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Skagit River Journal

of History & Folklore
Free Home Page Stories & Photos
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
Noel V. Bourasaw, editor (bullet) 810 Central Ave., Sedro-Woolley, Washington, 98284
Home of the Tarheel Stomp (bullet) Mortimer Cook slept here & named the town Bug
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Sedro-Woolley Museum
Model Train Show, Feb. 8, 2009

(Ken Long)
See Ken Long's fine model railroad exhibit, which opened in February 2002 and which Ken operates to the delight of kids of all ages on most Sunday afternoons.
      The Sedro-Woolley Museum is located downtown at 725 Murdock St. at the corner of Woodworth and is staffed by volunteers from noon on most Wednesdays and Thursdays, from 9 a.m. on Saturdays and 1:30 p.m. on Sundays. (Phone: (360) 855-2390 to confirm that volunteers will be there). And the Museum has a new website: http://sedrowoolleymuseum.org/. The first open house event of 2009 is a special model railroad show from noon to 4 p.m., Feb. 8, 2009.
      Among its wonderful exhibits are replicas of the Cokedale Mines and the shake cabin — Skagit Hotel, which was once a home to loggers. Others will marvel at the model railroad at the scale model of a logging camp. Visitors can also get a feel for what the old town was like by walking through the clever exhibits designed to resemble stores and businesses in a turn-of-the-century village like Woolley. The blacksmith shop is especially stunning.
      The museum operates without government subsidy and thus avoids the complications of government bureaucracy. A historical committee was formed by a handful of volunteers in December 1991. Articles of incorporation were finalized in 1992, and the proposed museum became an official non-profit organization. The volunteer board then negotiated with the city of Sedro-Woolley and obtained a 25 year lease on a vacant ugly duckling of a building called the Murdock Mall. It was in terrible shape and the city at that point did not foresee the need they might have in the future for this square footage. That key move by the prospective museum board may have been their most brilliant stroke.
(Blacksmith shop)
Blacksmith shop
      The building opened on Nov. 23, 1924, as the Universal Motor Garage. Emil Jech, who came to town in the summer of 1922 to revive the local Ford auto dealership. The original Ford dealer, Len Livermore, launched his company in 1910-11 and did very well until he had a jurisdiction disupte with Henry Ford's managers and they lifted his franchise soon after New Years Day 1922. When Jech was fully in control and obtained his financing, he decided to open a garage of his own to replace Livermore's original building — now the Oliver-Hammer Clothes Shop. When the garage opened, it was hailed as the most modern facility for miles around. But by 1949 it was too small to accommodate trucks and Sig Berglund — who bought the dealership from Jech in 1943, moved the company to new quarters on West Ferry street. Skagit Steel used the building for years for its overflow and it also housed the Tradewell Grocery for years. But by the 1980s it was a faded beauty and finally a second-hand bazaar. Then a fire partially destroyed the inside. The museum volunteers realized what a challenge they faced when they poked a hole in the ceiling and water cascaded down. The first major donation from a local organization came from the Soroptimists, especially earmarked to replace the ceiling. That group has been responsible for many key donations like this one and they derived their funds from their Walnut Tree store on Puget street.
      The museum was opened to the public in December 1992 during the Holiday Home Tour and regular hours on the weekends were established on March 6, 1993. The Rotary Club then gave a substantial donation and club volunteers worked to completely redesign the building facade in time for Founders Days in July 1994. By then the community was fully behind the project and old timers doanted documents, photos and keepsakes, including several vintage automobiles, a fire truck and logging vehicles and equipment. The Model-A touring cars were restored so expertaly that they are "as fresh as if they were new on a showroom floor." The logging exhibits are especially fine, with a scale model layout and a period logging truck that was fully restored by Paccar.

(Skagit Hotel logging cabin replica)
(Logging Truck 1920s)

      Left: volunteers recreated the famous Skagit Hotel logging cabin from the photo taken by Darius Kinsey. In the photo is the late Kerry Freeman (left), who was then museum president, along with a local hermit.
      Above: a 1920s-era logging truck was carefully renovated by Paccar; it joins many period automobiles and logging equipment at the museum. These photos courtesy of Barbara Halliday, descendant of August Kemmerich, upriver pioneer.

(Dentist exhibit)
Dentist exhibit, click these thumbnails to see full size
(General Store)
General store exhibit
(Indian Canoe)
Indian canoe discovered
almost intact
All photos courtesy Barbara Halliday. Click on these thumbnails for full-sized photos

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Story posted on April 15, 2002, last updated on Jan. 19, 2009
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(bullet) Oliver-Hammer Clothes Shop at 817 Metcalf Street in downtown Sedro-Woolley, 86 years.
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