Taking a rest

Jan. 3, 2020

After a busy holiday season the Christmas wreath takes a break on a park bench.

Pickleball Court

 Dec. 23, 2019

This part of Beerbower Park was first developed as a tennis/badminton court. Yes, as if enough McCleary people in the late 1950s/early 1960s were going to actually go out and spend energy playing these sports. What were the planners thinking?

So in short order the area became kind of a weird nothing spot. I took my daughter there when she was first learning to ride a bike with training wheels as it was a safe area from cars. For a spell there was an effort to turn it into a skateboard park.

Today it has been made into a court for pickleball, which has become a fast-growing sport across the country. I do see folks playing there now and then and it looks fun!

After the floods

Dec. 22, 2019

This town was built on a cedar swamp and sometimes the branches of Wildcat Creek like to get out and stretch a bit. Over 100 years ago Jake Anderson, who owned the west half of town, used to pole through what is now the Maple Street area in his little skiff.

In modern times First Street is especially bad. In 1990 the street was a raging river as I recall. Cars in the Rainbow Park lot off of First were in the water up to their door handles. Beerbower Park was a lake. The little pedestrian bridge between the Park and Mommsen washed out. Actually it was almost gone as a result of the high water and a couple kids rocked it away, finishing the job. I saw it happen.

The 1990 flood happened right after Simpson clearcut a hill on the southeast corner of town. Following the flood Simpson turned the property into a housing development and after having cut all the trees comically named it "Evergreen Heights." Although too late for the 1990 victims, they did install a retention pond.

Another place that used to flood was near the intersection of Summit Road and what is now Buck Street out in the new development north of the railroad tracks the McCleary Grange lost due to some unfortunate financial decisions from what I understand. Anyway, I see they have a retention pond there now.

Every picture tells a story

Oct. 26, 2019

The public restrooms on the left of the photo was about where Henry McCleary had his executive office when his sawmill was in current day Beerbower Park. The kitchen-picnic building behind that was constructed around the late 1980s or early 1990s to replace the original building that had been built in the early days of the McCleary Bear Festival as a place to cook the bear stew.

The current City Hall, constructed in the late 1950s, was originally the site of Henry McCleary's later headquarters. When President Roosevelt came through town in an open car in the 1930s, Henry instructed his employees to turn their backs. After McCleary sold the town to Simpson, he tried living in northern Nevada for a brief time, but that did not work out. In his final year or so even though he resided in Olympia he could occasionally be seen sitting outside of his old headquarters watching the world go by in a town he no longer controlled.

The crosswalk brings to mind this little tale. McCleary has had a long and colorful history of Chiefs of Police. In the 1950s the City hired a young photogenic fellow from Shelton for the job and he was the first person to institute the use of marked crosswalks on the main roads. Most of the residential streets were not paved until much later.

Anyway, after maybe a year the Chief vanished "between two days" as Norman Porter of the McCleary Stimulator put it, with part of the City treasury and someone else's wife. The law finally caught up with him in the Bay Area about a year later. So think of that next time you use a McCleary crosswalk.

Weirdo-shaped parking strip

Oct. 26, 2019

What is with that weirdo-shaped parking strip between City Hall and the VFW Hall? As usual, there's a story there.

On the right hand of the photo is Beerbower Park. In the old days that chunk of land was Henry McCleary's original lumber mill, which was shut down in the 1930s.

On the left hand of the photo is the present Simpson door plant. In 1910 Henry McCleary bought the Chehalis Fir Door Company and moved the whole operation, including most of the workers to this camp. A giant clearing took place and a mountain of wood was burned to make space for his door plant. When it opened it was all electric and one of the largest and most modern door plants in the world. It also produced airplane and automobile parts when those industries used more wood in their product.

The two huge operations, sawmill and doorplant, were connected by a pedestrian skyway. Roughly about where the first tree in the line on the right sits there were two ugly buildings, big hulky two story cubes on either side of the road. A covered walkway on the second floor connected the twin structures.

For people arriving to town from the north, this gave the impression of entering through a Medieval gate during the feudal times, which in fact was not far off from reality This was Henry McCleary's Kingdom-- a one-man principality where you were paid in script, lived in company-owned homes, and God help you if you ever even entertained the very idea of forming a union.

This pedestrian skybridge did not exist for very long. The building on the west side where the door plant now resides was torn down first. The eastern building remained for some reason and just sat there like a wart. After Henry sold the entire town to Simpson on the last day of 1941 and the park was created by local people out of the ruins of the old mill, they had to work around that building and hence we have that elongated triangular parking strip.

When it was finally torn down maybe in the early 1950s a local newspaper commented that in the old days "they didn't build for pretty."

Free Cat / Dog Food

Sept. 8, 2019

This shows up on an irregular basis next to the park.

1978 T-Bird

Aug. 6, 2019

Just admiring this pristine classic for sale today.

Tree Gallery

July 2, 2019

A charming lineup of trees on canvas drawn by children adorn the locomotive display at the park.

The third tree

May 24, 2019

In the new Lindsey Baum memorial area, a sour gum tree has been planted. The old site went through two trees so hopefully this time the plant will have a chance to grow and thrive. The newly installed playground equipment can be seen in the background.

Next month will mark a decade since Lindsey was taken. That is ten years that her killer (or killers) have evaded justice for this crime. If you are carrying around information about this case that can make a difference please contact the Grays Harbor County Sheriff at (360) 249-3711. 

Now what?

May 24, 2019

So as the Lindsey Baum memorial is moved, what is happening with the old site?

Another giant falls

May 22, 2019

Another one of the Summit Road trees along the park has been taken down as part of a plan to improve the playground area. From reading the City Council minutes it appears a new memorial will be placed for Lindsey Baum.

Snow slide

Feb. 9, 2019

New innovation in playground equipment

Jan. 7, 2019

Yes, a new innovation in playground equipment-- a giant pile of gravel! Fun for the whole family and not as dangerous as many other playground distractions.

Mangled Monkey Bars

Jan. 7, 2019

No, not a tavern for maimed monkeys.

The park playground is being upgraded, although now it looks like the City is installing a wading pond. That forlorn pile of tangled mangled metal once served as the monkey bars for several decades. Rainbow Park is in the background.

Goodbye to one of the Sentinels of the Park

Oct. 19, 2018

I don't know the details, but I suspect this was one of the trees around town that never really fully recovered from the clobbering it got from the 1996 Ice Storm.

The ol' McCleary vegetable tradition

July 28, 2018

McCleary has a second Food Bank other than the official one which operates out of the kitchen in Beerbower Park. This supplemental Food Bank is evident starting around this time of year when local gardeners who were ambitious in their plantings realize they produced more vegetables than they could use. So what to do with them? Leave them in the Post Office of course! A central place in town.

I don't if this would be allowed in Century 21, but back in the 1960s my brother and I would sell vegetables we raised to Ardy Lencioni and would resell them in his produce section. This was right after he sold the old Quality Market (located where Sam's Food Mart gas station is now) and revamped the grocery store that is now Gordon's.

That time of year

July 6, 2018.

When I see vendor canopies waiting to be unfolded and a lineup of portable toilets in the park, that is a sure sign the McCleary Bear Festival is about to begin.

A New Tree for Lindsey Baum

July 6, 2018

Lindsey Baum's tree was recently replaced. According to one news piece: in the place of the former Tree of Hope is now planted a Memorial Tree. Lindsey would have been 20 years old on July 7, 2018, the same day as the McCleary Bear Festival parade.

https://www.king5.com/article/news/local/justice-for-lindsey-baum-saturday-event-marks-20th-birthday-of-murdered-washington-girl/281-571445815

Independence Day and the Bear Festival

June 27, 2018

A fireworks stand is side by side with the McCleary Bear Festival trailer on Summit Road in preparation for a busy week. This year the Festival is being held earlier than usual, on July 6-8.

Someone is wigged out

May 24, 2018

Seen on the McCleary Post Office bulletin board:

"Missing: Brown toupée, around the intersection of Simpson and Summit, due to high winds. A white dog grabbed it and ran away with the thing toward the Park.

If found, please give it to the McCleary City Hall lost and found department."