This grainy photo appeared almost 50 years ago in the Chronicle, and is part of Bernice Sjoblom’s scrapbook about the Buffalo Party Convention and Pig Roast (aka Eatonville rock festival).
At the time these young people were setting up the scaffolding (around July 2), the festival had been banned by the prosecutors, people were already arriving for the event and the Buffalo Party organizers were threatening to appeal the decision.
“Eatonville High School’s centennial will be centerstage May 21 during a decade-by-decade musical revue of 100 years of historic events in the lives of local citizens.
“Timber Town Tales” will be performed at 7 p.m. in the school’s auditorium. Advance tickets are on sale.
The production, a partnership of Eatonville Community Foundation and the Eatonvllle School District, is based on a play written by Puyallup resident John Colgan, whose son, John Paul Colgan, is the high school’s principal.
The cast of more than 100 local folks and students includes (pictured from left) Eatonville School Board member Ronda Litzenberger as the “Gibson” girl, Kirk Heinz as Doc Bridges, Karen Andrascik as a pioneer woman, Pat Van Eaton as a Tacoma Eastern Railroad conductor, Steven Sorenson as a World War I soldier, Kathy Malcom as a 1920s flapper, Eatonville Mayor Mike Schaub as “The Cruiser,” Dan Painter as a World War II Navy sailor, LaNorma Predmore as a bobbie sock girl, Lucy Fountain as a 1970s professional woman, Mike Knelleken as “skate board guy,” and Chris Bivins as a 1970s hippie.
Bob and Linda Miller, who are affiliated with the Pacific Lutheran University music department, have recruited musicians, singers and dancers for the performance, which will include Chris Anderson and Phil Moore.
The show’s sponsors are LeMay Family Collection, Northwest Costume, Spilled Ink Studio and Hemlock Productions, in addition to the school district and Eatonville Community Foundation.
Proceeds will support the foundation, a new charitable organization working to enhance the community.
Tickets ($20 general admission, $15 seniors and military, $10 children under 12) are available by calling the high school at 360-879-1200 or Lynette Henricksen at 253-219-6178.
Eatonville celebrated it’s 50th anniversary in 1959. The Dispatch printed an entire section dedicated to towns 50 years of history. This came from one of the pages published, July 23 1959. You could read it, but I’ve typed it as well to make it a little easier.
Many Descendants of the Samuel P. Smith in Eatonville Areaany Descendants of the Samuel P. Smith in Eatonville Area Most communities think of cough drops when someone mentions Smith Brothers, but not in Eatonville where Mr. and Mrs. Samuel P. Smith of Wilkesboro, N.C., came to take up a claim on the Stringtown Road north of town. There were eight sons, seven of whom grew up in the West with their parents. It was noted recently there are 31 descendants of Samuel P. Smith living in or near Eatonville and, together with eight Mrs. Smiths, makes a total of 39 Smiths to confuse newcomers.
This family gathering many years ago, taken at what is now the 100 block of Rainier Avenue South, shows front row (left to right): Sam Smith, Scrivens Smith (sons of Mr. and Mrs. Brown Smith), Agnes Smith, Vera Smith, Harry Smith, Elizabeth Smith (Mr. and Mrs. Nate Smith’s children). Second row: Brown Smith, Mrs. Brown Smith, holding Eugene; the mother, Mrs. Samuel P. Smith, holding Brown with sons, Lawrence and Vivian, Samuel P. Smith, father; Nate Smith, and Larry Smith with his eldest son, William D. Smith(Eatonville’s present marshal).
Back row: Mrs. Clint Smith, Milton Smith, Mrs. Milton Smith, Lee Smith, Mrs. Noch Smith, Noch Smith, Mrs. Nate Smith, the Nate Smith’s other daughter, Anita, and Mrs. Larry Smith, holding her very young son, Orval, who operates Eatonville’s barber shop. Six of these Smiths were among the signers of petitions requesting incorporation of the town in 1909. they were Samuel P., Larry, Lee, Clint, Nate and Brown Smith.
Madora and Mr. Poppajohn – Paradise Inn employee party
Madora Dawkins worked up at Paradise Inn up at Mount Rainier, as a waitress in the 1940s. She says back then, “They always gave us real nice employee parties”. It was a way to keep spirits up, especially when some of the employees were kids far away from home for the first time.
These parties were put on by the employees, full of skits and homemade props. In the first picture Madora is on the right in the front. The larger man in a white dress is Mr. Poppajohn.
The Lodge Crew – Nettie and Carl in the foreground (Madora’s caption)
The second picture was also taken at one of the parties.
Mardora says they made sets from things they found around the place — from sheets to it appears wheelbarrows and baby buggies.
By 1916, a number of new businesses had sprung up in Eatonville, including Hearn Jeweler. In this picture the building is under construction — most likely bricks from Clay City. The building was a jewelry store, and was later the post office. Today you know it as Eatonville Outdoor.
Photo courtesy of the South Pierce County Historical Society.
The Canyada Lodge built in La Grande, Wash., was a luxury stay in its day. The lodge was built around 1912 (around the same time the Titanic set sail) and burned down in 1927. It was rebuilt, but not as lavish.
For images of the later Canyada Lodges, click HERE.
Lumber camps were common in the early 1900s. Here’s a shot of the Eatonville Lumber Company camp. Some of the trees in this show are bigger around than the smaller rail cars.
If you were a logger you would eat and sleep here. But I hear tell that the food was fabulous. It took a lot of calories (approximately 8,000 per man) to keep everyone going strong.
Snow storm 1915-16, Mashell Bridge and Eatonville Lumber Co.
THANK YOU to everyone who has visited this site and made it a success. In 2012 there were 58,623 visits — roughly 19 times the population of Eatonville.
Your input is making this a valuable addition to Eatonville’s history.
Hopefully 2013 will be one historians will look back on kindly.
