ca. 1920. A raft of logs being brought by early day tug "The Black Prince" to the Sedro Box and Veneer Co. plant at Sedro Woolley, Washington. A group of well dressed people stand calmly on this precarious log perch on the Skagit River. The Sedro plant went out of business after a devastating fire in December of 1924, but the individuals involved in its formation and management became the leaders in the growing Northwest plywood industry. ("The Plywood Age" by Robert M. Cour)
Sedro Box and Veneer Co. (Sedro-Woolley); plywood; Lumber industry--Sedro-Woolley--1920-1930; Mills--Sedro-Woolley--1920-1930;
ca. 1920. The Sedro Box and Veneer Co. plant at Sedro Woolley, Washington. Stacks of completed fir panels sit waiting shipment to door companies such as Wheeler Osgood of Tacoma. By 1920, William J. "Cottonwood Bill" Royse, a legendary millwork veteran with a hearty handshake and a flamboyant air, and Clyde D. Lloyd, the consummate businessman, eased off the production of boxes and crates at their plant to begin manufacturing plywood panels. Business took off and by 1924 orders were piling up. Business boomed until the plant was destroyed by fire on December 4, 1924. ("The Plywood Age" by Robert M. Cour)
Sedro Box and Veneer Co. (Sedro-Woolley); plywood; Lumber industry--Sedro-Woolley--1920-1930; Mills--Sedro-Woolley--1920-1930;
ca. 1920. Copy made from glass plate, Richards Studio. Pedestrians pause on a wooden bridge to peer over the railings. They may be enjoying the beautiful water view but also may be watching the man under the bridge. He is hunched over, apparently looking for something. He does not appear to be in the water but on a narrow spit of land. The body of water is surrounded by trees and shrubs and a cluster of lily pads floats nearby. There is a possibility that this is a portion of Wright Park. Date of glass plate is not known, perhaps in the 1920's; copy was made on October 3, 1958.
ca. 1920. Copy of Asahel Curtis print #51689 requested by the Washington State Historical Society on June 1, 1977. View of unidentified male and female along side of train. The couple are wearing railroad caps. The man is wearing a white shirt and striped tie under his somewhat soiled uniform.
ca. 1920. Chicago, Milwaukee and St. Paul Railroad, Engine #10254. Copy of Asahel Curtis print #52236 requested by the Washington State Historical Society on June 1, 1977. The electric powered train pauses on the tracks circa 1920. This is one of the 60,000 Asahel Curtis images in the Washington State Historical Society collection.
Railroad locomotives; Railroads; Railroad tracks; Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul Railroad Co.;
ca. 1920. Clyde D. Lloyd, one of the owners of the Sedro Box and Veneer Co. of Sedro-Woolley, Washington, poses with his favorite dog in his 1920 automobile. Copy of a customer's print. Lloyd, originally from Wisconsin, came west with the lumber industry and was a successful timber broker. In 1905, with an original investment of $6,000 each, William J. (Cottonwood Bill) Royse, Lloyd and Charles Peterson started the Sedro plant. For years the plant made only coffee and spice drums and berry baskets before beginning production of plywood panels in 1919. Royse was the colorful front man and Lloyd was the "all business" partner who anchored him. The Sedro plant was destroyed by fire December 4, 1924, but Lloyd played a vital role in lumber concerns in Bellingham after that time. ("The Plywood Age" by Robert M. Cour)
ca. 1920. A forest of logs waits for processing at the Sedro Box and Veneer Co. plant at Sedro Woolley, Washington. Around the time that the company began gluing fir panels, wages were a dollar a day for 10 hours of work and peelers were available for $3 a thousand. The plant produced fir panels for doors and one-side good panels for drawer bottoms. By 1924, orders were piling up and the plant was running at full capacity. ("The Plywood Age" by Robert M. Cour)
Sedro Box and Veneer Co. (Sedro-Woolley); plywood; Lumber industry--Sedro-Woolley--1920-1930; Mills--Sedro-Woolley--1920-1930;
ca. 1920. The "veneer canal at Sedro-Woolley", part of the Sedro Box and Veneer Co. plant at Sedro Woolley, Washington. The Douglas fir peeler logs were floated on the Skagit River to the area of the plant and brought to the mill by this canal. The same river that brought in the logs also frequently flooded the plant, including a major flood in January of 1918 that cost the plant $20,000. ("The Plywood Age" by Robert M. Cour)
Sedro Box and Veneer Co. (Sedro-Woolley); plywood; Lumber industry--Sedro-Woolley--1920-1930; Mills--Sedro-Woolley--1920-1930;
ca. 1920. The mill and some employees of the Sedro Box and Veneer Co. at Sedro Woolley, Washington. This photograph was taken in the early 1920's before the plant burned to the ground. The plant began plywood panel production in 1919 and by 1924 business was booming. Wages were a dollar a day for 10 hours and peelers were available at $3 a thousand. The plant employed 125 men and operated 24 hours a day. Then on December 4, 1924, the entire plant was destroyed by fire. There was little insurance and that went to the bank that supplied the money for the rebuild after the 1918 fire. The owners thanked the volunteer firemen for their valiant effort to save the plant and went out of business. ("The Plywood Age" by Robert M. Cour)
Sedro Box and Veneer Co. (Sedro-Woolley); plywood; Lumber industry--Sedro-Woolley--1920-1930; Mills--Sedro-Woolley--1920-1930;
ca. 1920. Sepia copy of customer print ordered by Bud Merrell of Seattle. This is possibly the Kildall Mercantile Co. department store or the Lynden Dept. Store. One man is standing behind the partially filled meat counter while seven others are grouped around the bakery section. Cookies and donuts line the glass shelves. There is a large display of canned goods along the back wall and a selection of fresh fruits and vegetables in boxes and on the table to the right. The rounded blotches on the print came from the original. Date of the original print is unknown, possibly in the early 1920's, copy made on September 12, 1958.
ca. 1920. Chicago, Milwaukee and St. Paul Railroad, Engine #10253. This is an Asahel Curtis print, #46216, which was requested copied by the Washington State Historical Society on April 1, 1977. Three men are standing next to the electric powered engine, spaced far apart, with the man in the foreground seemingly prepared to give the "go ahead" signal. Photographer Curtis documented industry in Washington State as well as historic events and geographic features. He was based in Seattle and worked there until his death in 1941. 60,000 of his images are held in trust by the Washington State Historical Society. (www.wshs.org/wshm/online-exhibits/curtis/exhibitb.htm)
Railroad locomotives; Railroad cars; Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul Railroad Co.; Railroads;
ca. 1920. Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul Railroad, Engine #10252. Copy of Asahel Curtis print #51601 requested by the Washington State Historical Society on April 1, 1977. The electric powered train may have been departing/arriving at the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul Tacoma location. The Washington State Historical Society has 60,000 Curtis images in its collection.
Railroad locomotives; Railroads; Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul Railroad Co.;
ca. 1920. Early peeler logs, big and plentiful, are hauled by rail to the Sedro Box and Veneer Co. plant at Sedro Woolley, Washington.The twenties were the high point for the Sedro plant as timber was plentiful and cheap and the production of plywood panels was in its pioneering stage. Door and automobile companies clamored for the panels and business soared. The Sedro plant was destroyed by fire in 1924 and never rebuilt, but its founding members went on to serve with other plywood companies. ("The Plywood Age" by Robert M. Cour)
ca. 1920. The Sedro Box and Veneer Co. plant at Sedro Woolley, Washington. One of the pioneering companies in plywood production, the plant was started in 1905 by William J. "Cottonwood Bill" Royse, Clyde D. Lloyd and Charles Peterson. The plant originally made spice and coffee drums and berry baskets from the veneer made of the surrounding cottonwood trees. A fire destroyed the original plant in February of 1918 and the new, improved and larger plant included a panel department for the production of Douglas fir plywood panels. ("The Plywood Age" by Robert M. Cour)
Sedro Box and Veneer Co. (Sedro-Woolley); plywood; Lumber industry--Sedro-Woolley--1920-1930; Mills--Sedro-Woolley--1920-1930;
ca. 1920. The mill and some employees of the Sedro Box and Veneer Co. at Sedro Woolley, Washington. This photograph was taken in the early 1920's before the plant burned to the ground. Begun with an initial investment of $18,000, the Sedro plant was opened by William J. (Cottonwood Bill) Royse, Clyde D. Lloyd and Charles Peterson in 1905. The plant was jinxed from the very beginning. It was frequently flooded by the unpredictable Skagit River and the first plant burned to the ground on February 3, 1918. Local bankers put up $90,000 to rebuild, taking a mortgage on the plant. The new plant was larger and had a panel department. By 1924, business was booming. They employed 125 men and operated 24 hours a day. ("The Plywood Age" by Robert M. Cour
Sedro Box and Veneer Co. (Sedro-Woolley); plywood; Lumber industry--Sedro-Woolley--1920-1930; Mills--Sedro-Woolley--1920-1930;
ca. 1920. View of 9th and Broadway taken from the roof of the Medical Arts Building. Night scene showing the Winthrop Hotel (773 Broadway), left, and an illuminated Pantages Theater (901 Broadway) building.
Aerial photographs; Hotel Winthrop (Tacoma); Hotels--Tacoma--1920-1930; Pantages Theater (Tacoma);
ca. 1920. A fan of Columbia Brew, a "near beer" produced by the Columbia Brewing Company, models a suit for not-just-any occasion. The jacket and pants have been made by pasting labels for Columbia Brew on pants and a striped shirt. The top hat also displays an enlarged label for Columbia Brew. The Columbia Brewing Company opened their brewery on South C Street between South 21st and South 23rd in 1900. They made "Columbia Brew" during the dry period of prohibition. Columbia Brewing Co. was purchased by Heidelberg Brewing Co. in 1949; which was purchased by Carling Brewery in 1959. The plant closed in 1979. (Copies of old prints ordered by Heidelberg Brewing Company in December 1954.) Format 6" x 8". TPL-5565
Brewing industry--Tacoma--1910-1920; Columbia Brewing Co. (Tacoma); Costumes; Prohibition--Tacoma;
Once considered one of the finest horse drawn busses in Tacoma, by January of 1921 this wooden coach had been reduced to being a woodcutters shed. Originally purchased in 1896 for the Tacoma Hotel for the astonishing price (at that time) of $1,200, it was sold to woodcutter T.B. Walker of Puyallup in late 1920 for $15. When equipped with a liveried driver and porter, and well-maintained with fresh coats of paint, the coach had presented an impressive view to the hotel's visitors. With the advent of the automotive age, however, the coach became obsolete and was eventually sold to the Tacoma Junk Co. where it languished in a vacant lot. Mr. Walker, standing at the open doorway, bought the tongueless old coach, outfitted it with a stove and stovepipe, and moved it to his wood lot in North Puyallup. Only the faded lettering on the side of the vehicle remained to hint of the coach's past glories. (TDL 1-23-21, A-12) Boland B3598, TPL-1421
ca. 1921. St Paul's Catholic Cathedral, Yakima, WA. for Father Robert Armstrong, J.W. Maloney and J.E. McGuire, Associated Architects. Copy of architectural rendering of Spanish style church with decorated tower and large round window. (filed with Argentum)
St. Pauls Catholic Cathedral (Yakima); Catholic churches--Yakima; Architectural drawings;
ca. 1922. Copy of customer's old photograph. Ordered by Robert Dettling, 2801 Sixth Ave., on January 24, 1973. This photograph ran in the Tacoma Sunday Ledger on March 20, 1922. Employees of the Victory Ice Cream Co. line up with their delivery vehicles ca. 1922. The company was organized in the spring of 1919 with a one-truck delivery van; by 1922, it was operating with seven trucks in daily service with a large repair department. Victory Ice Cream was first established at 2801 Sixth Avenue but rapidly outgrew the premises. A new plant was built at 4532 South Union (later called South Tacoma Way) in March of 1921. The Sixth Avenue site remained open as a retail store. Victory Ice Cream was owned by Cle Elum natives S.R. Stalcup and D.W. Blunt. They were proud of their new modern plant with its electric machinery including an electric steam generator to sterilize ice cream cans. One of their best-known products was called the "Victory Bar." Ice cream bars had become popular and the "Victory Bar," made out of quality cream and the best milk chocolate, necessitated the building of a special dipping room to handle manufacture of the bar. Victory Ice Cream was advertised as the "Quality Cream." (Tacoma Sunday Ledger, 3-20-22, p. 6)
A Garford delivery truck constructed for W.D. Tucker & Co. Groceries stands outside the Garford Truck Co. at 313-15 Puyallup Ave (now 311 Puyallup Ave.) The grocery company was located at 1113 A Street. Their truck clearly claims "We want your business." Boland B7561 (Filed as BU-13385)
ca. 1923. Two men are seen in the racking room at Columbia Brewing Company filling wooden barrels with beer. The man on the left is checking the brew for clarity before he cheks it for taste.Copies of old prints ordered by Heidelberg Brewing Company in December 1954. TLP-7957
Brewing industry--Tacoma--1920-1930; Columbia Brewing Co. (Tacoma); Barrels--Tacoma;
ca. 1923. The marquee of the Palace Theater, circa 1923, promotes the Hal Roach production of Jack London's "Call of the Wild." Top billing in the film, released in 1923, belonged to Buck, the Saint Bernard, who fought his way to freedom in "one of the best fights between man & beast ever filmed," according to the marquee. Buck unfortunately was eclipsed by another doggie superstar when Warner Brothers released "Where the North Begins" the same year, starring Rin Tin Tin. The second feature was the 1923 Roach silent picture "The Uncovered Wagon." The theater opened in 1911 as "The Palace" and operated after 1941 as "The Cameo." It was razed in 1960. (WSHS)
ca. 1923. A view across the Tacoma Tideflats with very little industrial development. Log booms are tied to upright posts and smokestacks from what may be St. Paul & Tacoma Lumber Company who built a giant sawmill in 1889 on "The Boot", a low island off the main tideflats, bordered by branches of the Puyallup River and Commencement Bay. (WSHS)
ca. 1923. A line of utility poles runs through a shrubby area where a house is seen on the left and a garage or workshop sits on the right. An abandoned piece of metal sits near the sidewalk and signs in the foreground. (WSHS)
ca. 1923. Facing north along South C Street Columbia Brewing Company is on the left and West Coast Grocery Company further on the west side. Across the street are the storehouses of the Tacoma Junk Company, of frame construction, and the warehouse of Hunt & Motet, hardware, of concrete construction. A sign at the top of Columbia Brewing Company suggests that you "Drink Blue Bird". During prohibition which started with Washington State prohibition in 1916 and National prohibition which lasted from 1920 through 1933 Columbia manufactured soft drinks including "Birch Beer", "Chocolate Soldier", "Blue Jay", and "Green River". Copies of old prints ordered by Heidelberg Brewing Company in December 1954.
Brewing industry--Tacoma--1920-1930; Columbia Brewing Co. (Tacoma);
ca. 1923. The rear of Columbia Breweries showing the Northern Pacific Railway tracks and properties across the tracks that faced west to Jefferson Avenue including J.J. Gunlocke Auto Tops who were located at 2121 Jefferson Avenue from 1918 through 1925. Copies of old prints ordered by Heidelberg Brewing Company in December 1954. (This was a copy print made by the Richards Studio of a Marvin D. Boland photograph #B14364)
Brewing industry--Tacoma--1920-1930; Columbia Brewing Co. (Tacoma);
The dirigible "Shenandoah," commissioned by the US Navy, paid a two day visit to Camp Lewis in October of 1924. A special 165 foot tall striped mooring mast was specially constructed for the visit. The giant dirigible, patterned after a German Zeppelin captured by the French in 1917, hovered silently in the air over gawking spectators and their automobiles. On September 3, 1925, a mere nine months later, the airship was caught in a thunderstorm and torn to pieces over Noble County, Ohio. Miraculously, 29 of its 43 crew members survived. The mast stood at Fort Lewis until 1936. (Richards copy negative)
Airships; Mooring masts; Camp Lewis (Wash.); Military camps--Tacoma--1920-1930;
