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This is the second of two articles about the Hausler family grocery store. The first article told about their move to Seattle from New York in 1901 and their small, one room grocery store they bought for $100, right next to the street car tracks at Rainier Ave and Graham St. In three years they had saved enough to move the business into a two story, wooden building at Rainier Ave and Rose St. Their big sign on the front of the building stated “Atlantic Market and Grocery, R. Hausler Prop” and they lived in an apartment on the second floor. A hardware store moved in on the south side of the building. The location was on the edge of one of C. D. Hillman’s developments that he had named “Atlantic City Addition.” It covered the area from the shores of Lake Washington adjacent to Pritchard Island, west to Rainier Ave. The north boundary was from a little beyond the north end of Pritchard Island to about Henderson Street on the south. With Mr. Hillman’s advertising and promotion of the lots, he promised, as an enticement to buy, that a lake front park would be included in the development. When he moved on to another development and no park appeared, the buyers organized and brought suit against him for their park. The court ordered him to give them their park and he named it Atlantic City Park. It is now called Beersheba Park after Seattle’s sister city in Israel at the request of the Jewish community. The Hauslers began planning and saving their money to build a brick building adjacent to the present one at Rose St. The planing for their new building became a hobby for them. The street car line was adjacent to their business and there was a “Y” for the streetcars to turn around. Rose St was sometimes a first stop coming out from Seattle or a last stop, depending on the scheduling. The car line then decided to move the tracks to the west so the Hauslers were able to buy additional land. They had saved enough money to start construction. When the new brick building was completed it was the finest building in the area. They moved the grocery store into the new building and other businesses joined them. Included  were a furniture business, drug store, a meat market and a barber shop. Upstairs were offices and one apartment for themselves. The old store was behind the new building for awhile and later was taken down. They selected a good location. It was at one of the main stops for the “Seattle, Renton and Southern Ry” as the line was called about that time. They were on the busy Rainier Ave and adjacent to Hillman’s new land development where many homes were being built. The Hauslers then sold out the Grocery business. It had been only twenty years since Mr Hausler had pawned his wife’s wedding ring for the $100 they needed to buy the little grocery store on Rainier Ave and Graham St. That twenty years in business between their first and last store had been sort of a business romance between them that turned out to be very profitable. Their new building was valued at $35,000.00. The photos and background information for this article was given to us by Jack Stevens, Mr. Hausler’s grandson. In 1995 Jack brought us his family album and allowed us to copy all of the photos. It is a wonderful collection. Jack’s sister, Rosanne Nelson, was living in the family home on Pritchard Island. Jack was an engraver before he retired and moved to Oregon to run a hot springs resort. Among the photos in the album was a Washington State Revenue Bond issued by the State Department of Transportation in 1939. It was one of the bonds he had done the engraving for while employed with the company that held the State contract to produce the bonds. This bond was issued for the construction of the original Lake Washington Floating Bridge. At the top of the bond was this beautifully engraved image of what appears to be the original “Galloping Gertie,” Tacoma Narrows Bridge. Ironically each of the bridges made national headlines when wind storms sent them to the bottom. Photo 95.27.25 The Hausler Building under construction in 1921on the southeast corner of Rainier Ave and Rose St. Reinholt Hausler is the man standing at the left foreground in front of the horse. Photo 95.27.33 Their completed brick building. The old building to the left had not been taken down yet. The Mountain Drug Company is the main tenant on the corner. Hausler’s Atlantic City Grocery is to the right between the light pole and the car. Days Gone By South District Journal 4/25/2001 By Buzz Anderson

Mr. and Mrs. Hausler bought the inventory and the lease on this building for $100 they didn’t have. He got the money however, by pawning his wife’s wedding ring. It was 1901 when Rhinehold Hauslser and his wife Mathilda, known as “Tillie,” decided to come to Seattle from their home in New York. They arrived on January 15th and two days later were in the grocery and meat business. As you can see it was more of a one-room cabin than a store. It was located on the northwest corner of Rainier Avenue at Graham Street. If you look in the lower right hand corner of the photo you will see the steel tracks of the Seattle Renton & Southern Street Car line. The tracks were right next to the grocery store porch. According to the notes on the back of the original photo, the merchandise ordered by the Hauslers for the store’s inventory, was delivered by the street cars. The conductors just unloaded whatever they had ordered right onto their front porch. Tillie Hausler is the woman standing in the doorway with her daughter Louise standing at her left. If you look close you can see half a lamb hanging on the door casing at Tillie’s right. Like the sign across the front of the store indicates it was also a meat market. The small rectangular sign under the “Market” on the big sign says: “Prudent People Purchase Pearline.” Under that sign is another, smaller sign promoting “99” brand coffee. On the left end of the wooden porch are four crocks, all a different size. They could be filled with bulk foods for sale but are more likely for sale empty for the customer’s food storage needs at home. On the porch, under the window, are open wooden boxes, tilted on edge, displaying potatoes, vegetables, fruit, grains and etc., a typical display for grocery stores in the early days. The Hauslers operated the store for three years and were able to put some money aside with the plan of moving into a larger building. When land developer C.D. Hillman opened his Atlantic City Addition in 1905 they purchased some land at Rose Street and moved into their new, two story wooden building. They added a hardware store and had an apartment for themselves on the second floor. The name of their business was changed to “Atlantic Market and Grocery” and they had added a delivery service. If you look close in the photo below you can see there are two delivery wagons, the one on the left had one horse and next to it was a wagon pulled by two horses. Business must have been good for them. (Photo description):   Two horse drawn delivery wagons are standing side by side on the wood planked Rainier Avenue at Rose Street, in front of the “Atlantic Market and Grocery.” Mr Hausler is on the far right next to his wife Tillie. (95.27.17) Hillman’s Atlantic City Addition does not, as most people assume when they hear the name “Atlantic”, have anything to do with the Atlantic Street center on Rainier Avenue, about four miles north. That area was more often referred to as “Garlic Gulch”, the Italian community, centered around Mt. Virgin Church. We don’t know why Hillman named his new development Atlantic City. It was on land located on Lake Washington adjacent to Pritchard Island extending south almost to Rainier Beach Station and west to Rainier Avenue. Hillman always pulled out all the stops in advertising his land developments and exaggerations were part of it. The buyers were promised a park and of course it was to be named Atlantic City Park. When all the lots were sold he moved on to another area, with the same promise, a park. Unfortunately no park showed up in either of the developments. But that is a story for another day. The Hausler’s new business was also located on the Southeast corner of Rainier and Rose Street but in front of their other building. “Tillie” was quoted in an article from the January 8, 1922 Post Intelligencer written about this second building of theirs. She was talking about their years in this building and their future plans. “Things weren’t half  bad and little by little the amount in our savings bank grew until, while we didn’t feel rich, still we felt safe. Then we began to plan for the new (brick) building and count on its construction. It came to be a hobby with us, planning it.” And build the building they did and like Hillman’s Atlantic Addition story it will have to wait until my next article. Days Gone By South District Journal 2/28/2001 By Buzz Anderson

This is a photo of the Steamer L.T.  HAAS about to dock at the Lakewood Boat Landing supposedly located on Lake Washington at the foot of Genesee Street.  It was 1902 according to the date written on the top left of the original photo.  It is one of several such passenger steamers that provided transportation for the early settlers in the communities surrounding the Lake. Two of the main ferry landings in those early days were at Leschi and Kirkland. Leschi was the lake terminus for the Yesler cable car that climbed up and over Capitol Hill from the docks on the waterfront in downtown Seattle.  Traversing across Capitol Hill the tracks then dropped down to the lake on a very steep and long wooden trestle to the Leschi Landing. The 1911 Polk Directory indicated there were several other landings which included the dock at Rainier Beach connecting with Kennydale, sometimes making a stop at the south tip of Mercer Island.  The hourly ferry service available between the landing at Houghton, north of Renton, and Madison Park was also listed. Others included the landing called County Dock located on the West shore of Mercer Island and providing daily service to Leschi, and there was the landing at Hazelwood, on the east-side, that had six boats daily to Leschi.  Colemans Landing was on the east shore and also had daily service to Leschi Park, which must have been a busy place. The passengers aboard the L. T. Haas are probably getting ready to disembark and those on the dock appear to be waiting to board for their return trip.  We speculate that the crowd of people are prospective real estate buyers who rode the Yesler cable car from downtown Seattle to Leschi Park and then boarded the L.T.  HASS for a cruise along the shoreline to Lakewood Landing where many attractive home-sites were available. The Lakewood area was platted before Columbia City but the lack of transportation prevented promoters from trying to attract buyers to the Lakewood lots.  It was January 1, 1889 when the first Rainier Valley streetcar tracks were put down and they were laid specifically to get prospective land buyers to Columbia City. The “Rainier Ave. Electric Ry.,” as the first car-line was called, started at the foot of Washington Street on Railroad Avenue and with the aid of the underground counter-balance, climbed the hill to where 14th Avenue is today. It then turned south proceeding along the present route of Rainier Avenue. It was several years later however, before Rainier Avenue was built beside the tracks to accommodate the horse and buggy traffic and later the automobile. The promotion to sell lots in Columbia started in April of 1891. In March of that year the line was extended to Rainier Beach and later on to Renton. After a few years when the bigger steel cars were put into service, the line became the longest and fastest interurban in the state. Lakewood was platted prior to 1890 and the plat map showed that Bryant Street, later 48th Avenue South, was designated as the main north-south route through the area and was 20 feet wider than the rest of the roads.  To this day all the property owners along 48th Avenue South enjoy the extra ten feet of city property in front of their homes. Bryant Street crossed Genesee Street, or “G” Street as it was named on the plat map, about three blocks west of the boat landing on the lake.  “G” Street was graded at the Bryant Street intersection to eliminate the steep grade in anticipation of the Genesee Street car shuttle from Rainier Avenue.  That single car shuttle, which had been one of the original cars on Rainier Ave. Electric Ry., was later referred to as the “Galloping Gertie” or the “Dinky”, depending on the generation doing the reminiscing. The grading left Bryant Street dead ending, on both sides of Genesee, about twenty five feet in the air.  That resulted in a wooden bridge being built over Genesee Street to eliminate the dead ends.  We have a photo in our files, taken from the bridge, of the Genesee paving project in progress below. The bridge was removed a few years later and 48th Avenue, instead of becoming a main thoroughfare, as was the original plan, became a dead end street on both sides of “G” Street. I have an enlarged copy of the above photo in my office and I keep looking at it, wondered about the exact location and configuration of the boat landing in relation to the surrounding shoreline. While examining a copy of the 1902 “Re-plat of Lakewood,” which is part of  “Maynard’s Lake Washington Addition to Seattle,” I noticed a reference to a boat landing at the foot of “G” Street.  It was nestled in between the seemingly non-ending row of platted, 30 by 120 foot waterfront lots that extended up and down the shoreline.  The plat map showed the lots starting at the present-day site of Sayres Park to the North and continued South to Ferdinand Street, the south end of the plat map.  The drawing on the plat showed two, side by side piers protruding out from the shoreline about half way to Ohler’s Island. The island is located in the middle of a cove.  Since the early thirties it has been home to the Lakewood Marina and moorage facility.  The office and shop for the marina are on the island and the two moorage piers extend south, one from the island and the other from the pier that connects the island with the shore to the West, a distance of about 150 feet. It is hard to visualize the location of the original passenger steamer landing dock because the topography has changed so much over the years. By far the major change took place in 1917 when the lake was lowered 9 feet due to the construction of the Ballard locks.  Ohler’s Island was probably twice as far from the shoreline and half the size it is today because the higher lake level would have more than covered Lake Washington Boulevard. Analyzing the topography around the cove, the point of land, to the left in the background of the photo, has to be to the south of Ohler’s Island. The shadows in the photo indicate the pier was built in a southeasterly direction and the photo probably was taken at mid morning on a sunny summer day. The bushes showing in the lower right of the photo is an indication the pier extended from Ohler’s Island which meant that another pier had to connect the island to the shoreline.  This scenario makes sense because the deeper water, required by the L. T  HASS, was in a channel that comes in just south of the Island between the shallows on the North and South side of the cove. Fortunately, those small lots along the waterfront were never sold but were replaced with the Boulevard which was part of the Olmsted Brothers plan to expand and develop a system of connecting parks and boulevards through-out Seattle. The plan was adopted by the city in 1903. The recent voter approval of the Seattle Park Board’s bond levy will provide funds to increase and improve, over the next two years, Seattle’s wonderful park system. It will be just in time for the Parks Department’s planned 100th anniversary celebration of the Olmsted legacy. Days Gone By South District Journal 11/22/2000 By Buzz Anderson

‘Pa Hip’ was the key man on the streetcar line. This is the shop-built locomotive used as a repair car for maintenance work on the streetcar line between Renton and Seattle. The car traveled along Rainier Avenue from Renton to  downtown Seattle, then up 4th Avenue to Stewart Street. This photo was taken in 1916 or ’17. It was also used for hauling coal cars, probably from Newcastle, and delivering them to one of the many fuel yards along Rainier Avenue that in turn, delivered the coal to their customer’s homes by horse and wagon. Louis Hipkins, looking out of the cab window on the locomotive, was the master mechanic and blacksmith that built the locomotive at the company car barns on Rainier Avenue at Hudson Street. He was known as “Pa Hip” to all his friends and fellow employees. He worked for the car line, building and repairing the cars for 47 years. When the car line changed ownership, which it did many times, the new owners insisted he remain with the company before the sale was finalized. The line ceased operations on January 1st, 1937, ending 47 years of private transportation service. The Rainier Valley line was the only streetcar line that was not bought and operated by the city. There were several owners over the 47 years and they all lost money except Mr. Osgood, the original investor. When the rail line ceased operating, city busses took over the transportation needs of the Valley. When Pa Hip retired, he and his wife moved to their cabin on Camano Island where about ten Columbia City residents also built summer homes, The post office address for their “little community” was what else but “Columbia City #2, Camano Island, Washington.” Days Gone By South District Journal 9/27/2000 By Buzz Anderson

The earliest reference we have regarding Columbia City’s barbers, Gardner and LaPorte, is 1907. Their partnership was listed in Carey Summer’s “Centennial History of Columbia City and Rainier Valley” as a candy and cigar shop, a pool hall, as well as a barbershop. The location was listed as 4866 Rainier Avenue, just south of the alley’s entrance to Rainier between Edmunds and Ferdinand Streets. This photo of their shop was taken in 1908 according to the handwritten note on the back of the photo. It was donated to the Columbia Pioneers by Menzo LaPorte. It wasn’t the average business partnership as Menzo C. LaPorte, probably unknown to him, was to become the son-in-law of Lee Gardner. Menzo’s birth date was 1891 making him 17 years of age when the photo was taken. Lee Gardner’s daughter Ruth was born in 1901 making her 10 years younger than Menzo. They were probably married around 1920. Ruth and Menzo enjoyed a long and happy marridge, raising one son, “Bud”. They were very active in the Columbia Congregational Church, Menzo serving as a trustee and Ruth singing in the choir. She had the most beautiful soprano voice and regularly soloed at church services and other occasions. Ruth also worked as a sales clerk for my dad and I in the giftware department at Grayson & Brown Hardware and Furniture Co. She was very attractive and had an outgoing personality that made her well suited for her job. Everyone liked her and she seemed to know everyone. We did a lot of gift wrapping with our large gift department, and was noted for the beautiful packages we turned out, and at no cost to the customer. Ruth’s only problem was she didn’t have the knack for gift wrapping and she knew it. She did a terrible job so we usually arranged to have one of the other employees offer to take over. Menzo was a very handsome man and had an unbelievable head of curly hair. In his younger days he had a reputation for being pretty wild.  Being a very husky youth he intimidated the Columbia City marshal who at that time was Freeman Parker, a very slight man who would go out of his way to avoid dealing with Menzo. On one occasion Free fell asleep in his desk chair at the jail and awoke to find himself and his chair inside the locked jail cell. Menzo and his friends were the guilty culprits. Menzo spent his life as a barber in Columbia City and loved every minute of it. He donated many photographs of the town’s early days to the “Pioneers of Columbia City” of which he was a member. His memories of those days supplied much of the printed history we have in our files today. In the photo above if you look close you can see several corn cob pipes and cigars for sale in the lower shelf of the display cabinet. The second shelf looks like it is filled with candy for sale. Above the display cabinet are the shelves used by the Supply Laundry Company that used their shop for their daily laundry drop off and pick up point. Lee Gardner is at left in the photo, standing behind his customer. Menzo is at the right with his customer. Beside the center empty chair can be seen an antique electric hair clipper supported on a metal stand. It consists of an electric motor on the stand with the power cord going down to the floor. Instead of the motor being part of the clipper as they are today, attached to the motor is a flexible cable about four feet long that is  attached and supplies the rotation to operate the clipper. This is the of several locations for their barber shop. In 1917 they moved to 4870 Rainier. In the 1920’s the shop was moved to the next block south, at 4906 Rainier. It was in the late twenties when Menzo took over the shop and in 1929 he built a new brick building next door at 4910 Rainer, next to the alley.  He had four barber chairs, a shoe shine stand with an attendant and a beauty shop in the rear with an entrance from the alley, run by a very attractive beautician. He stayed at this location until he retired. The barber in the number 2 chair was named Bob and I can’t remember his last name. He was with Menzo for many years, into the late sixties at least. Menzo was the main barber in Columbia and I’m sure he was the barber for my great-grandfather, D. C. Brown, until he passed away in 1924. I know he also cut my granddad Will Brown’s hair, my dad’s hair and mine when I had some to cut. When I was in grade school I remember getting orders every month or so from my mom to get my hair cut at his shop. One time however I decided to go to his competition, a barber on Ferdinand Street, about a half block west of Rainier, because he charged 25 cents while Menzo’s price was 35 cents. With the extra 10 cents I bought two nickel grab bags of candy at Nick’s Confectionery, hoping for a prize. When I got home that night my mom asked where I had gotten my hair cut? I didn’t think it looked that bad. How did she know that it wasn’t Menzo?  I was grounded for a week.  It was years later that I learned that my grandmother, Edith Brown , who lived across the street from the cut rate barber, happened to be looking out her window when I went into the shop. My two boys, Dean and Paul, were born in 1951 and 1954 and when it came time for their first haircut, of course we had to have home movies of the event and Menzo was delighted to be the star of the show. After cutting hair for five generations of Rainier Valley residents, he passed away in 1972, five years after his wife Ruth. Days Gone By South District Journal 8/2/2000 By Buzz Anderson

There is some question as to the correct number of the streetcar shown in this photo from the archives of our Rainier Valley Historical Society. On the back of the original photo the car is referred to as #21. In some newspaper articles about the car, it was referred to as #201. Whatever the number, it is of special interest to us as it was made in the car barns in Columbia about 1896, by Louis Hipkins, blacksmith and master mechanic for the street car line. He was known as Pa Hip by his friends. The name of the line at that time was “Seattle & Renton Railway Co.” as printed on the side of the car. On the top of the car however are the names “Seattle Columbia & Renton” which indicates the route covered by the line. That could have been one of the names of the car line also as the company was continually changing ownership and renaming the company during its 46 year history. This car was originally a Port Townsend street car, purchased by the Rainier Valley Line, and rebuilt by Mr Hipkins. He used a 36ft long flat car to put the old car body on making it twice as long as it was originally. That gave the riders the unusual choice of indoor or outdoor seating. Pa Hip was a vital part of the Seattle area’s transportation system for fifty years. When Frank Osgood’s horse cars were converted to that new-fangled electricity in 1888-89, Hipkin’s hammer helped rush through the transformation within five months. Later when Osgood purchased the Rainier Valley line in 1896, he wanted the master craftsman of the forge with him. Osgood sold the line after a few years and was the only owner of the company, over the 46 years it existed, that made any money on his investment. Hipkins stayed on with the Rainier Valley line until 1937 when the busses took over and the streetcars were cut up for scrap. Most of the motormen were retrained to operate the buses. Pa Hip retired. “I guess that makes me the oldest in point of service,” Hipkins told a Post-Intelligencer reporter in 1937. “I remember the open cars. You published a picture once, of old #201. That was the first of its type -- closed. I worked hard on that car.” Hipkins pulled out an aged copy of a newspaper to show the reporter. “Say, I wonder if you ever heard about the big robbery we had -- back in the Spanish War days? Your paper had a story about it. ….Plenty of excitement, that caused.” Under a story of Dewey’s victory at Manila is the headline, “BOLD STREETCAR HOLDUP,” and the story of three daring bandits who not only robbed passengers and crew of Car #13 of $150 in cash, plus several watches, but so delayed the car that before it could reach Seattle the power had been shut off for the night and the victims were marooned until morning. Days Gone By South District Journal 5/17/2000 By Buzz Anderson

Historical Photo Leaves All To Imagination. What were those well-dressed folks doing on that day so long ago? As we enter the new millennium we marvel at the changes in our society in just the past 100 years. Oftentimes, looking at one aspect of life will shed light on how different our memories are from those of our grandparents. In the 1890 and early 1900s, leisure time was defined by a break from work, a Saturday or Sunday sabbatical rest, well deserved and enjoyed by families spending time together. The photograph I am writing about this week is from the Rainier Valley Historical Society collection of the D.W. Brown family. It has intrigued local historians since first it was discovered. There was no documentation along with the photo, so comments here can be considered educated speculation. Research of local events turned up many possible scenarios for this story. The trolley stop is new construction, evidenced by the stacks of what appears to  be left over lumber. It is in an unpopulated, wooded area. The street car tracks were lain starting in 1889, when J.K. Edmiston saw his dream of the Rainier Valley Electric Railway come into being. The tracks began at Washington Street, and by March of 1891 the line extended to Rainier Beach. No buildings are nearby, and the land is forested with evergreens and deciduous trees, which are in full leaf, indicating late spring or early summer. Perhaps it is the summer of 1891 or 1892. Men and women in Sunday best are boarding or disembarking en mass, indicating a group event, which required the scheduling of two cars traveling in the same direction. Possible events include a church picnic, lodge outing, or a journey to a large gathering such as the Alaska-Yukon  Exhibition, in 1909, or a trip on the steamboat to Mercer Island or Kennydale. Let’s do a little detective work. The shadows show the time of day to be about mid-day, which makes sense for any of our speculations. The photo shows the name of the streetcar line as The Rainier Electric Railway, the first of many names for the line from downtown to Renton. Because many people are gathered here they must be attending an organized event. As noted, the area has no buildings near the stop, indicating a less densely populated area. Maybe the party was looking at land? Lot sales were conducted in Columbia City in April of 1891, in which flatcars with benches on them were attached to the streetcars to pull prospective buyers out from Seattle. April is a little to early in the spring for this photograph, but perhaps other sales events tool place throughout the summer and in later years out south toward Rainier Beach. Would women be included in such a trip? Probably not. If they were included would they wear their best dresses? Probably not. Let’s look at some other possibilities. Known history of the time in Rainier Valley notes at least three fraternal organizations in the Columbia City area, all of which had regular social events. The Masonic Lodge was on Rainier Avenue and still stands today. The Modern Woodmen of America, also were on the strip in Columbia, as were the Knights of Pythias, who meet at their hall between Ferdinand and Edmunds on the west side of Rainier ( later called Phalen Hall) at 4863 Rainier Avenue. Local churches had summer picnics for fellowship and respite from the workweek. The Brown family belonged to the Columbia Congregational Church, one of the first houses of worship in the neighborhood. A notice published by the railway gives further clues, inviting “Seattle to Rainier Beach, on Lake Washington, a pleasant ride of 8 miles. Come out and see the country.” The notice includes information regarding the schedule, with cars leaving every 45 minutes from Railroad Avenue and Washington Street during the day, extra cars being available for special occasions with special rates for parties of 50 or more. Outside the city limits passengers could be let off only at established stations, about a quarter-mile apart. One of the reasons for this may have been the presence of cougars along the route. During those days steamships crossed Lake Washington between Rainier Beach and Kennydale, bringing passengers on their journey via the Railway to Seattle. Perhaps a social event of some magnitude drew folks from all over to this isolated little rail station. A news article may have read: “A distant romance between a lovely young lady from Brighton Beach and a handsome young businessman from Kennydale brings celebration to the entire community on the shores of Lake Washington. The groom and his family arrived aboard the steamship ‘Arrow’ early the morning of the ceremony.” “The weather cooperated perfectly as friends and relations from as far as the Denny neighborhood arrived by streetcar, buggy and on foot. The popular bathing beach and picnic area at Atlantic City in Rainier Beach provided a backdrop of shining blue water and greenery, framing the bridal party. The newlyweds boarded the streetcar to Seattle where they will spend their honeymoon, afterward settling in their newly built cottage in Columbia City.” We may not be any closer to the truth about the nature of the gathering documented in this photo, but it has been fun speculating about the possibilities. If you enjoyed this exercise inprobing the past, more opportunities await you at the Rainier Valley Historical Society. Who knows, maybe you will be the next volunteer to uncover the truth about a mysterious picture! To volunteer, donate photographs, or to enlighten us about this photo, please call or stop by our office at the Rainier Valley Cultural Center. Mary Ann Balch is a volunteer with the Rainier Valley Historical Society. Days Gone By South District Journal 5/10/2000 By Mary Ann Balch

RVHS Photo 1993.001.0012 This 1908 photo shows the office of the Rainier Valley Investment Co. at 4870 Rainier Avenue. The office was located next to the present location of the Rainier Office Supply in the center of Historic Columbia City. The man on the left, according to the writing on the back of the photo, is a Mr. Watson, probably an employee. The man in the center was my grandfather, D. W. “Will” Brown and on the right is J. A. Kelso. They were probably owners as both their names appear on the left front window of the office. We have some of the company’s stock certificates and Mr. Kelso had signed them as secretary of the firm. The president’s signature was also on the certificate and his name was H. A. Gardner. The stock certificates we have were owned by Will Brown. One of them was certificate number 700, amounting to 16 2/3 shares of common stock with each share valued at $10.00. The certificates listed the capitol stock of the R. V. Investment Company at $15,000 and was dated the 2nd of June, 1920. The date of 1908 on the photo indicates the firm was in business for at least twelve years. The company might have been a sideline for some the men as Mr. Gardner, its president, was one of Columbia City’s barbers, in business with his son-in-law, Menzo Laporte. Also, Will Brown, during those years, was the superintendent of the Seattle Renton & Southern Ry. street car line until 1916 when the line declared bankruptcy and was reorganized as the Seattle & Rainier Valley Co. The signs in the investment company’s window give us the impression that their business activities were mainly real estate sales and housing rentals. Looking closely at the messages on the signs gives us an idea of the prices at the time the photo was taken. One sign is advertising a four room furnished house for rent at $10 per month. Another offers view lots for sale, close in, 40 x 102, for $550. One stated they had money to loan on Rainier Valley Property. The Rainier Valley Investment Co. was also in the insurance business, made investments and was a notary public according to the lettering on the window just to the right of Mr. Watson. One of their investments, in 1913, was the construction of the two story brick building on the northwest corner of Rainier Avenue and Ferdinand Street, diagonally across Rainier Avenue from the historic Columbia Hotel. Their building had businesses on the street level and apartments on the second floor. The Rainier Lions Club has been the owner since about 1969 when they contracted with the state to house people attending the State’s training facility for the blind a few blocks away on Alaska Street. That contract was recently terminated. The Lions club have used the majority of the main floor as their meeting hall with the front section leased to Matthiesen’s Flowers. This building has had a variety of tenants over the years. Some of them were: Green’s Dry Goods store in 1915, the office for the Rainier Valley Times and W.D. Mosely, Jeweler , both in 1917, in 1926 the Beehive Marketerias, Inc. sold groceries there and then it became the Piggly Wiggly Grocery. The small office space on the Ferdinand Street side, at the rear of the building, was occupied by the Christian Science reading room for several years. I believe it was in the early forties that Ernst Hardware moved into the building.. They had originally opened a store on the east side of Rainier Avenue in the same building once occupied by the Rainier Valley Investment Co. After a few years in the new location, Ernst sold the business to an investor whose regular job was  driving a milk delivery truck. The new owner hired the Ernst Store’s ex-manager, Fred Mc Bride to run the business for him and they remained in business for several years. Rainier Valley Investment Co. also made an investment in property in south west Washington. I didn’t know about that until 1998 when my wife and I were in the town of Goldendale, close to the Columbia River, checking on some vacation property that my grandparents had acquired about 1914. I was curious as to the location of their property and to see if their cabin, shown in a photo we have, might still be there. In those days it was an all day drive on gravel roads to get there. We have a photo of them leaving town in their open touring car, grandpa Brown with his derby hat and goggles and grandma Brown with her wide brimmed fancy hat held in place with a scarf over her head and tied under her chin. I located the property on a map at the local Historical Society in Goldendale. They had owned about ten acres of land on the north side of Section 32. It was on the slope that rises up from the Columbia River about four miles north of Goldendale. It has a sweeping southerly view of the Columbia River and the mountains beyond. Then on the map, just below the Brown’s property in that same section of land, I noticed a large parcel of land, about 120 acres, with the name of “Mountain View Orchard Estates.” The interesting thing about that parcel was the name of the owner. It was listed as the Rainier Valley Investment Company. We tried to find the property and ended up at the town cemetery. We then realized we lacked sufficient information to locate it. Being a holiday when we were there, the assessor’s office was closed but we hope to go back and do some more research to find how to get to the property, what is on the property now and when they bought and sold it. We have no idea why they bought it. While these men of Columbia City that owned the Investment Company were doing their thing, buying and selling property and building buildings, their wives and some of the other women from Columbia apparently decided they also wanted part of the investment action. They formed a women only group they named “Columbia Co-operative Investment Company.” They incorporated and sold stock just as the men had done. We also have some of the women’s stock certificates and their capitol stock was $4800.00. The shares were $1.00 each and were issued on July 14, 1910. The certificates we have had been purchased by Edith Brown, Will’s wife, on December 10, 1920, indicating the company was around for at least 10 years. I wonder what the husbands thought about this venture by their wives? It was very unusual in those early years for women to be involved in anything except housekeeping. It confirms what many of the old timers have claimed over the years, that those early settlers that bought the first lots in Columbia in 1891 were a hardy bunch. They formed a close knit group while setting up the town’s government and developed a community that thrived for years and even after being annexed by the City of Seattle they stuck together. This was evidenced by their “Pioneers of Columbia City” association, (now the Rainier Valley Historical Society), that has held an annual spring meeting every year since Columbia City was formed 1891. Their membership grew to over 500 at one time. The only reference to this women’s cooperative group that we can find was an article written in the local newspaper’s “Rainier Valley Citizen Annual” and published in 1915. Following is that article. “COLUMBIA HAS ONLY WOMEN’S REALTY CORPORATION” “Though not generally known, there exists in Rainier Valley a women’s organization of a very unique character. There is not known to be another one of the kind in existence in this city or elsewhere: and, indeed, the Federal Department that has charge of tabulating the businesses and corporations of the country, has made public that it has no record of any other. This organization is one of Rainier Valley housekeepers, incorporated for business and investment purposes only, and is well known as the Columbia Co-operative Investment Company. The company was organized in March, 1907, and incorporated four years later with twenty-four Columbia women as members. It has made a business of loans and dealings in Rainier Valley property. Its holdings are confined to Rainier Valley. It now has $3000 invested in property and loans, but the value of its holdings is understood to much exceed this amount, as the women have shown excellent judgment in buying and selling and conducting the business along profitable lines. The members now holding office are: President, Annie Hyde;  Secretary, Minnie Hastings;  Treasurer, Clara Brown;  Board of Trustees, Agnes Pearson, chairman;  Eva Harris, Vinnie Sims, Edith Brown, and Alma Lawrence.” It sounds like these ladies were way ahead of their time. Days Gone By South District Journal 3/22/2000 By Buzz Anderson

The “Big Rock” at 48th Ave. S and S. Ferdinand St. was once the meeting place of Valley Residents. This Photo of the Big Rock, with an accompanying article about The Pioneers of Columbia City was published in Paul Alexander’s Rainier District Times in 1966. The above photo and the article are from the archives of the Rainier Valley Historical Society’s Columbia Pioneers Collection. The article was written to call attention to the Pioneer’s forth-coming 75th annual meeting. The content of the article was not so much about the Big Rock as it was about the recollections of the Pioneers when they gathered for their annual meeting. There were several of the old timers still living at that time who could remember those early days and would tell and retell the stories that, along with the 700 plus photos they had collected, became the foundation for our extensive collection of Rainier Valley history. The article was written by Ruth Hall who came out from the east to live with her aunt and uncle, the Hipkins, when she was nine years old. The Hipkins had settled in Columbia when Mr. Hipkins, or “Pa Hip” as he was called, was hired as the blacksmith and master mechanic for the streetcar line when it started. Ruth was raised in that pioneer environment and was fascinated with the area’s history. She became very active in the Columbia Pioneers and served as their historian and secretary for many years right up to the time of her death. I knew Ruth very well and I can say without a doubt she, along with Carey Summers, were responsible for collecting and preserving the historic collection we inherited from the Columbia Pioneers. Ruth was obsessed with the preservation of our photos. She arranged for and insisted that the photos be kept in their metal trunk in the vault of the Seattle First National Bank in Columbia City and few people got a chance to see them, even at our annual meetings. If someone wanted to see one of the photos she had to know why, who they were and she would be right beside them watching their every move. Carey Summers of course was the one who cataloged everything over the years, made negatives and slides and entered the printed material and photo descriptions into his early day computer. Following is the Rainier District Times article written by Ruth prior to the annual meeting scheduled for Friday evening, April 1st, 1966. I have added some explanations in places, in brackets [    ], to clarify the location or the meaning. The Columbia Pioneers organization met,[had their first meetings] in homes from 1891 until 1896 when the Columbia Cong’l Church was built and they could meet there. Later around 1910 they met for a few years at Fraternity Hall which was located on Ferdinand St., back of Rainier Floor Covering. [South West corner of Rainier and Ferdinand St.]. At the 1909 meeting Mr. H. H. .A. Hastings delivered a speech over a “Gramaphone”, the new modern invention of the year. Mrs. Hastings, our only living Pioneer of 1891 when the first lots were sold, will be present with us again on April 1st. Dunlap was awarded a new school in 1899 and soon Brighton and Hillman districts began to grow. Members on the School Board usually lived in Columbia and were brought into close contact with these districts and their people thus bringing in many new memberships to the Columbia Pioneers. It resulted in the Pioneers adding the word of “Vicinity” to their name. [They became “The Pioneers of Columbia City and Vicinity].” By 1914 we were again meeting back at the Columbia Cong’l Church and continued until 1957. At this time the old school bell which was retained by the Pioneers after the destruction of the old school, was placed in a showcase at Columbia School to be kept as a permanent historical souvenir and an important memento at our future meetings. Any Pioneer can remember how this bell rang out calling us to school each day. I can recall the piano playing, accompanied by the beat of the “triangle”, as we marched out of the building at recess, noon and afternoon sessions. If you played ball on the school grounds do you remember the creek in back, and how we had to retrieve said balls from the water on the opposite bank? That property was Dr. Parks veterinary stable with that “horse odor.” 50 years ago, 1916, was the year of the big snow when many of us as children built huge snow houses and there were days of no school. The older groups met at the big rock at 48th S & Ferdinand Street and hopped on a bob sled for a ride down 48th , across the bridge [over Genesee Street] and on down to the edge of Lake Washington where, on the beach, a bon fire was aflame to keep us warm. These and many other recollections will be retold at our meeting. Won’t you come and join us?” Editor’s note: Part of the “Big Rock” can still be seen on the south side of Ferdinand street, on the bank in front of the second house east of 48th Avenue. The Rainier Valley Historical Society has continued with the tradition of having our annual meetings where such recollections are retold, only now it is by the children and grandchildren of those early pioneers. We are planning for our 109th consecutive, annual, meeting this year at 11 am on Saturday, May 20th, 2000. The location is the Rainier Valley Cultural Center, where our office and museum are located, at 3515 South Alaska Street. Won’t you come and join us? Days Gone By South District Journal 2/23/2000 By Buzz Anderson

RVHS Photo 1993.001.0006 This photo of the Toby building was taken about 1930. It was built by Simeon T. Toby in 1903, on the Southeast corner of Rainier Avenue and Edmunds Street in Columbia City. This was the original two story building and it had a full basement. Shortly after this photo was taken a third floor was added. In 1945 Mr. Toby’s son, Thomas, sold the building to a landlord noted for neglecting the buildings they owned. For 50 plus years the building deteriorated. At first businesses were thriving and the housekeeping rooms upstairs were full but over the last two decades that wasn’t the case. Between the building deteriorating and the area’s crime problems in the ‘70s things got pretty grim. In 1992, however, the building was purchased by Pioneer Human Services and completely rehabilitated with the approval of the City’s Landmarks Preservation Board. It is now a residence for people putting their lives back together and it is a real asset for the community My grandfather, Will Brown, explained to me many years ago the circumstances surrounding the purchase of land by Simeon to build a bank. The two had met on a previous occasion. Simeon was coming out to the Hillman City area from Seattle on the Seattle, Renton and Southern Ry., as the streetcar line was named at that time. He decided to stop off in Columbia City to visit with Will. Simeon mentioned to him that he was on his way south to the Hillman area to purchase some land, put up a building, and establish a bank. Will Brown was somewhat involved in real estate and was a stock holder in Columbia City’s Rainier Valley Investment Company in addition to his job as motorman on the streetcar line. When Simeon mentioned where he was headed and why, my Grandad insisted on showing him a choice corner lot available in Columbia. As my Grandfather told me, “I offered him such a good price, he decided to invest in Columbia City”. Hillman City’s loss was Columbia City’s gain. Simeon did construct the building and a few years later he opened his bank. He did not have the $10,000 needed to obtain a State Charter, however, so he formed a private bank, “S. T. Toby Bank”. A year later he obtained the needed Charter and his bank, in 1910, became the “Rainier Valley State Bank”. My grandfather had the honor of being the first depositor at the new bank. Toby left for an Around-The-World tour in 1920 leaving his son, Thomas S. Toby in charge of the bank. After his return he formed the Southern Savings & Loan next door in 1922. In 1924 Simeon Toby died and Thomas became head of the banks. It was about this time that Seattle First Bank took over Toby’s bank and relocated the bank on the corner across Edmunds Street. The above photo of the bank was taken after the bank had moved and the space was occupied by Cameron Drug Store. Simeon was active in the community and probably was remembered most for his efforts in convincing the city about the need for a road over Beacon Hill. In order to get to Georgetown and West Seattle, it was necessary at that time to go all the way to Dearborn Street and then back along Airport Way. He was successful with his project and the city put his name on a large, bronze, embossed plaque with the phrase “The Father of Columbian Way”. The city mounted the plaque on a large rock in a mini park diagonally across the intersection from his building in Columbia. Seafirst Bank constructed a new building in 1950 on the corner where the plaque was located. When excavation began the rock and the plaque had to be removed. What happened to it was a mystery for many years. Finally, in the early ‘90s, it showed up when a city employee brought it out to Lou Soreano at Soreano’s Plumbing Co. here in Columbia. Then the debate started as to what to do with it. Pioneer Human Services was planning a complete renovation of the old Toby building about that time so we approached them with the suggestion that the exterior brick face of the building would be the appropriate place to mount the plaque. They agreed and as the building neared completion they installed it on the side of the building just above where the dog is sitting in the photo. The recessed corner entry door shown in the old photo had been moved forward to be flush with the sidewalk. When Pioneer Human Services was planning the remodel they decided the door should be restored to the recessed corner location in keeping with the original design. The Toby Building, over the past 97 years, has been home to all kinds of businesses. In addition to the corner site there were two other store fronts on the Rainier Avenue side of the building and a large space at the back of the building that fronted Edmunds Street. I would like to mention just a few of the businesses that occupied the building over the years: In 1904 -- Grayson Brothers Hardware and Furniture,  1905 to 1911 - Columbia Station Post Office,  1915 - Andrea Jenson Pool Room,  1915 - Adolph W. Delzer Barber Shop  1916 - A. B. Watson Merchant Taylor,  1916 - Modern Woodmen of America Hall,  1916 - W.B. Wells 5, 10, 15, 25 Cent Store,  1916 - Pure Food Mkt, Fuss and Lane proprietors,  1928 - Harry Marsh Real Estate,  1929 - Columbia Malt Shop,  1930’s - Cameron’s Drug Store,  1936 - Rainier Realty,  1945 - Clay Yost Insurance,  and 1950 - Althea Drennan’s Beauty Shop. The entrance to the upstairs housekeeping rooms was on the left side of the building on Edmunds Street. The door next to it went downstairs. Down a long flight of wooden stairs ending in the basement’s 1920’s Pool Hall. It was listed in the directory of the Pioneers of Columbia City History Book as: “Pool Hall, Restrooms in Basement’. Actually the restrooms were outside the pool room. They were underground with the Edmunds Street sidewalk also serving as a ceiling. That ceiling over the bathrooms consisting of segments made up of four inch square glass blocks. There was an area in one corner of the basement about ten by fifteen feet that no one could get into however because it was a solid block of concrete from floor to ceiling. Simeon was apparently concerned about security as it was located directly under his bank vault. The basement and part of the main floor space was later taken over by Rainier Valley Transfer and Storage Co. owned by the Verhagen family. They rented part of the main floor where they sold furniture and they rented out storage space in the basement area. In about 1941 they moved to a new location at 5016 Rainier Avenue just South of Hudson Street. Within a few years it became the Rainier Furniture Co. owned by Dick and Merle Hammons. Grayson and Brown Hardware and Furniture, adjacent to the Toby building, was owned and operated in the mid 40s by my dad Arthur Anderson and his partner Henry Peterson. They were doing quite well and needed more space so they leased the entire basement area of the Toby building for a warehouse. The main floor on the back section of the Toby building became their sales floor for kitchen appliances and dinette sets. They had removed part of the common wall between the Toby and the Grayson & Brown buildings giving them an additional 6500 sq. ft of floor space. It was in 1972 that Columbia City was designated as an historic district and extensive remodeling of the streets and sidewalks were underway. They were just started to dig up the sidewalks in front of the Toby building when I asked the engineer on the job what they were going to do with the two rest rooms under the sidewalk that serviced the old basement pool hall. He had no knowledge of them and they were not shown on the plans. He said they would probably be filled in but he wanted to take a look at them. The doors to the basement restrooms had been blocked by floor to ceiling wood shelving installed in 1945, almost thirty years prior to the street remodeling project. Over the weekend I dismantled the shelving and opened the door without a clue as to what I would find inside. The first thing I noticed were the high quality white porcelain fixtures with chrome faucets, valves and pipes. I saved all of the removable parts, adding them to my antique collection. I can’t throw away stuff like that. There was an old Philco, wood console radio sitting on the floor, probably left over from when the Verhagens rented out the space for storage. Unfortunetly the wood was completely delaminated from the dampness but I saved the decorative metal trim and added that to my collection also. One thing that I almost overlooked in the dim light was a sheet of printed paper laying on top of the radio. It turned out to be a single page from a 1910 Sears Roebuck catalog. I took that, plus the other things I had salvaged, and proceeded upstairs where the light was better to examine them. Upstairs I had a collection of antiques displayed on a ledge above our wall displays. I probably had about 100 lineal feet of shelf space with a variety of antiques I had collected over the past 60 years. They included a carpet stretcher dated 1899, a hand crank 16 mm movie projector, several photographs of our family business blown up to poster size and the largest and one of my favorite items, an old wooden tub washing machine. It had a heavy cast iron fly wheel that the operator would push or pull to start it turning. Then, by pumping the handle, the shaft would continue to turn and the attached gears would cause a wooden agitator to rotate back and forth inside the tub, cleaning the clothes. I had received that washing machine as a trade-in on a furniture sale. You can still see the faded turquoise label on the front that says “High Speed Wizard.” I glanced down at the single page from the 1910 Sears catalog I had in my hand. The main item featured on that page, priced at $7.15, was an illustration of that same “High Speed Wizard” washing machine that was on the ledge above me. I couldn’t believe it. That single catalog page had been laying on top of the radio, locked up in that damp restroom, for at almost 30 years. The washing machine I had, however, would have cost a little more than the one illustrated as mine has the hand operated clothes wringer attachment on top of the tub. The washing machine presently holds a place of honor in my living room at home and supports my wife’s Ficus benjamina house plant. Days Gone By South District Journal 1/19/2000 By Buzz Anderson Membership in the Rainier Valley Historical Society is open to everyone interested in learning about the fascinating history of our Rainier Valley. Members receive our quarterly eight-page newsletter.

Columbia City has had its share of manufacturing companies over the years. One of the more noteworthy was the Heater Glove Company, located at 4812 Rainier Avenue. They were on the East side of Rainier, occupying the ground floor of the historic Masonic Temple building. They were directly across the alley from where Washington Federal Savings bank is today. The panoramic photograph shows the 32 member work force standing in front of the glove manufacturing business. The ladies are all wearing skirts, one with a bow on her blouse and another with a bow on her shoe. Their attire is typical of the 1920’s when the photo was taken. Most of the men are attired in their leather aprons apparently taking a break from work to have their group photo taken. Freeman Heater, standing at the far right, started the company in 1918. Their first location was one block south in a small building with room for only one sewing machine and a front door that opened onto the alley. They were directly behind Mayfield’s Restaurant and Hotel at 4914 Rainier Avenue. Since 1929 it has been known as the Columbia Café and Elbow Room. The shop was against the back wall of the old Columbia Theater which was built parallel to Rainier Avenue, behind the other store buildings. The reason was to conform to a city ordinance at the time that stipulated theaters had to be a certain distance from schools. I had an opportunity a few years ago to interview Bob Heater, Freeman’s son, when he was visiting Seattle. One thing he mentioned was about the family name “Heater”. It is a Dutch name and a family member in the past shortened it from the original“Van Heater-Jahn”. The Historical Society had quite a few photos and had some knowledge about the history of the Heater Glove Company but Bob brought us a lot more information and photos we didn’t have. They were mainly a manufacturer of leather gloves but they did get into making clothing. Bob remembers that the family all had leather jackets and hats made for them. In the thirties there was a Northwest Products trade show every year in downtown Seattle  by the Pike Place Market. Freeman Heater would have a large window display showing all the products they manufactured. Photos of those display windows were included in the collection Bob gave to us. Among the products they made were leather aviator helmets for the pilots during the open cockpit era of flying. The most noteworthy product the company produced was the helmet worn by Charles Lindburgh on his transatlantic flight. It was made of a very soft light brown leather. It is now on display in the Smithsonian That wasn’t the only notable product they made however. It seems that Freeman was a boxing fan and if you look close in the photo you can see the corner of a poster promoting a boxing event on the left side of the window behind the ladies. Bob said his dad was a friend of the famous boxer, Jack Dempsey, and the company made his boxing gloves for him. They also made them for Jack Sharkey and other local boxing champs. One of the photos that Bob gave us showed him as a boy of about four years of age, he was called Bobbie then, standing in front of the new Columbia School under construction. It dates the time of the photo at 1923. It was a month later when I was shooting a negative of the photo for our files and noticed, in the right hand corner of the photo, the bell tower of the old Columbia School. I had always assumed the old school had been taken down and the new one built in its place but that wasn’t the case. Now I realize the new Columbia was built behind and to the west of the original Columbia school. The main entry for the new school is on the South side facing Ferdinand Street. The old building’s main entrance was facing east toward Rainier Avenue. And it was situated on what is now the playground and the garden area of the new Columbia, an alternative school referred to as Orca at Columbia. I was in the 7th and 8th grade at Columbia School in the late 1930’s and I had a regular routine on my way home from school. After performing my duty as captain of the School Patrol to see to it that all the students got safely across Rainier Avenue at Ferdinand Street, I would head for the back door in the alley next to Heater Glove Co. I would check out their garbage cans looking for scraps of leather big enough to make the pocket for slingshots. The rubber strips for them would come from old tire inner-tubes scrounged from Charlie Miles Mobil gas station half a block north. The wood handles in the shape of a “Y” we would cut from branches in the neat wooded hillside at 44th and Angeline Street where we had our “Cops and Robbers” battles. Amazingly the woods are still there. I reminisce every time I go by on my way to the post office. After the business closed Freeman managed the bar at a dance hall on the lake shore in Bryn Mawr between Renton and Rainier Beach. It was in fact aboard a boat that was beached at the site of the old Vallley Lumber Co. mill. Bob said he and his sister used to perform for the customers at the establishment. He didn’t say whether they were singing or dancing. The boat was actually one of the many passenger ferries that crisscrossed the lake in the early days. They drove pilings to stabilize it but it still kept sinking into the mud so eventually they decided to move it to a firmer location. First they cut it in half. I don’t know whether it was the bow or the stern, but they moved the “half-a-boat” up and across Rainier Avenue and they were back in business. This was during the prohibition era and rumor has it that it was a wild and popular night spot. It was later badly damaged in a fire and subsequently torn down. I can remember the old boat sitting on the hillside but I didn’t know the story behind it and of course I knew nothing about the wild times aboard. Bob Heater went on to work for the Government after World War II. He was in Europe working with the Marshall Plan to help rebuild Europe from the ravages of the war. He now is retired and resides in California. Buzz Anderson I want to thank Bob Heater and Jack Collier for furnishing information for this article. Membership in the Rainier Valley Historical Society is open to everyone interested in learning about the fascinating history of the Rainier Valley. Our dues renewal period starts the first of the year. Members receive our quarterly eight-page newsletter. Days Gone By South District Journal 12/29/1999 By Buzz Anderson

What put the car in the ditch? This photo depicts the Genesee Streetcar on a day when it was not going anywhere, at least not for a while. It was during the ‘20s and ‘30s when the “Dinky”, as it was called by the locals, traveled east on Genesee Street from Rainier Avenue, going under the old 48th Avenue overpass and on to 50th Avenue where it turned South. It then climbed up the gentle slope, passed the Lakewood Playfield, and continued one block further to the end of the line at Hudson Street having dropped off passengers along the way. With no turnaround, the motorman had to reverse the car’s direction. He would have to switch the overhead trolley to the other end of the car and then push the seat backs to the opposite side so the riders were facing the front. He also had to disconnect the fare box and take that, along with his control lever and lunch box, to the other end of the car. He would then wait for the exact time to start the return trip to Rainier Avenue as he had to be precisely on schedule. He picked up riders on the return trip, usually issuing transfers as most of them were headed for downtown on the Rainier Avenue street cars. Although most people referred to it as the Dinky, some of the old timers said the appropriate name in their day was the “Galloping Gertie”. The Dinky, or the Galloping Gertie if you wish, probably made its last run in 1936 when the Seattle and Rainier Valley Company ceased operation on Rainier Avenue. When car # 106 came into the Hudson Street barns on the final run at 1:45 AM on January 1, 1937 it ended 45 years of transportation service to Rainier Valley by private operators. Don Bearwood, my high school classmate, had told me about the photo he had of the derailment of the Dinky. We weren’t sure where the derailment had occurred but assumed it was just after the turn at 50th and Genesee. We had come to that conclusion because teenagers, who shall remain nameless, were known, on occasion, to have put grease on the tracks just before the corner at the bottom of the hill. This prevented the street car from having enough traction to slow down to make the turn. It also prevented them from getting up the hill. In the ‘20s and ‘30s the Bearwood’s beautiful old family home was on the west side of 50th just south of Hudson Street. The home was only one-half block beyond the end of the streetcar line which was on the east side of the street. The family album Don brought in had several photos of the surrounding area but this one image of the Dinky proved to be the most interesting. Shortly after Don told me about the photos of the Dinky he moved to the town of Goldbar which is on hiway 2 going towards Stevens Pass. We kept in touch and I kept thinking about those photos until we finally got together last spring and I was able to see them and make negatives and copies for our archives. He is one of those methodical individuals that saves everything that will some day be historically significant and never throws anything away. The thing that is different about him is he has everything cataloged on his computer so he knows what he has and where it is located in his storage boxes. It was just after we received the Dinky photo that I was talking with Vera Almquist Carr at our Historical Society’s annual meeting. The Almquist family were pioneers in the Lakewood area and they had donated land to the city of Seattle for the Lakewood Playfield. Their home was very close to the end of the streetcar line on 50th and Hudson and when I mentioned the photograph of the Dinky laying on its side in the ditch, she said, “I remember that and I know why it went off the tracks.” It seems the motorman had parked the streetcar at the end of the line and came to their house and asked to use their bathroom. Apparently he hadn’t set the brakes and when he returned to begin his return run, his car was at the bottom of the hill. It had jumped the tracks at the curve and tipped over into the ditch. Nobody was on the car so there were no injuries. Finally the mystery was solved. But there is more to the story. While I was working on the article I received a call from one of our members, Captain Elmer Yates, who grew up in the Genesee area and is currently living in Tampa, Florida. He was in the Franklin class of 1934 and after spending his life at sea he wrote a book about his experiences and is now writing some short stories for the local paper in Tampa. He has just written an article about the “Dinky” as he remembered it and the editor asked him if he could get a photograph to go with the article. He phoned me and I sent him a copy. He then sent me his article so we now have some of his recollections to add to the story and our archives. He referred to the Dinky as the “Toonerville Trolly”, a name derived from the comic strip of the same name. He described how the steel wheels would squeal every time it came to a stop and how the steel tracks were anything but smooth. No doubt some of the regular riders knew how many lengths of rail there were between their station and the end of the line. They would be able to count the clickity clacks as the trolley passed over rail connections. Elmer and his brother were regular riders on the line but they had a rather unorthodox seat. Their paper route ended at 50th and Genesee so rather than walk home they would wait until the streetcar slowed to make the curve and then jump on the rear cowcatcher. Quite often the motorman would stop the trolley and run back and try to grab them, always without success. As they became regular riders some of the passengers near the back would warn them if they saw the motorman make a move to go after them. Whatever name we use to describe this trolley, the Dinky, the Galloping Gertie or the Toonerville Trolley, the memories will not be forgotten by those of us who put their pennies and nickels in the token box or jumped on the cow catcher or tried to find some grease in dad’s garage. With light rail scheduled to come into the area we will once again be riding on steel rails, but unfortunately it won’t be the same. Our grandchildren will only be able to read about the “Dinky” in our archives. Days Gone By South District Journal 11/24/1999 By Buzz Anderson