Yesteryears: Bids open on proposed new Elks temple in 1948

The following, from The Dalles Chronicle, will be read with interest and, perhaps, some pride by Hood River folks:

“Hood River is to be congratulated upon its foresight and courage in establishing the first airport in the Mid-Columbia region. Dedicatory ceremonies were held at Hood River for the new airport, which were attended by more than 2,000 persons.

“Several hundred Hood River citizens donated their services toward putting the 11-acre tract obtained for an airport into condition. An air circus was staged in the afternoon, participated in by planes from Portland and Vancouver.

“Hood River is now in a position to accommodate aerial visitors who will land from time to time, and can make a bid for permanent development as a center for Mount Hood flights and similar sight-seeing trips. If the proposed through air-mail service is inaugurated, using the Columbia Gorge as a route, Hood River will have a field for use by the pilots, whether as a regular stop or for emergency landings. Also, if the winter air mail route to California is established east of the Cascades, as has been contemplated in the past, Hood River ill have an airport for use as an important relay point.

“All the more credit is attached to Hood River’s accomplishment by the fact that financial conditions have been none too good there in the last year, due to crop difficulties and low prices for apples.

“Without distracting from Hood River’s credit in the least, The Chronicle feels that it can point out that The Dalles always seems to get a good idea first, and then lay down on the job and let our neighbor develop it. Several years ago, The Dalles envisioned a bridge across the Columbia here, at a point where the river runs in the narrowest channel between here and the sea. It is still a vision, and Hood River has a bridge, built and operating at a profit.

“It was the same with the airport idea, which has been agitated in The Dalles for several years. Today Hood River has an airport and The Dalles is still waiting, apparently on the theory that ‘the ground is good enough for us.’”

— Hood River News, March 9, 1928

1928 — 90 years ago

With a bid approximately $5,000 below the estimate of Engineer Hurlburt, the Iver J. Rosten Co., of Portland, were successful bidders for the new grade on Tucker Hill. Their bid was $15,391.50, and was a surprise to most who knew the nature of the work. The county court received 23 bids for the job, the highest number of bids ever received by that body for local work.

1938 — 80 years ago

The League of Women Voters, with more than 65 leading local women present, met at St. Mark’s parish house Wednesday with the state president, Mrs. Reade M. Ireland, present. Mrs. Ireland, who introduced the speaker, Mrs. Chas. Carver, was herself introduced by Mrs. K. MacMaster Halsted. The League of Women Voters never sponsors candidates, being non-partisan. At the meeting Wednesday, a local organization, with 35 women signing up as members, was formed.

1948 — 70 years ago

Bids for the construction of a new Elks temple will be opened at the local lodge rooms on Friday, March 20. A building committee, chairmaned (sic) by Art Hansen, met with Annand and Kennedy, architects, on Feb. 23 to accept final plans and authorize the advertising of bids. Plans call for a two-story building, which will be erected at the corner of Cascade Avenue and Fourth Street. The building will include a kitchen, banquet room and dance floor combined on the first floor, lodge rooms, lounge and other facilities on the second floor.

1958 — 60 years ago

Forty fans at the Wy’east-Hood River basketball game went home wealthier, if not healthier and more intelligent, after their March of Dimes contributions earned them special merchandise awards in a drawing sponsored by the school to support the polio fund campaign. Joan Yasui, chairman of the Wy’east student body MOD drive, announced the names of the winners this week. They received prize tickets for each 10-cent donation to the polio drive at the game’s halftime.

1968 — 50 years ago

The long, complicated and usually hard-to-explain job of developing a new philosophy and new set of objectives for Hood River County education should be completed by the end of this school year, school leaders said this week. Then they’ll start work of the development of curriculum material. Only after that is done will attention be focused on the system of school operation. In the midst of all the planning and teacher discussions, one thing is certain: The county’s new high school, when it’s completed in 1970, will be unique in secondary education not only in Oregon, but throughout the Northwest.

1978 — 40 years ago

Hood River’s uninsulated City Hall was the scene for a discussion about energy conservation at Tuesday’s City Council meeting. Just what can be done to save dollars on energy in a budget where one item, the secondary treatment plant, accounts for an estimated 90 percent of the total energy cost is a problem. The treatment plant and the city’s street lights are the major costs in the budget.

1988 — 30 years ago

A strong bid by a citizen’s group for a three-way stop at May and Rand narrowly failed to convince the County Board of Commissioners here Monday, but there was also assurances the issue is not dead. Representatives of the busy La Cinica del Carino, a clinic in the northeast corner of the intersection, wrote letters and petitioned the county to sanction it’s part of the traffic change proposal. In addition, a group of neighbors represented by Jan Schlosser submitted a petition signed by 34 residents of the area requesting the change. They ask that signs be placed to stop traffic on May at the “T” intersection with Rand. There’s already a stop sign on Rand Road at May Street.

1998 — 20 years ago

A mural spans Hood River Middle School’s auditorium like a colorful history book telling the story of Hood River County. Painted as a gift in 1928 by local artist Percy Manser, its scenes show Hispanic workers in an orchard and a contemplative Native American with back turned to white settlers rolling in by covered wagon. But like Hood River County itself, the mural has aged over the years. Water damage from heavy rainstorms, as well as the simple passage of time, has taken its toll. This week, though, the mural doctor is putting Hood River Middle School’s prize back together. Mary McMurray of Portland is painstakingly restoring the mural. Working from photographs, she carefully dabs a little brown paint here, some blue there, in an effort to make things look just like they did when Manser finished the mural 70 years ago.

2008 — 10 years ago

Odell’s Matt Yasui and Parkdale’s Yesenia Castro were invited — by official invitation from the White House — to meet with First Lady Laura Bush in Portland on Feb. 28 at the Helping America’s Youth Day Conference. Yausi is a youth leader with the Hood River Teen Court, and Castro is a National Youth Leader.

— Compiled by Trisha Walker, News staff writer