New Masonic Home of Washington, Located at Zenith

As a follow up to my April 2020 article The Three Masonic Homes of Washington, here is a recent acquisition to my collection of ephemera related to the third Masonic Home of Washington at Zenith (Des Moines), Washington, which was designed by the architectural firm of Heath, Gove and Bell and dedicated on June 21, 1927. This is an advertising postcard for the Masonic Home of Washington at Zenith:

WA Masonic Home.jpg

Transcription of the text on the reverse side of the postcard:

NEW MASONIC HOME OF WASHINGTON

Ground broken August 8th, 1925 – Cornerstone laid May 1st, 1926 – Dedicated June 21st, 1927 – Cost approximately $800,000 [just over $12,000,000 in 2021 dollars (!!!)]

Fireproof construction: buff exterior, brick and terra cotta trim, red tile roof; is 175 feet above sea level and contains five stories and basement. Front gable is 75 feet high; 350 feet across front. Contains 108,600 square feet floor space. Solariums on all floors at each end of north and south wings. Elevator and ramps from basement to fifth floor, also three stairways. Building contains 226 sleeping rooms.

Basement – Contains hot water heating and ventilating plant, refrigeration plant, laundry and numerous store rooms, also a supper room 35x80 feet, a smoking room and a billiard room.

Main Floor – Contains social hall 30x45 feet, offices, library, dining room 44x64 feet, kitchen, superintendent’s living quarters, Grand Master’s room, Grand Matron’s room, and living rooms for members.

Second Floor – Contains chapel 44x64 feet, with stage and balcony, also infirmary and living rooms for members.

Third, Fourth, and Fifth Floors – Contain living quarters for members.

Bunker on the Columbia River: the Fuel House of the Long-Bell Lumber Company

The Long-Bell Lumber Company sawmill at Longview, Washington was one of the largest wood products processing plants ever constructed in the Pacific Northwest. A carefully designed complex of buildings, structures, conveyors, railway lines, and docks once sprawled across 2,000 acres of low-lying land along the Columbia River. However, practically all of this massive sawmill has disappeared since the sawmill closed in 1960. All that remains today of the plant once described as the “biggest lumber mill in the world” is a large reinforced concrete structure, which is currently used as a warehouse (McClary 2008).

Robert Alexander Long, Victor Bell, and Robert White founded R.A. Long and Company at Columbus, Kansas in 1875. Long was the active partner and served as manager, clerk, accountant, and laborer until 1877, when Sam Wilson joined the business. Robert White, one of Long’s cousins, died that same year, and the company was reorganized and incorporated as the Long-Bell Lumber Company (Tweedie 2014:4). The growth and development of the Long-Bell Lumber Company during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries is an interesting and complex topic that has been well documented by historians of the timber industry. The purpose of this brief article is to explore the history of the humble structure that stands as the sole surviving remnant of the Long-Bell Lumber Company sawmill at Longview, Washington.

By the end of World War One, Long-Bell timber holdings were spread across hundreds of thousands of acres in Louisiana, Michigan, Mississippi, Texas, and Wisconsin. Mind boggling amounts of finished wood products were extracted from these forests, and the rapacious depletion of these forests ultimately forced company executives to find new timber reserves elsewhere in the United States. Long-Bell purchased timber reserves in northern California and southern Oregon, and also amassed large land holdings in southwest Washington. The company also purchased rights to log 70,000 acres of timber lands in Cowlitz and Lewis counties from the Weyerhaeuser Timber Company. Long-Bell executives also began planning for the construction of a sawmill to process the logs extracted from these stands of old-growth timber (McClary 2008).

Long-Bell considered locating their new sawmill in Portland or Astoria, Oregon, which both had the necessary railway and water transportation links. Ultimately, company officials selected a mill site where the Cowlitz River flowed into the Columbia River. This site was close to their timber holdings in southwest Washington, provided deep water access for oceangoing vessels on the Columbia River, and also had an existing railway connection to nearby Kelso. In 1921, Long-Bell purchased 14,000 acres of bottom lands along the Columbia River for about $2.6 million, or almost $38 million in 2021 dollars. This immense land area would not just provide the sawmill site, it would also provide the location for a purpose-built “industrial city” to shelter Long-Bell workers and their families (McClary 2008).

The Long-Bell Lumber Company sent their chief engineer Wesley Vandercook to assess their newly acquired property along the Columbia River. Vandercook set up an office in Kelso in May 1921 and led a small army of 100 men in a detailed survey of the 14,000-acre property. Most of the property was swampy and subject to periodic flooding, and Vandercook concluded that a dike would need to be constructed to reclaim the land and protect it from floods. Long-Bell issued bonds to finance the fifteen-mile-long, thirty-foot-tall dike, which was constructed for $3.25 million, or about $47.5 million in 2021 dollars (McClary 2008).

Long-Bell executive John D. Tennant was placed in charge of the construction of the sawmill, which was situated on 2,000 acres along the Columbia River waterfront. Robert Alexander Long originally intended to construct only one mill but ultimately, he decided to build two, with the East Fir mill producing green wood for overseas export and the West Fir mill churning out kiln-dried lumber for use stateside. Construction of the sawmill complex began in early 1923, and about 1,000 workers labored to complete the work on schedule so that production could begin in 1925 (McClary 2008).

Contracts were let on April 5, 1923 for the construction of the massive power plant, which would provide power not just to the sawmill complex but to the city of Longview as well (Longview Daily News 1924a). Charles C. Moore & Company, Engineers, of San Francisco, California designed and constructed the power plant. The first foundation pilings were driven on June 18, 1923, and a total of 3,044 pilings were installed to support the powerhouse and smokestacks. Over one million concrete bricks were used to construct three permanent walls of the fireproof powerhouse, which measured 296 feet long, 192 feet wide, and rose 65 feet above the ground level. The two smokestacks adjacent to the powerhouse towered 300 feet into the air and measured thirty feet across at the base and tapered to twenty-one feet across at the top. Each of these towering chimneys contained 832 cubic yards of concrete and 216,000 liner bricks and was calculated to weigh almost 4,500 tons (Longview Daily News 1924b; 1924c; 1924d; 1924e).  

Ten Babcock & Wilcox water tube boilers rated at 1,200 horsepower each were initially installed to provide steam for four General Electric turbo-generators, which were each rated for 6,000 kilowatts. Four additional boilers and two additional turbo-generators could also be accommodated in the facility, which could produce up to 36 megawatts of electrical power. The Session Engineering Company of Chicago, Illinois installed the substations and electrical distribution system (Longview Daily News 1924b). “Hogged fuel,” or wood waste from the sawmill, was the primary fuel source for the boilers, though half of the boilers had oil burners installed so that steam could be produced while the operators waited for wood waste to accumulate. It was estimated that the boilers would burn 40,000 pounds of hogged fuel per hour to evaporate 10,000 gallons of water into steam (Longview Daily News 1924c).  

Closeup view of the Long-Bell Lumber Company power plant, with the fuel house in the foreground. (Historic photograph, July 1924, author’s collection).

Closeup view of the Long-Bell Lumber Company power plant, with the fuel house in the foreground. (Historic photograph, July 1924, author’s collection).

Safe storage of the hogged fuel for the boilers was an important consideration, and the Pacific Coast Engineering Company of Portland was placed in charge of designing and building the fireproof fuel house. Mechanical engineer Orville Reid managed the construction of the reinforced concrete fuel house, which measured 225 feet by 245 feet and was the largest single fuel house ever built at the time. Over one million board feet of lumber was used as formwork for the over 8,000 tons of concrete used in the construction of the fuel house, which was said to have had the largest reinforced concrete roof on the entire West Coast. Engineers with the Pacific Coast Engineering Company estimated that if the steel reinforcing bars in the building were laid end to end, they would stretch over 120 miles (Longview Daily News 1924d). A system of remotely controlled electric conveyors carried the hogged fuel from the fuel house to the powerhouse, where the fuel was fed to the boilers. A system of twelve conveyors extended across the roof of the fuel house to carry the hogged fuel to the boilers, and the structure was equipped with automatic fire sprinklers (Sanborn 1924:20).

The massive reinforced concrete fuel house is shown on the 1924 Sanborn fire insurance map for the Long-Bell sawmill complex. The fuel house is the brown colored box to the left of the power house in blue to the right. (Sanborn Map Company, Septembe…

The massive reinforced concrete fuel house is shown on the 1924 Sanborn fire insurance map for the Long-Bell sawmill complex. The fuel house is the brown colored box to the left of the power house in blue to the right. (Sanborn Map Company, September 1924, Longview, Cowlitz County, Washington, Sheet 20, from the collections of the Library of Congress).

The power plant was placed in service on June 18, 1924, and the sawmill began production in 1925 (Longview Daily News 1924c; McClary 2008). Unfortunately, not long after the massive sawmill opened, the Long-Bell Lumber Company began to suffer financial problems due to a softening in the lumber market in the late 1920s. The onset of the Great Depression following the stock market crash of October 1929 hit both Long-Bell and Longview hard. Long-Bell was in dire financial straits and were forced to sell the power plant to Washington Gas and Electric Company in 1932. The company filed for bankruptcy and reorganized in 1935. Long-Bell survived the Great Depression, and World War Two dramatically increased the demand for wood products, which helped Long-Bell recover financially. However, another slump in the lumber market in the early 1950s and the depletion of the company’s reserves of old-growth fir and cedar sealed the fate of the company. International Paper purchased the Long-Bell Lumber Company in 1956, and the sawmills in Longview closed in 1960. Many of the old timber storage sheds were used by the Port of Longview as warehouses until they were dismantled in 1996 (McClary 2008).

Epilogue

I recently acquired an old photograph of the Long-Bell Lumber Company sawmill complex. This photograph was taken in July 1924, not long after the power plant began operating and the West Fir mill was still under construction. The power plant is clearly shown in the image, and the distinctive form of the massive fuel house adjacent to the powerhouse is hard to miss.  

“Birds eye view of the Long-Bell lumber manufacturing plant. At the right can be seen the huge electric power plant with its two stacks each 300 feet high. In the rear of the power plant is a portion of the cutting pond which covers an area of 25 ac…

“Birds eye view of the Long-Bell lumber manufacturing plant. At the right can be seen the huge electric power plant with its two stacks each 300 feet high. In the rear of the power plant is a portion of the cutting pond which covers an area of 25 acres. The broad flat-topped structure in front of the power plant is the fuel house. The white buildings beyond the power plant are the head mill and resaw [sic] mill and sorter sheds. Extending over many acres in the rear are the dry kilns, cooling sheds, dry lumber storage and dry lumber sorter sheds, planing [sic] mill and loading sheds. On the Columbia river are lumber export docks with rail timber docks between them and the mill.” (Historic photograph, July 1924, author’s collection).

The sheer enormity of the Long-Bell sawmill complex is best illustrated in an aerial photograph taken by the United States Geological Survey in 1951, which shows the centrally located power plant flanked by the West Fir and East Fir mills. The fuel house is marked with the red box in the aerial photograph. An aerial photograph from the present day illustrates how the fuel house is the sole surviving remnant of the Long-Bell sawmill complex. The stout construction of the fuel house is likely the primary reason why it has survived as long as it has. Unfortunately, this historic remnant will soon disappear, erasing the last trace of what was once touted as the “biggest lumber mill in the world.”     

Aerial photograph of the Long-Bell Lumber Company sawmill at Longview, Cowlitz County, Washington. The fuel house is marked with the red box. (United States Geological Survey, October 25, 1951, Entity ID 1QP0000030034, USGS Earth Explorer online).

Aerial photograph of the Long-Bell Lumber Company sawmill at Longview, Cowlitz County, Washington. The fuel house is marked with the red box. (United States Geological Survey, October 25, 1951, Entity ID 1QP0000030034, USGS Earth Explorer online).

Present-day aerial photograph of the Long-Bell Lumber Company power plant fuel house, which is the rectangular structure to the left of the red pin (Google Maps).

WORKS CITED

Longview Daily News. Electronic resource, https://www.newspapers.com/, accessed March 1, 2021.

1924a  “Day by Day in The Building of a City; Year’s Events In Chronological Form.” Longview Daily News, 25 February:21.

1924b  “New Mark Reached in Long-Bell History.” Longview Daily News, 31 July:13.

1924c  “Building of Powerhouse is Industrial Achievement and Engineering Triumph.” Longview Daily News, 31 July:16.

1924d  “Fuel House is Largest Built.” Longview Daily News, 31 July:16.

1924e  “Concrete Facts.” Longview Daily News, 31 July:41.

McClary, D.

2008    Longview – Thumbnail History. Electronic resource, https://www.historylink.org/File/8560, accessed March 1, 2021.

Sanborn Map Company (Sanborn)

1924    Longview, Cowlitz County, Washington, September, Sheet 20. Electronic resource, https://www.loc.gov/collections/sanborn-maps, accessed March 1, 2021.  

Tweedie, J.

2014    The Long-Bell Story. Param’s Press, Lee’s Summit, Missouri.

United States Geological Survey (USGS)

2021    EarthExplorer. Electronic resource, https://earthexplorer.usgs.gov/, accessed March 1, 2021.

Washington State Department of Archaeology and Historic Preservation (DAHP)

2021    WISAARD, Property ID 723694. Electronic resource, https://wisaard.dahp.wa.gov/Map, accessed March 1, 2021.

Oneida Railway Company, Onondaga County, New York

Here is another real photograph postcard (RPPC) that recently caught my eye while I was browsing an online auction site. I was initially intrigued by the stately building in the middle ground of the image, so I decided to purchase it. Once it arrived in the mail, I began to search for clues that might reveal where this photograph was taken. The postcard is unused, so I didn’t have a postmark to work with, but based on the AZO stamp box on the back, I was able to place the date of the RPPC between 1904 and 1918.

Electrical substation of the Oneida Railway Company at Minoa, New York. Real photograph postcard (RPPC), author’s collection. Based on the construction date of the third rail interurban line and the stamp box on the RPPC, this image dates from 1907 …

Electrical substation of the Oneida Railway Company at Minoa, New York. Real photograph postcard (RPPC), author’s collection. Based on the construction date of the third rail interurban line and the stamp box on the RPPC, this image dates from 1907 to 1918.

Now that I had a rough time period, I started looking for additional clues in the image that could help reveal the location of the building. I looked closer at the double railroad tracks, and the “third rail” power system along the side of the tracks offered the first clue. I looked online to see if I could track down railroad systems that used third rail power, and after a bit of a tedious search over a few days I was gradually able to narrow the location down to Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, and New York. I then took a closer look at the type of third rail power system shown in the photograph, and after some additional research I found that I was looking at an “underrunning” third rail configuration. With this type of third rail system, a contact shoe on the rail vehicle (usually mounted on the side of the truck) draws power by running on the underside of the power rail.

So now that I knew the type of third rail power system, I was eventually able to determine that the third rail installation shown in the photograph was the Wilgus-Sprague system, named for its inventors, Frank Julian Sprague (1857-1934) and William John Wilgus (1865-1949). Wilgus and Sprague filed for a patent on May 27, 1905, and they received United States Patent 908,180 on December 29, 1908. The Wilgus-Sprague system is most well-known for its role in the electrification of the New York Central’s lines running into Manhattan’s Grand Central Terminal, but use of their patented system on rural interurban lines was much more unusual.

United States Patent 908,180, granted to William John Wilgus and Frank Julian Sprague on December 29, 1908 (Google Patents).

United States Patent 908,180, granted to William John Wilgus and Frank Julian Sprague on December 29, 1908 (Google Patents).

I then began to look more closely at interurban systems in New York to see if I could find one that used the Wilgus-Sprague system. At this point, another clue hidden in the photograph came into play: the distinctive electrical distribution towers to the right of the building and then running off into the distance. I began searching for images of interurban railroads in New York to see if any other photographs showed these unusually-designed towers. After a bit of searching, I finally found a matching tower on another postcard from the era. The postcard gave the name of the interurban line as the “Oneida Railway Company,” and a little bit more research revealed that the Oneida Railway Company used the Wilgus-Sprague third rail system.

Now that I was armed with the name of the interurban company, I started looking for a map of the line to see if I could narrow down the location of the electrical substation building. I found a map of the route of the Oneida Railway Company, and I traced it on a modern aerial photograph. After about an hour of tracing the long-gone railroad line, I stumbled across a building at Minoa, New York that sure looked familiar:

After diving down this rabbit hole for several days, I was now reasonably certain that the RPPC in my collection was a rare image of the Oneida Railway Company substation at Minoa, New York. A few days later, I happened across another postcard of Minoa, New York that shows the west side of the substation and three houses to the north:

“Power House - Res. of Strodle, Lewis & Hessler - Minoa, N.Y.” H.A. Myer & Co., photographers, Jordan, N.Y. Real photograph postcard (RPPC), author’s collection. Based on the construction date of the third rail line and the stamp box on the …

“Power House - Res. of Strodle, Lewis & Hessler - Minoa, N.Y.” H.A. Myer & Co., photographers, Jordan, N.Y. Real photograph postcard (RPPC), author’s collection. Based on the construction date of the third rail line and the stamp box on the RPPC, this image dates from 1907 to 1918.

After I pieced all of this together I set it aside for a few days. When I picked this research project back up today, I came across a Flickr page that gave me even more information about the Oneida Railway Company and confirmed what I had discovered.

Tip of the hat to “CNYrailroadnut” on Flickr: https://www.flickr.com/photos/97630304@N02/albums/72157646484078178.

A.G. Electric and Manufacturing Company, Seattle, Washington

The industrial history of Seattle has always fascinated me, and when I recently saw this real photograph postcard (RPPC) for sale I just could not resist adding it to my collection. This RPPC shows the three-story tall factory of the A.G. Electric and Manufacturing Company. The postcard is unused, but the style of AZO stamp box on the back indicates that the postcard was produced circa 1904 to 1918. However, a brief dive into the local newspaper archives provided an unexpected wealth of information about this building and helped to narrow down the likely time period of the photograph.

Real photo postcard (RPPC) of the A.G. Electric and Manufacturing Company building. Original image from 1911 with later alterations to the painted sign band at the top of the building, which appear to have been applied on the photograph negative use…

Real photo postcard (RPPC) of the A.G. Electric and Manufacturing Company building. Original image from 1911 with later alterations to the painted sign band at the top of the building, which appear to have been applied on the photograph negative used to produce the postcard.

I first came across the A.G. Electric and Manufacturing Company while writing the landmark nomination for the Thomas and Sarah Esther Bordeaux House on Seattle’s Millionaire’s Row. The Bordeaux House was built in 1903 and originally piped for gas lighting, but electrical service was installed in the house in 1910. An extensive 1913 remodel of the house by Bebb & Mendel included major utility upgrades, including the replacement of the 1910 wiring with a state-of-the-art electrical system. A cutting-edge Pacific Electric telephone and intercommunication system and a Tuec Model 240 Stationary Cleaner central vacuum system rounded out the major infrastructure upgrades.

A builder’s plate on the decommissioned 1913 fuse panel in the basement of the Bordeaux House indicated that the panel was manufactured by the A.G. Electric and Manufacturing Company. I filed this away for future reference, but it wasn’t until I saw this RPPC that my attentions once again turned to the A.G. Electric and Manufacturing Company.

The A.G. Electric and Manufacturing Company label on the decommissioned fuse panel at the Thomas and Sarah Esther Bordeaux House, which was installed in 1913. Note that the fuse panel is made from marble.

The A.G. Electric and Manufacturing Company label on the decommissioned fuse panel at the Thomas and Sarah Esther Bordeaux House, which was installed in 1913. Note that the fuse panel is made from marble.

John J. Agutter and Andrew E. Griswold founded the Agutter-Griswold Company in 1905. John J. Agutter was born in London, England in 1875 and immigrated to the United States in 1887 (Census 1910). Agutter appeared in the 1890 Seattle directory as a laborer, and by 1894 he was working at the Home Electric Company (Polk 1890:116; Polk 1894:133). In 1895 Agutter appeared in the Seattle directory as an electrician and by 1898 was working as an electrician at the Union Electric Company (Polk 1895:116; Polk 1898:110). By 1900 he was working as a foreman for the Seattle Electric Company, and the following year appeared in directories as contractor and general estimator for the same company (Polk 1900:130; Polk 1901:160). Agutter remained at the Seattle Electric Company until at least 1904 and formed the Agutter-Reardon Company about 1904-1905, followed by the Agutter-Griswold Company in 1905 (Stradley1904:152; Polk 1905:170; Polk 1906:170).

Andrew E. Griswold was born in LaCrosse, Wisconsin in 1876 (Census 1880). In 1886 he moved with his parents to Vashon Island, Washington, where he later attended Vashon College (SDT 24 Jul. 1961:34). By 1900, Griswold was living in Seattle, where he worked as an electrician (Polk 1900:463). The following year he was working as an electrician at Erickson & Wyman, and in 1902 he was working at Gifford & Dow (Polk 1901:533; Polk 1902:579). Griswold was listed in directories simply as an electrician in 1903 but is not listed in 1904 (Stradley 1903:557; Stradley 1904:478). In 1905 he was with the Griswold-Knapp Company, but was listed under the Agutter-Griswold Company the following year (Polk 1905:553; Polk 1906:530).

The Agutter-Griswold offices were first located at 1406 1st Avenue (Polk 1907:150). The company worked initially as electrical contractors, and between 1907 and 1910 Agutter-Griswold installed electrical systems in some of the largest buildings being built in Seattle, including the Moore Theatre (E.W. Houghton, architect; 1907; extant); the Chelsea Family Hotel (Harlan Thomas, architect; 1907; extant); the Orpheum, Empress, Alaska, Liberty, Colonial, and Clemmer Theatres; the Broadway and Lincoln High Schools; the White, Henry, and Cobb Buildings; and the Central, Empire, and American Bank Buildings (SST 22 Dec. 1907:2; PBE 2 Mar. 1907:14; SST 18 Oct. 1914:42). Agutter-Griswold also installed electrical systems in large commercial and industrial facilities, such as the Fisher Flouring Mills, the Ford Motor Company factory, the Supply Laundry, and the Bryant Lumber & Shingle Company mill (SST 18 Oct. 1914:42).

Around 1910 the Agutter-Griswold Company decided to switch from electrical contracting to manufacturing electrical equipment exclusively (SST 18 Oct. 1914:42). In late 1910 and early 1911 the Thomson Estate had plans drawn up for a new factory building at the northwest corner of Aloha Street and Yale Avenue North, and the Agutter-Griswold Company signed a ten-year lease on the industrial development. The building was designed by the noted Seattle architecture firm of Saunders & Lawton and constructed by the general contractor Matt Branigan for $25,000, or about $685,000 in 2020 U.S. dollars. The reinforced concrete building was three stories tall with a basement, and measured 60-feet by 120-feet. The first floor was used for offices, storage, and distribution space, and also featured a dedicated space for the construction of electrical switchboards. The second and third floors were occupied entirely with the equipment needed to manufacture electrical cabinets, panel boxes, meter cabinets, and the parts needed for knife switches, panelboards, and switchboards. Sheet metal shearing, punching, and stamping work took place on the third floor, and an Erickson & Wyman freight elevator connected all of the levels of the building. Naturally, all the manufacturing equipment was driven by electric motors (PBE 1 Apr. 1911:152).

Manufacturing at the new Agutter-Griswold factory began in May 1911 (SST 18 Oct. 1914:42). In August 1915, the company adopted a trademark, which consisted of an “A G” enclosed within a diamond. By the time the company adopted their trademark, the A.G. Electric and Manufacturing Company was also manufacturing electric popcorn popping machines, electric cooking ranges, and an electric carving knife with removable blades (SST 15 Aug. 1915:62; SDT 28 Nov. 1915:56). In 1916, the A.G. Electric and Manufacturing Company moved to a new factory at 1350 Dearborn Street, and the Yours Truly Biscuit Company moved into the building following a $50,000 remodel (ER Mar. 1917:76; SST 22 Oct. 1916:22). Yours Truly continued to use the building until the company was purchased by the Tru Blu Biscuit Company of Spokane, Washington in December 1925. Tru Blu invested an additional $50,000 to upgrade the bakery plant (SDT 15 Dec. 1925:8). Tru Blu Biscuit Company became a division of the Loose-Wiles Biscuit Company in 1930 (SDT 20 Oct. 1931:11). The Loose-Wiles Company became Sunshine Biscuit, Incorporated in 1946 (SDT 26 Mar. 1946:15).

In October 1929, a group of East Coast investors purchased a controlling interest in the A.G. Electric and Manufacturing Company. Governor John H. Trumbull of Connecticut was named to the company board of directors, and the company was reorganized and incorporated as the A.G. Electric Manufacturing Company. Trumbull was one of the founders of the Trumbull Electric Company in Plainville, Connecticut, and served as president of the company from 1911 to 1944. The Trumbull Electric Company eventually was acquired by General Electric. Trumbull served as Governor of Connecticut from 1925 to 1931 (MCH 2020; SST 27 Oct. 1929:29, 31). In January 1931 the company name was changed to the Trumbull Electric Manufacturing Company, Pacific Division (SST 11 Jan. 1931:41).

Sunshine Biscuit remained in the building until at least 1953. The 1950s Seattle directories available online are incomplete and only available up until 1960, so verifying the occupants of the building after 1953 is not currently possible. Sam J. Doces of Majestic Furniture acquired the building at some point after 1953 and appears to have operated a carpet warehouse in the building (SPI 10 Nov. 1967:11). In February 1968 Doces sold the building to Fred Rogers of the Fred Rogers Company, which operated a ship supply business in the building from 1968 until 1977 (ST 18 Feb. 1968:117; 6 Nov. 1977:54). A variety of businesses, including a theatrical scenery production company and a pasta manufacturer, occupied the building during the late 1970s and early 1980s (SPI 11 May 1980:38; ST 8 Jul. 1981:48). The office of the Seattle chapter of the American Institute of Architects was also located in the building for a period of time in the 1980s. The Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center purchased the property in 1991, and the building was demolished in the early 2000s to make way for the present building on the site (KCDA 2020).

Ok, with all that out of the way, we turn our attention back to the postcard. It appears that the original version of the photograph was printed in the Pacific Builder and Engineer on July 29, 1911. I took out a magnifying glass to examine the text on the panel inside the spare tire on the automobile, and a close look revealed that it was an advertisement for the Golden Potlatch celebration, which first took place in Seattle July 17 - July 21, 1911. The Golden Potlatch took place in 1911, 1912, and 1913, and was renamed the Tilikum Potlatch in 1914, so based on this detail it appears that the original photograph was taken around the time of the 1911 potlatch. However, a comparison of the two images of the building shows that the painted sign band at the top of the building in the postcard image has been altered, most likely by modifying the photograph negative that was used to produce the postcard.

Top left image: Rotogravure photograph of the Agutter-Griswold Company, Pacific Builder and Engineer, 29 July 1911, page 31.Top right image: Real photograph postcard (RPPC) made with the same photograph used in Pacific Builder and Engineer, but with…

Top left image: Rotogravure photograph of the Agutter-Griswold Company, Pacific Builder and Engineer, 29 July 1911, page 31.

Top right image: Real photograph postcard (RPPC) made with the same photograph used in Pacific Builder and Engineer, but with the painted sign band at the top of the building altered.

Bottom left image: Illustration of the Yours Truly bakery from the Seattle Daily Times, 8 May 1919, page 11.

Bottom right image: Illustration of the Tru Blu Biscuit Company from the Seattle Daily Times, 29 January 1926, page 8.

An extremely poor quality photograph of the building was later reproduced in the Seattle Sunday Times on October 18, 1914, and that image of the building shows an additional painted sign was added on the spandrels between the first and second floor windows on the south and east facades of the building. So taking into account these details, it appears that the postcard in my collection was produced after July 1911 but before 1914.

Factory Image SST 18 Oct 1914_p42.jpg

The A.G. Electric and Manufacturing Company as it appeared in the Seattle Sunday Times on October 18, 1914.

WORKS CITED

Electrical Record (ER)

1917    “Manufacturers’ News.” March:76, New York, New York.

King County Department of Assessments (KCDA)

2020    King County Department of Assessments eReal Property. Electronic resource, https://blue.kingcounty.com/Assessor/eRealProperty/default.aspx, accessed November 27, 2020.

L. R. Stradley and Company (Stradley)

1903    Seattle Business Directory. L.R. Stradley and Company, Seattle, Washington.   

1904    Seattle Business Directory. L.R. Stradley and Company, Seattle, Washington.   

Museum of Connecticut History (MCH)

2020    “John Harper Trumbull.” Electronic resource, https://museumofcthistory.org/2015/08/john-harper-trumbull/, accessed November 27, 2020.

Pacific Builder and Engineer (PBE)

1907    “Hotels, Hospitals and Apartments.” 2 March:14, Seattle, Washington.

1911    “The Agutter-Griswold Factory.” 1 April:152, Seattle, Washington.

1911    “Modern Electrical Equipment Factory.” 29 July:31-32, Seattle, Washington.

Polk’s Seattle Directory Company (Polk)

1890    Seattle City Directory. Polk’s Seattle Directory Company, Seattle, Washington.

1894    Seattle City Directory for 1894-5. Polk’s Seattle Directory Company, Seattle, Washington.

1895    Seattle City Directory for 1895-6. Polk’s Seattle Directory Company, Seattle, Washington.

1898    Polk’s Seattle City Directory. Polk’s Seattle Directory Company, Seattle, Washington.

1900    Polk’s Seattle City Directory. Polk’s Seattle Directory Company, Seattle, Washington.

1901    Polk’s Seattle City Directory. Polk’s Seattle Directory Company, Seattle, Washington.

1902    Polk’s Seattle City Directory. Polk’s Seattle Directory Company, Seattle, Washington.

1905    Polk’s Seattle City Directory. Polk’s Seattle Directory Company, Seattle, Washington.

1906    Polk’s Seattle City Directory. Polk’s Seattle Directory Company, Seattle, Washington.

R.L. Polk and Company (Polk)

1907    Seattle City Directory. R.L. Polk and Company, Inc. Seattle, Washington.

Seattle Sunday Times (SST)

1907    “Theatre is Almost Ready.” Seattle Sunday Times, 22 December:2, Seattle, Washington.

1914    “Supplies Coast With Switchboards.” Seattle Sunday Times, 18 October:42, Seattle, Washington.

1915    “A.G. Company Has Adopted Trademark.” Seattle Sunday Times, 15 August:62, Seattle, Washington.

1915    “New Electric Range Has Novel Features.” Seattle Sunday Times, 28 November:56, Seattle, Washington.

1916    “$50,000 Factory Added to Seattle Industries.” Seattle Sunday Times, 22 October:22, Seattle, Washington.

1929    “Eastern Group Buys Stock of A.G. Company.” Seattle Sunday Times, 27 October:29, Seattle, Washington.

1929    “Incorporations.” Seattle Sunday Times, 27 October:31, Seattle, Washington.

1931    “Incorporations.” Seattle Sunday Times, 11 January:41, Seattle, Washington.

Seattle Daily Times (SDT)

1925    “Tru Blu of Spokane Buys Yours Truly Biscuit Co.” Seattle Daily Times, 15 December:8, Seattle, Washington.

1931    “Biscuit Company Official Arrives With New Plans.” Seattle Daily Times, 20 October:11, Seattle, Washington.

1946    “Company to Change Name; Split Stock.” Seattle Daily Times, 26 March:15, Seattle, Washington.

1961    “Andrew E. Griswold.” Seattle Daily Times, 24 July:34, Seattle, Washington.

Seattle Post-Intelligencer (SPI)

1967    “Warehouse Sale.” Seattle Post-Intelligencer, 10 November:11, Seattle, Washington.

1980    “Making a Scene Part of the Job.” Seattle Post-Intelligencer, 11 May:38, Seattle, Washington.

Seattle Times (ST)

1968    “33 Sales of More Than $100,000 Recorded.” Seattle Times, 18 February:117, Seattle, Washington.

1977    “New home in Kent for distributor.” Seattle Times, 6 November:54, Seattle, Washington.

1981    “Varied pastas and sauces are offered at local markets.” Seattle Times, 8 July:48, Seattle, Washington.

1983    “Galleries feature variety of events.” Seattle Times, 27 May:79, Seattle, Washington.

United States Department of Commerce, Bureau of the Census (Census)

1880    Tenth Census of the United States. Electronic resource, https://www.ancestry.com/search/collections/6742/, accessed November 27, 2020.

1910    Thirteenth Census of the United States. Electronic resource, https://www.ancestry.com/search/collections/7884/, accessed November 27, 2020.

A Few New Bungalows in Ontario, Oregon

I recently acquired this real photograph postcard (RPPC) from an online auction site. There was just something about it that caught my eye. If not for the caption “A Few New Bungalow’s [sic] in Ontario Ore” the location of these Craftsman bungalows would most likely have forever been a mystery.

This RPPC was mailed from Ontario, Oregon on July 15, 1911, which helped establish an estimated construction date for these three houses. I combed through the 1911 Sanborn fire insurance maps for Ontario looking for the footprints of these three houses, and after about a half hour of searching I found them at the northwest corner of Morfitt Street and Washington Avenue. Both streets were renamed at some point prior to 1949. Morfitt Street became SW 3rd Street and Washington Avenue became SW 2nd Avenue, so the houses are now located at the northwest corner of SW 3rd Street and SW 2nd Avenue.

It appears that all three of the houses in the 1911 RPPC still exist. The house on the corner nearest to the intersection appears to be the most intact, and the two other houses beyond appear to have been extensively modified over the past 109 years. The first image below is a scan of the 1911 RPPC, and the second image is an excerpt from Sheet 2 of the 1911 Sanborn fire insurance maps from the collections of the Library of Congress. The last image is the Google Streetview image that approximates the view angle of the 1911 RPPC.

An Outline Biography of the Life and Professional Career of Ulysses Grant Fay, Architect

This document is an overview of the life and career of the architect Ulysses Grant Fay, who was born in Rochester, New York in 1865 and moved to Seattle in 1906, where he died in 1918. Relatively little was known about Fay until my research on the design and construction of the Masonic Building at the 1909 Alaska-Yukon-Pacific Exposition. This document is a compilation of information on Fay that I found in vital statistics records, censuses, newspapers, trade publications, periodicals, directories, and other sources. It is intended as a study guide and reference work for others interested in the life of this relatively obscure figure in the architectural history of the Pacific Northwest.     

Early Masonic Meeting Places in Seattle: 1860-1915

Bro. Adam S. Alsobrook, AIA, member of University Lodge No. 141, F. & A. M. in Seattle, Washington, just completed a research report entitled: "Early Masonic Meeting Places in Seattle: 1860-1915." This paper explores buildings in Seattle that were constructed specifically for Masonic Lodges, and also sheds light on existing buildings that were adapted for Masonic uses. Many of these early Masonic buildings were lost to the wrecking ball long ago, and only a handful of these buildings survive to this day.

This report is intended to serve as a high-level overview of these buildings. Some of these buildings will be the subject of forthcoming research papers over the coming months.

The Three Masonic Homes of Washington State

Bro. Adam S. Alsobrook, AIA, member of University Lodge No. 141, F. & A. M. in Seattle, Washington, just completed just completed a research project on the history of the Masonic Homes in Washington State. This research paper explores the establishment of the first and second Masonic Homes at Puyallup, Washington during the first two decades of the 20th century and also documents the history of the third Masonic Home at Zenith (Des Moines) Washington which was constructed in the mid 1920s.

The paper also highlights the work of noted Washington architects such as the Tacoma architectural firm of Heath & Gove, which later became Heath, Gove & Bell, and the work of Seattle architect Andrew Willatzen (later spelled as Willatsen).

Come explore 130 years of Masonic history in Washington State below: