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Skagit River Journal

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Noel V. Bourasaw, editor

810 Central Ave., Sedro-Woolley, Washington, 98284
Home of the Tarheel Stomp

Mortimer Cook slept here & named the town Bug

Sedro-Woolley businesses and buildings, Part Three

This photo was taken in about 1949, looking north on Metcalf street. The photographer was standing in the middle of State Street, which then marked the southern end of Metcalf. Metcalf was not cut through until 1965. You can see the Cascade Cafe and Bakery sign at the right, just north of the J.C. Penney store, which was located in the building now occupied by Bus Jungquist Furniture. Did one of those cars belong to you or someone in your family? Wouldn't you love to have that sleek convertible parked by the cafe?

We continue our Odds and Ends section with small articles culled from issues of various newspapers, especially the Skagit County Times of Sedro-Woolley and the Sedro-Woolley Courier-Times. We were aided in this section by Larry and Josef Kunzler and their loan of clippings to us. And we can now add photo scans quickly, due to the kindness and generosity of Dan and Maureen Royal. Other clippings, stories and photos came from former Sedro-Woolley resident, Pat Hegg Brown, and from our own painstaking research of microfilm and copies of old newspapers.
These stories are short and to the point and may be expanded in the future as we do more research. We also hope that readers will share family memories and copies of documents and photos that will supplement the basic stories or explain more about the individuals who are mentioned. We apologize for the condition of some of the photos. Many are from Xeroxed copies of the original newspaper.
In future issues, we will add more stories about the Sedro-Woolley area and also feature the upriver district, western Skagit County, LaConner, Mount Vernon, Samish Island north through Whatcom County, and short stories about neighboring counties and all over Washington state. We want to remind you that we very much enjoy copies of stories from any old newspapers, especially those before 1910, including but not only the early Mount Vernon newspapers; the Skagit County Times, Skagit County Courier and Sedro Press of Sedro-Woolley; the Edison Phonograph; the Puget Sound Mail and its "Pioneer editions" of the 1940s-70s, and various early, short-lived newspapers of the upriver boom days.. Many of those papers have burned up in various fires and those stories have not been seen by anyone for decades.

Central Grocery doubles its size, 1943
Cascade Cafe is open, 1943
Ponshock opens tailor shop here, 1943
Herman Romer buys out Rogers in oil company, 1945
Coffland Motors agents for Kaiser-Frazier autos, 1946
Stolen cash register from Palace Tavern found, 1946
Lee Tresner upholstery business, 1946
Shelton dairy building eating place, 1946
Welch sells service station to Ted Jackson, 1946
Ilo Sande Jewelry Store Here Opens, Has Bigger Stock, 1948
Auto Freight Line To Build Terminal In Sedro-Woolley, 1948
Pete & Bob's still closed, 1949

Central Grocery doubles its size Sedro-Woolley Courier-Times, Oct. 14, 1943 Mr. and Mrs. Al Hyldahl have just finished remodeling their Central Grocery at a cost of several thousand dollars and are now equipped to carry a much larger stock of merchandise in the enlarged quarters. Hyldahl bought shelves and fixtures from the Koops store [Jake Koops in downtown Lyman], and has completely remodeled the interior of the store building. A fine modern front, with marquee and stucco finish, makes the enlarged store an attractive building.
[Journal Ed. note: you can read all about Central Grocery at this Journal website about the store. It was the oldest grocery store in the county that was specifically devoted to that business, up until the time that it closed in October 2003. Mike and Winona Mann were the last owners until they moved to Florida.]

Cascade Cafe is open Sedro-Woolley Courier-Times, Dec. 2, 1943 Starting on Friday of this week, the Cascade Cafe will be open every night until 1 a.m., Fred Mills, the owner announced today.
[Journal Ed. note: The Cascade Café was located in the north half of the Vogel Building at 823 Metcalf Street, which now houses Joy's Sedro-Woolley Bakery. It was replaced in late 1949 by Hugo and Fred Eger's bakery/cafe after an interim owner. We hope that a reader will have more information about it and maybe a photo. We are also interested in all the downtown restaurants and bakeries over the years. One that we are especially curious about is the "Hole In The Wall" cafe at 827 Metcalf, which we know was managed in the 1930s by upriver pioneer Harry Cary. We think that it was in the cubbyhole space at the north end of the Masonic Building — now Bus Jungquist Furniture. That space was originally reserved for an elevator for the planned second story when the building was erected in 1923. The Masons decided against the second story, however, so the space was devoted to other retailers until J.C. Penney moved in during January 1939. One such retailer was Dewey Day, the retailer. The space is now occupied by a beauty shop.]

Ponshock opens tailor shop here Sedro-Woolley Courier-Times, Jan. 11, 1945 Conrad Ponshock this week took over the tailoring establishment located in the Parker building on Ferry street, it has been announced. This shop has been operated for a number of years by Henry Jebens. Mr. Ponshock is a resident of the city and has lived here for 10 years. He has had a number of years experience in tailoring, having served as a civilian tailor in Wisconsin for six years. Also, he was engaged in naval work for 10 years. At his new business establishment, Mr. Ponshock will do civilian and naval work and will especially cater to tailor work for ladies' garments.
[Journal Ed. note: old timers will recall the old Four Aces Tavern building, which is now occupied by the Overflow Tavern. That building was originally partitioned in the middle and the Linstrom & Jebens tailor shop was on the east side. Until we read this story, we never heard this referred to as the Parker building. We want to trace the building's roots back and we hope that a reader will have information pertaining to the building, photos of various businesses there over the years and the history of the Four Aces itself. You can ask Greer Drummond about the business. Now the owner of Valley Hardware and the oldest retailer on Metcalf Street, he used to take clothes there for alterations when he worked for J.C. Penney's.]

Herman Romer buys out Rogers in oil company Sedro-Woolley Courier-Times, Jan. 25, 1945 Herman Romer has purchased the interest of William Rogers in the Rogers-Romer Co., the local agents for Union Oil company products. Romer will operate under the name of Skagit Supply Co. and will carry a stock of logging equipment of all kinds in addition to his Union Oil Co. products. Romer and Rogers have worked together in this city for the past 15 years. Most of that time they were employees of the Union Oil Co., but for the past three and a half years they have been part¬ners and had the agency for the Union Oil Co.
[Journal Ed. note: his business was located facing Third Street near the present Sedro-Woolley sewer site. At one time a siding railroad track was located there that serviced the nearby vegetable cannery and Carnation Milk. Old Timers will recall that before the present bridge over the Skagit River to Clearlake opened in 1965, the bridge in use spanned the river at the south foot of Third Street. When the old Royce-Hankin mill and associated businesses closed and the old spur of the Fairhaven & Southern track was abandoned, the siding was also ripped out and auto traffic continued south to the bridge, using Third Street as an arterial. We hope that a reader will have more information to explain the timeline for when all that happened, as well as having photos of various businesses in the Third Street area south of Jameson and the businesses along the northern bank of the river clear over to old Sedro. The only business there now is Art's junkyard, and the original townsite (later the town dump) has been covered by the beautiful Riverfront Park.]

Coffland Motors agents for Kaiser-Frazier autos Sedro-Woolley Courier-Times, Jan. 17, 1946 Coffland Motor Service of Sedro-Woolley was appointed local dealers for Kaiser-Frazier cars and Frazier farm equipment, it was anounced here today.
C. F. Coffland, owner of the automotive firm, located at Ferry and Murdock streets here, states that as yet delivery date for the new automobiles has not been set definitely but he expects announcement shortly on when he will have these cars available. However, orders can be taken immediately, he added.
The Coffland Motor Service has recently modernized its large garage building here and has display space for several automobiles as well as a large and complete area for automotive and equipment repairs of all types.
[Journal Ed. note: old timers will likely remember this garage, which was located where Skagit State Bank is today. In Woolley of the 1890s, this was a site for one of the first saloons. After the 1911 fire burned down Frank Hoehn's original stable across from the Wixson Hotel, he built a new stable at this location. In 1916, Hoehn sold to Bill Ropes's and Charley White's White Fuel & Transfer, which was the main source of coal in town. Veterinarian G.A. Jones also hung out his shingle there. In about 1927, Lloyd Palmer tore down the wooden structure and replaced it with a new transfer/trucking business. By the 1940s, Mr. Coffland took it over for his auto business. You may remember the Lattings, who were related to Coffland and operated the business in the 1950s and '60s. We need details about the Cofflands and the Lattings and the business and we hope a reader can supply details and photos. See this Journal website about Palmer and his son, Lloyd Jr.: http://www.stumpranchonline.com/skagitjournal/S-W/Pioneer/Post1900/PalmerLloyd1.html ]

Stolen cash register from Palace Tavern found Sedro-Woolley Courier-Times, Jan. 17, 1946 cash register from Palace Tavern foundFishing in Hansen Creek [bridge over Hoehn Road in the Skiyou area just east of Sedro-Woolley] proved to be fruitful to Police Officers Maurice Davis and Earl Mericle of Sedro-Woolley last Monday. Armed with a long pike pole the pair managed to hook,. after many exploring probes, [they recovered] the long lost cash register that was stolen several weeks ago from the Palace tavern here.
The whereabouts of the heavy cash receptacle was given to the officers by one of the youths who have confessed to the series of crimes committed here in November.
The register lay in six feet of water beneath a bridge and it took a lot of expert manipulating on the part of Davis and Mericle to bring the heavy article to the surface. Finally, after much grunting and sweating, the pair managed to pull the cash register out onto the bank.
It registered "No Sale"!
[Journal Ed. note: The Palace Tavern was the last of the original businesses from P.A. Woolley's company town, located on the south side of Northern Avenue, west of the Schneider Building (the former bowling alley). It was owned for four decades by James Gray, who distinguished himself as a business owner and investor in local real estate. See this Journal website about Gray and his wife, Blanche, who was one of the prime instigators of a library for Sedro-Woolley, working hard to obtain the Carnegie library that opened across Third Street from the present high school in 1915 and which was torn down in 1964 in one of the town's most shocking destruction of pioneer buildings. We hope that a reader will have photos of the Palace and old businesses beside it on Northern Avenue. Old timers will likely remember the last manager of the business, known affectionately as Alice of Palace See this Journal website about the Grays.]

Lee Tresner upholstery business Sedro-Woolley Courier-Times, Jan. 7, 1946 Lee Tresner will soon open a new upholstery and glass business [in the old Pioneer Boarding House building at the northeast corner of Ferry Street and Eastern Avenue, across the street from the Northern Pacific depot]. The new store will bring a new type of business to growing Sedro-Woolley and its vicinity. A newly installed glass finishing machine is designed to take care of all glass needs in the automotive line. Upholstery work, both for automobiles and furniture, can be handled by the firm with expertness and efficiency. All. types of canvas and awning work is another feature of the new business as well as many other incidentals such as installing seat covers in automobiles, etc.
Lee Tresner is well-known in Sedro-Woolley, having lived here for many years and recently had a garage in the stage depot building [the old Palmer Garage]. Recently he worked with his brother who operates a glass and upholstery shop in Olympia. David Honk was recently discharged from the Navy where he saw duty as a chief machinist mate. Prior to his entrance in the service he had an automotive business in Long Beach, California.
The Corbett building in which the new firm is located, was remodeled to fit the needs of the new store by Otto Greenstreet of Sedro-Woolley. An added feature is a drive-in service capable of handling eight automobiles at one time, thereby greatly facilitating and speeding up upholstery and glass service to patrons' automobiles. Assisting the new owners is Wallace Tresner, son of Lee Tresner, who also has had many years experience in upholstery and glass work.
[Journal Ed. note: Lee Tresner was either the son or nephew of Dale Tresner, who owned one of the first harness businesses in town, then had an interest in the Livermore Ford Garage along with his brother-in-law Len Livermore, and then opened his own Buick dealership in the new Mission Market in 1920. Lee's business was located at the northeast corner of Ferry and Eastern, across from the Northern Pacific train depot. We were surprised to see this called the Corbett building, probably named for the owner of the second-hand business there. This was originally the Pioneer Hotel and Boarding House, erected while Woolley was still a separate town in the 1890s, but it faded in importance in competition with the Forest House to the east and the Hotel Royal/Vendome across Ferry. By the World War II years, it was mainly used for storage, but Lee Tresner spiffed it up for his business. His son Wally took it over from him before moving away; Wally died in 2003 after moving back to town. The building was torn down to make way for a parking lot for the Safeway Store, which evolved into the Prairie Market and now is the Ace Hardware. We hope that a reader will have memories of the old businesses in that area and will have old photos of them. Otto Greenstreet was the Sedro-Woolley contractor who built the first suburban development, located on State Street, and which is still named for him — the Greenstreet addition. We are preparing a story on Greenstreet and we hope readers will share photos if they lived there. We also hope a reader can connect us with Otto's son Dean. Otto's brother, Oscar, opened the service station across Ferry Street in 1939, the one that is now vacant.]

Shelton dairy building eating place Sedro-Woolley Courier-Times, Feb. 14, 1946 Construction of a modern eating and ice cream establishment on State street east of Township by George Shelton is now under progress. The business will be open for the public some time around the first of April, depending upon material availability.
Modern fixtures will be incorporated into the building, which will have a square front enhanced with a marquee. Shelton plans to install modern ice cream making machines as well as up to date cooking equipment for dispensing light lunches, hamburgers, etc.
The work is being done by Otto Greenstreet, local contractor.
[Journal Ed. note: Three years before the Dairy Queen Drive-In downtown, this ice cream and dairy business was located just west of the Greenstreet addition. We vaguely remember it as a child. It stood on the eastern portion of the lots now occupied by the Bethel Assembly of God church. We hope that a reader will have more details of the various owners, will know when it was closed and/or torn down, and will have a photo of it during its heyday. We would especially like to know the name of it and why it closed so soon after opening. Berniece Leaf recalls that she tasted her first soft ice cream there, about the time she graduated from Sedro-Woolley High School.]

Welch sells service station to Ted Jackson Sedro-Woolley Courier-Times, Feb. 14, 1946 Sale of the grocery store and service station, owned by J.S. Welch on east State street, to Ted Jackson was announced this week. The new owner will take over Saturday of this week.
[Journal Ed. note: we assume that this business was located in the large two-story building still standing at the far east point of the triangle made by East State Street and Railroad Street. At one time that was a hot location. Hewitt's Trading Post was just northeast on the old Minkler/Lyman Highway. The Oasis Tavern stood on the western point of the triangle made by that highway and the Hoehn/Skiyou Road. The Fairhaven & Southern/Great Northern train spur also ran along Railroad Street past this building until the mid-1920s. We hope to do a story soon on businesses in that area, if readers will help with memories and photos. Ted Jackson was a policeman here for many years.]

Ilo Sande Jewelry Store Here Opens, Has Bigger Stock Sedro-Woolley Courier-Times, Aug. 12, 1948 The Ilo Sande Jewelry store at 507 1st St. in Mt. Vernon was sold to the Deming Brothers of Hoquiam, Washington. Ilo Sande will continue to operate his Sedro-Woolley Appliance and Jewelry Store at 711 Metcalf, Sedro-Woolley. The watch and jewelry repairing department, which is probably the largest in the Northwest, has been transferred to the Sedro-Woolley store, [where he will also sell silverware].
[Journal Ed. note: This store was located on the south side of the alley at 711 Metcalf Street (east side), where the Condy Clock still stands today. Horace Condy had his jewelry, musical and optometry business there, erecting the original building in 1906. It burned to the ground along with the rest of the buildings on the block in the July 1911 downtown Woolley fire, but Condy soon rebuilt. He retired in 1941 and his nephew Glenn Allen opened the business a block south at 816 Metcalf Street that is still owned today by his grandson Glenn Allen III. We do not know how long Sande operated there but we know that by 1952 his business was replaced by Al Lisherness's Sport Shop.]

Auto Freight Line To Build Terminal In Sedro-Woolley Sedro-Woolley Courier-Times, Oct. 7, 1948 The Skagit River Motor Lines, operating a fleet of trucks between Seattle and Newhalem, have purchased a tract from William Byham at the front end of his property on Third street, and will build a warehouse and freight terminal at once, in front of the Byham cabinet shop. William Byham has started work erecting the building which will be 30 by 50 feet. This will be the only auto freight line to have a terminal in Sedro-Woolley.
[Journal Ed. note: this story is a real head scratcher. We remember that Byham had his cabinet shop just south of Stave's Service Station on the west side of Third, but we can find no record that this terminal was ever built. Within a few years, Marlin Miller and Fred Boede had moved their Valley Dairy into that location, erecting the present stone building in place of the wooden buildings that used to stand there, and Best Cleaners was erected just to the south, where Cascade Fresh is located today. The former Byham location also became the Dairy Bar in the late 1950s, a beloved hangout for high school kids, including your editor — when milk shakes were 50 cents and came in a metal container that held a pint plus leftovers as a follow-up. We plan to feature the Dairy Bar and the Valley Dairy as soon as a reader provides a photo and a news story about that old business.
Roger Peterson suggests that an alternate location for Byham's cabinet shop at that time could have been further south on Third Street, next to the original Valley Dairy location. But he also does not think that the proposed terminal was ever built.]

Pete & Bob's still closed Sedro-Woolley Courier-Times, Dec. 8, 1949 The "closed" sign still the front door window of Bob's confectionery store in downtown Sedro-Woolley this morning. Customers have [unreadable] for the newspapers and magazines at a different newsstand. Lawrence (Pete) Hansen and Bob Magnuson, owners, are having their lawyers work out details of ownership and meat of the business, Police Chief Neil McLeod said. For two weeks the store has been closed, on McLeod's suggestion. Hansen recently returned to work after a several weeks absence, during which he as was receiving medical attention in Seattle. His relatives did not know his whereabouts for several days and neither did Magnuson.
[Journal Ed. note: This was the business that replaced Gampp's confectionery and newsstand in the old building at 812 Metcalf, part of today's Holland Drugs site. Bob Magnuson (who died on Dec. 5, 2005) and Hansen opened their cafe together in 1947, but within two years, they parted ways legally and Magnuson bought out his partner's interest. Bob kept the business but soon returned to logging and his sister Maude ran it until he sold the lot to Ernie Breier who erected the building that is now Holland Drugs and moved into that location sometime in the 1960s. In 1953 Magnuson changed the sign to read Bob's but most people kept calling it Pete & Bob's. If you are an old timer you will recall that there was a gate in the middle, and in the back section, you could enjoy a beer with your burger. Does a reader have an interior and exterior photo?]

Links, background reading and sources

For the full list of our collections of Odds and Edds short newspaper features about Sedro-Woolley, see our introduction to the Odds and Ends section, short stories from several areas.
See our extensive Sedro-Woolley section.
We want to especially thank Larry and Josef Kunzler, who have provided copies of dozens of newspapers that we are researching, scanning and transcribing. And Pat Hegg Brown, a granddaughter of Sauk and Sedro pioneer F.A. Hegg, who looked through her collection and found dozens of clippings that we are studying. These copies of old newspapers and clippings are a very valuable source that we appreciate very much. Do you or your family have clippings that you can share and mail to us?

Story posted on March 10, 2006 . . . Please report any broken links so we can update them
This article originally appeared in Issue xx of our Subscribers-paid Journal online magazine

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