Walla Walla's Livery Stables

Small's Opera House and Livery Stable 1890

These days we take owning a car for granted and have trouble imagining how important a good livery stable was to a town up to the early 1900s. Livery stables were once essential to towns of just about any size, not just for residents but also for visitors. One could rent a horse or board one at a livery stable within walking distance of a hotel or home. Walla Walla had a number of good livery stables and we are fortunate that we can still see a couple of the finest of their time.  
Livery is defined as the care and boarding of horses for a fee, and a horse owner could choose different boarding "plans." One could pay just to have a horse housed in a livery stable but have responsibility for feeding and grooming it and even cleaning out its stall. Or an owner could subscribe to a more expensive plan where the livery stable did everything, in some cases even exercising or training a horse. A vital service was provided by these stables to those who did not own a horse. Liveries had coaches available for hire and even provided delivery and moving services. If one needed to move a piece of furniture, visit a relative in the country or just take a Sunday ride, it all started at the nearby livery.
In the 1880s one could board a horse downstairs at Mr. Small's livery on Main street and then go upstairs to take in a lecture or musical performance. The Small Livery Stables and Opera House is gone now, but its ornate appearance is represented accurately in the mural in Heritage park. An imposing brick livery stable we can still see at 4th and Poplar was built in 1905 by Mordo MacDonald and housed 75 horses on three floors. Fires were common in livery stables; the Union Bulletin reports an especially big blaze in 1915 when nine horses died. Brick liveries were more likely to survive a fire and more likely to be repurposed rather than torn down.

The Former McBride's Livery Stable

We still have a prime example at First and Poplar, the former McBride's Livery. Mr. McBride boarded horses, rented carriages, and even provided an ambulance service. If one had an outing planned for a big group, an especially large "Tally Ho"carriage could be rented at McBride's. Hack (short for hackney) carriage service was in demand around the clock. For night driving a hack was equipped with two ornate lamps lighted by sperm oil candles. Drivers at McBride's were elegantly attired in navy blue uniforms and soldier-like caps. The brick building that remains was only part of McBride's operation; large frame buildings stood where there is a parking lot now. McBride's needed lots of space because they not only rented carriages, they built them; their finely-crafted hack carriages were sold in Walla Walla and Pendleton. A detailed article in the April 1908 issue of Up to the Times described McBride's process of crafting a hack carriage and their photo of a McBride-produced carriage is pictured here. 

A McBride-built Carriage 1907

  In the early 1900s the livery business was starting to fade. The stables were threatened by the increasing number of automobiles and some even banned "horseless carriages" from their property. The McBrides gradually reduced their livery business and started to sell off their hack carriages. Charles McBride kept with the times by operating an auto taxi service out of his former livery business. It was probably with reluctance that Mr. McBride and other Walla Walla stable owners gave up their fine horses and stately carriages. It is fortunate that some of their buildings still stand and remind us that there was a time when we relied on livery stables to keep Walla Walla moving.

Late-breaking Livery News!!

 

McDonald's Livery in Process of Restoration

Since I wrote my post about McBride's livery, a building at Fourth and Poplar has been going through an exciting refurbishing. Yellow paint has been stripped, mellow brick restored and the original signs on the front and side revealed to show us all that Mordo McDonald's Stable filled the huge building. Joe Drazan provides a great photo of the interior.  Up to The Times featured many ads and a shot of the exterior from 1908.

Interior of McDonald's Livery Stable 1910

McDonald's Livery Stable 1908

Mr. McDonald was a well known horse dealer and breeder in Walla Walla and for a while limited his business to providing horses to the government. He furnished eight thousand horses for service in the Philippines. 

A 1910 pamphlet described Mordo McDonald's business: "One of the best known livery and sale stables is McDonald's, corner Fourth and Poplar Streets. Here you will find a large brick barn of modern type and equipped with every convenience.It comprises three floors and will accommodate 75 horses."

It is such a privilege to watch this handsome building through its stages of restoration.

A.M. Jensen's:The Modern Daylight Store

In 1920 a building was erected on the corner of Main and Spokane the likes of which Walla Walla had never seen. Mr. A. M. Jensen, an established local businessman, hired the Beezer Brothers from Seattle to build a department store that would make a statement.The two stories of A. M. Jensen's store were clad in intricate sculptural forms made of white glazed terra cotta. Surrounded by stately brick offices with tall curved windows that were typical of Walla Walla's downtown in 1920, this new building must have seemed quite the architectural anomaly. Up to the Times magazine, February 1920, described it as "a handsome building, metropolitan in its appointments." Mr. Jensen's ad described the residents of the Walla Walla Valley as "progressive people" who "demand that the store keeper do his share and provide merchandizing service in keeping with the present day and age."

The architects, Louis and Michael Beezer, were twins and devout Catholics. They had commissions all over Washington state, but designed mostly churches and banks, including Walla Walla's First National (now Banner) and Baker-Boyer Bank. The Beezers were based in Seattle but also had an office locally, in the Drumheller Building. The brothers' experience with designing churches led to their acquaintance with Charles J. Connick, a master stained glass designer, and they invited him to design windows for the store. Mr. Connick knew Mr. Jensen liked to describe his establishment as " the modern daylight store" and created windows of leaded glass to illuminate the interior. The combination of Connick's windows and the roof-to-pavement white glazed terra cotta facade made A. M. Jensen's bright and beautiful inside and out. 

Mr. Jensen had a department store on Alder for years before he opened this new store on Main in 1920. He knew he could not rely on his remarkable building alone to attract customers; Jensen's offered a wide variety of clothing, appliances, furniture, radios and toys. The 90 employees were not only sales staff; some worked in the "Marinello Beauty Salon" and there were cooks and waitpersons staffing Jensen's Tea Room. A 1920 ad for the Tea Room said Saturday evening dinner was available for $1, and entertainment was provided by "Cowan's orchestra, conducted by Miss Etta Holt."

Mr. Jensen died in 1948 at age 80; he had been in the department store business for 36 years. The Allied Department Stores bought his store and in 1951 changed its name to Bon Marché and began "improvements." It is not clear when the terra cotta on the street level was bricked over, when the elegant wrought iron awning over the front entrance was removed, or what happened to Charles Connick's leaded glass windows. A 1993 parade photo with the Bon Marché in the background shows an awning running around the building as it does today, brick covering the first floor terracotta and the upstairs windows covered. The Bon operated their store until 2005 when Federated Department stores rebranded the store as Macy's.

Walla Walla residents are grateful to still have a department store downtown, and Macy's inside still has a classic department store "feel." The architectural drawing provided by Joe Drazan shows us what A.M. Jensen's looked like in 1920. Standing across Main street and looking above the awning, the remaining sculptural white glazed terra cotta facade can still be seen on the second story, and using our imagination we can visualize it covering the first story too. Our mind's eye can uncover the upstairs windows and enlarge those downstairs. With some effort, 93 years after it was built, we can still see A. M. Jensen's one-of-a-kind "modern daylight store."

Gracious Gardener's Department Store

It is not hard to envision a department store occupying the large building on the corner of 3rd and Main where today you can find the AmericanWest Bank. What is hard to imagine is just how elegant and varied an establishment the three-floored Gardner's Department Store was. There was a department store at that location prior to Gardner's. The Schwabacher brothers had one there until they sold out to Gardner's in 1909. The building we see today, though, was built by the Gardners. You would expect glass cases displaying "Dependable Wearables" as the ads said. The second floor sold ladies' dresses made of exotic sounding fabrics such as "Marquisette Voile, Rice Cloth and Illuminated Grennadine." You could purchase children's clothes on the same floor: "Smart Dresses of Serge for Girls in their teens" and "Chic Little Coats for the little folks." Gardner's Department Store took fashion seriously. The Union Bulletin featured news stories about Ward Gardner's buying trips to New York. 

Friends of mine shared their Gardner's memories. June remembers Gardner's annual spring fashion shows and what an honor it was to be asked to model for them. A 1947 Union Bulletin article reported that the spring review would feature "the newest in spring creations for the discerning miss or matron" and would be "modeled by a bevy of mannequins, both adult and juvenile." Diane emphasizes that Gardner's wasn't the kind of place you would paw through the merchandise. Instead, the elderly salesladies would bring goods out from display cases for you to consider. A few of the employees were memorable; Betty recalls how during the war--when new silk stockings could not be bought--a lady named Lulu was stationed back by the elevator. Customers could bring Lulu their stockings full of runs and she would mend them. Jodee remembers Ila May, who was in charge of the Yarn Department, and could be found there any day knitting or crocheting. Ila May regularly conducted knitting classes and wore outfits she had created with her needles.

You might not expect that in the same store where you could buy baby clothes imported from Italy and fine leather gloves, you were also able to purchase lamb chops. "Ham Shanks, fine for boiling, Beef Roast, grade A, and fryers, young birds" were displayed on the first floor, but were cut in the basement. A gentleman who works at the bank now told me that the butchers who cut meat down below left gashes made by their cleavers in the floor's supporting posts. The meat and produce areas maintained the same elegance as the clothing departments. White-coated clerks were at your service there. Even as early as 1937, "misters" were in place that kept the fruit and vegetables "fresh and cold." Everyday goods such as canned food, laundry soap, clocks, lamps, and pots and pans were also available at Gardner's. Customers could call in orders--before noon--and have groceries sent to their homes with no delivery charge. Joe Drazan provides us with the 1949 photo of Gardner's and its fleet of delivery trucks.

Walla Walla had Gardner's goods and services available for many years and when the department store closed its doors in 1980, its customers knew it was not likely there would ever be another Gardner's Department Store. The store that provided one-stop shopping in gracious surroundings was sadly missed.

 Falkenberg Jewelers: Before and After--And Before!

  

The 1878 ad for Day's Drug Store, shows what we now call the Reynolds-Day Building. In the ad it looks almost exactly as we see it today, over a hundred years later. But, wait a minute, you say. Where's the clock? The whimsical, charming, much-photographed clock in front of Falkenberg's Jewelers isn't pictured in the engraving because Kristian Falkenberg (and the distinctive clock) hadn't arrived in Walla Walla yet. Mr. Kristian Falkenberg, "jeweler, silversmith, and optician" emigrated from Norway in 1893. After settling in Walla Walla, he opened his shop at 42 East Main in the space that is now occupied by Macy's shoe department. Mr. Falkenberg installed the magnificent American-made clock on the sidewalk outside his store in 1912, and started the routine of winding it once a week that continues to this day. A young William O Douglas, then a student at Whitman College, and in his later life a Justice of the Supreme Court, was employed at Falkenberg's as a stock boy. Another important employee at the store was Jerry Cundiff, who started work there in 1913 and eventually bought the business from Mr. Falkenberg.

Meanwhile, the Reynolds-Day Building down the street was going through a number of changes. In a room upstairs in 1878 the first Washington Constitutional Convention was held. Downstairs Dr. D.H. Day operated his drug store. In 1889 A.H. Reynolds, a prominent "capitalist" and the "Chairman of Streetlights" moved his business there. Hence the "Reynolds" in Reynolds-Day.

Time wrought more changes to the building over the years: J. C. Penney's was housed there, as was Payless Drugs, and a bank. And in the 1960s the lovely historic front we see today was modernized (and obscured). In 1973 the Cundiffs were faced with a problem: Falkenberg's lost its lease and they needed to move their store elsewhere. However, the Cundiff's problem turned out to be a great thing for Walla Walla. They chose to move Falkenberg's to the Reynolds-Day building in 1974. This was no small project; the business had to move and so did the 3000 pound clock. Skip Cundiff remembers that a sign company was hired to do the moving of the clock. A crane lowered it in place in front of its new location, concrete footings were poured, and it was bolted to the sidewalk. Falkenberg's Jewelers was now where we know it today in terms of location, but the old Reynolds-Day Building's 1880s character was still hidden by a facade. The building's original beauty was revealed when it became one of the Walla Walla Downtown restoration projects in the 1990s. A combination of Cundiff family funds and grants made it possible to remove the modern facade, and the original features of the Reynolds-Day Building came to light after being hidden (and nearly forgotten) for years. The Reynolds-Day Building received the Grand Prize in 1993 from Walla Walla Architectural Awards for exterior restoration and interior renovation.

So, we have the Cundiff family to thank for preserving two essential pieces of Walla Walla history--the historic, elegant Reynolds-Day Building and the magnificent Falkenberg clock.

The Days' Drugs ad and the 1970s photo of Falkenberg's are used with the kind permission of Joe Drazan, and come from his wonderful Bygone Walla Walla photo collection.

The Corner Cafe

I often ask friends to share their memories of Walla Walla buildings and sometimes ask for ideas of what building to write about. Diane suggested the one at the corner of Main and 2nd, "the one with all that decorative stuff all over it." She had an ulterior motive, Diane did; she had a fond 1960s memory involving hot chocolate--with a scoop of ice cream in it--served in that very building, and couldn't remember the name of the restaurant. Number Two West Main houses Paul Richardson Agency now and it has a very business-like look to it, and I was intrigued by what changes it had been through over the years. My research told me that the corner building was part of the Quinn Building (which I wrote about before.) It was occupied in 1876 by Marum and Doheny's Dry Goods Store, who advertised "All Goods Marked in Plain Figures", but "sold exclusively for cash." When the dry goods store moved in 1901, Tallman's Drugs moved in and stayed there until 1912 when they moved their pharmacy to a bigger space next door.

Up to the Times Magazine wrote a feature on 2 West Main's 1912 occupant in its Progress Notes:

"The Third National Bank of Walla Walla has purchased the Quinn property at Second and Main Streets....The property has a frontage on Main Street of 53 feet. It is reported that the purchase price was $1,200 per front foot. The Third National Bank will occupy its new quarters sometime during the new year". 

The Third National Bank before the facade was added.

The bank occupied 2 West Main for eight years before they remodeled and created the facade of the building we see today. Up to 1920 the front had been handsome, although not outstanding.

Third National Bank after facade was added.

 The Third National Bank wanted a building everyone would notice, and embellished the exterior with features that resemble those you might see on a cake or fancy pastry. They did extensive remodeling to the inside too. The bank only enjoyed their distinctive building for nine years though, because by 1929, the Third National Bank was no longer listed in city directory, and Alfred Fitzgerald, Jeweler, had his shop there until 1933. This was the year that the building first became a place one could get a meal; Pinky's Barbeque moved in and was followed by Mitchell's Barbeque in 1935. Mitchell's featured "Fountain and Lunch, Cigars, Magazines, Card room."

And then in 1941, Mitchell's left and the Corner Cafe, "The House of Good Food" opened. It lasted until 1973, so it is a place many Walla Walla citizens remember. My friend Carolyn had her bridal lunch upstairs in the Corner's Kuaui Room. Diane and Alan had their romantic hot chocolate and ice cream date there. As a boy, Jim went to his accordion lesson upstairs over Tallman's and then always had a coke at the Corner Cafe afterwards.

When the Corner Cafe closed in 1974, it was back to business for 2 West Main: Jeffris Insurance Agency was followed by Munn's Surveyors and today we find Richardson Appraisers there. I stood downstairs in the Richardson Agency and tried in vain to imagine where the booths, counters, and fountain had been. Upstairs I tried to envision the Kauai Room, but I wasn't successful. The inside of the building is now desks, phones, and computers. The outside of 2 West Main, though, with its distinctive ornamentation, still makes an architectural "statement"--even after all these years.

Thanks, Joe Drazan, for the illustrations and photographs of the Third National Bank and the Corner Cafe.

The Quinn Block

The most fascinating part of writing about Walla Walla's historic buildings is learning how a space can change over time, its owners altering and molding it to their needs. If I walk into Tallman's Drug Store at 4 West Main today I am greeted by friendly folks who fill my prescription and ask about my day. 

If I had entered that door in 1880, I would have been visiting Thomas Quinn, Saddler and Harness Maker. His ads promised "Bridles, Whips, Spurs, Saddle Blankets, and in fact everything found in a first-class harness establishment." In Frank T. Gilbert's 1882 Sketches of Walla Walla, he describes Thomas Quinn: "With manners suave, a disposition to accommodate, and generous promptings towards his fellows, he greets the stranger, the customer, or the friend in that peculiar way ... which seldom fails to leave a desire with the recipient to do him a favor if he can." It appears that an hospitable greeting is part of the building's heritage.

Mr. Quinn's business prospered for years and it was taken over by his wife Clara at his death in 1889.

By 1908 Walla Walla's need for such equipment was no longer as great due to the growing popularity of automobiles, and Quinn'sSaddlery went out of business. The Quinns owned the building on the corner, too, at 2 West Main, which housed Dohenny and Marum's Dry Goods. The two buildings together were known as Quinn's Block, although from the beginning they were architecturally distinct. Both buildings had offices upstairs--doctors, lawyers, Mrs. Sarah Thacker's Commercial School, and the office of the publication Town Talk.In 1901, City Drugs moved into the corner building and when Mr. Tallman bought out Mr. Esteb in 1898 it became Tallman's Drugs.

Quinn's Saddlery gone, 4 West Main went through a dramatic remodel and in 1909 became the Dime Theater, where for ten cents (five cents for children 10 and under) you could see a silent movie in the "Coziest and Most Comfortable Place of Amusement in Town," accompanied by the "the Dime's excellent five-piece orchestra...one of the best musical organizations in Walla Walla." The theater stayed for three years and then moved to Alder Street. 

Tallman's moved from the corner into the more spacious 4 West Main, reinstalled shop front windows and a center door and furnished their new space with cabinets made by White House Crawford that are still in Tallman's today. 

 













The sign that labels the Quinn Building is no longer visible, but perhaps it still exists behind the modern facade. Maybe a future remodel or restoration may reveal it, and remind us that Thomas Quinn, Saddlemaker, was once in business there.

Maybe you are wondering what happened to 2 West Main, the corner building, after Tallman's moved? Iv'e saved that story for next time....

Walla Walla's Sweet Tooth

When I say Walla Walla Sweets, I am not referring to baseball or onions. I am talking candy. Residents and visitors certainly appreciate Bright's on Main Street and many remember fondly the many years Russell's Candy was in business. But there is a "ghost sign" on an elegant brick building at 108 South Third that marks Walla Walla Candy Co., an important business in our town's candy history. The sign is faint, but one can make out "Manufacturers and Jobbers." The candy made in this factory was sold wholesale--all over town and beyond. This company existed for years with various owners and different names, but maintained the tradition of supplying the sweet stuff to young and old. An 1889 ad says that the Walla Walla Candy Company (then on Main Street) are "Manufacturers of the Finest French and American Candies and Confectionery. Tropical and domestic Fruits and Nuts. Arctic Soda, Ice Cream and Oysters in their Season." Oysters? Yes, oyster sales often went hand in hand with candy, and many places that you could buy candy sold tobacco too. The vocation of candy maker could be a prestigious one. The Walla Walla Candy Company brought Earl Remington Davenport and his family all the way from Seattle in 1927 to be "head confectioner" and manage their company. By this time the company was owned by two gentlemen whose names Bybee and Burton merged into Burbee, and the Burbee Candy Company became famous not only for their chocolates, but for also for their Bingo Bar. (I'd love to know what a Bingo Bar consisted of. )

Not all candy was made in a factory though. In 1929 the City Directory listed eight "Confectioners, Retail." Besides the larger businesses, such as "Den of Sweets" and "Keyes Confectionery," you could also buy candy from ladies such as "Mrs. Dunnington" and "Mrs. Irene Owen"--probably selling their homemade fudge or divinity from their homes. And of course there is the tobacco connection again. Van's Cigar Store is listed as a candy retailer. Lutcher's, of "Chief Smoke" (the Cigar Store Indian) fame sold candy along with tobacco products.

Walla Walla folks have always appreciated their sweets; the 1931 directory lists an equal number of Retail Confectioners and Dentists. The Union Bulletin stated that in the immediate prewar years Americans ate an average of 19 pounds of candy a year. World War II did make a difference as to the availability of candy due to sugar shortages and rationing. The UB talks about sugar shortages affecting candy makers nationally in 1944. An ad for Russell's says "Candy Hungry? We are at it again as far as it goes---" implying they were getting back to normal candy production after years of war-time sugar rationing.

Candy in Walla Walla is still in good hands, but what happened to that lovely old building on south 3rd after the Walla Walla Candy Company left it? Duff's Creamery moved in in 1933 and operated from there until 1969. After that the building was occupied by a calculator company and then was briefly an art gallery. Vacant since 1983, the windows are boarded and it has a desolate look. Happily, though, we still have the ghost signs on both sides of the charming brick building to remind us of the richness, variety, and history of Walla Walla "sweets."

Thanks, Joe Drazan for the 1923 photo of the Walla Walla Candy Company

Baumeister Building: Made With Metal

I can't walk by the elegant mauve and gray Baumeister Building without rapping one of its columns with my knuckles. Each rap is answered by a gratifying metallic clunk because this building is a "Mesker" and that means it's faced by a "galvanized storefront system." All its lovely ornamentation that looks carved and handmade is actually pressed sheet metal, a combination of galvanized steel and cast-iron. A small plaque affixed to the column identifies it as such. " Mesker Bros, Front Builders" it says. The manufacture of metal fronts for buildings began in the eastern U. S. in the 1840s and by mid-century there were foundries throughout the United Sates. The builders of the Baumeister Building ordered its sheet metal facade from the Mesker Brothers Ironworks of St Louis. A builder chose a front from a catalog, had it shipped by railroad, and--voila--he had a ready-made, durable and attractive front ready to affix to the structure. 

Also fabricated in metal, over the second story windows, is stamped big and bold that Max Baumeister built this structure and he did it in 1889. When it was first built the address in the city directory was listed as "between 2nd and 3rd" but now we find it by going to 27 West Main. Max Baumeister was a real estate and insurance agent in partnership with Harry Reynolds. You might expect that Mr. Baumeister would set up his own office in his handsome new building, but he worked from 8 E. Main and later he occupied space in the impressive Die Brucke building, which he also built. 

I spent many enjoyable hours poring over old city directories in the library and was able to discover what businesses occupied the downstairs spaces and for how long. The Walla Walla Savings Bank moved in there in 1889, the year the Baumeister was built, but over the years these high-ceilinged, big-windowed stores were mainly occupied by sporting goods stores such as Meyer and Keeny, which was not only a place you could buy a bicycle, but also a "rentery." Their ad in the 1901 city directory promised "Sporting Goods, Guns, Ammunition, and Bicycles", and you could get advice about your choice of a gun from Pleasant Le Francis, "gunsmith." The tradition of sports shop was carried on by Jackson's, who in the 30's often photographed hunters posed with their trophy deer in front of the shop. The sign in the window behind the hunters in one photograph says "Bargains-Balloon Tire Bicycles, $31.95 and Up." Ann Hamada, whose colorful quilt shop, Stash, occupies one of the store fronts today, remembers Soper's Leather Goods as being there when she was a child. Soper's sold more than leather; it also carried sporting goods. Ann told me that a gentleman came into Stash one day and asked her if she'd noticed any bullet holes in the basement walls. He remembered doing some target practice down there when he was young.

Doug Saturno, who owns the Baumeister (and restored it with such care), met with me, talked about his building's history, and--best of all--gave me a tour of the offices upstairs that are accessed via a marble-lined stariway. The halls have high ceilings; the offices are spacious and gracious. I was able to see where a long list of dentists and lawyers and real estate agents had their practices. The office number I sought was 211 and I was gratified to see that its large, light main office had an enviable view of Main Street below. You see, I chose to write about the Baumeister Building because it has some personal significance for me. My husband Mark and I live in a 102-year-old home built by S. E. (Sam) King, an attorney who had his office in # 211 in the Baumeister for many years, starting in 1906. I like to imagine Sam walking to work from Thorne Street. I'm guessing he took the quickest route, which was north on First to Main. Sam King may have taken the streetcar on cold days; a 1910 postcard shows a streetcar running right in front of the Baumeister. But I expect he walked if he could--up a pleasant street of big shady trees and handsome houses and then turning left onto Main, and in a few blocks there he was at the Baumeister, a metal beauty of a building.

Thanks, Joe Drazan for the historic photo (1890).