50-year reunion of Lakes Class of 1966: September 2024

The Suburban Times - A community bulletin board for Western Pierce County. Lakewood, Wash.

Location of interim Lakewood Library
brings back memories

September 11, 2024

By Tim Marsh, Lakes High Class of 1966

Chevron/Standard sign illustration, July 11, 1966, Source: TNT/Tacoma News Tribune

Some reading “Interim Lakewood Pierce County Library to open Thursday, Sept. 12” in the Sept. 9, 2024, Suburban Times and seeing the library’s 10202 Gravelly Lake Dr. S.W. address thought it familiar.

Isn’t that address across the street from Villa Plaza and at the corner of Gravelly Lake Drive & Alfaretta Street S.E.?

Yes.

And, it’s on the same side of the road and across (from Alfaretta Street) from Park Lodge School?

Yes.

Long, long (long) ago, before Lakewood had either a permanent or interim library, wasn’t there was a temporary Lakewood Library in the basement of old Park Lodge where Mrs. White had her kindergarten classroom?

Yes.

A story in the May 9, 1960, TNT/Tacoma News Tribune said Friends of the Lakes District Library sought “more adequate quarters for the Pierce County Library District’s Lakewood branch. It is temporarily housed in the basement of Park Lodge School.”

Lakewood Library Friends Elect, May 9, 1960, Source: TNT/Tacoma News Tribune

A May 31, 1959, TNT story said the basement location was “inadequate for the needs of both children and adults.”

And, the Nov. 18, 1960, TNT reported the “Lakewood Branch Library is a real press-into-service operation” and is “squeezed inside a school basement.” Librarian Marile Thomas noted that Brownie Girl Scout Troop 122 from Wildwood visited the library. During it a Brownie asked her, “Do all libraries look like this?”

Mrs. Thomas assured the Brownie, a second grade school student, that “most libraries were quite different from the one crammed into the depths of the Park Lodge School.”

Yet another TNT story quotes Mrs. Thomas as saying the June 1959 temporary Lakewood Library was “bulging at the seams.”

So, it’s “nailed” about the temporary library being housed in Park Lodge School. Now, let’s go back across Alfaretta Street to the location of the new (2024) interim Lakewood Library.

Finn Krogh, April 1, 1946, Source: TNT/Tacoma News Tribune

(The Feb. 3, 1965, TNT, reported on actions of the Pierce County Planning Commission. One of them regarded a “request by Finn Krogh for a zone change to allow for remodeling and expansion of an old service station.” It was OKed by the commission. “The property is located near Gravelly Lake Drive and Alfaretta Avenue in the Lakes district.")

You might or might not remember there was a gas station/service station at that site.

Chevron Gas Station sign illustration, April 1, 1946, Source: TNT/Tacoma News Tribune

An advertisement in a 2002 edition of the TNT said “Lakewood Chevron” was in its 70^th year. That means a gas station/service station opened at that site in 1932. Was Park Lodge School next door?

Lakewood Chevron/70 years, July 25, 2002, Source: TNT/Tacoma News Tribune

Yes.

A 1997 TNT story said the original Park Lodge School was built in 1912. “It was constructed near a rail stop called Park Lodge Station” and sat on “prime rural property, near the lakes that gave the community its identity and surrounded by neighborhoods that gave it a good reputation.”

In the early 1920s – source the TNT, of course – an addition to the original Park Lodge School “near DeKoven Inn on Lake Steilacoom” was built at a cost of $10,000. The addition included a “full basement” which, we know now (2024), became home for the temporary Lakewood library.

Park Lodge Service/Bill Cooley, May 27, 1954, Source: TNT/Tacoma News Tribune

While (old) Park Lodge School was next door to the Chevron Station, Villa Plaza was not across the street. That’s because it opened in 1957. However, Villa Plaza’s namesake, Visitation Villa was there.

The Visitation Villa Lakewood Historical Society Historical Marker says Visitation Villa (1923-1956) was a “Catholic girls school began shortly after the Sisters moved in on August 15, 1923 and operated until 1954. In May of 1956, construction began on the Villa Plaza Shopping Center which opened in 1957.”

Footnotes

Story mentions DeKoven Inn. It was, said an article in a 1981 TNT, “one of the most popular resorts in Western Washington.” A 1926 ad for the inn in the TNT invited dancing (9 p.m. to midnight) and dining with a full course chicken dinner at $1.50. Dinner parties were a specialty and banquets catered. Afternoon card parties and luncheons were offered. Playing every evening was the DeKoven Inn Orchestra. “For those who wish to dance only, (the cost of) admission (was) 50 cents couple.” DeKoven Inn phone number: Madison 126-R-3.

Posting with this article the following from the TNT/Tacoma News Tribune:

Park Lodge Service, LA 9718, March 28, 1954, Source: TNT/Tacoma News Tribune

Plymouth club coupe, July 18, 1958, Source: TNT/Tacoma News Tribune

Exceptionally Volkswagen, Nov 13, 1960, Source: TNT/Tacoma News Tribune

Lakewood Chevron gas prices/$1.16, April 2, 1982, Source: TNT/Tacoma News Tribune

SERVICE STN Island Person, Feb 2, 1997, Source: TNT/Tacoma News Tribune

Finally

The Chevron station had a nice gumball machine. Put in a coin and you received not only a very good gumball, but also a nice metal ring to put around your finger. The gumball was in the ring hole.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION:

--At 8:15 am on 9/12/2024 Rex S. Hays posted at the 1966 Grads Clover Park /Lakes Facebook page this text: “De koven Service, predecessor to Bill Cooley's Park Lodge Service. Owned by Finn Krogh, my great uncle. My great grandmother and older sister in the foreground, (Finn's mother and Melinda Mckillip,(Hays).” And this photo.

--June 3, 1920, TNT/Tacoma News Tribune has a classified ad for transfer and express offered by AMERICAN LAKE AUTO FREIGHT, E. A. Krogh, Prop. So. Tacoma R. F. D. No. 1, Box 118, Madison 124-J-3.

--Dec. 30, 1924, TNT/Tacoma News Tribune, includes an ad showing that Dekoven Service Station/E. A. Krogh was among dealers in Tacoma and vicinity selling the “new winter Red Crown gasoline.”

June 20, 1926, Tacoma Daily Ledger with headline “SERVICE STATION MAN BUYS STUDE” ran a story with text reading: “E. A. Krogh of Steilacoom Lake has just joined the ranks of Studebaker owners through the purchase of a Studebaker standard sedan from the B. H. Kennedy company (on Broadway in Tacoma). Mr. Krogh is the proprietor of DeKoven service station at Steilacoom.”

March 23, 1930, Tacoma Daily Ledger has an ad about “All Tacoma … is talking about new Gilmour Blu-Green Gasoline.” Among independent service stations where the gasoline was sold was DeKoven Service Station, Gravelly Lake Blvd.”

May 10, 1935, TNT/Tacoma News Tribune classified ad is about a 2 & ½ ton truck with steel body, hydraulic hoist, “good rubber” being sold by DeKoven Service Station, Lakewood, 0168-J-3.

Research seems to indicate that at some point “Interlaaken Service Station” might have been the name of the gas station on Gravelly Lake Boulevard.

https://thesubtimes.com/2024/09/11/location-of-interim-lakewood-library-brings-back-memories/

50-year reunion of Lakes Class of 1966

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Friday, September 13, 2024

DeKOVEN HALL: From military school to resort

DeKOVEN HALL: From military school to resort

For Lakewood, DeKoven is more than a street and business name

Wednesday, September 11, 2024

Location of interim Lakewood Library brings back memories (Suburban Times, Sept. 11, 2024)