Dedicated to the citizens of Mason County, Washington since 1886
Dedicated to the citizens of Mason County, Washington since 1886
Sorted by date Results 51 - 62 of 62
This Saturday from 2 to 4 p.m., the Mason County League of Women Voters is sponsoring an open house at the Mason County Historical Museum (427 West Railroad Ave.) to showcase seven women, past and present, who have made a difference in the county. One of those women is Mary M. Knight, who played a significant role in the early days of education. This is Mary's story. Mary Dunbar was born in Ingham County, Michigan, on Sept. 2, 1854, the only daughter of the five children of C. S. and Orpah...
This story is taken from the Aug. 23, 1907, edition of the Mason County Journal. On Aug. 19, 1907, about 40 people from Shelton, hosted by Mark E. Reed, Arthur Govey and Thomas O'Neill, traveled to the Crawford and Reid boatyard in Tacoma to participate in launching the hull of the new Shelton Transportation Co. steamship S. G. Simpson. The party boarded the steamship Shelton at 7 a.m. and spent the next four hours on a pleasant run to Tacoma. Upon arrival, they traveled uptown for luncheon and...
On Dec. 31, 1886, at the age of 18, Grant C. Angle published the first edition of his Mason County Journal. (Some years later, he changed the name to the Shelton-Mason County Journal.) A one-year subscription was $2 "in advance." A single copy cost 10 cents. This story comes from that first issue, beginning with a quote from Angle's first editorial. "Mason County is the least known of any county in the Territory, but with direct steamboat communication with Olympia, Tacoma, and Seattle, and the...
The first settler of record in the Tahuya area was Enoch Willey, who acquired a claim in 1865. Willey sold his claim in 1875 and eventually settled at Oakland. Among the homesteaders who followed him was Rodney White, a Black man who filed a claim on 160 acres in March 1890. White had a reputation for being a "good worker with a heart of gold," and had soon built a log house, a barn and a root cellar. He fashioned a hauling sled out of maple and used a team of oxen named Duke and Diamond, led...
This is part two of a two-part story on the recollections of Shelton-area resident Roberta Wilcox Welch. The first installment ran in the Shelton-Mason County Journal on Jan. 20. At Christmas season, 1943, J.C. Penney at Second and Cota had a window display with the most beautiful doll I had ever seen. Her name was Miss Babette. She had blond, rolled hair and wore an evening gown and cape of pink sheer fabric with silver sparkles. Her cape was edged in marabou feathers. Now our family did not...
Part 1 of a two-part series. This story was discovered in a notebook titled "Irene S. Reed Class of 1953 Essays on Growing Up in Mason County." Several members of the class submitted stories, written in 2006-07, and they are all fascinating. Roberta Wilcox Welch wrote 31 pages of memories of her life in Shelton in the 1940s and '50s, providing the most detailed look into the past. Billie Howard, "director emeritus" of the Mason County Historical Society and herself a 1953 Shelton High graduate,...
In January 1924, 17-year-old George Clifton began working for Simpson Logging Co. at a camp near Lake Nahwatzel. For the next two years, he kept a sporadic journal of his experiences. This story is taken from that journal. This is the second part of Clifton's story - the first part ran in the Dec. 23 edition of the Shelton-Mason County Journal. On Sept. 16, 1925, George was blowing whistles. Ed, the timekeeper, has not found it out yet, so I'm still getting choker's wages. We got 18 loads and pa...
In January 1924, 17-year-old George Clifton began working for Simpson Logging Co. at a camp near Lake Nahwatzel. For the next two years, he kept a sporadic journal of his experiences. This story is taken from that journal. George's words are in italics. Saturday, January 12, 1924 - Walked from the Y. (The Frisken Wye, near the Grays Harbor county line.) Had old clothes on and my belongings in a gunny sack. Will try to get a job on Walters section. January 13 - Introduced to Walters and to a...
In mid-summer, 1985, as demolition was about to begin on the Irene S. Reed High School building at Seventh and Alder Streets, the Mason County Historical Society (MCHS) put forth a proposal to save symbolic parts of the building. MCHS wanted to preserve the lintel above the front door that featured the name of the school and the year it was built, plus ornamental blocks, to eventually build a memorial wall somewhere on school district property. The high school had been a gift to the town in...
The following items are from the October and November issues of the 1952 Irene S. Reed High School weekly newspaper called The Saghalie. The mirror in the boys' lavatory had disappeared and would not be replaced until "those responsible report to the janitor. The loss of the mirror has already inconvenienced many." With Halloween coming up, Mr. Hermes, school principal, put out the word that "High school students have had a good record on this count for several years. Keep it that way. Don't...
In a feature titled "Interesting People of the Peninsula," the September 1935 issue of a publication called Olympic Peninsula Magazine announced that "Native sons of the great Olympic Peninsula had better look to their laurels, for a comparative "Chechako" (Chinook word meaning newcomer) threatens to become the No. 1 booster for this nature's paradise. He is L. D. Hack, a native Iowan who just "happened" into Shelton in 1926, and stayed. It didn't take Mr. Hack long to get into the swing of...
In June 1912, parents of children attending Chapman's Cove, Miller, and Cape Horn Schools (all located in an area between Hammersley Inlet and Oakland Bay) met at the local grange hall and voted unanimously to consolidate the three districts. Two weeks later, County School Superintendent Ada Myers filed a certificate of formation for consolidated school district number 300, and in October, Mr. C. H. Nelson began building a new four-room schoolhouse at Hoballa. The school building was completed...
