REMINDER: We’d like to remind everyone that our friends at the Highline Historical Society will be presenting “Soldiers in Petticoats: The Struggle of the Suffragettes” at the SeaTac City Hall this Sunday, Feb. 21st, beginning at 2pm.

Local actress Tames Alan will perform, dressed in full period costume and acting totally in character, to talk about the struggle of American women to gain the right to vote. From what we hear, Tames does an excellent job of acting so this should be entertaining.

Plus…it’s FREE.

Here are the details:

WHAT: Highline Historical Society’s “Soldiers In Petticoats: The Struggle of the Suffragettes”

WHEN: Sunday, Feb. 21st beginning at 2pm

WHERE: SeaTac City Hall, located at 4800 South 188th Street in SeaTac.

COST: This is a FREE event.

INFO: From a press release:

In the authentic clothing of a suffragette, Actress Tames Alan returns to talk about the struggle of American women to gain the right to vote. In 1867, the passing of the 14th Amendment defined “citizen” as “male,” thus denying women the right to vote. On this 100th Anniversary of women’s right to vote in Washington State, learn how American women adopted the militant tactics of English suffragettes to earn the right to vote and regain citizenship in their own country. Discover how the suffragettes influenced child labor laws, the use and dispersal of birth control, the Temperance movement, and the right of women to earn a college degree.

This engaging program is free.

It is brought to the community by the Highline Historical Society with the support of Humanities WA.

Immediately followed by a reception for the elected women of Highline.

Tames Alan is an actress, historian, and fashion history teacher who has combined her skills to create Living History Lectures for people of all ages. Since 1986, she has been touring her programs throughout the United States and Canada, where she is known for in-depth research and a lively presentational style. Tames studied theater and history at Willamette University in Oregon and theater at the American Conservatory Theater and the Dell Arte School in California. She taught fashion history at the Art Institute of Seattle, and is a historical consultant to museums, libraries, and historical festivals throughout the Pacific Northwest.

For more information, visit the Highline Historical Society’s website here.

The Highline Historical Society will be presenting “Soldiers in Petticoats: The Struggle of the Suffragettes” at the SeaTac City Hall on Sunday, Feb. 21st, beginning at 2pm.

Local actress Tames Alan will return, dressed in full period costume and acting in character, to talk about the struggle of American women to gain the right to vote.

Here are the details:

WHAT: Highline Historical Society’s “Soldiers In Petticoats: The Struggle of the Suffragettes”

WHEN: Sunday, Feb. 21st beginning at 2pm

WHERE: Sea-Tac City Hall, located at 4800 S 188th Street.

COST: This is a FREE event.

INFO: From a press release:

In the authentic clothing of a suffragette, Actress Tames Alan returns to talk about the struggle of American women to gain the right to vote.  In 1867, the passing of the 14th Amendment defined “citizen” as “male,” thus denying women the right to vote.  On this 100th Anniversary of women’s right to vote in Washington State, learn how American women adopted the militant tactics of English suffragettes to earn the right to vote and regain citizenship in their own country.  Discover how the suffragettes influenced child labor laws, the use and dispersal of birth control, the Temperance movement, and the right of women to earn a college degree.

This engaging program is free.

It is brought to the community by the Highline Historical Society with the support of Humanities WA.

Immediately followed by a reception for the elected women of Highline.

Tames Alan is an actress, historian, and fashion history teacher who has combined her skills to create Living History Lectures for people of all ages. Since 1986, she has been touring her programs throughout the United States and Canada, where she is known for in-depth research and a lively presentational style. Tames studied theater and history at Willamette University in Oregon and theater at the American Conservatory Theater and the Dell Arte School in California. She taught fashion history at the Art Institute of Seattle, and is a historical consultant to museums, libraries, and historical festivals throughout the Pacific Northwest.

For more information, visit the Highline Historical Society’s website here.

Our friends at the Highline Historical Society remind us that their online auction fundraiser ends Tuesday, Dec. 15th, so there’s still time to get great deals on local restaurants, foods, trips, services (including an Ad on the BTB!) and unusual experiences.

And of course, it’s all for a great cause – the Highline Historical Society!

Proceeds from the auction will benefit the ongoing programs and activities of the Society, including their capital building campaign for the new Highline Heritage Museum on their property in “Old Burien.”

The new Highline Heritage Museum, designed by Rohleder Borges Architects, will be located on the Southwest corner of SW 152nd Street and Ambaum Blvd. SW, where Karuna Yoga Arts is currently housed.

You can access the auction here:

www.highlinehistory.cmarket.com

The Highline Historical Society is holding an online auction fundraiser, which runs until Tuesday, Dec. 15th, and offers local restaurants, foods, trips and unusual experiences – all perfect gifts for the holidays, all the while supporting a great local cause.

You can access the auction here:

www.highlinehistory.cmarket.com.

Proceeds from the auction will benefit the ongoing programs and activities of the Society, including their capital building campaign for the new Highline Heritage Museum on their property in “Old Burien.”

“We cannot thank our local vendors enough for their participation. I encourage everyone to take a look at the website and support the Society by bidding on something fun for the holidays,” said Terry Anderson, Society President.

The new Highline Heritage Museum, designed by Rohleder Borges Architects, will be located on the Southwest corner of SW 152nd Street and Ambaum Blvd. SW, where Karuna Yoga Arts is currently housed.

The online auction is hosted by cMarket, which is the country’s leading provider of non-profit online auction services. On any day there are as many as 200 cMarket auctions underway online nationwide. With their secure servers and a growing number of community-minded vendors, more and more shoppers are finding that this is an excellent way to shop close to home for the holidays and to also assist a worthwhile local charity.

A special Veteran’s Day Commemoration is coming to the SeaTac Community Center on Wednesday, Nov. 11th to celebrate both the history of Des Moines Memorial Drive as well as honor women who have served their country.

Here are the details:

WHAT: Veteran’s Day Commemoration: Women in Service

WHO:  Scheduled speakers include:

• Kitty Milne, Highline Historical Society
• Congressman Adam Smith, 8th District
• Peggy Caudill, Intertribal Warrior Society (former Nurse in the U.S. Army)
• Carol Reed, American Legion (former Sergeant in the U.S. Marines)
• Kit Ledbetter, City of SeaTac

WHEN: Wednesday, November 11th from 2:00 p.m. – 3:00 p.m.

WHERE: SeaTac Community Center, located at 13735 24th Avenue South SeaTac, WA  98168; (206) 973-4680

INFO: The Des Moines Memorial Drive – The Living Road of Remembrance, is an eight-mile stretch of road through the cities of Des Moines, Burien, SeaTac and the Boulevard Park area of unincorporated King County. The Drive was completed in 1922 with the planting of 1,100 American elm trees, each commemorating an individual from Washington state who died in World War I. On November 11, 1963 a memorial wall commemorating the history of the Drive was dedicated at Sunnydale School in Burien.

ABOUT: The Des Moines Memorial Drive Committee, a citizen advisory committee created in 2000, developed a plan for restoring and enhancing the memorial road. The plan outlines how jurisdictions will implement enhancement efforts as part of future road improvement projects. For more information, visit www.roadofremembrance.org.

From their press release:

Community members are invited on Veterans Day, Wednesday, November 11, to celebrate a local historic road which honors the fallen soldiers of World War I. In addition to highlighting the history of Des Moines Memorial Drive, the event this year will honor women who served in the military during World War I and over the decades since that conflict. The event will be held at 2:00pm at SeaTac Community Center, located at 13735 – 24th Avenue South, in SeaTac.

Des Moines Memorial Drive is an eight-mile stretch of road which winds through the Boulevard Park area of unincorporated King County, SeaTac, Burien and Des Moines. In 1922 the project was completed with the planting of 1,100 American elm trees to line the roadway as a “living” memorial to those who lost their lives in World War I. Over time, the impacts of disease, radical pruning and utility installations have decimated most of the elms. Forty-six years ago on November 11, 1963, a memorial wall commemorating the history of the Drive was dedicated.

While held on Veterans Day, the event will also mark the day formerly known as Armistice Day, which is the anniversary of the official end of World War I (November 11, 1918). Elected officials including Congressman Adam Smith and local mayors will honor the historical nature of Des Moines Memorial Drive and the special role that women played in the country’s military history.

An Advisory Committee was created in 2000 with representation from King County, local cities, other interested public agencies, and concerned citizens to develop a coordinated vision for restoring and maintaining the living memorial. The resulting plan, which has been accepted by all the participating jurisdictions, outlines how the local cities can also incorporate similar memorial elements in their future road improvement projects along the Drive.

Des Moines Memorial Drive has national significance on several accounts:

1. It is the earliest planned “living road of remembrance.”
2. It is the only “living road of remembrance” that uses Elm trees.
3. At 10 miles, it is the longest “living road of remembrance.

In addition to the celebratory event, interpretive displays prepared by the Highline Historical Society will be available for public viewing. Local veterans and school groups are expected to take part in the event that will also recognize the ongoing cooperative efforts of the cities and county. learn more about Des Moines Memorial Drive, visit www.roadofremembrance.org.

“Two Wheels North,” a commemorative presentation written by Evelyn McDaniel Gib will be performed on Saturday, Oct. 10th for FREE at 2pm at the Burien Community Center, located at 425 SW 144th Street.

The play, a staged reading of a historic non-fiction event, features two fresh high school graduates that set out on their secondhand bicycles from Santa Rosa, CA in August of 1909 to take on the challenge of cycling from their home all the way north to Seattle for the Alaska Yukon Pacific Exposition.

With less than $6 bucks between them, they pedal, push, and walk 1,000 miles of primitive roads for 54 days. As you can probably imagine what roads were like 100 years ago, the intrepid boys encounter nearly every imaginable natural, mechanical, and human challenge on their one-speed bikes. While adventure is their primary lure, there is a promised purse of $25 from the Seattle Post-Intelligencer (when it was still being printed, pre-internet) waiting for them if they can only make it to Seattle before the final day of the AYP.

• This presentation is sponsored by the Highline Historical Society and the Burien Little Theatre.
• Funding has been provided by 4Culture.
• Admission is FREE, and the production is family-friendly.
• The entrance to the community center parking lot closest to the theater is on 4th Ave SW  between SW 144th and 146th Streets.
• Contact Burien Little Theatre to arrange handicapped or special needs seating, please email info@burienlittletheatre.com.

The Highline Historical Society will be holding a Garden Tour on Saturday, June 13th from 10am to 5pm, where people can visit gardens in Normandy Park, SeaTac and Burien.

Some of Highline’s best gardeners are preparing their homes and gardens for this Garden Tour.  Large or small, traditional or eclectic, there is something in each of this year’s featured gardens that the visitor will find of interest.

The Highline Historical Society‘s cheerful band of volunteers will host visitors at four beautiful gardens and at the Highline SeaTac Botanical Gardens.  An added feature is a talk by noted gardener Marianne Binetti, as well as a screening at the SeaTac Community Center of the Seike Garden film produced by documentary filmmaker Ken Slusher.

In addition to gardening tips and ideas, visitors will find an artist in action, a musician, and garden art for sale.  Ticketholders will be able to enter sponsor raffles for garden-related giveaways, and chat with owners about ideas and best practices.

If you are not a gardener, these gardens will give you inspiration.  If you are a gardener, you will find plenty to admire and the opportunity to make like-minded friends.

Advance tickets are $12.00 for parties of 4 or more, and $15.00 for individual tickets.  Day of show tickets are $18.00.  Tickets may be purchased at Grassroots, Burien Bark and Herr Backyard Garden Center.

Here are the details:

WHAT: Highline Historical Society Garden Tour

WHEN: Saturday, June 13th from 10am to 5pm

WHERE: Various gardens in the area, including Seike Garden

COST: $12 per person for groups of four or more; $15 advance purchase, $18 day of tour. Please mail check with name, address, phone, email and # of tickets requested to:

PO Box 317
Seahurst, WA 98062

Or charge via VISA or MasterCard by calling 206-241-5786.

INFO: The Highline Historical Society presents a visit to our neighborhoods for a day of gardening inspiration.

Highline Historical Society invites you to visit our neighborhoods for a day of gardening inspiration. Visit lovely gardens in Normandy Park, SeaTac and Burien, where you will be treated to music and artists-in-action. Visiit the Seike Garden at Highline/SeaTac Botanical Garden, talk with a Master Gardener, attend Marianne Binetti’s program and learn about creating your own show garden.

Music program of “artists in action” by Marianne Binetti.

Special sponsor drawings for gardening gifts.

Former “Lazy Gardener” Stephen Lamphear, whose garden is pictured above, says:

The Highline Garden Tour (originally ‘the Burien Garden Tour”) has been presented since 1996, when a Burien community group [Parks, Arts, and Recreation Council] and I put together the first tour.  We’ve shown gardens from the Grand to the Bland, with each tour an opportunity to get to know the community.  A few years ago, I handed off the tour to the Highline Historical Society to expand it into the Highline Garden Tour as a major fundraiser for HHS.

Attached is a photo of my garden which won the 1997 First Prize in the annual Pacific Gardens Contest (trip to London for the grandest garden event of them all: the Chelsea Flower Show).  It is still the only Highline area garden to win.  After the win, I became garden columnist for the Robinson Newspaper Group as “The Lazy Gardener” for 9 years.

So, the Lazy Garden is still spading away!

“The most noteworthy thing about gardeners is that they are always optimistic, always enterprising, and never satisfied.” – Vita Sackville-West, 1892 – 1962 .

“I Am Highline,” a new film/DVD, has received a 4Culture Special Project grant to fund the development, filming and production of a promotional film about the Highline area.

The new high-definition film will be Directed by B-Town Blog Publisher Scott Schaefer, a three-time National Emmy Award winner for work on “Bill Nye the Science Guy,” an acclaimed kids’ educational show that aired on PBS. His other credits include “Penn & Teller: BS!,” “The Arsenio Hall Show,” “Almost Live!” and many others over a 23+ year career in media ranging from Seattle’s KING-TV to six years in Hollywood and much more.

Filming will be begin in the late summer and early fall and will feature diverse residents of Highline.

Schaefer will work with longtime collaborator, Director of Photography Mike Boydstun, a Grammy-nominated cinematographer on this Highline Historical Society project which will celebrate the ethnic composition of Highline. The film will focus on people representing 30 cultures that have moved here to live, work and raise their families, and will feature conversations in English and their own languages, talking about reasons for coming, and what living here means to them.

One early and important use of the footage will be to document these individuals and their contributions for the society’s collections. The DVD produced will be used for informational and fundraising purposes at area festivals and events. Another use will be to include pieces of these interviews that celebrate our local ethnic groups and their contribution to the region in the permanent exhibits of the new Highline Heritage Museum. And finally, parts of this film footage will be placed on the society’s website for everyone to see, and will provide the basis for expanding these stories into a documentary film that can be shown in the new museum theater as an introduction to Highline.

“The historical significance of this film is to continue documenting the heritage of the people of Highline,” said Cyndi Upthegrove, Executive Director of the  Highline Historical Society. “We believe that we are among the first in Highline to provide this broad documentation, and we want to provide a baseline of information for the community to use for many purposes and for an extended period of time.”

The Highline Historical Society is a local non-profit organization undertaking a capital campaign to fund development of the Highline Heritage Museum on its site in Olde Burien. Community participation is welcomed and memberships are available.

For more information, check the Society’s web site at www.highlinehistory.org.

Photos and Story by Scott Schaefer

At 14920 Ambaum Blvd. lies an aging, one-level, yellow cement/brick building that currently houses “Paty’s Furniture,” a discount “Mexican Furniture” shop adjacent to the Burien City Garage.

It’s chock full of discount furniture, couches, loveseats, recliners, mattresses, kid’s beds, “dinning sets” and more, all at marked-down prices, with many signs in Spanish and the words “Mexican Furniture” on their business cards.

One thing that people don’t realize is that the old wooden floors underneath the marked-down couches and recliners hide a secret, nearly-forgotten Burien history:

These were once the wooden floors of “Burien Bowling Lanes,” a 7-lane bowling alley that operated here between 1948 and 1962.

Where wooden dinette sets now sit, gutter balls once rolled.

Where blue velvet couches lie at a 30% discount awaiting to be taken to a new home, 7-10 splits once frustrated B-Town bowlers.

Currently, you can see the remnants of two or three of the lanes, including the aiming marks on what may have been lane two or three:

We were first alerted to this history by an email from researcher Scott Handley, who wrote:

I’m collecting information on local bowling centers, past and present.

Yesterday, I was at the University of Washington Library working with Polk City Directories, and I came across “Burien Bowling Lanes,” 14920 Ambaum Blvd SW.

Best I could figure from the directories, it opened around 1956 and closed in 1964.

Would anyone with a long memory recall how many lanes it had, or whether it closed coincident with the opening of Hi-Line Lanes, located less than a mile away?

Thanks very much.  I’m impressed by your blog.

Scott Handley
Edmonds

Of course, we immediately forwarded the email on to Cyndi Upthegrove, Director of the Highline Historical Society, who quickly confessed to knowing nothing about it.

Our next step of course was to roll on in to Paty’s Furniture and do our own inspection. It didn’t take more than two minutes before we found the first evidence, and we starting snapping photos right away.

Shortly thereafter, we had to explain why were were crouched over, taking pictures of the old floor boards under the La-Z-Boys to Julio, the store manager – “um, I run a local website, and I understand that this was once a bowling alley…”

Julio just smiled a lot and nodded, and seemed to find what he could understand very amusing.

But that’s the truth, and we’re not afraid to admit we love unusual local history and stories. Especially the kind that involves a fun and funky sport that is now being replaced by a virtual video game version that we play with our kids.

If you have any memories or photos of this building when it was the “Burien Bowling Lanes,” or know of any other lost history in the Burien area, please email us – we’d love to do more features like this.

Otherwise, stop in and say hi to Julio, then walk down the ramp to the main showroom of discount furniture. Find an area of exposed wood, and take a look around at the floor and imagine what once went on in this building – people met here, had fun, got frustrated, won games, lost bets, relieved stress, perhaps even heard the first single by a guy named Elvis as they rented shoes, then stuck their fingers in heavy balls that they rolled down a wooden lane trying to knock down ten white pins, not knowing that some 50-60 years later it’d be mostly forgotten, covered by discount “Mexican Furniture” then revealed again on a community news source that wasn’t even printed on paper.

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Lately, whenever we’ve dined out in Burien, we’ve noticed just plain bad table manners. Some people talk with their mouths full, while others (gasp) use the wrong fork to eat salad.

Well, the Highline Historical Society is coming to the rescue – they’re presenting a unique program at this Sunday (March 1st), called “Trial By Fork,” featuring Actress Tames Alan at SeaTac City Hall, which is located at 4800 South 188th Street (see map below).

According to HHS Director Cyndi Upthegrove, this should be a “very entertaining and educational event, as Tames does a very authentic job and is a lot of fun.”

So be sure to put that salad fork down when you really should have a dessert fork, for cryin’ out loud. and get on over there!

Here are the details:

WHAT: “Trial by Fork” featuring Actress Tames Alan

WHEN: Sunday, March 1st at 2pm

WHERE: SeaTac City Hall (4800 S 188th Street)

INFO: In this one-hour program, Tames Alan will demystify the manners and accoutrements of a formal 12-course Victorian dinner.

She will explain the mysteries of the table, from setting it and what each item on the table was used for, to the menu and what dishes were served with each course.

Also covered will be good table manners and suitable conversation topics when in the presence of ladies, and how the formal manners of the Victorian age translated into the good manners of today.

As with all of Tames’ programs, there will be a question-and-answer period at the end. Brought to us with a grant from Humanities Washington.

Join the Highline Historical Soceity at this link (we’re members), or donate directly online by clicking here.

More info on the Highline Historical Society available at its website.

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61 years ago today – Nov. 30, 1947, at around 2:25pm – an Alaska Airlines airplane with 25 passengers and three crewmembers on board crashed while trying to land at Sea-Tac Airport, killing nine and injuring 17.

One of the dead was Stella Pearl Jones, 44, a blind passenger in a car struck by the airplane on Des Moines Road (now Des Moines Memorial Way) near 180th:

Another victim was Mrs. Virginia Stitsworth, 33, an entertainer whose stagename was “Virginia Grafton” (her field of entertainment is unknown).

Most people who remember this tragic incident have either passed away, or perhaps their memories have faded. However, that does not diminish the impact of such a terrible crash that took the lives of nine, which, if it happened today, would surely be a major news event.

The doomed flight had many problems en route to Sea-Tac, including two days’ delay in Alaska for bad weather and mechanical problems. Once in Seattle, heavy fog obscured the landing strips at both Paine and Boeing Fields. The unsuccessful landing at Sea-Tac was the third attempt to land under poor visibility, and one can’t help but imagine the potential worry its passengers may have been going through at the time.

The four-engine Alaska Airlines craft, a Douglas C 54-A, descended from the northeast, then (according to some reports) touched down 2,748 feet beyond the approach area to Runway 20. It then careened over an embankment onto Des Moines Road, where it collided with an automobile, killing a female passenger. It then burst into flames as passengers tried to escape.

Six persons were dead at the scene and three more died in the hospital. The victims included:

• Virginia Stitsworth, 33, aka Virginia Grafton, Seattle
• Jonas E. Johnson, 44, Palmer, Alaska
• Gordon Johnson, 21 months, Palmer, Alaska
• Stella Pearl Jones, 44, Seattle, passenger in an automobile struck by the airliner
• Leslie Howe, 33, Spokane
• Fred Smith, 20, Tacoma
• Olie Raing, Anchorage
• Reba Monk, 22, Stewardess, Seattle; Monk was burned while leading passengers to safety through the flames

An investigation by the Civil Aeronautics Board found that the pilot approached the runway too high and was not correctly lined up for proper landing.

The pilot, who survived, was assessed a penalty of $1,000 for violations of Civil Air Regulations.

Here’s text taken directly from the archives of the Daily Sitka Sentinel Alaska, dated Dec. 1, 1947:

ALASKA PLANE CRASHES AT SEATTLE.

BRAKES FAIL CAUSING PLANE TO JUMP BANK.

Seattle (AP) — The pilot of a four engined Alaska Airlines transport plane which crashed and burned at the Seattle-Tacoma airport blamed the crash today on failure of the hydraulic brake to “take the slightest hold.”

Eight passengers died and three others were critically injured as a result of the accident late yesterday.

The pilot Capt. JAMES E. FERRIS, 37, of Seattle, told the Seattle Times that the DC-4 plane landed at a speed of approximately 100 miles an hour, rolled like “it was on a bed of ball bearings” until it leaped a 60 foot embankment at the end of the airport runway. It crashed into an automobile on the highway below, killing a blind woman in the car.

The plane was flying from Anchorage to Seattle. It had 28 persons aboard, 25 passengers and a crew of three.

Three passengers were reported in critical condition at the New Renton hospital and two were listed as unsatisfactory at Harborview County hospital.

The others had been released after treatment or were recovering from minor burns and bruises in the hospital.

Twenty-six of the 28 aboard the big plane scrambled from door and emergency exits or were pulled from the flames by rescuers. All, however, were seared by the gasoline fed flames that flashed through the fuselage. Four of the rescued died later.

The latest casualty was the plane’s stewardess, MISS REBA MONK, of Santa Monica, Calif., who was credited by survivors with having led many of the passengers to safety.

The other dead are:

• MRS. VIRGINIA STITSWORTH, 33, Tacoma, entertainer known professionally as VIRGINIA GRAFATON.
• GORDON JOHNSON, 21-month-old son of MR. and MRS. J. E. JOHNSON, of Palmer, Alaska.
• The list of dead climbed to eight when 44 year old JONAS E. JOHNSON, of Palmer, died of burns. His 21-month-old son, GORDON, died in the plane wreckage yesterday. MRS. JOHNSON was released from a hospital after treatment for burns.
• MRS. PEARL STELLA JONES, 43, Seattle, blind woman trapped in the car which the big transport smashed as it careened off the field onto the intersection of the Des Moines highway and 158th St.
• LESLIE HOWE, listed of Seattle and Spakane, died in hospital.
• OLE RIUG, Anchorage, died in hospital.
• REBA MONK, Santa Monica, died in hospital.
• FRED SMITH, Tacoma, died in hospital.

The injured crew members:

• Capt. JAMES E. FARRIS, Seattle, the pilot; formerly a Matson line pilot, San Francisco; injuries not serious.
  RICHARD F. WHITTING, co-pilot Anchorage; fractured arm, burns, possible internal injuries.

The passengers injured:

• ANE PLEYM, Los Angeles.
• MRS. LESLIE HOWE.
• WILLIAM RANDALL, Nenane, (also listed as OLIVER RINDAHL); critical.
• MARY B. KELLY, Seattle; condition unsatisfactory with neck and back injuries.
• JOHN A. LATHANAN, JR., Fairbanks; critical.
• MRS. LATHANAN, treated and released.
• MRS. J. K. (CHRISTINE) TRASS, Seattle.
• H. M. KOCH, Snohomish, Wash.
• MRS. FLORA HUNTER, Anchorage.
• RICHARD JONES, Palmer.
• MRS. SELMA OLSEN, Anchorage.
• MR. and MRS. ROWLANA SMITH, Terrabonne, Ore., MRS. SMITH, an expectant mother, hospitalized, her husband treated and released.
• EUGENE MARTIN, Seattle.
• ZENA LOUISE FELTRIN, Anchorage.
• LES M. GREENING, Anchorage and Seattle.
• MR. and MRS. RALPH TRACY, McGrath.
• MRS. J. E. JOHNSON, Palmer.

Ten others of the plane’s passengers and crew were in critical condition at Seattle and Renton hospitals. Several were not expected to live.

Bodies of two of the dead were not recovered until nearly four hours after the crash because of the intense heat emiting from the wreckage.

The plane, a DC-4, crashed only a few minutes after it had been turned back from an attempted landing at Seattle’s Boeing field by fog. Two airport employes in the control tower at the Seattle-Tacoma field said the ceiling radioed to pilot JAMES EVAN FERRIS, Seattle, as the plane settled through the overcast was 600 feet with a quarter mile visibility. Three minutes after the crash a special reading showed the ceiling at “400 feet with three-quarters of a mile visibility.”
HAROLD K. PHILIPS, chief of the maintenance division for the Civil Aeronautics Administration, sped to the scene for official inquiry and said:

“Apparently the pilot ground hopped when he saw he was going off the runway.”

MRS. JONES, a widow and mother of a 9-year-old boy, was riding with a neighbor, IRA VON VOLKENBURG when the plane came plunging down a steep bank and swept the car across the road. VON VOLKENBURG said he escaped by kicking out a window and then groped in the smashed car without finding MRS. JONES. He was driven away seconds later as the plane burst into flames and then was wrecked by an explosion.

Eye-witnesses said the plane had made an apparently safe landing when it suddenly turned and went broadside over the bank at the end of the runway.

An outboard engine struck the bank as the plane sagged and watchers at the control tower said it “popped into flames.” Then it again as it flattened VON VOLKENBURG’S automobile and finally was sheathed in flame as the fuel tanks exploded.

The liner had been dogged by bad weather since it took off from Anchorage last Thursday. During its flight from Alaska it was delayed at Yakutat and Annette Island, near Ketchikan. It had taken from Annette at 9:30 a.m. yesterday.

Do you love local history as much as we do? If so, consider joining or donating to the Highline Historical Society, which is holding an online auction through Dec. 15th at this website.

You can join at this link, or donate directly to the HHS by clicking here.

We’re proud to say that The B-Town Blog is now a member, so you can look forward to many more obscure local history stories on this here website…

SOURCES FOR THIS STORY/PHOTOS:

• Highline Historical Society
• Historylink.org
• GenDisasters.com

The Highline Historical Society will hold its annual meeting on Sunday, Nov. 23rd at 2pm at the SeaTac City Hall, which is located at 4800 South 188th Street (see map below).

This meeting will also feature an encore showing of the Ken Slusher Documentary “The Seike Garden: An American Story.” This 27-minute film tells the story of the Seike family and their beautiful Seike Japanese Gardens that were moved by the cities of Burien and SeaTac to make way for the 3rd runway at SeaTac International Airport.

It chronicles the history of the garden, cooperative efforts by local governments, nonprofits, and citizens to save the garden, and the physical challenge of relocating and replicating a 45 year-old living work of art. It also highlights the seminal roles that immigrant families have played in building the Highline community, a story that has been repeated in thousands of communities across America.

The film tells the (literally) moving story of the community effort to save this living gem. Using personal interviews and images drawn from family photos, Super-8 footage of original garden construction, and more recent still and motion photography, the film details the fascinating array of social, financial, and logistical hurdles involved in such projects.

A question and answer session with the filmmaker and one of the project managers involved with relocating the garden will follow the premiere.

Admission and parking are free.

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Last week we were invited to a special presentation that revealed the new plans for the Highline Heritage Museum, which will be built at 819 SW 152nd Street in Olde Burien at Ambaum Blvd., where Karuna Yoga is now.

Highline Historical Society Director Cyndi Upthegrove spoke about the new museum, along with Architect Tim Rohleder.

The museum will be housed in a brand new building with some rather innovative features, including:

• Interesting “box-on-box” styled building (see pics below)
• Innovative circulation system that utilizes natural cooling from underground
• A large room suitable for Smithsonian traveling exhibits (making it the only Smithsonian-suitable museum in the area)
• Unique ground floor windows with the faces of local pioneers (again, see photos below)

According to Cyndi, the museum will include some rather unusual (and ambitious) elements:

“The environmental system for the building will be geo-thermal. In this particular application we will be digging 25 pits to around 250 deep below the ground to a place where the temperature is a steady 57 degrees.  Tubes of liquid will circulate through these pits and a heat exchanger will heat and air condition the building using the temperature of the liquid in the tubes. For example, rather than bringing in 37 degree air and heating it to 68 degrees for the building in the winter, we will be using liquid that is already 57 degrees, not needing as much energy to bring the building to the required temp. For a slightly increased installation cost, we will install a system that will pay for itself in energy savings in 5-7 years, and perhaps sooner.

The upstairs gallery will not be developed with permanent exhibits.  Rather, it will be used for temporary and traveling exhibits.  The Society is working with the Smithsonian Institution to become a Smithsonian Affiliate Institution, making it possible to obtain artifacts and exhibits for long term exhibition. It is our intention to use Smithsonian Institution Traveling Exhibit Services (SITES) several times a year, as well as other nationally recognized traveling exhibit services to bring changing and interesting materials to the Highline community. The entire building has been designed with the security and environmental conditions in mind to house good traveling exhibits.”

Here are some photos provided by Rohleder Borges Architecture, the architects of the design:

Created with Admarket’s flickrSLiDR.

The Highline Historical Society is sponsoring a very special presentation this Sunday, Aug. 10th, from 2pm–4pm at SeaTac City Hall (4800 S. 188th, SeaTac – map below) with Henry Friedman, author of the 1999 memoir “I’m No Hero: Journeys of a Holocaust Survivor.”

Some elements of the discussion will include:

• Friedman will recount his adolescence and coming of age under the unspeakable horror of Nazism.
• When the Nazis overran their home near the Polish-Ukrainian border, the Friedman family was saved by Ukrainian Christians who had worked for them at their family farm in the nearby village of Suchowola.
• When the Russians liberated the family after 18 months in hiding, Henry, just short of 16, made his way with his family to a displaced persons camp in Austria.
• In the camp, he discovered sex, money, and the intricacies of the black market.
• Like many other Holocaust survivors, he found it difficult to examine the past.  However, his sense of obligation to bear witness eventually overcame his painful memories and his feelings of survivor-guilt.
• In his “I’m No Hero” presentation, Mr. Friedman confronts with unblinking honesty the pain, shame, and bizarre comedy that were his passage to adulthood.

Audience:  Middle School through Adult, due to some mature content.

This should be a very interesting and informative event.

You can read Friedman’s book online here.

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The Highline Historical Society is holding an online auction through June 22nd, to raise funds for their new museum.

From their auction website:

Highline has a rich heritage to share – from a fire and ice-filled archaeological past, dynamic Native American cultures, and pioneers with extraordinary vision – to recent and present day leaders committed to bringing our communities into the 21st century as good places to live, raise our very diverse families and conduct business.

We are building a new museum – for the new century – that preserves the past by telling stories about a particular place, time or event.  Join with the Trustees, staff and members of the Highline Historical Society in raising the dollars necessary to support this wonderful endeavour. When this new museum opens we will all truly be able to say, “History Happens Here!”

You have a good opportunity from now until June 22 to pick up interesting items for the people you love. There are wonderful trips with airfare, jewelery, items for the home, and local goods and services. Take advantage of the opportunity to purchase something special for you and your family while supporting the future Highline Heritage Museum.

Please forward this to your friends so they can bid too.

Remember, your bid supports the new Highline Heritage Museum, which will be built on the corner of Ambaum Blvd and SW 152nd, where Karuna Yoga is located now.

Some items up for bid include:

• Vacation packages to Mexico, DC, Florida, Vancouver & Victoria
• $60 gift certificate to Bistro Baffi
• $25 gift certificate to 909 Coffee & Wine Bar
• Brand new Sonicare toothbrush
• $125 value Mariners tickets (w/the quote: “Maybe YOU can make the Mariners win!“)

As of 5/30/08, total dollars raised was $484 – let’s make this number go up folks!

Bid here, bid often, bid high!