THE DALLES — Karl Vercouteren’s new book concludes an adventure in local history has led him from opera house to walking tour history blog, and down historical rabbit holes on almost 90 local architectural features over the last four years.
A launch for “All Together The Dalles Too,” a sequel to Vercouteren’s first book on The Dalles' architectural past, will begin at 5 p.m. on Feb. 16, at The Dalles Art Center.
Both books accompany the “All Together The Dalles” project, an architectural montage at 811 E. Second St.
Vercouteren helped develop a list of locations to include in that mural, after former The Dalles Art Center Director Scott Stephenson received a grant to bring Portland artist Beth Kirschen to The Dalles to create the photographic prototype.
“So she had done these photo-montages, stacking up buildings ... we needed to come up with a list of possibilities. I was invited to be a part of that,” said Vercouteren, who was then assisting Dawn Hert on a grant to improve the downtown walking tour. “We came up with a list of all kinds of possibilities for taking the pictures and she had an even longer list of all the things that might go into a walking tour, eventually.”
In 2019, Stephenson suggested a blog, and Vercouteren started digging up history for each building.
But often, the first-hand observers Vercouteren needed to question had passed away. “I’d often run up against, you know, ‘Oh, if only so-and-so was still alive, that’s who I’d go and ask, because they’d know the answer to this question,’” he explained. Then he’d need secondary sources.
“And then all of a sudden, we had COVID shutdowns ... was like doing historical research with your hand tied behind your back, because the libraries were closed and couldn’t really do the research some of the ways you normally would do it,” he said.
Museums and buildings shuttered. Fortunately, Vercouteren knew people. He did research over the phone.
A combination of oral history, old documents, and massive architectural studies for The Dalles’ historic districts got Vercouteren what he needed. “You get the architectural detail, in quite a bit of detail, and quite a bit of architectural jargon, and then you get into the history of it,” he said, adding, “In those studies, the language is architectural-speak. So, you know, translating some of that.”
Vercouteren majored in history at Lakeland University, and wrote for his college newspaper, which shaped his style of writing “for people to understand.” He wrote a book on the German-background churches of his Kentucky town, one of which he served on as minister. Moving to The Dalles in 1977, where he served as pastor of United Church of Christ, Congregational until 2008, he refocused on Pacific Northwest history.
He relied on those Historic District studies. “Very often that material was taken from sources like William McNeill’s ‘History of Wasco County.’ ... Big thick thing. ... But he was a collector, and let’s just say everything is not always accurate. You had to double-check!”
Karl Vercouteren opens the map that solved the mystery of Brickyard Road.
Flora Gibson photo
The first book, a deluxe hardcover published in 2022 with grant money received by the Art Center, cost about $55 per copy to print. “This is gonna be a big fundraiser for the art center, you know, they were hurting for money,” said Vercouteren. “I was a little disappointed at that point ... would not reach a large general audience at a $100 apiece.” The Art Center later cleared out the first edition at a lower price.
But Vercouteren was still having fun. “I had another 40 of these blogs I had written,” he said. “I thought, why not print it?” Self-published through Bohn’s Printing, it’s not a deluxe hardcover, but he can charge less, reach a large audience, and get his money back, with a bit left for the Art Center.
Readers will find, he hopes, “just a lot of extra knowledge and interest ... the architectural thing, so you have a little more understanding of what you see.”
Vercouteren found “... Stuff we see every day and don’t think a whole lot about it, but it may cause people to stop and think. And, take the book along, and look up high, especially with the down buildings, that all have 1950 renovated store fronts, but you look up — and there’s a fancy old rooftop ... tiles... medallions ... friezes ... entablature ... pilasters ...”
He sought out anecdotes that illuminated the dry history of those architectural studies. The dedication of St. Peter's Landmark on ST. Patrick's day, 1898, is a favorite. Shortly after that, Henry B. Herbring, building committe chair, gave "‘a gift that surmounted all the other gifts’ for the new building: A five-toot-tall rooster weather vane on top of the 176 foot spire ... it surmounts most everything in town!” said Vercouteren.
Sometimes it took a paper trail to clarify the oral history Vercouteren gathered. For instance, once upon a time St. Mary’s Academy and surrounding cemeteries stood on Brickyard Road. “And when the church was built, frontage on Brickyard road,” he added. “So, where is Brickyard road?”
First-hand memories placed it in multiple roadways. Architectural records suggested Cherry Heights. Finally, a map of the mysterious “Fruitland Park Addition” found in archives by former county roadmaster Dan Boldt specified the lower portion of Cherry Heights was once the road to a brickyard. “All those buildings downtown, all the brick buildings, that was all sourced with bricks that were actually made here,” Vercouteren said.
His advice to aspiring historians is to just dig in. “Be sure to talk to people who are still around who know things,” he said. “I mean history will always — well, we’re part of it. I mean, yesterday was history. Five minutes ago was history. So how do you define history? Well, it’s anything that’s already happened. And it’s always fascinated me, you know, how do we get to where we are today? So part of the question where do we go from here, is gonna depend upon that past history.”
“All Together The Dalles Too” is available at The Dalles Art Center and Klindt’s Booksellers. More information on the upcoming book launch is available at thedallesartcenter.org.
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