Lakes Class of 1966 members Phil Nesse and Jim Nichols

 Photo taken Oct. 21, 2024, in Tacoma, Pierce County, Washington.

DeKOVEN HALL: From military school to resort

From TNT/Tacoma News Tribune - Sun, Nov 15, 1981 

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

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

The DeKoven name in Lakewood goes beyond DeKoven Drive and DeKoven Cleaners

Learn about it through five advertisements and a story posted here:

• Sept 11, 1903, TNT/Tacoma News Tribune – THE DeKOVEN SCHOOL FOR BOYS NEAR AMERICAN LAKE
  
  
• Sept 1, 1904, Oregonian, Portland – DeKOVEN HALL
  
  
• Aug. 7, 1914, Tacoma Daily Ledger – DeKOVEN: A HOME SCHOOL FOR FORTY BOYS
  
  
• Aug 24, 1916, TNT/Tacoma News Tribune – DeKOVEN SCHOOL FOR BOYS
  
  
• Sept 19, 1975, TNT/Tacoma News Tribune --OLD SCHOOL NOW APARTMENT HOUSE
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  

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

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MEMORIES OF LAKEWOOD’S NAVY BASE SCHOOL, THE TACOMA GIANTS AND MORE

MEMORIES OF LAKEWOOD’S NAVY BASE SCHOOL, THE TACOMA GIANTS AND MORE

By Tim Marsh, Lakes High Class of 1966 

(Updated 3/29/2024)

In the early 1950s, my Mom, Dad and sister and I moved from North Dakota to Lakewood.

We arrived before Allied Van Lines brought our household goods and before our Lakewood rental house was available.

 

Our temporary housing was the Oakwood Motel on South Tacoma Way. The motel room had a pay radio - a nickel a listen.

After Cheney Stadium opened in 1960, our family enjoyed attending Tacoma Giants games. Dusty Rhodes, formerly of the New York Baseball Gaints, was my favorite player. I loved watching him throw the ball in from the outfield.

Our family segued from the rental into a house we owned on Bridgeport Way in Lakewood. It was not far from Lakewood Square and an Albertson’s grocery store.

Giant players came to the store to sign autographs and visit with fans. Those appearances might have happened because the store assistant manager -- who lived next door to us in a rental -- had been a professional ball player in the St. Louis Browns organization.

Mom sang in Lakewood’s Little Church on the Prairie choir. She liked choir member Blanche Perry, Gaylord Perry’s wife.

After World War II, the Naval Depot – located at what had once been was the Tacoma Speedway, a wood board automobile racing track -- was used in a variety of ways. The Clover Park School District had its administrative offices there and the district’s Navy Base School was there, too.

My sister (Clover Park High grad) and I (Lakes High grad) were “schooled” in the district. As “Baby Boomers” we were among students in the district who attended Navy Base, across the street from Flett Dairy and nearby Mountain View Cemetery.

Navy Base School was an overflow school. For example, if there were not enough classrooms for seventh graders at Hudtloff and Mann junior high schools, the overflow of seventh grade students studied at Navy Base. It was a regular school -- activities, assemblies, etc. -- in an interesting environment.

The school was in what apparently had been the supply depot’s administrative offices. Walls were paperboard and the halls were narrow, as if we were walking in passageways beneath deck in a naval ship. I recall being in a giant safe in one of the Navy Base School rooms. During the war the safe probably held important papers. I was in it to get my school crossing guard crosswalk flag.

History says the Clover Park School District occupied most of the seven concrete block Navy Base buildings which included the steam plant with underground power and heating “designed to withstand aerial bombings anticipated during World War II.”

That helps explain part of the reason why, periodically, we students practiced fire, earthquake and air raid (“The Bomb”) drills.

My Navy Base time was when corporal punishment with a wooden paddle was condoned. I never was paddled, but the Navy Base teacher with the paddle was well known and a concern.

Research shows over the years Navy Base had baseball for boys and girls and basketball, apparently just for boys. I recall none of this. It was in the school years before I was there.

My forte was playing saxophone in the band. Band and orchestra concerts in the Navy Base cafeteria at night meant smelling cow manure as it wafted across Steilacoom Boulevard to noses of musicians, parents, siblings and friends walking from the parking lot to the cafeteria and back.

In Lakewood I tried to be an athlete. With no athletic talent, I was an outfielder on Lakewood Recreation Association softball teams. I was an outfielder with hopes the ball would never be hit to me.

My schooling started at Park Lodge School. I attended Navy Base School for sixth and seven grades. Eight grade for me was at the “new” Hudtloff (near Custer) and -- after we moved from Bridgeport Way to American Lake – to the even newer Mann for ninth grade. At the time, Hudtloff and Mann were both junior high schools.

I arrived at the new (it opened in 1962) Lakes High as a sophomore in 1963. As a sports fan it was a wonderful place to be.

There were great boys Lakes teams, with Rick Austin, who went on to pitch in the Major Leagues, among super student athletes.

Lakes High School had girls and boys on its very good tennis teams. Sue Colley was an excellent tennis player. Lakes High likely had many other great girl athletes, but Title IX came too late for them.

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TNT/Tacoma News Tribune stories/clippings about Villa Plaza from 1957 when the shopping center opened in Lakewood (Pierce County, suburban Tacoma)

If the images are too small for you to read easily, 

click on each image for a larger, easier to read, version. 

 

TNT/Tacoma News Tribune stories/clippings about
Villa Plaza from 1957 when the shopping center opened in Lakewood (Pierce County, suburban Tacoma)

Riding my Sears J. C. Higgins bicycle – bought in 1963 at Sears & Roebuck in Lakewood on South Tacoma Way – into the sunset

Riding my Sears J. C. Higgins bicycle – bought in 1963 at Sears & Roebuck in Lakewood on South Tacoma Way – into the sunset

March 28, 2024 Suburban Times, Lakewood

Story and photos by Tim Marsh, Lakes High Class of 1966.

I rode my Sears J. C. Higgins bicycle — bought in 1963 from the Sears catalogue and paid for and picked it up at Sears & Roebuck in Lakewood at 8720 South Tacoma Way at the “U.S. 99 at Lakewood cutoff” – off into the sunset.

That paints a nice picture. But, it’s not accurate.

In reality, this month a local charity picked up my bike. It was loaded into the back of their truck next to a couple of couches someone else donated. The truck drove off during a brief respite from rainy weather. No rain drops. No tears from me. But, memories. 

Downsizing at home finished off the bike, which I bought at 15-years old. I’m 76. It’s been literally hanging around in our garage for more than 10 years. I lost track the last time I rode the bike. It was time for us to part. 

The bike was moved from Lakewood to western Oregon. From western Oregon to eastern Washington. From eastern Washington back to western Oregon. Next stop will be where the charity’s buyer takes it. .

In 1963 I needed the bike for transportation. I had a Saturday job doing yardwork at a home on the other side of the lake. I could walk there but riding a bike to/from was a better option. 

Looking at the Sears catalogue at home I saw possibilities. I picked a 26-inch bike with bright metallic red enamel finish and silver fenders. 

Today the finish has faded. It still has its original white sidewall tires. There’s rust. The seat is cracking. But, in general it’s in great shape for its age. The Tacoma bike license affixed on the back fender expired Dec. 31, 1963.

When the bike arrived, we got a phone call. Dad drove me to the store. He paid for it. We put the bike in a box and brought it home.

I assembled it. Then, I ordered a J.C. Higgins speedometer/odometer and did not ride the bike until I installed it on the bike. The 950 miles on the odometer are original miles. 

Not every Saturday was a bike to yard work on the other side of the lake day. Neighbor boys, older than me, worked at the same home years before. They sometimes rowed a boat over and back. I decided I’d do that, too.

Dad bought a new 8-foot pram wood rowboat from a shop in old Tacoma. We put it on sawhorses on the front porch and painted the inside and stern white and the rest of it bright blue. 

Rowing to my Saturday job was not a breeze, but do-able. Once there was more than a breeze. There was strong wind and whitecaps on the lake. Rowing back home after work was challenging. I was not wearing a life jacket and was afraid the pram would be swamped and sink. 

So, I beached the pram at American Lake Park and walked home. The next day, with better lake conditions, I walked to the park and rowed the pram home.

Having that Saturday job meant I earned money. Mrs. L (name changed) paid me after each day of work. Using a manual typewriter, she’d add the date, and my name on the check. Then, she used a neat machine to print the dollar and cents amount on the check. 

With check in hand, I’d get myself to Rhodes department store at Villa Plaza. It cashed my check in its second floor business office. Yes, on Saturdays.

Mrs. L was amazing. Not only a job, but she paid with checks. I did not appreciate it at the time, but she tallied my hours and paid into Social Security. When I retired, the first hours for which I had SocSec credit were thanks to her.

Yes, the money earned and Social Security credit was good. But, more important to me now is the memory of my bicycle and my 8-foot pram.

POSTSCRIPT – According to the TNT, the Sears Suburban Store in Lakewood opened in 1957. Store officials extended a “cordial invitation to the public to see the many facilities offered in this great new Sears store of almost 11,000 square feet.” Interesting to note, the building formerly housed a Safeway grocery store.

The store had a South Tacoma Way address and was at the intersection with Steilacoom Boulevard. Phone JU 8-3661.

Sold in the store were Coldspot freezers and refrigerators. Kenmore ranges, washers and dryers. Silverstone television sets and radios and Craftsman power tools. No mention of J. C. Higgins.

Oh, you recall, as do I, the Sears store on Broadway in downtown Tacoma. I always entered in through the back (top of building) parking lot. Go into the back door, ride the escalator down and smell the popcorn.

ALSO – A TNT classified ad in the Nov 18, 1952 mentions “Sears Farm Store, 1408 So. St.” in Tacoma.

 

https://thesubtimes.com/2024/03/28/riding-my-sears-j-c-higgins-bicycle-bought-in-1963-at-sears-roebuck-in-lakewood-on-south-tacoma-way-into-the-sunset/