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Skagit River JournalSubscribers Edition, where 450 of 700 stories originate The most in-depth, comprehensive site about the Skagit Covers from British Columbia to Puget Sound. Counties covered: Skagit, Whatcom, Island, San Juan, Snohomish & BC. An evolving history dedicated to committing random acts of historical kindness |
 810 Central Ave., Sedro-Woolley, Washington, 98284Home of the Tarheel Stomp Mortimer Cook slept here & named the town Bug |
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Upper Left: I remember this beauty salon so well because it was on Ferry street, beside the American Legion hall, with the old Fairhaven & Southern tracks running on a diagonal in between. Ginger Lee's Beauty Salon, but at the time of this photo it was in a building on Metcalf street that I do not remember. The Ferry location was razed sometime in the 1990s. Upper Right: This was Esther's Beauty Salon, across Woodworth street from the post office. The caption noted that Esther had just recently moved from smaller quarters on Third street. |
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On top is Dan Reisland in the Star Barber Shop. Center is Henry "Hank" Geary at his shop on State street, which I think was next to the B&A Buffet tavern on State street. Bottom: Lloyd Hansen at the Star Barber Shop. Do any of you recall where the Star was? Lloyd sure looks familiar. Upper Right: W.G. King, barber in the Gateway Hotel, where the smoke shop is located today. |
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Upper Left: Fred Bryant cut my hair for many years when I was a child. He and my father were buddies at the American Legion and at the Bell Room. Fred's shop was located at the right when you entered the Liberty/Bell Room, a very propitious spot. And we paid him with a dozen jumbo eggs from our chicken farm in the Utopia district. Upper Right: Dale and Don Huston in Huston's Barber Shop. They stayed on the west side of the 700 block of Metcalf street, north of the Castle Tavern, until 1969 when they moved across the street to the corner with Ferry street. Norm's Barber Shop is there today. |
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Do you remember any of these attorneys? William Stiles and John Ward are still very much with us. |
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These are some of the insurance agents at that time. Upper left was Vogel-Mock, in an office where the optometrist office is today on Murdock street. Second from left was Charles Bingham, in the Bingham Investment Company office at the northwest corner of State and Metcalf streets, where the dentist office is today. Second from right was Jess Sapp, who had been in the profession for nearly four decades and was an officer for the Eagles Lodge on the local, state and national level. At the right was Leona Sapp. She and Jess also sold real estate at their Cascade Agency office across Woodworth from the post office. |
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These are four real estate agents from that time. At the left was Jack Creech, in the Bingham Investment Co. Second from left, Merle Niece Jr. and Charles Wicker, who sold real estate and insurance at the Skagit Realty office on the west side of the 800 block of Metcalf street. The two agents on the right re Tom McInnis and Paul Neilan, who sold real estate and insurance at the Paul Neilan Co. on State street. I cannot recall exactly where their office was located. |
Jake Walters, on the left, was the owner then of Mount Baker Hardware, at the northwest corner of Woodworth and Metcalf streets, where the Dollar Spree store stands today. Remember when such stores were called "dime stores?" But many treasures there be for $1.25 today. |
I had to look at this photo twice to realize that was indeed Greer Drummond in the photo, at his original Valley Hardware location on the west side of the 800 block of Metcalf street. Now climbing towards 100, he looked very dapper with that skillet. |
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Greer and his wife Edna and his son, Dave, moved the store across the street and now that building is the home of Oliver-Hammer Clothes Shop. Edna has passed away, and now that Greer closed Valley Hardware, Greer and Dave are partners in Oliver-Hammer Clothes Shop and David is active at the shop. |
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Above: That was Roger Naze, who owned a hardware and appliance store. I should be able to remember exactly where it was because Roger and Lynn were very good friends with my parents. I recently met one of Roger's daughters, who was managing an espresso café in Edison, but I failed to record her name. |
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Right: Harry Bean was a Lithuanian immigrant who began regular trips to Sedro-Woolley to collect scrap in his wagon, circa 1904 or even earlier, and then he recycled the remains of the old town of Cokedale. Within a few years he established H. Bean hardware here, moving his headquarters in 1912 into a barn behind his eventual store at the northwest corner of Reed and State streets, according to a 1949 Courier-Times profile. Local contractor Pete Shamp has completely restored the main building and built a replica barn behind it, all with the same eye for history that he showed when he restored the old Coast-to-Coast Hardware building downtown for John Janicki, and the Janicki family now occupies that one. Pete also restored the old Best Cleaners building on Third street. He deserves a big hand. When I was growing up out in the Utopia district near Lyman, my father, Victor Bourasaw, loved to tinker with wood and built gadgets and furniture for the house. On Saturday mornings he would let me ride shotgun in the old 1946 Plymouth and the first place we would stop in Sedro-Woolley was H. Bean Hardware at the corner of Reed and State streets. Harry Bean would lift me up onto the counter in the front of the store while he and dad went rummaging about for door handles and nails and wood for mom's climbing roses. I can still remember the dozens of metal bins with nails and screws. One time Harry learned that my brother and I created army battlefields and he gave me handfuls of various-penny nails for our platoons of play soldiers. And I just remembered, when dad told the story about me on the scale to the clerks at Lentz & Nelson, they insisted that they should do the same. Beautiful moments. |
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Al's Sport Shop was at the southeast corner of Ferry and Metcalf streets, in the Swastika building. Al Lisherness held court there for many years, as Don Osmond would in the same location two decades later. Al's original stop was in the grand old Seidell building, which burned spectacularly in 1949 where Hammer Heritage Square is now located. |
That was Ed Locken and Frank Black at Black's Cascade Sales on State street. They also sold sporting equipment and boats and bicycles. I cannot recall them. Can you? |
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This was the the Coast-to-Coast hardware store at the northeast corner of Metcalf and Woodworth streets. The manager at that time was Earl Shelton, in the photo above. The long-time manager before him was Shorty Pfannenstiel. This was about 15 years before the Swedens moved Coast-to-Coast to the former Safeway building on Ferry street. Do you have photos in your family collection of these kind of stores in old Sedro-Woolley, or any other stores? We would love to see scans or copies of any such photos, documents or articles. We never ask for your originals. |
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In December 1966 many of us sighed as we saw the bulldozers razing the old Hammer Mansion at the southwest corner of State and Fourth streets, which State Senator Emerson Hammer built for his wife, Isabel, in 1902. |
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Would you like information about how to join them in advertising? Our newest sponsor, Plumeria Bay, is based in Birdsview, just a short walk away from the Royal family's famous Stumpranch, and is your source for the finest down comforters, pillows, featherbeds andduvet covers and bed linens. Order directly from their website and learn more about this intriguing local business. Oliver-Hammer Clothes Shop at 817 Metcalf Street in downtown Sedro-Woolley, 90 years continually in business. Peace and quiet at the Alpine RV Park, just north of Marblemount on Hwy 20, day, week or month, perfect for hunting or fishing. Park your RV or pitch a tent — for as little as $5 per night — by the Skagit River, just a short drive from Winthrop or Sedro-Woolley. Alpine is doubling in capacity for RVs and camping in 2011. Check out Sedro-Woolley First section for links to all stories and reasons to shop here firstor make this your destination on your visit or vacation. Are you looking to buy or sell a historic property, business or residence?We may be able to assist. Email us for details. |
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