DeKOVEN HALL: From military school to resort
From TNT/Tacoma News Tribune - Sun, Nov 15, 1981
.
Friday, September 13, 2024
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
Wednesday, September 11, 2024
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
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.
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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 70th 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.
#
Wednesday, May 15, 2024
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.
#
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)
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Thursday, March 28, 2024
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/
Wednesday, October 11, 2023
Iva Alice Wheeler Mann and Julius Warren Mann of Lakewood
IVA ALICE WHEELER MANN, spouse of Julius Warren Mann
25 Oct 1887 to 1 Sept 1983 (age 95) Iva
Editorial: Iva Alice Mann left legacy for students
Text includes: "For her tireless efforts they gave a school - the Iva Alice Mann Junior High School -- her name as a living memorial."
Sept 6 1983
TNT/Tacoma News Tribune
'Founding mother' of CPark District, Iva Mann, 94, dies
Feb 2 1983
TNT/Tacoma News Tribune
-Get Schooled in Lakewood History With Iva Alice Mann
Lakewood Historical Society
https://www.lakewoodhistorical.org › news › details
Jan 1, 2014 — Iva Alice Mann almost singlehandedly
founded the Clover Park School District in 1928.
-Iva Alice Mann: The Foraging of the Clover Park School District
March-April 2007, Pages 1 & 4, Prairie Gazette, Lakewood Historical Society
https://www.lakewoodhistorical.org/media/dynamic/docs/mar_apr_2007.pdf
...............
JULIUS WARREN MANN, spouse of Iva Alice Wheeler Mann
1885 to 1975 (age 90) Julius
Julius Mann, 90, inventor, teacher
Aug 2, 1975
TNT/Tacoma News Tribune
Firm's Origin Traced to Bad Tooth
(Tacoma's Mann-Russell Electronics
genesis was abscessed tooth of
found Julius Warren Mann)
Feb 10, 1962
TNT/Tacoma News Tribune
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