Parts business from Steve and Kathy Tucker. “It’s been the same guy, the same business for 10 years,” said DuMond, although he noted several upgrades and improvements that have prompted some to think there are new owners. Among the equipment upgrades is a state-of-the-art alignment system; but DuMond’s focus remains on the people. “The face of the business has changed,” said DuMond, with some new staff. Though his commitment to exceptional service and the latest equipment and training has not, he said. “We have the best employees you can imagine,” he said, and together with wife Kris, he is proud to provide family-wage jobs for eight families. The group is highly educated, and all are adept with computers for diagnostic or communications applications. Some staffers are new; others have been in the field for as long as 40 years.
AutoWorks employs ASE master technicians who do maintenance and repair on domestic, Asian and some European vehicles. “People love the fact that this is a family here,” said Kris DuMond, who helps in the shop with the books and other duties. Many AutoWorks customers have been with the shop for the entire decade, said DuMond. DuMond did a stint in the U.S. Marines and moved to Jefferson County in 1979 from Santa Cruz, California. He had worked in the auto parts and repair industry since the late 1980s. He recalled making a parts delivery to Tucker and hearing the shop owner joke that DuMond should buy the shop. “Thirty days later, I did,” he said.
Kris and Mark DuMond have been behind the wheel of AutoWorks, a Port Townsend auto repair business, for 10 years.
and disposal of wastes. AutoWorks was the first automotive Green Business in Jefferson County, as well Dumond said he has always been as a AAA business with 99.8 percent motivated to provide great service, customer satisfaction index, and a drawing from other jobs he has had AAA top shop award winner. in large auto parts companies. AutoWorks is not all work. “I didn’t do this to get rich or I The business is civically active, would have done something else,” he supporting many causes which said. “I did this because I was tired of include Red Cross, Rakers, Kiwanis, people being treated like a number.” Centrum, Combat Veterans, Relay for Life, American Heart Association, and He’s also committed to various school teams. environmentally responsible work
2313 3rd St., Port Townsend behind Les Schwab
(360) 385-5682
www.autoworkspt.com “Where Tradition Meets Technology” LEGACIES • The Port Townsend & Jefferson County Leader
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W.L. Jones launched Leader in 1889; one of many Port Townsend papers By Scott Wilson
When W.L. Jones launched the Morning Leader in Port Townsend on Oct. 2, 1889, the streets of the city were already crowded with newspapers. The first came in 1859, followed by several others: The Northwest, the Message, the Argus, the Democratic Press, on and on. Most papers were sponsored by political parties. The history of newspapers in Jefferson County is generally rambunctious, but the story of one editor, Henry L. Sutton, takes the cake. In 1867 Al Pettygrove, son of pioneer Francis Pettygrove, founded The Message, a Republican newspaper. In 1869 Enoch S. Fowler purchased the paper and installed Sutton as editor. That was a mistake. Sutton got in fights, usually verbal, with many people and soon was fired. He shifted from newspapering to something more respectable – operating a saloon on Union Wharf. In 1877, a man he did not like from a previous dispute walked into his saloon. Sutton pulled out a pistol and shot the man point blank. He was arrested but escaped and was never recaptured. Later a letter came to the Jefferson County sheriff asking him to take care of Sutton’s dog. Some say he was eventually killed in a gunfight in Arizona.
DARK SIDE OF BOOSTERISM
Things in the newspaper world had settled down a bit by 1883, when W.L. Jones helped Allen Weir publish the Argus. But when Weir became Washington’s first Secretary of State in 1889, Jones left the Argus and launched the Morning Leader. A one-man daily, it started a month before Washington’s statehood, which Weir was busily organizing. The Argus closed soon afterwards. Under Jones, the Leader leaned toward the Republican party and lay prone before boosterism and economic development, constantly touting the undeniable certainty of the coming great city. In the first edition he said the city would grow to 12,000 people within two years, called for the development of coal mines
The Morning Leader hit Port Townsend’s streets in October 1889, a latecomer among local papers.
and an enlarged electric plant, demanded that the state agricultural college (now WSU) be located here and challenged local investors to put up hundreds of thousands of dollars for a fine new hotel, which he promised would send property values soaring by 30 percent. Finally, after months of being harangued, investors led by Charles Eisenbeis stepped up. Their 128-room hotel, built beneath the present Manresa Castle, was completed in the early 1890s. But the town’s economy collapsed as the last nail was driven. The hotel never opened. Several investors were ruined, although Eisenbeis survived. The huge empty building became a sanitarium in 1901 and mercifully burned down in 1923. In the midst of this credibility calamity, Jones had a nervous breakdown, then left the city and his newspaper behind. Steadier hands followed Jones at the Leader, and other newspapers closed shop.
Linotypes were king when this photo was taken in the Leader backshop in the mid-1930s. Four key Leader leaders are shown. Ray O. Scott at the Linotype, then from left printer Claude Mitton, Fred Willoughby and Richard McCurdy. Two generations of Mittons worked at the Leader for a combined 86 years. Two generations of McCurdys published the Leader for a combined 55 years. From the Leader collection
MCCURDYS, MITTONS, CAMFIELD, GARREDS
Winslow McCurdy became a partner in 1906, his ownership lasting until 1928. His son Richard McCurdy became news editor in 1934, co-owner in 1946 and sole owner from 1952 until 1967. Ray O. Scott and Fred Willoughby also had ownership roles between and during the McCurdy years. An even more remarkable stake in the Leader came from the Mitton family. Claude Mitton was hired on as a printer in the 1930s and continued in that role until 1975 – 45 years.
28 The Port Townsend & Jefferson County Leader • LEGACIES
LEADER, Page 51▼
This sandstone quarry in the southeastern quadrant of Indian Island apparently was the source of the sandstone blocks that were used to construct the Fowler Building in 1874. Photo by Liane Nakahara, Navy Region Northwest
Guiding You Through the Life of Your Business! We know small business isn’t easy - that’s why businesses and their owners are our sole focus!
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Founded 1991
Sport Townsend: “You’ll thank us when you get there” Sport Townsend was founded in August 1990 by retired math teacher, Mari Friend, and bike tour leader, Bonnie Wong. Originally called the “Trailhead” it shared a space on Taylor Street with the PT Cyclery. When it moved to its present Water Street location in January 1993, a contest was held to rename the store. “Sport Townsend” was chosen from all the entries, and the winner received a full $10 gift certificate! I came to work for Sport Townsend as its manager in September 1995 when Bonnie Wong decided to sell her share of the store to Mari. Bonnie wanted to spend more of her time in Mexico. Over the next decade I took on the responsibility for most of the general operations of the store, as well as much of the purchasing, specifically the outdoor clothing. I developed a real love for the store and all that it entailed, and in July 2011 I became the sole owner of Sport Townsend. I envisioned a well stocked store, some streamlined purchasing procedures and solid customer relationships. Sport Townsend is an outdoor retail store that carries clothing, shoes, boots, packs, gear and equipment for camping, hiking, backpacking, and every day existence in the Northwest. I sell quality brands well known in the outdoor industry, all guaranteed to withstand some use! I stock my store with my local clientele in mind. Locals are at least 80% of my business and count on me for all their outdoor needs. We in turn provide them with the best service we know how to give! Staff is knowledgeable about everything we sell and is well qualified to advise customers with their choices.
People often return to share THEIR adventures and to let us know how their gear and clothing performed. I boast the best sock selection in town, and like to brag that one can purchase everything from their underwear to a winter coat at my store. Tourists often return each year and some make the trip to Holiday shop with us. We keep extended hours 363 days every year. We special order what we may not stock, and we offer birthday, senior and military discounts. I work hard to keep the store fresh and current in every way. We have fun, and it is a fun place to shop. Sales Manager, Gary, entertains with stories of his sled dog racing days and rock star roadie adventures. I am always mindful of customer needs, and moving forward I will adapt my offerings to the demographic as it is evolving. Actually, I have done just that over the last 20 years. I currently serve on the board of the Port Townsend Rotary, and am proud to support Jumping Mouse Childrens’ Center, Port Townsend Marathon Association, Port Townsend Film Festival, Centrum, the Marine Science Center, Port Townsend High School Hiking Club, Cross Country Running, Port Townsend Redhawks, Olympic Community Action, and the Wounded Warriors. Sport Townsend is Port Townsend’s original outdoor store. While it began very small with a focus on maps and books, it has evolved to become a premier outdoor retail shop. Its former owners are proud to know that what they started so long ago has grown and continues to meet the needs of the community. I am proud to own this store. I love coming here every day and believe that I am doing what I am supposed to be doing. Many people have grown up with Sport Townsend, and it is an important part of our town. I hope to someday pass this store on to someone who loves it, and this town, as much as I do.
Susan Jacob as a junior at St. Lawrence High School.
Susan’s dedicated staff, Austin (above) and Gary (right).
Mon-Sat: 9-8 • Sun: 10-6 • 1044 Water Street • 360-379-9711 • www.sporttownsend.com LEGACIES • The Port Townsend & Jefferson County Leader
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As someone someone whose whose family family hashas lived lived in Jefferson in Jefferson What Whatcan canweweprint printfor foryou? you?As County County for for wellwell over over 140140 years, years, I’veI’ve always always thought thought it it
waswas more more important important how how long long youyou intend intend to stay to stay than than how how long long you’ve you’ve already already been been here. here.
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My great My great grandfather, grandfather, not only not only had had a herd a herd of dairy of dairy cattle, cattle, but also but also farmed farmed vegevegetables, tables, raised raised beefbeef and and porkpork for the for local the local markets, markets, worked worked in the in woods, the woods, cleared cleared his land, his land, buildbuild his house, his house, and and in hisinspare his spare timetime served served as aas Jefferson a Jefferson County County Commissioner Commissioner and and Justice Justice of the of Peace. the Peace. This This resourcefulness resourcefulness and and ability ability to dotoanything do anything is just is what just what we embody we embody herehere at at SOSSOS Printing. Printing. FromFrom the tiniest the tiniest little little job, job, which which we gladly we gladly taketake because because we need we need everyevery scrap scrap of work of work we can we can get to getkeep to keep our people our people employed, employed, to the to biggest the biggest jobsjobs in the in county, the county, we fiwe nd fiand way a way to get to itget done, it done, quickly quickly and and affordably. affordably. Our Our staffstaff has has big city big advertising city advertising agency agency experience, experience, a college a college degree degree fromfrom the most the most prestigious prestigious school school of communications of communications in the in country, the country, decades decades of experience. of experience. Not only Not only do we dohave we have super super powerful powerful computers computers and and the very the very latestlatest design design soft-software, ware, but we buthave we have spent spent years years learning learning how how to use to use it. We it. have We have the fithe nest, finest, indusindustrial quality trial quality equipment equipment fromfrom around around the world the world and and if there if there is anything is anything we can’t we can’t do do rightright herehere in house, in house, we have we have partners partners around around the country the country to jump to jump in and in and help.help.
S S
Design, Design, Printing, Printing, Bindery, Bindery, Mailing. Mailing. WhatWhat moremore could could you you want? want? Seriously, Seriously, let usletknow. us know.
On-line On-line job submission job submission at at www.sosprinting.biz www.sosprinting.biz Call Call us atus385-4194 at 385-4194 Email Email at sos@olympus.net at sos@olympus.net
SOS Printing SOS Printing ownerowner Dan Huntingford Dan Huntingford with the with the NAQPNAQP PrinterPrinter of theof Year theCharlene Year Charlene Sims Sims from from Dallas, Dallas, Texas,Texas, who recently who recently camecame to visit. to visit.
THE BUILDING The CF Clapp building was built in 1885 and has had a multitude of adventures over the years...starting
The Clapp Building, established 1885
off as a mercantile, and soon after, a bank (notice the very high storefront windows in the photo. This was before the middle floor was created when a card room was installed in the 1930s). It has also been a series of taverns.
international carpets, you will be delighted at the variety of choices, which arrive daily. Every day brings new treasures and surprises for us and you.
matches. The club was later remodeled to include a dance floor and renamed the Club DeLeo. A sign said “Dancing on Mill Pay Days Only.”
April Fool & Penny Too represents works of local artists, imports from Turkey and one-of-a-kind Antiquities from China, Victorian Jewelry, precious stones, gold and silver.....whatever your pleasures, tour this beautiful shop with its history, view and exquisite displays of all things fine and funky.
Ellen and Penny purchased the building in 1989 from Frank and Edna Smith, DeLeo Club, early 1940s owners of the Port In 1898 there was Townsend Art a permit requested Gallery Book Store who had the to open a bar in the basement. In store from 1968. the 1920’s it was a grocery store (because of prohibition). Auntie El lived here with her 10 children. This fabulous old Building has a wonderful history that the staff The DeLeo family owned the would be happy to share with you building for most of the 20s 30s while you are visiting us. and 40s.
C.F. Clapp Building was built by Cyrus F. Clapp, who was a local banker and entrepreneur. His relatives visit us occasionally and help us add stories to the history.
We have heard many great stories, one being that a Bordello was on the top floor, a card room on the middle floor and a tavern downstairs. In the 30s it was an athletic club owned by Frank DeLeo called the Nappeo Athletic Club with wrestling and boxing
This abundant shop offers an eclectic mix of Quality Consignments. Old, new and in between; Antiques, Untiques and a trove of collectible and practical things. Whether searching for furniture, mirrors, vintage nautical items, cashmere sweaters or handmade
30 The Port Townsend & Jefferson County Leader • LEGACIES
on the on beach the beach at at 23192319 Washington Washington Street Street Port Port Townsend, Townsend, WA 98368 WA 98368
THE BUSINESS April Fool & Penny Too, the brainchild of sisters Ellen Poitevin and Penny Varteresian, was born 25 years ago, May 26 1989, one hundred and four years after the
Ellen and Penny, opening day May 26th 1989 April Fool & Penny Too Today Art by Don Tiller
725 Water Street Port Townsend, WA 98368 (360) 385-3438
Vibrant and thriving - since 1989 In May of 1989 my husband David Lesser and I opened a little shop on Water Street. Over the years we have had many wonderful and talented people help us make Abracadabra the special place that it is. Integral to our small family business have been our sons, Jacob A 1989 photo of Abracadabra and Justin Lesser, who have with son Jacob, age 4. added their ideas to our frequent family discussions about how to keep Abracadabra vibrant and
thriving. For our 25th anniversary they helped us with everything from pulling up carpet, painting, building displays, upgrading computers systems, to cutting out the beautiful arch that connects us to our new space. We have been delighted by the response of customers. It’s been gratifying to hear all the exclama exclamations of excitement as people come in to see the changes we’ve made and to check out our shelves which still overflow with colorful and fun gifts. Many thanks to Tassa, Amanda, Lesley, and Guenevere, along with our many friends, who have also helped us throughout this project. And to you, our Port Townsend family, thank you for being part of the magic that is Abracadabra!
Marion Lodwick and son Justin in Abracadabra 2014.
BEGINNINGS
OlympusNet is one of the world’s oldest Internet providers. Ned Schumann founded the company in 1993 and opened Internet access for the Port Townsend area then later for Sequim and Port Angeles. Academics were the first to come out of the woodwork. Kids away at college would now write home since their parents had email. Then businesses and people curious about the Internet joined. In 1994 the OlympusNet community hosted a well-attended picnic on Marrowstone Island. The Olympians mailing list was our common voice.
TODAY
All staff members have been with the company over ten years. Our Internet access customers benefit from that experience and knowledge, and appreciate our patient and positive care.
TOMORROW
We’ll soon add support for desktop security for individuals and organizations. Our guide is simplicity and finding ‘just enough’ security for each customer. Send your security thoughts or questions to security@olympus.net
936 Water Street 360 385-5060
www.olympus.net • 360-385-0464
Bonita’s: Your pet’s best friend for 17 years Bonita’s Four-Legged Friends started in 1997 when the legendary Bonita Flagg, a 16-year veteran of animal control services, retired from catching animals and took over the pet supply business located next to Key City Theatre in Port Townsend. The store soon became a favorite stop for more than a few four-legged friends. One of the stories recalled by Craig Dotson, a longtime employee, involved a dog named Max who came by regularly, on his own, for a pig’s ear. He’d get his treat and go back to his place – somewhere at Point Hudson. Once a week, his dad would come in to pay for the dog’s tab. On Jan. 1, 2012 Craig became the third owner of Bonita’s Four-Legged’s Friends. He had worked at the store for eight years by then, and had spent 11 years in other pet and feed stores. He said, “I’d always wanted to own my own shop thinking it’d be great to be able to take my dogs to work.” Personal, expert service Bonita’s 4-Legged Friends allows Craig to do that while serving an important niche in the market. He brings high-quality pet foods free of chemicals, preservatives, dyes, additives and by-products. Craig and his two key employees, Brittney Lethgo and
CarolAnn Hoffman, also keep up to date with pet food industry news to ensure they are carrying the highest quality product from the best sources. Looking ahead, Craig recognizes that customer service is the key to competing with online purchasing. For their products, customer service and values, the store is a five-time winner of the Best Pet Store on the peninsula. Today the store is located at 1433 W. Sims Way. Orpheus, a black cat, keeps watch over the front door. Future plans are to carry more product lines and inventory, and expand the fish, reptile and bird sections for animals with 0, 2 or 4 legs. There is also talk of creating a larger store. Community causes Bonita’s is committed to community causes by gathering pet food for the Food Bank, sponsoring a small dog adoption event through Smidget Rescue, a shelter located in south King County, and at Christmas donating hundreds of pounds of dry food. The store’s legacy is built around bringing the best quality and service to the community, and helping people keep their best friends healthy and happy.
Bonita’s Four-Legged Friends
Above: Craig Dotson, owner, with Dundee. Right: Asterix, shop dog and top toy tester.
Mon-Sat: 9:30-6 • Sun. 10-4 1433 W. Sims Way • 360 379-0436 bonitasfourleggedfriends.com LEGACIES • The Port Townsend & Jefferson County Leader
31
Legacy
Four generations later, Huntingfords combine business with building a community ABOUT THE AUTHOR Dan Huntingford is a fourth-generation county resident and business owner, the descendant of pioneer Chimacum farmers. He and his wife Louise own and operate SOS Printing in Port Townsend.
J
By Dan Huntingford Special to the Leader
ohn Huntingford was born in Twickenham, England in 1839. His family were semi-prosperous merchants. Not being the oldest son, he joined the British Navy and served for numerous years, winning the China War Medal for service on H.M.S. Tribune for service in the South China Seas. But eventually he mustered out of the service in Victoria, Canada and from there made his way across the Strait of Juan de Fuca to Port Townsend in the 1860s. The seaside village was still very young. He worked around town for awhile and filed a homestead claim on a quarter section (160 acres) in the Chimacum Valley in May of 1871. John had a friend at the customs house in Port Townsend who sent word out to the farm that a single woman had arrived from Liverpool, England. That’s how Annie Yeoman became my great grandmother. They had five children: John Jr., Harry, Mary, Anne and Emma. Mary died as a young girl. Anne grew up, married Al MacGuire and was well known as a huntress, regularly bagging cougars and bears. She was also the first woman to drive an automobile in Jefferson County, according to stories in the Leader. And if you’ve ever read Betty MacDonald’s Egg and I, she’s that wild woman with a pitch fork chasing her husband around. John Huntingford Jr. served as a Jefferson County commissioner as this area made the transition from territory to statehood. One momentous decision during his term was to build the “new” county courthouse, on the bluff overlooking Port Townsend Bay, completed in 1892. It was a controversial decision to buy the brick from St. Louis and have it
This photo of the original Huntingford homestead shows John Huntingford, the Englishman who settled in the Chimacum Valley in 1871, sitting on the porch of the home he built. On the far horse to the right is his son, also John.
shipped all the way around South America. Many thought we should use the locally produced brick. But if you look at the downtown buildings that used local brick – much of it made from beach sand infused with salt – you’ll see the erosion and how it confirms John’s decision. Bricks in the courthouse still look as good as new. He also served as a Justice of the Peace and provided marriage ceremonies for many pioneer couples. John Huntingford eventually took over the family homestead, assisted by his brother Harry. They had a small herd of dairy cattle and separated the cream to sell to the cream-
32 The Port Townsend & Jefferson County Leader • LEGACIES
ery in Chimacum for butter and cheese. They also bred and trained work horses, and they worked the woods. Cord wood was used for heating most buildings in those days, with the Chimacum school using 180 cords per year. The Huntingford family also sold lots of wood to the big houses in Port Townsend. Their horse teams were used for land clearing and road building. John married a young nurse who had come here from Canada, Caroline Bridget Frejd, in 1908. In time they had six children, in this order: Irene, David, Grace, George, Robert and Frances.
When George Huntingford came of age, he bought the farm across the road from the original homestead in the Chimacum Valley. He married Sally, a Chimacum High School English teacher, and they would have six children. In addition to dairy farming, George was elected county commissioner in 1948. He served throughout the 1950s, 1960s and into the 1970s. He also was president of the state association of county officials and for many years served on the state highway advisory board. HUNTINGFORD, Page 38▼
Tailspin Tommy’s & Aurora Aircraft Maintenance
ABOVE: Rich Taracka, right, joined Scott Erickson at Aurora Aircraft in 2012. BELOW: Flying is for everyone! A crowd gathered for the 1995 Airport Days.
Inside the historic 1933 airplane hangar at Jefferson County International Airport, owners Scott and Nataliya Erickson carry on a decades-old tradition of quality aircraft servicing and flight training at Tailspin Tommy’s. The business was started in 1984 by Tom Wacker, who for years was the epicenter of the Jefferson County aviation community. Tom and his wife Pam actually lived at the airport in a trailer next to the historic hangar in the early years. It started as a maintenance shop that offered flight training. Summer Martell was at the forefront of flight training, starting Blue Skies and leasing Tommy’s aircraft. To this day, many of those students still fly at Jefferson County International Airport. As Wacker got close to retirement in 2010, he was actively looking to find a successor when the Ericksons showed up. At the time, the Ericksons were living in Port Angeles and Scott was working at Rite Bros. Aviation. Wacker didn’t sign on the dotted line right away, though. He wanted to be sure his
successor would carry on the ideals and values he embraced. For eight months, Erickson commuted from his home in Port Angeles to work alongside Wacker until they had an agreement. “You have to treat people fairly. Your reputation is everything,” Wacker said shortly after selling the business in 2011 to the Ericksons. Today, Tailspin Tommy’s, doing business as Aurora Aircraft Maintenance, strives to keep flying safe, fun and affordable. They perform repairs, restorations, engine overhauls and inspections. They also broker aircraft and will even “exercise” your airplane on a regular basis and keep it in top condition. Customers come from all over the Puget Sound region. When you bring in your airplane, you become part of a large aviation family. It doesn’t hurt that the popular Spruce Goose restaurant is right next door. “I want our customers to feel at home in our shop and encourage everyone who is interested in aircraft and flying to stop by and visit,” Scott says. Two years ago, Rich and Heather Taracka joined the team. Rich is an excellent mechanic and pilot and has airframe, powerplant and inspection authorizations. He plays an important role in the business and at the airport. Rich helps keeps the skies safe and fun. Heather keeps the books straight and provides moral support. Changes and improvements are always in the works, Scott says. Recently another aircraft was added to the rental fleet. In the future, the Ericksons say they would love to see Airport Daze return as an annual event, and they would like to see the Jefferson County Pilot’s Association grow and prosper. “We enjoy seeing a smiling customer who loves to fly,” Scott says. “Tom Wacker left a legacy for the Jefferson County community. He created a safe environment for aviators and the like while building his business. The Port of Port Townsend and the community recognize that and we will continue to serve in this important role at Jefferson County International Airport.”
(360) 385-1308 • 300 Airport Road, Port Townsend tailspintommy.com • fly@tailspintommy.com
Chevy Chase Beach Cabins On the outskirts of Port Townsend rests a historic and charming getaway known as Chevy Chase Beach Cabins. Formerly known as Saintʼs Rest and Chevy Chase Inn, Chevy Chase Beach Cabins was established as a summer resort in 1897 and continues as a family owned business today. Six of the cottages are clustered together on the main property with sweeping views of Discovery Bay at the foothills of the Olympics. The seventh cabin is located across the street providing exclusive privacy, facing a pond and pasture. Open year round, the property boasts a private beach, seasonal heated pool, beautiful landscaping and is dog friendly. Attracting guests from Port Townsend to New York and beyond, Chevy Chase Beach Cabins is a locally and nationally recognized destination and is a perfect setting for a family getaway, a place to bring your pup, a wedding venue, a retreat, or a romantic getaway for two. The current owners, Jeffrey Betinol and Jennifer Dickey who had the pleasure of being guests on the property, fell in love with Chevy and when stars aligned in 2012 became stewards of the historic and magical refuge. Thus began the next chapter, ushering in only the third family to own the property since the 1850s. The history of Chevy Chase Beach Cabins is no short tale. Tukeyʼs Landing was founded in 1850 by John Tukey, a “State of Mainer” who was on a quest for California gold. He claimed five hundred acres on the eastern shore building a log home that was later replaced by what is now Homestead House; one of the oldest structures on the Olympic Peninsula. When boom came to bust in the late 1880s Tukey sold half of his land to build a large Italianate Victorian style home on the bluff overlooking the bay. Hosting guests in summers past Tukey and his wife officially opened the gates of their home to paying guests in 1897, and named the vacation hideaway Saintʼs Rest. The venture was a success and soon small cabins were built, and the Inn was expanded to include ten bedrooms. It was a summer resort with the charm and hospitality of a country home that brought back guests year after year, generation after generation. In 1913 following the death of her parents Mary Chase modernized the facility, and in 1923 changed the name to Chevy Chase Inn, after the Cheviot Hills in England; where the family originated. A cement tennis court was then laid and Tukeyʼs pasture was carved to create a 9-hole golf course, which is now
Discovery Bay Golf Course. Following the end of World War II, Mary Chase decided to retire, selling the hidden escape to Philip Bailey, a Seattle newspaper publisher. Bailey, a frequent guest with a deep affection for the property continued to improve the grounds, attracting Seattleʼs “smart-set” for years to come. After their fatherʼs death, Baileyʼs eldest children, Bruce and Barbara, added a second nine holes to the golf course and rented out the Inn and cabins for family and business retreats. In 2003, Barbara Bailey her brother, Thatcher, and his partner Phil Kovacevich, moved into the Inn and undertook a much needed “fluff-up” of the facilities and created what is now, Chevy Chase Beach Cabins. For over 117 years guests have been enjoying the idyllic setting of Chevy Chase Beach Cabins. There are generations of fond memories that are now woven into the fabric of this historic property. As the legacy of this magical retreat continues to transform, Jenn and Jeff have hope that maybe one day they will find the mysterious buried treasure. As they approach their second anniversary of owning Chevy Chase Beach Cabins they are certain the real treasure of this property is the connections they continue to make with all of the guests.
chevychasebeachcabins.com 360-385-1270
LEGACIES • The Port Townsend & Jefferson County Leader
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Three Generations of Service at Homer Smith Insurance Inc. Very few businesses in Jefferson County have celebrated 64 years under the ownership of a single family. None can say their owners have had a single name for that long. But Homer Smith Insurance, launched by Homer Jr. in 1950 and carried on today by Homer III, can do both. Homer’s son Ryan Smith is coming up the ranks to sustain this remarkable tradition. The first Homer Smith was also an insurance man, but not in this county. His son, Homer Smith Jr. with his wife Eleanor, launched an insurance and real estate company in 1950 in Quilcene. His “office” was in a briefcase and the business conducted from the couple’s home. Quilcene was Eleanor’s hometown, where Homer Jr. was also a high school teacher, until 1959. In 1964, Homer Jr. moved his growing insurance agency to Port Townsend at 901 Water St. He built a new office at 804 Water St. in 1978, where it remains today. Homer III returned to the agency full-time in 1983. Ryan Smith started in 2006. One core value held by father, son and longtime staff has been deep community involvement. Said Homer III: “We have always believed that a healthy business requires a healthy community, and that requires a commitment to the community.” The Smiths and their longtime staff have been reliable volunteers, civic leaders and donors. Homer Jr. was president of Rotary, active with Centrum, active in disability issues and was named Citizen of the Year in 1999. Homer III and Jim Maupin (with Homer since 1991) have also been Rotary presidents. Ryan Smith is a Rotary member as
Eleanor and Homer Smith Jr. launched Homer Smith Insurance out of a briefcase and their Quilcene home in 1950. They moved the agency to Port Townsend in 1964.
is Joan Sommantico, the Senior Personal Lines agent since 2003. Homer III is a prominent supporter of Dove House, Sound Experience, Jefferson Healthcare, OlyCAP, Port Townsend Film Festival, Centrum and other causes. In an era of digital insurance agencies or companies that come and go, Homer Smith Insurance is instead a proven rock of local service and stability. For 64 years the Homer Smith Insurance business model has held steady. An experienced team quickly answers all questions, gets to know you, searches for the best policies at the best prices, offers quick and caring service when a claim is made, and is devoted to the local area. Offices in Port Townsend and Sequim focus on personal insurance lines like home, auto insurance and marine insurance. The commercial insurance portfolio is large and growing. The office can also write life policies. “Living in s a small community, we are always looking to maintain carriers that can take care of the majority of our community,” said Homer III. The long tenure of the company gives it influence with major carriers. With Ryan Smith gaining experience and responsibility, that tenure is extending into its third generation.
www.homersmith.com • 888-433-0031
AUTO • HOME • BUSINESS • MARINE • LIFE
HOMER SMITH INSURANCE INC. Three Smith generations, from left: Ryan, Eleanor and Homer III
Port Townsend: 360-385-3711 Sequim: 360-683-4970
Jefferson County Courthouse ~ 1892 ~
Anticipating a railroad terminus and continued growth, Jefferson County citizens voted in 1890 to build a magnificent new courthouse overlooking Port Townsend Bay. Seattle architect Willis A. Ritchie was awarded the design commission, promoting the latest fire resistant technology of the times. The result is a Richardsonian-Romanesque style building of stone, brick, terra cotta and decorative pressed metal that has withstood the effects of time and weather admirably. The courthouse construction bid was let to the contractor John Rigby with an estimated cost of $150,000. To accomplish the elegant result the deep red, pressed bricks were shipped in from St. Louis, with 786 tons of sandstone brought from Alaska. The E. Howard Watch & Clock Company of Boston, Mass. built both
the 3,500-pound bronze bell and the solid brass clock in 1891. Legend has it that the bell was pulled across the plains and the clock mechanism was shipped around Cape Horn. The clock tower has 9-foot diameter clock faces and is 124 feet tall. Illumination of the clock was made possible in 1912 when the courthouse received electrical power. The addition of electricity also eased the chore of winding the huge clock, which, when wound by hand, previously required two men working for half a day.
Make your own history!
Get involved in Jefferson County government. Board of County Commissioners meets Mondays at 9 a.m. The Jefferson County website is loaded with information: www.co.jefferson.wa.us
34 The Port Townsend & Jefferson County Leader • LEGACIES
The inner mechanism of the Courthouse’s Howard Watch Co. clock, imported from Boston.
Willis A. Ritchie’s design for the Jefferson County Courthouse formed the centerpiece of this 1889 engraving. Note the open hallway through the arch of the original design – there were no doors, but an airy interior courtyard. The building is today considered the jewel of Port Townsend’s Victorian architecture.
First Federal: Local bank since 1923 In 1923, 13 committed individuals opened a bank in downtown Port Angeles, calling it Lincoln Savings and Loan Association. Ultimately, that company grew to become First Federal. The first bank was a far cry from the modern operation we see today. The first home loan was made on April 18, 1923 for $500. The proud new homeowners had a payment of $10.82 per month, had wood heat, no electricity and no indoor plumbing. The bank listed total assets of $2,840. Today, 91 years later, First Federalʼs assets have grown to $795,000,000 and the company operates nine branches serving Clallam, Jefferson and Kitsap counties as well as a Lending Center in Whatcom County. The fullservice Port Townsend branch opened in 1989. Although First Federalʼs name, size and ever-growing list of products and services have changed, the mission remains the same. The bank continue to focus on meeting the needs of customers and community. First Federal provides banking choices with products and services that allow customers to manage finances in the way that fits their lifestyle. In addition to traditional branch visits, First Federal offers innovative technology such as the new Interactive Teller Machines (ITMs) currently located in Port Angeles and Silverdale. Larry Hueth is First Federalʼs President/CEO. Hueth is a longtime First Federal banker with a deep commitment to the north Olympic Peninsula – and to the bankʼs continued growth. The bank has a 10-member board that includes three board members who live in the Port Townsend/
Port Hadlock area: Cindy Finnie, Steve Oliver and Norm Tonina. Chief Banking Officer Kelly Liske is a longtime resident of Port Townsend and is in charge of all banking offices. Looking to the future, First Federal continues to focus attention on the transition to a high-performing, publicly owned, independent community bank. This transition will include additional branches such as a new branch coming on line in Silverdale. Continued growth as an organization will allow First Federal to provide community support and the best banking experience for customers. First Federal and its employees are incredibly dedicated to the communities in which they live and work. As an organization First Federal supports and encourages volunteer participation throughout the region. This includes participation with service clubs, nonprofit organizations, fund raising events and community outreach opportunities, such as Habitat for Humanity of Jefferson County, Northwest Maritime Center Wooden Boat Festival and Christmas for Children. First Federal also makes substantial community donations to important causes. For more than 91 years, First Federalʼs board, management and staff have remained committed to the communities they serve. First Federal believes its efforts truly make a difference. Since 1923, the bank has sought to set the standard for excellence in community banking through service, leadership and strong financial performance.
Above left: Late 1930’s, First Federal President John Wilson, Managing Officer Harry DeVine, Lillian Pike, and Bookkeeper Claude Rickard. Above right: Our office at 113 N. Laurel St., Port Angeles, c1951. Above: Port Townsend Branch, opened 1989. Left: Port Angeles, Administration Building opened 1989.
First Federal • Port Townsend branch 1321 W. Sims Way, Port Townsend (360) 385-1416 • (800) 800-1577 • www.ourfirstfed.com
Brothers Bergstrom carry on from Dad
ROBIN BERGSTROM Antique and Classic Autos: 35 Years It was 1979 – the year after his father closed Bergstrom’s Department Store – that Robin opened up a classic and antique auto restoration business in the former Buick dealership at 809 Washington St. Over time he came to focus on parts, accessories, manuals, paraphernalia and the re-sale of antique and classic cars. Robin scoured the West Coast for classic and antique equipment to build up a breathtaking
inventory. He knows, and is known to, classic auto buffs and suppliers all over the country. He takes in an ever-changing variety of autos on consignment. He hasn’t had a lot of employees, but some have been inspired to go to great things. One of them was William Walker, who is now a top photographer for Motor Trend Magazine. For the past 35 years and still today, Robin prides himself on helping customers make that
rare find, and steering them in the right direction. “I enjoy serving customers with their special vintage auto needs in all ways – including providing them with a carburetor kit when they might believe they need a complete carburetor.”
Bergstrom’s Antique & Classic Autos 809 Washington Street, Port Townsend (360) 385-5061
ROY BERGSTROM
Oldtimers happily remember Roy Bergstrom who started Port Townsend’s Army-Navy Store next to the Rose Theatre in 1948, later expanding it into Bergstrom’s Department Store and moving it the Kuhn Building on Water St. in 1964 (now home of the Public House). Sons Robin and Stephen worked in the store as young men; it was sold to Sabo’s in 1978 and Roy spent the rest of his long life fishing.
STEPHEN BERGSTROM Sewing Machine Center: 46 Years Stephen Bergstrom started selling and repairing sewing machines inside his dad’s store. He had graduated from the Singer Co. Technical School in Seattle in 1967, where he became manager of the Singer store at Aurora Village. After marrying his wife Evelyn, he bought a Singer franchise and set up shop inside his father’s store (pictured above) in 1968. When that store sold, he set up shop on his own at his current location – 841 Nesses Corner
Road. He expanded into a line of Elna sewing machines, and others from Switzerland. For awhile he also sold wi-fi equipment and vacuum cleaners. It has always been a one-man shop, and a labor of love to keep sewing machines of all makes and models running smoothly. Stephen has been a civic supporter, making donations to various charity causes and is a past member of the Junior Chamber. “In the last 46 years, the busi-
ness has changed a lot,” he said. “Box stores were invented and they went to the Orient for cheap quality goods. I’ve adapted; now I sell and service mostly metal sewing machines for both longtime and new customers.”
Bergstrom Sewing Machine Center 841 Nesses Corner Road, Port Hadlock (360) 385-5050 bergstromsewingrepair.com
LEGACIES • The Port Townsend & Jefferson County Leader
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1928:
The National Paper Products Company, a Crown Zellerbach entity, begins production at their location at Glen Cove on Monday, October 6. In 1852, a Midwestern carpenter named Albert Briggs drove a hand-built flatboat loaded with 30 head of cattle ashore at the beach of what is now called Glen Cove. There he staked his claim and built a farm, cut pilings and squared timbers for the tiny, rough settlement of Port Townsend a mile down the beach. As the townsite to the east exploded during the 1880s and then collapsed in the 1890s, the smattering of cabins on the Briggs claim grew slowly until July 1927 when civic leaders convinced James David Zellerbach, President of the National Paper Products Company, that Glen Cove was the perfect site for a kraft paper mill.
history of the mill 1927: Construction begins. Total construction
costs totaled more than $5.5 million and 600 construction workers were employed at the mill site.
1928: Production begins just one day a er water from the new pipeline became available.
1929: Paper begins rolling off the second paper
machine, the largest kra paper machine in the world at the time.
1930: e U.S. Census Bureau reported that the
PT population increased by nearly a third between 1920 and 1930, compared to a mere 7% increase in the following decade.
1935: e bag plant opens. 1950: e Port Townsend Mill, in competition
with 70 other pulp and paper mills, won the National Safety Council award.
36 The Port Townsend & Jefferson County Leader • LEGACIES
Port Townsend Paper, formerly the National Paper Products Company, was established in Port Townsend, WA, and brought with it a new pipeline for the city to replace the old water system desperately in need of replacement; hundreds of jobs for the construction, suppliers, and eventually the mill itself; and a new life for the formerly dwindling town. During the Depression, which began just one year after mill operations and spanned the next decade, the mill never halted production, instead expanding and bringing stability to the community at a crucial point in history. Over the years, the mill has brought many new faces here to stay and inspired many locals to plant their roots and make paper their life’s work.
Port Townsend Paper Corp is proud to be a part of our community’s history after more than 85 years of continuous operation. Today, the Port Townsend Paper Corp is a leading recycler and paper producer in the Puget Sound area, and is dedicated to meeting or exceeding environmental standards and supporting the community. PTPC believes recycled fiber and sustainably harvested wood are the best fiber sources for paper products. All of our fiber sources are certified by the Sustainable Forestry Initiative (SFI) and the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC). Every week the mill recycles one third of all the corrugated paper in Washington state (enough to fill a football field ten feet high). And PTPC has partnered with Trust for Public Lands, WA State Parks, and Jefferson Land Trust to conserve 250 acres of critical habitat for the future. PTPC is also a leader in the Port Townsend community, making substantial contributions to community organizations such as United Good Neighbors of Jefferson County, Northwest Maritime Center, the Port Townsend Marine Science Center, Centrum, the Rhododendron Festival, and many more. We are proud of our extensive history in Port Townsend and hope to continue growing with our community for many years to come.
LEGACIES • The Port Townsend & Jefferson County Leader
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Huntingford: Family of farms & commissioners ▼Continued from page 32
He’s retired now.
CURRENT GENERATION
And on to the current generation, and proof that the Huntingfords are still making a go of it in Jefferson County. The author of this article, Dan Huntingford, is George and Sally’s son. I earned a communications degree from the Edward R. Murrow School of Communications at Washington State University. I worked a professional internship at KJR radio and Kaye Smith productions recording studio in Seattle. But after graduating, somehow wound up working in print advertising at the Port Townsend Leader. During my years there I helped the business more than quadruple its sales, won dozens of awards include the advertising sweepstake award and best ad of the year four years in a row. More importantly, I helped many local businesses grow and prosper. And then, inexplicably, I quit and stayed home with my infant daughter and young son. That was nice but short-lived as I soon bought SOS Printing and Speedy Office Services from Joy and Quent Goodrich. Speedy Offices Services was started July 1, 1978 by Dee Hanson and Joy Goodrich. It was located at 234 Kearney Street and provided secretarial services such as typing (on a typewriter) bookkeeping and more. On Aug. 1, 1980 the company moved into 712 Washington street in downtown Port Townsend – the Bishop Hotel. Over the next few years a copy machine was added, then a computer and a blueprint machine. A small press was moved into the basement. In December 1990 the press was moved to a new location in Port Hadlock, and another press and other printing equipment was added. In June of 1998 the Port Hadlock location was closed and the downtown Port Townsend location also closed. The whole company consolidated into a single location at 308 10th street. We shrank from 11 employees to four, suffered a significant drop in business and discontinued secretarial services. We began to concentrate exclusively on printing and related services. And then we began to grow. We added the Heidelberg Quickmaster press, a computer-to-plate system that upgraded our quality significantly and soon outgrew that location. In December 2000 we moved to our current location at 2319 Washington Street, on the beach near the Boat Haven in Port Townsend. We have continued to grow and add industrial quality equipment. Step by step, we have beHUNTINGFORD, Page 42▼
38 The Port Townsend & Jefferson County Leader • LEGACIES
LEFT: John Huntingford Jr. and his wife Caroline, circa 1908. John took over his father’s farm, and also became a Jefferson County commissioner. He voted for the “new” county courthouse, opened in 1892. ABOVE: One of John Jr.’s sons, George Huntingford, sustained the farming tradition in Chimacum. In this newspaper photo from 1967, he’s shown with (from left) son Howard, wife Sally, son Dan (author this article) and daughter Harriet. George also became a county commissioner. BELOW: In 2007 family patriarch George Huntingford gathered together with a large group of his family for his 90th birthday. The photo shows all six of his adult children with spouses, grandchildren and great-grandchildren.
G. T. Chuljian, DMD and David T. Chuljian, DDS Over 65 years of Dental Care in Port Townsend
D
r. G. T. “Chuck” Chuljian moved to Port Townsend and opened his dental practice in July of 1947, having recently graduated from what would later become the Oregon Health Science University. He brought his wife Joyce, a hygienist whose older brother was Lloyd Baum, one of Chuck’s close friends. Initially the practice was located in the old Olympic Hardware building, and things were somewhat primitive--the bathroom was outside the building! For quite a few years there were only three dentists in Port Townsend--Bob and Ken Carter (not brothers), and Chuck. Joyce was Chuck’s hygienist in the early years, before the five kids came along; she resumed work after their last child left the nest. Chuck was famous for giving painless injections, and many children didn’t realize they’d even had a shot. In 1955 the practice moved to its present location above the ferry terminal, and in 1957, Chuck built a home next door, where he lived until his death in 2007. There was no orthodontist in town until the late 1960s--shades of the present, actually--so Chuck took postgraduate classes and did orthodontics for several years until a specialist arrived in Port Angeles. He retired in 1990, but kept taking courses
until 2005, and did some clinical instructing in Mexico and China through Loma Linda University. Joeen Priest, June Walters, and Luz Loch were long time employees who still live in town. Chuck was involved in many of the town’s goings-on over the years, but was perhaps most notorious for being the pyrotechnist on the July 4th shows of the 1970s and 80s. Dave graduated from dental school in 1985 and purchased the practice from Chuck in 1987, so as of 2014 this has been a local family-owned business for G. T. Chuljian, DMD over 67 years. (The youngest Chuljian, Dave’s sister Carol, is also a dentist, although she has no plans to practice in Port Townsend.) Dave is a pyrotechnist like his dad, and has become involved in forest restoration in recent years--a major switch from burning things with fireworks. He also is involved in parrot rescue, though he’s never worked with one on his shoulder--that’s a Halloween picture. Dave was an early adopter of CAD-CAM dentistry, using the Cerec system for same-day crowns. While he readily admits the system is overhyped, it’s definitely cool milling the crown in the waiting room: it’s finished in under two hours, start-to-finish, with no temporary.
1303 Washington St Port Townsend, WA 98368 (360) 385-3100
David T. Chuljian, DDS
Jefferson Land Trust: Your local grassroots land conservation organization Celebrating 25 years helping the community preserve open space, working lands, and habitat forever Our community’s heritage of fishing, logging, farming, and love of nature is rooted in the Olympic Peninsula’s natural riches – salmon streams, shorelines, forests, and fertile farmland. In 1989, a group of local residents realized now is the time to protect these treasures for the future, and founded Jefferson Land Trust. We are a private 501(c)(3) non-profit organization, supported by the generosity of people who share in our vision of a healthy environment sustaining a healthy community.
Thank You … ... To the hundreds of local landowners, like John Boulton and Vern and Ida Bailey, who have left a legacy of land. ... To the thousands of contributors, volunteers, and partners who have helped us conserve over 12,000 acres to date. Everyone who believes in our mission can help. To get involved and support this work, visit www.saveland.org. Envision a future landscape rich in the beauty and bounty we enjoy today: This is the community legacy we are working to create. A land trust is a promise ... a promise we as a community make that in 50 years, 75 years, 100 years, the wild spaces, and memory places of Jefferson County will still exist, and that the quality of life and legacy they represent will remain forever.
LEGACIES • The Port Townsend & Jefferson County Leader
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W
e are proud to offer our members personal, friendly service, great rates and numerous financial products – all in the spirit of teamwork and cooperation. Our business philosophy is best described by our mission statement: “We listen, we serve, we educate, we care ... always.” We are conscious of our roots, mindful of our responsibilities and energized by our potential to aid our members in an increasingly complex financial world. We are involved in our communities and, like you, appreciative of the dramatic beauty and riches of the Olympic Peninsula. Peninsula Credit Union is a federally chartered credit union and is regulated by the National Credit Union Administration. Anyone who lives, works, worships, goes to school in Kitsap, Mason, Jefferson, Clallam or Grays Harbor County and/or is immediate family related to a current member is eligible to join.
Our Story
In 1935, workers from the Rainier Pulp and Paper Company joined together to start what would eventually become Peninsula Credit Union. Rainier research scientists perfected the world’s first pulp made from hemlock designed especially for making rayon. These hard working people knew something about innovation and thrift. We carry those same values today.
(800) 426-1601 WWW.PCFCU.ORG SHELTON • BELFAIR • PORT ORCHARD POULSO • PORT TOWNSEND
Copper Canyon Press moved onto Fort Worden State Park in 1974, at the invitation of Centrum, to become the Press in Residence. Founding Editor Sam Hamill and Tree Swenson grew the Press from a small letterpress operation into one of the most esteemed literary publishers in the country. The sole focus was – and still is – the publication and distribution of poetry.
Poetry is vital to language and living.
By the 1990s, the Press had become a nonprofit arts organization, established a board of directors, and hired a professional staff. After Hamill and Swenson left the Press, leadership was passed on to the next generation of publishers. Today the Press is staffed by a dedicated group of ten, with the support of passionate volunteers and a vibrant internship program, all in service to the nonprofit mission: “Copper Canyon Press publishes extraordinary poetry from around the world to engage the imaginations and intellects of readers.” Since 2000, Copper Canyon has enjoyed much success, including: • Winning two Pulitzer Prizes and two National Book Awards • Copper Canyon poets Ted Kooser and W.S. Merwin named as U.S. Poet Laureate • 1,000,000 books distributed throughout the world
40 The Port Townsend & Jefferson County Leader • LEGACIES
Fitness since 1912 at PT Athletic Club Port Townsend Athletic Club has roots dating to at least 1912, when the club offered bowling, billiards and championship wrestling. The club was re-established in 1982 by John Buhler and Bernie Lundgren, whose renovation work brought raquetball to Jefferson County, as well as first generation Nautilus machines, free weights and tanning. It was purchased by Henry and Nina Noble in the mid90s and, since 2007, is owned by Teresa and Tim Hoffmann. They have transformed the old club into a thriving, full-service center with over 70 classes per week. Their goal is to build a unique, hip, health club focused on personal well-being and selfcare in a safe and caring environment. “Our focus is to bring the best program and services possible to our community and members,” said Teresa. They seek to be most welcoming, non-threatening fitness experience around, which includes attention to seniors, youth and everyone in-between. They expect to continue improving and expanding health and wellness offerings, as well as serving athletes and young families. Port Townsend Athletic Club is proud to have donated more than $30,000 to local non-profit, education and athletic programs through fundraising and scholarships. James Larson, the membership and personnel manager, has been there since the beginning, and the club employs an expert, caring staff. “We proudly support our community from seniors to kids!” said Teresa. HOME OF
PORT TOWNSEND ATHLETIC CLUB 220 Monroe St., Port Townsend
(360) 385-6560 www.ptathletic.com • Publishing bilingual poetry books from a wide range of languages, including Arabic, Chinese, Belarusian, Norwegian, and Vietnamese • Blazing a trail for poetry e-book publishing • Innovative programming funded by major foundations such as Lannan Foundation, the National Endowment for the Arts, and the Paul G. Allen Family Foundation • Support from over 1,000 individual readerdonors • Fans of the Press tattooing the logo onto their bodies
Tree Swenson and Sam Hamill in the early days of Copper Canyon.
Looking ahead, in 2015 Copper Canyon will be publishing Bill Porter’s last book, Finding Them Gone: Visiting China’s Poets of the Past, as well as a new volume in our best-selling Pablo Neruda series, and a book that will be the publishing event of the year: Frank Stanford’s long-awaited Collected Poems.
Annual Holiday Open House Friday, December 5 4:30 to 7:00 ~ Guest Poet Jericho Brown Reads at 6:00
The logo for Copper Canyon Press is the Chinese character for “poetry”.
A decade of care: San Juan Villa Co-founder Andy Cochrane wires Jefferson County’s first grid-tied pv array in 2003.
Five of the nine Power Trip crewmembers – the rest are busy installing solar energy panels.
Two PTHS grads are the power behind Power Trip Energy Power Trip Energy was founded in 2002 by two Port Townsend High School graduates, friends since eighth grade, Andy Cochrane and Steve Carr. As electrical and general contractors, they handle every aspect of grid-tied PV (photovoltaic or solar electric) installations. The company has grown rapidly. In the third quarter of 2014 alone, they installed 168 kilowatts of PV a high water mark for the company which is equivalent to the first four and a half years of installations. Power Trip Energy operates from a commercial facility that the partners themselves built in Glen
Cove using a recycled building. They are considering further expansion. They have a 10 kw PV array and two Level II EV chargers that anyone can use for free. Power Trip Energy now employs nine full time employees, all of them trained to keep pace with the cutting edge of solar technology, all of them with family wage jobs. Two employees have risen from
electrical trainees to fully licensed electrical journeymen during their employment. The founders and staff are active at the state and local level to make certain no shortsighted policies are put in place limiting your freedom to install solar. They have conducted over 100 educational workshops on the Olympic Peninsula, and have been sponsors of numerous Energy Lunches and other educational events. One sign of success: Port Townsend has the highest per capita installation rate of grid-tied PV in the State of Washington.
Power Trip Energy Corp 83 Denny Avenue, Port Townsend
(360) 643-3080 • powertripenergy.com
San Juan Villa, a 32-person assisted living facility in Port Townsend, opened its doors in 2004 to welcome patients with memory care needs. But, the idea was born decades earlier in the Pratt family. Founders Marvin and Dawn Pratt of Caring Places Management came into the business through Marvin’s father, Wally Pratt. Mr. Pratt got his start in housing for people with disabilities back in 1975. In 1985 he opened his first housing community specifically for seniors in McCleary, Wash. Having cared for his mother who suffered from Alzheimer’s for a number of years at home, Wally and son Marvin were well acquainted with the needs of seniors (and their families) afflicted with this disease. San Juan Villa, under different ownership, was originally scheduled to open in 2001. The facility was built, an administrator was hired, and doors were ready to open when financial issues forced the owners to walk away. The building sat vacant for a couple of years before the bank approached the Pratt family. Wally toured the building and found the business cards of the would-be administrator on the desk. He was Evan Linde, a friend of Marvin’s when the two were growing up in Bellingham, Wash. Marvin located Evan in Bellevue and hired him. Evan and wife Sheila opened San Juan Villa in June of 2004. ‘Exceeding expectations’ Caring Places Management, owned principally now by Marvin and Dawn Pratt, holds to the mission statement: “Exceeding expectations for loving, thoughtful care.” Senior care and especially memory care at San Juan Villa is based on valuing each individual for who they are, knowing what they are capable of doing, and encouraging them to contribute to the community. Individualized plans of care keep residents independent, cater to their preferences, and support them. The company makes a point of knowing and celebrating the amazing histories and stories of its residents. Residents, friends, family, caregivers and staff become extended family. Caring Places Management is a family enterprise helping families deal with senior healthcare and housing issues. Those founding sentiments and principles can be seen throughout San Juan Villa today. After 10 years in operation, Sheila Linde said, “our greatest testimonial is the happy, smiling faces of our residents.”
112 Castellano Way Port Townsend
(360) 385-9555 www.acaringplace.net/san-juan-villa.html
Terry’s Lock & Safe traces roots to a blacksmith Terry Fogerson’s second career in the lock and safe business started after being an employment security investigator. Fourteen years ago he purchased the Jefferson County business called Carson’s Lock & Safe to retool his investigative skills, and to be in business for himself. Carson’s had been in independent business for 13 years. Before that, it was part of Carly’s Hardware and before that was a blacksmith shop located where Elevated Ice Cream is today. The original safe from Carly’s came with the business, although it’s no longer in use. Terry Fogerson started Terry’s Lock & Safe in 2000 in the building now occupied by Kathy’s Nails on Kearney Street. Several locations later, Terry’s today is located on 47th Street in a building being re-purposed to better fit the business. Today the work is mostly out in the field, and that field is large – Terry operates in
10 counties. It has been a two-person shop, and today with Terry’s son Darrell working alongside, continues in that model. In the past, the business was more about residential keying, Terry explained, but, now it is more about commercial work. “No two days are the same,” he said. The business is eclectic, complex and dynamic. Roles in the lock and safe business have expanded to include: ✓ Locksmith, commercial and residential ✓ Investigative and forensic locksmith ✓ Safe technologist: service, repair and drilling ✓ Certified firedoor inspector ✓ Certified life safety code consultant ✓ Photographer and forensic photographer Looking ahead, few changes will occur in the next year or so. But Terry predicts that in the next 10 years locks will be keyless and electronic. He believes cars will no longer have
metal keys and that locksmiths will be reprogramming electronic fobs instead. Terry keeps current on his work by constant training and recertification. He has also contributed to the field by training five locksmith apprentices, most of whom are still in the business. Terry believes that his product is customer service, because being an honest business in the community is important. In the field of locksmithing, he says, his job is to provide safety and security for customers. “We do it right the first time,” he said. The lock and safe business requires trust, reliability and a lot of discretion. Terry volunteers in the music arena by playing trumpet in several community bands and orchestras.
(360) 385-4160 • Port Townsend LEGACIES • The Port Townsend & Jefferson County Leader
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Huntingford ▼Continued from page 38
come one of the best equipped, highest-tech small printshops in the world. We have also been a Green Certified business, a five-star EnviroStar and are Forest Stewardship Certified. Through the years we have always done our best to help support all the non-profit businesses, organizations and charities in our community. To date we have donated approximately a quarter of a million dollars back to our community. I’ve been active in Kiwanis Club, serving as president, several terms on the board of directors, Legion of Honor winner, was president of the Jefferson County Pilots association, Chamber of Commerce board member, Rhody Run board member and is a founding member of the National Printowner’s Association. As the fourth generation of Huntingfords in Jefferson County to own and operate a business, one thing that has never changed is that the commitment to neighbors and community is as important today as it was to the earlier generations.
Dan Huntingford is the fourth generation of the Huntingford family to maintain a business here. Dan owns and operates SOS Printing in Port Townsend.
Pet Town is a family affair
Starting in Port Townsend, Pet Town is now in three cities How many businesses in Jefferson County were named by a five-year-old? It was young Kiley Maag who told her parents, Randy and Deanna Maag, that “Pet Town” would be the perfect name for the pet store about to open in Port Townsend in 1999. Since, the Maags have vastly expanded their Port Townsend store while opening other Pet Towns nearby. For 27 years, Deanna has operated Deanna’s Hair Design. Randy was the manager of both Sprouse-Reitz and Swain’s in Port Townsend before he and Deanna bought Eccles Garden Center, which they renamed R&D Nursery, in 1993. It seemed natural to stock one room with pet supplies. The Maags sold the nursery to the Henery family in 1999, but moved the pet store into its own location, a small partial warehouse just off Sims Way where it operated until 2011. It moved to its current location, quadrupling its inventory and space, at 2427 W. Sims Way, Port Townsend. Personal service, deep knowledge of pets and products and a commitment to top-quality, healthy food for all animals helped Pet Town grow even as mega pet stores were built nearby. In 2002 the Maags opened a Pet Town in Sequim, later selling it to another independent pet business. In 2001 the couple opened a store in Belfair – a storefront Randy spotted from a Port Townsend school bus while traveling with the high school girls basketball team, which he coached for 15 years. In 2006 they opened a store in Port Orchard. The Maags are also half-owners of the Dog Spa in Port Townsend. Expanding the business helps customers in every town, said the Maags. Now able to buy in bulk, the savings are passed on and quality is kept up. That’s especially important when it comes to pet food, which has gone through a quality revolution during the Maags’ tenure. “When we started there were three brands of food,” said Randy. “Now there are 30 brands, including grain-free food, and lamb from New Zealand.” Pet Town carries it all, and a great staff of 17 is constantly trained to give guidance on good diet and its impact on pet health, he said. “Animals are treated more like family today,” said Randy. Pet Town is truly a family business. While Randy has had the highest profile, Deanna is in on all big decisions and keeps the books. All three of their children have worked there. Knowledgeable employees are crucial, because both Maags work fulltime jobs – Deanna in her salon, and Randy with ProEquities. They are also major community donors, supporting a variety of causes through their work and material donations. At the top of this list are the schools, the hospital, Stars of Tomorrow, cheerleaders and charity auctions. “The community has supported us, and we support it back,” said Deanna.
Deanna and Randy Maag launched Pet Town in 1999. Since their Port Townsend store has quadrupled in size and inventory, and they have opened three others in nearby towns.
Pet Town 2427 W. Sims Way, Port Townsend • (360) 379-3262 42 The Port Townsend & Jefferson County Leader • LEGACIES
Still fresh after 119 years State’s longest-serving grocery store
Inspiring conservation of the Salish Sea for over 32 years. More than three decades ago Judy D’Amore and Libby Palmer rolled up their sleeves to start the Port Townsend Marine Science Center. Ever since we’ve been opening eyes and minds to what’s under the surface thanks to their legacy leadership. Each year the Marine Science Center inspires Judy and Libby in front of 20,000 visitors, citizen scientists touch tanks, 1982. and students and we have ambitious plans to double that impact over the next ten years. Congratulations to the Leader on 125 years of legacy leadership. On the Dock at Fort Worden 532 Battery Way, Port Townsend
www.ptmsc.org
Finnriver Farm & Cidery Farm’s rich soil first tilled in 1872
The next generation of Finnriver farmers are already in the fields.
finnriver.com
Finnriver Farm & Cidery is located on a historic Chimacum farm homesteaded in 1872 by George Richardson. Jay and Mabel Gould took over in the early 1920s to establish the Gould Dairy Farm. Several generations of Goulds continued to work the land through the 1970s and members of the family still live on portions of the original farmstead. A section of the farm was sold to Lige and Kay Christian in 1989. They planted blueberries and an orchard, became certified organic and initiated a stream restoration project on the farm’s stretch of Chimacum Creek. Crystie and Keith Kisler joined Will O’Donnell and Kate Dean to start Finnriver in 2004, adding to the berries and apples with mixed vegetables, poultry, eggs, pork and then hard cider. Locally raised farmer, Janet Aubin, and her partner Jeff Horwath now lead the farm’s food production, including
booths at farmers’ markets and supplying local stores. In 2008 Eric Jorgensen joined the Kislers to launch the cidery. Initial cider production of 800 gallons has grown to 40,000 gallons of hard cider and fruit wines distributed across the west coast and beyond. 25 people are employed. Finnriver also leases part of the Brown Dairy Farm at the Chimacum crossroads, and will expand orchard and crop production. In time cidery operations will be located there and Finnriver hopes to collaborate with other agricultural and community partners to conduct research and education on the land. Finnriver’s mission is to continue the tradition of agriculture in the Chimacum Valley, to help connect people more deeply to the land that sustains us, and contribute to a lively local economy and authentic food culture.
(360) 732-4337
When it was built in 1889, the original Aldrich’s building was the Good Templars hall. O.J. Bergman moved his grocery store into the ground floor in 1892, and the location has sold groceries to local families ever since. Across Tyler Street in the building now occupied by The Printery, Clark Aldrich started a store in 1895 that sold fruit, candy, stationery and tin-ware. Three sons and daughter worked alongside. In 1926, the sons sought a larger space and moved into what is now Aldrich’s. Fred, Clark Jr. and Ben Aldrich expanded the stock to include hardware, furniture and paint, and in 1954 Ben started selling General Electric appliances. All were known as community-minded grocers, helping families through tight times on ample credit. In 1983, Ben’s daughter Peggy Marriott sold the business to John Clise, who renovated and
revived the old store. Then in 1996 it went to David Hamilton and Jonathan Ryweck.
legacy to the community,” noted Milt. The family sees the store as neither a convenience store or a supermarket, but a “community grocery store” focused on satisfying locals’ food service needs.
On Aug. 4, 2003 the historical Aldrich’s building burned to the ground. The owners had it rebuilt in keeping with the original floor plan, adding two All three family members stories of condominiums above work fulltime in the store, but to help finance the rebuild. they point to key employees as the reasons for success. MaOn Feb. 1, 2007 the Fukuda halah Moore, the deli manager, family bought the store – par- produces homestyle food and ents Milton and Renee with great soups every day. Karen son Scott. Kulp, the produce manager, focuses on organic produce “We loved the store and its and a fresh salad bar. Tomoko story, and we welcomed the Tolson is the popular sushi opportunity to continue its chef and Charmaine Kennedy is the floor manager.
940 LAWRENCE ST. PORT TOWNSEND (360) 385-0500 WWW.ALDRICHS.COM
In keeping with a very long tradition, Scott, Milt and Renee are committed to providing excellent products and services to the community while continuing to grow the market and preserve its historic significance as the oldest grocery store in Washington – operating under the same trade name since 1895.
Changing the world through food & community For 25 years, the staff of the Silverwater Café has worked to create a place that feels like home, where people can duck out of their busy lives for a moment and relax, be fulfilled and inspired, and head back out into the world ready to make their difference. The restaurant was started as a fish and chips cart on the Quincy St. ferry dock in 1989 by owners Alison and David Hero. They expanded with a commercial kitchen in the N.D. Hill Building that same year, and demand grew. By 1996, with another couple, they had purchased the 1889 Miller-Burkett Building at Taylor and Washington streets, the former Elks lodge, and moved their restaurant there. The restaurant grew rapidly. The duo added the Mezzaluna Lounge in 2004. By 2007 they were sole owners of the building. In 2013, with the Rose Theater, the Starlight Room was added, creating a movie venue with great food, drinks and cozy seating.
The Silverwater recently closed for a week to upgrade computers and do some “boot camp” training in the kitchen. The effort served as a total reboot for the business. Over the years, the Silverwater’s owners have been active with Port Townsend Main Street Program and helped launch the Port Townsend Farmers’ Market. Hero was very active in the restoration of City Hall, and was named Citizen of the Year for his efforts. Both he and Alison are committed to local causes, making donations that include a pay-it-forward charitable donation for diners who want to devote a percentage of their dining bill to charities. After two and half decades, the Silverwater continues to thrive and innovate with the hope of making the world a better place through food and a sense of community.
237 Taylor Street, Port Townsend (360) 385-6448 www.silverwatercafe.com
Tasting room open daily 12-5 pm • 62 Barn Swallow Road, Chimacum LEGACIES • The Port Townsend & Jefferson County Leader
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Legacy
History has always been present County historical society organized in 1879; renewed in 1932 ABOUT THE AUTHORS Bill Tennent is the executive director of the Jefferson County Historical Society, and Marsha Moratti is the society’s archivist. By Bill Tennent and Marsha Moratti Special to the Leader
Just as the Port Townsend Leader has reported the daily activities of Jefferson County since 1889, the Jefferson County Historical Society (JCHS) has been preserving those stories for 135 years. It might have seemed a little pretentious for those early Port Townsend settlers to create the Jefferson County Historical Society of Washington Territory in 1879 – just 28 years after the town was founded, and a decade before most of the red brick Victorian buildings were built – but found it they did. The mission of today’s society remains virtually unchanged: “To actively discover, collect, preserve, and promote the heritage of Jefferson County in the State of Washington.” It wasn’t until decades later, however, that things got seriously organized. The first start didn’t get far. But early in 1932, a newspaper headline declared “Port Townsend Historical Society should be formed.” Within a couple of months, historian James J. McCurdy and Frank W. Hastings spoke in favor of such an organization at a Chamber of Commerce meeting. On March 9, 1932, the chamber resolved to form the historical society “to collect and preserve” historic materials relative to Port Townsend and Jefferson County. Frank W. Hastings served as the historical society’s first president. Meetings were held in the basement of the Carnegie library. The group had been quiet for more than a decade when, on September 11, 1947, a Constitution and By-Laws Committee presented its recommendations to the board of the
One of the early capital projects of the County Historical Society was the restoration of the Bell Tower, first performed in 1951. It was part of the centennial of the town’s founding in 1851. Photo from the Jefferson County Historical Society
Jefferson County Historical Association. In attendance were Mr. Ace Griffiths, Miss Nell Willison, Morris Starrett, Mrs. Gordon Hunt, Dr. Charles Miller, Miss Dorothy Jones and Mr. Haddock Hill. The group met quarterly in the Community Center, the Episcopal Guild Hall or the Carnegie Library. By the society’s fourth meeting, the city had given it permission to use the police courtroom as a museum. A Museum Committee set about fixing up the space for exhibits, to open during the 1951 Port Townsend Centennial Celebration. In 1949, the society formed a committee to “collect and care for records and papers of interest.” By 1950, the group was “looking for a safe and adequate place of storage where the historical material now the property of the association can be gathered together in one place and be accessible when needed for exhibit or program use.” Cataloging the collection began.
44 The Port Townsend & Jefferson County Leader • LEGACIES
After the 1951 Centennial extravaganza and the museum’s opening, the historical society set about to repair the Bell Tower and to install a time capsule next to it. Meanwhile, patrons and subscribers compiled articles into a book published in 1966 as “With Pride in Heritage, History of Jefferson County.” Those were the beginnings. Current JCHS executive director Bill Tennent said, “We are in the business of saving stories. While the society cherishes the stories of the county’s earliest residents, it’s important to understand that history did not end at some time in the past. For the society to remain relevant, we must continue to document all of the stories of those who call Jefferson County home. Today’s organic farmers take their rightful place alongside the pioneer farmers of Chimacum, and today’s artists are being represented along with those first Port Townsend women artists in the 1860s.” The society has evolved over the years to
meet new challenges, gaining strength, focus and professionalism with each endeavor. In the 1930s, JCHS reaffirmed its mission, and emphasized collecting and preserving “papers, documents, photographs and other objects” that were displayed in the basement of the Carnegie Library. Today, those collections comprise some half-million documents, 30,000 photographs and 40,000 artifacts. In 1960, a research library was established in partnership with the Jefferson County Genealogical Society. That library, archives and artifacts are cared for in a 10,000-square-foot, state-of-the-art Research Center on Rhody Drive, completed in 2012. In addition to caring for its own collection, JCHS supports the preservation of Port Townsend’s architectural heritage, beginning with a campaign to raise $1,500 to repair the Fire Bell Tower in the early 1950s and culminating with the restoration of City Hall in 2006. HISTORY, Page 46▼
BRANAN WARD
The Olympic Peninsula’s Premier Regional Theatre
author of
DIMESTORE EXPLORER
Adventures of an Impetuous Geographer Prior to WWII, I was 18 and a ship’s electrician in the Merchant Marine on large ships. At one point I was at the North Pole commemorating the anniversary of its discovery by Matthew Henson and Robert Peary.
◆ Comedies ◆ Dramas ◆ Musicals ◆ Shakespeare
in the Park
While skippering a tugboat in the Bering Strait, I got lost and for an eternity thought I was in Russian waters and I knew what they would do to you when they caught you. I spent the war in US submarines in the Western Pacific and lived off and on in the Arctic for 30 years.
$ ! Only 14
Providing live theatre since 1958
Key City Playhouse • 419 Washington St. Port Townsend, WA • 360-385-KCPT www.keycitypublictheatre.org
Available at amazon.com & Imprint Bookstore in Port Townsend.
Quality paint from a quality store: Peninsula Paint It should come as no surprise that a quality, independent paint store focuses on quality paints for their local customers. Peninsula Paint Co. today occupies a store at 315 Decatur St. that is long associated with paint stores in Port Townsend. It was originally Port Townsend Paint & Decorating from the 1980s, then became Lovell Paint and Decorating. The Lovell family retired in 1999 and the store was taken over by the Benjamin Moore paint company through the Seattle Paint Supply family of stores.
2004: Donahues arrive
In February 2004, Ray and Diane Donahue bought the Port Townsend store, along with stores in Poulsbo and Sequim, and launched Peninsula Paint Co. For years Ray was a sales representative in the paint industry, and Diane was in accounting. “You do what you know,” said Ray, “so we bought three paint stores.” The early years were fun and busy as the stores were cleaned up, inventory was strengthened and relationships were built here and in the other towns. The recession hit the paint business like everyone else,
and one result was closing the Sequim store. But a tighter operation and financial rebound allowed the couple to purchase a Bainbridge Island store in 2012.
Focus on quality
Peninsula Paint focuses on premium paint, stains and quality accessories, with a special affection for Benjamin Moore products. “In paint, just like anything else, you get what you pay for,” said Ray. “Only the rich can afford cheap paint, because they have to keep repainting it. We enjoy selling quality.” Looking ahead, the Donahues expect to sustain their laser focus on quality, and expect to add more locations around the Peninsula. The Port Townsend store continues to evolve. Doug Duval, the previous manager, is moving to outside sales. Sean Woods is returning to the Port Townsend store as manager, coming from that role in the Poulsbo store.
‘Must be the best’
Civic engagement is important to the Donahues. They belong to chambers of commerce; business groups; and they donate to many charities for schools, Scouts and others. Giving back to the community is part of what distinguishes Peninsula Paint Center from the big box stores and Amazon warehouses with which it competes. Ray and Diane Donahue are intent on sustaining local, brick and mortar paint stores with expert staff and inventory devoted to quality jobs.
Ray and Diane Donahue have owned Peninsula Paint since 2004.
“We have to be the best at we do,” said Ray. “We don’t do plumbing, electrical, hardware, housewares, lawn or garden. We just do paint, and we do it well. We’d like to do it for you.”
315 Decatur Street • Port Townsend • 360-379-8025
w w w. p e n i n s u l a p a i n t c o . c o m LEGACIES • The Port Townsend & Jefferson County Leader
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Itinerant German painter Christian Eisele, who often illustrated towns connected to railroads, painted this waterfront scene of Port Townsend in the early 1890s. The brick Victorian downtown is largely built; both steamships and sailing ships ply the bay. The Jefferson Museum of Art and History has added an extensive art collection to its historical artifacts and records.
History: 40,000 artifacts, 30,000 photos ▼Continued from page 44
The historical society’s museum in the old City Hall is now known as the Jefferson Museum of Art & History. Over time, JCHS accepted stewardship of additional heritage sites, including the Rothschild House Museum, the Commanding Officer’s Quarters and the Olympic Peninsula Gateway Visitor Center & Museum. The society is not a governmental agency. It is an educational nonprofit funded by memberships, donations, gift shop sales and grants. More than 40,000 people participate in JCHS programs annually and some 2,000 schoolchildren visit the museums. Programs are county-wide and include traveling trunk exhibits for schools, oral history, West End Weekend, summer history camps, publications, historical walking tours, First Friday Lectures and First Night New Year’s Eve Celebration. JCHS has an economic impact on the community. Heritage tourism is one of the fastest-growing areas of tourism, and heritage tourists tend to stay longer in historic communities than other tourists. Visitors to JCHS sites and programs spend around $2,000,000 in Jefferson County annually. Millions of dollars are also spent in the community by residents who utilize JCHS archives to accurately restore their properties. “I’m constantly amazed at the professional-
Frank W. Hastings, scion of the pioneer Hastings family, helped found and was the first president of the Jefferson County Historical Society in the early 1930s. Photo from the Jefferson County Historical Society
ism of the society staff and the enthusiasm of the volunteers who donate thousands of hours every year to preserve the history of Jefferson County,” said JCHS Board of Trustees president and Marrowstone Island resident Chris Prescott. “With community
46 The Port Townsend & Jefferson County Leader • LEGACIES
Now called the Jefferson Museum of Art & History, the public showcase of Jefferson County history is one of the county’s most historical buildings, old City Hall. The archives and thousands of artifacts are held in the new research center on Rhody Drive.
support, we’ll still be telling our stories for another 135 years.”
Jefferson County Community Foundation in the hearts of our donors and by the optimism that shines in Jefferson County Community Foundation is dedicated to the eyes of those lives made better through our work. These are strengthening our community both now and for future the true hallmarks of JCCF. generations through engaged philanthropy, and is supported by KEY EMPLOYEES people who have prospered here and want to give back to their Kris Mayer, the first Executive Director, was responsible for community. acquiring the Council of Foundations’ National Standards Accreditation for JCCF, and establishing the Nonprofit Alliance. YESTERDAY In 2004 a conversation began about establishing an independent Carla Caldwell became Executive Director of JCCF and United community foundation in Jefferson County. Initially it was Good Neighbors of Jefferson County in 2012 when the two to be a fund within the Seattle Foundation. Just as the plan organizations created a partnership for greater impact and seemed poised for takeoff, new IRS guidelines prohibited large efficiency. Caldwell has a background in education, ministry, foundations such as the Seattle Foundation from hosting a and nonprofit management. community fund. Fortunately, those wanting to see this idea through were undaunted. By 2005 enough money was raised to LEGACY There are many in our community who have been fortunate in satisfy the IRS requirements, and the JCCF was a reality. life – good education, good health, financial security. But many friends and neighbors struggle to keep food on tables, roofs over TODAY To date, JCCF has contributed over $500,000 to community heads, children in schools. The folks who founded the JCCF in nonprofits and scholarship recipients. The Foundation 2005 wanted to share their own good fortune by building longprovides an efficient philanthropic vehicle for individuals term support for those less fortunate. As we approach JCCF’s and organizations with a desire to make a lasting and positive 10th anniversary, your Foundation continues its steady progress. contribution to the community, and serves as a catalyst and resource for community building.
FOUNDED IN 2005
The 2014 Fund For Women and Girls Steering Committee: Ruth Baldwin, Rachel Paz, Debbi Steele, Teri McComas, Carla Caldwell, Anne Burns, Molly Force, Molly Klupfell, Marla Althouse Cali Rose Kopczik, a recipient of scholarship funds available through JCCF. Cali received $2500 to continue her studies in fine arts at the University of Washington from the Friends of the Arts Scholarship.
Taylor Mills is the recipient of the Barbara Marseille Arts Scholarship. She is continuing her studies in music education at Pacific Lutheran University.
TOMORROW
We are all heirs to the gifts entrusted to JCCF’s stewardship – the ones we benefit from today, and the ones that will be here for future generations. We measure our success by the satisfaction
(360) 385-1729 • JCCFgives.org
Making a Difference Close To Home. Today and Tomorrow.
United Good Neighbors of Jefferson County TODAY
We believe everyone benefits when a child succeeds in school. UGN supports after school programs.
For 57 years, when your neighbors have needed critical services, United Good Neighbors has been there to fund programs that address them. UGN is the County’s primary community fundraising organization for critical human services and assessing the ability of existing programs to meet those needs. UGN Provides maximum funding to programs by being a thoughtful steward of the financial and volunteer contributions of our community In 2013, UGN allocated $204,000 to 21 local nonprofits to provide emergency, senior, youth, and community services to neighbors in Port Townsend, Port Hadlock, Chimacum, Port Ludlow, and surrounding areas.
FOUNDED IN 1957
United Good Neighbors strives to: • Be responsive to emerging community needs by setting aside funds to support emerging needs and new solutions to meeting existing needs. • Better weave social safety net services and empowerment efforts together to strengthen the community’s safety net for all residents in Jefferson County. • Fund 100 % of funding requests from partner organizations. • Provide supplemental support to small non-profits that lack the professional staffing capacity to market, fundraise and administer vital services. • Be a conduit for information about our social safety net.
LEGACY
United Good Neighbors of Jefferson County belongs to the community. As a non-profit organization managed by a Board of Directors, UGN works year round to distribute your investments – your gift – to non-profit organizations best equipped to address our community’s needs.
We believe everyone benefits when a child succeeds in school, when families are financially stable, and when people are healthy. United Good Neighbors’ goal is to engage our community to improve the quality of life for everyone in Jefferson County.
YESTERDAY
In 1957, after receiving a report on a public interest survey, the Port Townsend Chamber of Commerce voted to spearhead a United Good Neighbors fundraising plan replacing several individual annual fundraising campaigns. The idea was modelled after the nation’s first modern Community Chest, set up in 1913 to allocate community funds to multiple charity organizations. Today United Good Neighbors is a recognized member of United Ways of Washington, receiving support and resources available to United Ways around the state.
TOMORROW
Boiler Room and Swan School students painting the ReCyclery Shop on Day of Caring September 12, 2014.
Donate, volunteer, connect: (360) 385-3797 • weareUGN.org LEGACIES • The Port Townsend & Jefferson County Leader
47
Boatbuilders ▼Continued from page 9
Admiral Marine went into receivership after several years in Port Angeles. Five of its core operations people returned to Port Townsend and formed Townsend Bay Marine, occupying the buildings originally constructed by Admiral. From 1999 to the present that group has managed to solve the puzzle that eluded the former occupants of the site: how to work on very large yachts for very wealthy people and still have a successful relationship with Port management and Port Townsend’s work force.
EVOLUTION OF POINT HUDSON
More challenges emerged at Point Hudson. In 1993 a private developer proposed to build an exclusive spa and resort on the Thomas Oil property at the entrance to the harbor, called Kur Ort. The character of the project was so different from the existing uses at Point Hudson that coexistence seemed impossible. The City instituted a planning process that included a series of public meetings. Broad support was expressed for the “marine trades” at Point Hudson and the value of public access to the waterfront. The City responded by passing a zoning ordinance that favored marine related businesses within the limits of its shoreline plan. Public attention to the importance of the Thomas Oil property eventually resulted in the creation of the Northwest Maritime Center, established to purchase the Thomas Oil property for use as a semi-public educational center so it would never attract a private developer. After a multi-year fundraising drive, it opened its doors in 2009. The community was also aware that Rowley’s lease for Point Hudson would expire in 2002. Management of the property would revert to the Port. The marine trades businesses successfully made the case that they should continue to occupy their shops rather than being displaced by private development. By 2005 the sense of common cause among the marine trades matured to the point that the Marine Trades Association began to meet on a regular basis. In 2006 it became a non-profit corporation in the State of Washington. So many things had gone right on the waterfront that the trades no longer wondered if they would survive, but rather how survival would look. The construction of the heavy haulout, the reshaping of the Boat Haven to comply with environmental regulation, the return of Townsend Bay, the success of Edensaw, the success of the Boat School, the retention of the marine trades at Point Hudson, the purchase and development of the Thomas Oil property for a Maritime Center, the annual spectacle of the Boat Festival, the location of schooner Adventuress here as her home port, and the proliferation of ancillary shops from rigging lofts to machine shops to businesses specializing in metal fabrication combined to make a large and conspicuous presence from one end of town to the other.
40 YEARS ON, GOING STRONG
All the Port property that was effectively emp-
ABOVE: Today work on commercial and pleasure boats is done by a skilled workforce of a few hundred. It includes Jen Grode, here at work on hull planking. RIGHT: Cathy and Pete Langley have operated Port Townsend Foundry since 1983, creating marine hardware. The Langleys are proud to remain independent and do not supply offshore products. Photos by Charles Espy
ty in 1968 is now fully occupied. The marine trades, taken as a group, are the second largest private employer in the county after the paper mill. A new generation of business people and boat workers are making a living doing the work that was first imagined 40 years ago. Some of the original participants are still at work. Carol Hasse remains the driving force at Port Townsend Sails having bought out Nora Petrich in 1995. Jim Lyons is the last charter member of the Shipwrights Co-op still at work in the shop. Julian Arthur operates a great crane service. David King is the CFO of Townsend Bay Marine. Tim Nolan, Jim Franken and Dane Winters are turning out design and engineering at Tim’s office. Carl Chamberlain has likewise won renown for his design work. Jim Ferris is at the helm of Edensaw Woods. We mourned the passing the other founding partner, Charlie Moore, last year. Kit Africa does amazing things at Haven Boatworks. David Thompson is still at work and until recently sat on the Port Commission. Pete Langley continues to operate Port Townsend Foundry. But most of the first participants in the marine trades have made way for the next generation. Mark Burn stopped working on boat repair in 1995 and devoted his whole shop to the production of refrigeration equipment as Integrated Marine Systems. IMS moved to Seattle in 2012. Mark is presently renovating his property at the Port as a rental for yet another marine trades
48 The Port Townsend & Jefferson County Leader • LEGACIES
business. I retired from Baird Boat in 2004 and Haven Boatworks occupies my shop. Eddie Louchard moved out to the county and Steve Chapin took over his shop at Point Hudson. Mike Galmukoff and Dan Kulin get to see their sons working in the Port. Boat Haven and Point Hudson are filled with young faces. The easy part of writing this brief history of the marine trades is the recounting of dates and places. It is much harder to convey the special character of the people who came to Port Townsend to make the marine trades – the richness of their imagination, the abundance of their talent, and their stubborn persistence when things were difficult. They could have made a great deal more money doing something else. Somehow the beauty of this place, the fascination of boats and the daily exchange with one another persuaded them to come here and stay
here. Without them, no matter how well situated Port Townsend is, the marine trades would not have happened. They engaged in an interesting enterprise. It became a local institution. It’s still going strong.
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LEGACIES • The Port Townsend & Jefferson County Leader
49
WOODEN FLOOR LEGACY:
38 years for Sound Hardwood Flooring
In his first years in Port Townsend in the mid-70s, Michael Morrow was a creature of the times. Ever since he has honed his wood floor skills.
A great wooden floor enlivens any room, and wooden floor craftsmen like Michael Morrow only come along every so often. Fortunately, he has stayed on – for 38 years and counting. Morrow launched Sound Hardwood Flooring in 1976 in Port Townsend to continue the traditional methods of wood floor refinishing, repair and installation he learned from Wilson Highfield, who had done floors for 50 years. Morrow bought his tools
and stuck his first ad in the Leader in 1976. “I haven’t looked back,” he said. “I feel like the Forrest Gump of wood floors.” Through the 38 years, Morrow has done high-skill work in every setting, residential and commercial. Some of his customers: Northwest Maritime Center, Soak on the Sound, Port Townsend Athletic Club, Jefferson County Historical Society, About Time, The Public House, St. Paul’s Church Parish, Inn at Port Ludlow, Chetzemoka Gazebo, and many more here and throughout the Northwest. Morrow’s calling card is his good humor and the goodwill he has generated over many years. The past board member of the Wooden Boat Foundation said his motto is simple: “Do the best job you can do, and more will follow.”
Sound Hardwood Flooring (360) 774-1013 m.manana@live.com
Ajax Café: 37 years of eclectic décor, excellent food In 1889, Samuel Hadlock completed construction of the Washington Mill Company on the beach below the town of Hadlock. It was a huge mill. Its dock was able to load seven sailing ships at once. Hadlock, who came West on a wagon train in 1852, had worked at mills in other locations. His Hadlock mill would be the largest. White houses reserved for millworkers dotted the hill above the mill. The town included saloons, two hotels, a livery stable, a cook house operated by Chinese immigrant Joe Wah, and a company store. There were 700 people living and working there, almost all of them connected to Sam Hadlock’s mill. The mill closed in 1907. Much of it burned in 1913. One part of it remains on the beach of Lower Hadlock and now houses the Northwest School of Wooden Boatbuilding. Not far away is the 1911 alcohol plant, designed to distill wood chips into alcohol, which quickly failed but later became the location of the Inn at Port Hadlock. The inn is closed but an active marina remains. On the beach next to his mill operation, Samuel Hadlock lived in a house that had been built around 1870. It later became a boarding house and a community center, hosting dances, ballets and senior services. Today it is home to the Ajax Cafe. The Ajax was started in 1977 by Joe Rudder and Ajax Trammell. They launched the fun, eclectic and funky vibe that continues today. Tom and Linda Weiner were later owners,
50 The Port Townsend & Jefferson County Leader • LEGACIES
and they brought in a tradition of hats. They also upgraded the menu and started the string of “Best Foods” awards that the Ajax regularly wins. When they retired from the business in 2004, three employees stepped in to buy the Ajax. Since 2007 one of them -- Kristan McCary -- has been the sole proprietor, with the help of a great staff. Kristan recalls coming to the Ajax as a kid, between spending time at the Port Townsend boatyard, her family occasionally boating to the cafe site at Lower Hadlock for dinner. When she came back to Jefferson County as a young adult, she worked at the Ajax part-time. “After working at the Ajax I really grew to love the place more and I wanted to help preserve it.” The building and décor are fun and there’s a lot of history in and on the walls. But there’s nothing outdated about the menu. Signature dishes include steaks, fisherman’s stew and baby back ribs. The café obtains the finest local seafood, locally grown fruits and vegetables, beef and poultry from nearby artisan farms. The Ajax is also known as a venue for Jefferson County’s best musicians, who play in the background during most evenings. Only 15 minutes from Port Townsend or Port Ludlow, the Ajax is just a little out of the way, but way out of the ordinary. It is open for dinner at 5 p.m., seven days a week. “The Ajax has a feel of a true neighborhood cafe,” said Kristan. “With live music and hats
it feels like coming to a party every night. We really want the customer to feel welcome and relaxed.” The Ajax is thoroughly woven into the community. “We are raising our families here, growing old here,” said Kristan. “By being here we are part of so many memories and traditions. It is hard to fathom the number of anniversaries, birthdays, first dates and proposals that have happened in that room.” And they will continue into the future.
21 Water St., Port Hadlock (360) 385-3450 www.ajaxcafe.com
Leader: Since 1906, five publishers ▼Continued from page 28
In those years the Leader did most of the job printing in the area and Claude was known for very long days. His son Terry Mitton joined on as a printer in 1959 and continued for 41 years. Combined, the Mittons devoted 86 years to printing the Leader and everything else. Tom Camfield was taught the printer’s trade by Claude Mitton starting at the age of 15, and after college worked in the business (with a couple departures) for almost 44 years, his later years spent as a reporter and photographer. (His recollections and research form much of the research of this and other history stories.) In 1967, Frank and Pat Garred purchased the Leader from Richard McCurdy, and operated it for 34 years, taking it into offset printing and then into digital production. In 1989 they were joined by Scott Wilson (the author) and Jennifer James-Wilson as co-owners, and the Wilsons continue on today, 25 years later. Since 1906, there have been only five Leader publishers.
Claude Mitton started as a printer at the Leader in the 1930s and was still at it until 1975. His son Terry worked there for 41 years.
Other current Leader employees with 20 years or more still working today are Betty Grewell, Chris Hawley, Patrick J. Sullivan, Marian Roh and Drew Elicker.
OLD VALUES IN A NEW WORLD
Today, the Leader is increasingly unique in the modern landscape of media and media economics. It remains an independent, locally owned, news-driven community media company even as most formerly independent newspapers have been acquired by corporate ownership. Sound Publishing, the North American subsidiary of a large Canadian company called Black Press, has purchased some 50 newspapers in Washington State, including all of the community newspapers of Kitsap, Island, San Juan and, two years ago, Clallam counties.
Tom Camfield started at the Leader when he was 15 years old and work there, off and on, for 44 years. He was both a printer under the tutelage of Claude Mitton and later a reporter and photographer.
The Leader partners with Sound for printing and joint marketing, but remains the rare independent in this part of Washington. At the same time, the metropolitan newspaper industry has undergone structural changes that have reduced revenues and cut expenses, especially newsrooms. Community media like the Leader have been less affected. Readership remains extremely high – 70 percent of the households of north county are Leader readers. The Leader never had the national advertising dollars that fled daily newspapers. As a strictly local newspaper the Leader’s business focus is the local business community. At the same time, the Leader is a leader among peer community media in both sustaining a strong commitment to independent news and developing robust digital news and marketing. It was the first media company of any size in Washington State to launch a newsroom-based website, in 1995. The current
The first Leader publisher, W.L. Jones, shamed local investors into building the Eisenbeis Hotel in the early 1890s. It failed, and Jones left town shortly afterward.
ptleader.com is digital source of daily news, with many other features for subscribers, and draws 20,000 unique visitors per week. The Leader marketing staff is expert in print and digital outreach, using a toolbox that now includes website construction and upgrades, setting up social media platforms, web-based advertising and many other print and digital marketing outreach tools. The Leader’s values are organic to this area, 125 years after W.L. Jones brought his newspaper into Jefferson County’s morning sunlight: In touch, in depth, independent.
There is no known photo of W.L. Jones. Allen Weir was an equally important early publisher, launching the Argus in 1878. He later served as Washington’s first Secretary of State.
TOP TO BOTTOM: 1860: The Northwest, PT’s second newspaper. 1878: Allen Weir’s Puget Sound Argus. 1879: The Democratic Press. Most papers were affiliated with parties. 1885: The Daily Call, a longtime survivor, later owned by M.F. and Frank Saterlee. 1889: The Morning Leader arrives Oct. 2 1890: The Key City Monitor started a year after the Leader.
LEGACIES • The Port Townsend & Jefferson County Leader
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Community builders: Hadlock Building Supply In its 55th year, second-generation Lovato-Kraut family owners are devoted to community causes The year was 1959, and Edwin Udd decided that the town of Hadlock needed a building supply store. He started Hadlock Builders Supply in a small wooden building at the site of the current store, 901 Nesses Corner Road. Udd eventually sold the store to the Smith family. In 1984, Joe Lovato, a manager of a Lumberman’s store, drove past on his way to a Rotary Exchange meeting. He dropped in to visit and asked owner Ann Smith if she was interested in joining a trade group, the Western Building Material Dealers Association (WBMA). Her answer: “Would you like to buy the place?” After some “intensive” market research in the parking lot of the nearby Reed’s Grocery Store (now QFC) Joe talked it over with his wife Lillian and they decided to go for it. Joe and Lillian discussed with each other, then brought on Morris and Sandy as co-owners in 1988. Over the years the store was expanded and rebuilt, carrying a full stock of tools, paints, building supplies, a garden center and even seasonal variety store goods. The store featured a specialized staff for busy contractors. The store earned a solid reputation as being among the most civic-minded in Jefferson County, donating cash, materials and expertise, often through East Jefferson Rotary, to a wide variety of projects, one of them being the renovation of H.J. Carroll Park and its gazebo.
Second generation Bill Kraut and Elena Lovato-Kraut (Joe Lovato’s daughter) purchased the store with partners and became sole owners in 2013. Joe participated in the True Value cooperative from the very beginning and Bill and Elena continued that tradition when they became the owners. The True Value brand is a cooperative of independent, small business owners, not a franchise, and allows them to offer more products at lower prices. “We believe that we help people make their house into their home,” said Bill and Elena. After the housing crash in 2007, the store’s main customers became homeowners – but Hadlock Building Supply still works extensively with contractors. New services have been added such as in-house credit cards and a loyalty program to better serve regular customers. In 2007 the store expanded with an equipment rental business in a new building, managed by Mark Walters. In 2012 that business was sold to Walters. Hadlock Building Supply remains unique in its commitment to community. “Our business is not about the money we generate but what we can do with it,” said Bill and Elena. “Our work allows us to help other people, our community and our staff. We support our community by being the best independent home-town hardware store, garden store and lumber yard! We love it that much of our staff stays with us for years
HBS staff, from back row: Sean Leonard, Tommy Hall, Pauli Dixon, Ryan Lammers, Bill Byrne, Tim Matthews, John Moseley. Second Row: Chris Benson, Michael U’Ren, Laurie Stewart, Bill Kraut. Third Row: Sean Trombly, Lori Kees, Carly Copeland, Vivian Shepherd. Front Row: Art Edralin, Vicki Riggle, Elena Lovato-Kraut, Stacy Matthews and Sam Miranda. Not pictured: Ricky Ray, Patti Shaw, Paul Keller and Julia Fulton.
and years and many of our employees’ spouses and kids join our team, often working alongside their parents and family members. All our staff members give of their time, participating and volunteering in the many events we sponsor, donate to and give time and materials in order to help them achieve success. Our staff has 130 years of experience between them. Our crew plays a critical role in the success of this important business.” For the veterans who work at Hadlock Building Supply, Veterans Day is a paid day off, and all veterans who shop there receive a veteran’s discount. Bill is a veteran of the Gulf War, and the store is especially involved with the annual Veterans Stand Down and the Wounded Warrior Project, proudly donating time, money and materials. HBS has been involved in OlyCAP, the Food Bank, Rotary, Little League Baseball, Little League Football, Jeffco Homebuilders, Special Olympics and Concerned Citizens. The store participates in Christmas for Children, Toys 4 Tots, Friends of Chimacum Schools and Fort Flagler Trick or Treat Street. HBS is still growing. Bill and Elena plan to expand the Garden Center, offer more workshops to kids and women and even some for the guys who want to learn a bit more but won’t admit it. Owners Bill and Elena are hands on. They work together all day, every day. They consider working together the ultimate test of a marriage and have been loving each other and their work together for 15 years.
(360) 385-1771
901 NESS’ CORNER ROAD PORT HADLOCK
www.hadlockbuildingsupply.com 52 The Port Townsend & Jefferson County Leader • LEGACIES