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Interview of Jack Collier by Buzz Anderson from 1994.

The song "Carry Me Back to Columbia City" sung by the Columbia Pioneers at the 1973 annual meeting.

They came down from Beacon Hill, from the Central District, and from the valley floor. Most came by foot with a friend or two. The children came to learn the language of their parents in a small building on Valentine Street behind the New Italian Café in the heart of Garlic Gulch. The Scuola Italiana Dante Alighieri, its official name, was set up by the Italian community in the 1930s to provide the formal training in Italian that was difficult to provide at home. Many immigrant families continued to speak their regional dialect, if they spoke Italian at all at home. According to Italian-American businessman John Croce, Mussolini sent a teacher over and this teacher was paid by the Italian government. We kids all spoke dialect Italian at home; at the school we learned how to speak correctly, read and write, pronounce, and all that. We learned how to sing Mussolini songs. We didn’t care. We didn’t care about Mussolini. We learned about the good Italian language, the verbs and all that stuff. Lucy Colarossi Salle walked the few blocks from her home near Judkins Park with a girlfriend twice a week for the after school sessions. She remembers performing in a Christmas skit for parents: In the play, the teacher had me conjugate the verb “to be.” And I was supposed to make a mistake in the play, and then say “Oh, no, no!” and then correct myself. Lucy Salle recalls that some of the boys were “mischievous,” setting off firecrackers in class. John Croce testifies to a more serious incident. Alvie, he got up and in Italian says “I hate you” and shot the teacher with a starter pistol and the guy collapsed on the floor. I was there! Then he ran out of the damn school room and he went and stayed in the woods. We had a shack up in the woods that we built out of scrap lumber. The teacher got the Italian consul, went to Alvie’s old man and Alvie’s old man was looking for him for a week to beat the hell out him. Finally Alvie come out of hiding and the old man whipped his butt. He couldn’t go back to the Italian School after that! Sometime after this episode, the professore returned to Italy, now on the verge of war. For a time, a female teacher, “a gal from the neighborhood” according to Lucy Salle, taught the children. For reasons both political and geographic, the little school in the shadow of the coming freeway did not survive into the 1940s. After the war, classes continued for a time in a borrowed classroom at the Coleman School and at Deaconess Settlement House on Atlantic Street. Caption: Christmas at the Italian School. Luce Salle is at center left, hand in coat pocket. Professore Bovio stands in the back on the left side. The cabinet is draped with the flag of the Kingdom of Italy. Photo courtesy of Lucy Salle. Listen to the audio of John Croce.

A culinary history of the Rainier Valley going back 100 years with recipes and stories from our multicultural community. This project began with a two-year multicultural oral history project based on food, using Rainier Beach High School students and adult volunteers as interviewers. We wanted to use the universal topic of food to reach out to the many different ethnic and cultural groups in the Rainier Valley. We also worked with teen photographers from Youth in Focus to document some of the stories we uncovered.

Written by Rainier Valley Historical Society and published by Arcadia Publications. Where could one find "Garlic Gulch," a stadium named Sick, an urban fireworks factory on a hill, a Japanese American botanical garden, and the largest stand of old-growth timber in Seattle? All are icons of Seattle's Rainier Valley, an area whose past and present are richly varied. Although the fireworks factory and the stadium are gone, the smell of garlic still hangs on mixed with the aromas of Asian spices, Ethiopian coffee, Mexican salsa, and fish and chips. Saved from development by the organized protests of the community, the 85-year-old botanic garden still thrives. And Seward Park, with its virgin timber, is celebrating its 100th anniversary as a public park. The Rainier Valley, one of the most ethnically and economically diverse communities in the country, is a reflection of the many families, businesses, and events that filled the past 150 years

2010 marks the 100th year of operation for the Lakewood Seward Park Community Club Take a look at the Seward Park peninsula today and imagine what the terrain across Andrews Bay looked like 120 years ago. The woods along the west side of Lake Washington between Hudson Street on the south and what is now the Stan Sayres Pits, and bounded by 42nd Avenue on the west, formed a triangular piece of land called Lakewood. Guy Phinney, a wealthy lumber mill owner, purchased and platted Lakewood in 1883. By 1903, the area was booming thanks largely to proximity to the Southern Railway which ran through neighboring Columbia City. It wasn’t long before the “clearings in the wilderness” were sold and pioneers from Canada, England, Sweden, Norway, and Iceland, as well as the U.S. Midwest began removing trees for their new homes. It soon became clear that road and trail improvements were of utmost concern. Few Lakewood residents owned automobiles at the turn of the century, and walking or traveling by cart and horse over the hill to the city, especially at night, was less than desirable. Transportation issues spurred the organization of an improvement club. Canadian real estate broker named Albert George Corbett presided over the first meeting of the male-only Lakewood Improvement Club in 1910; meanwhile Henrietta McCloy called to order the first meeting of 30 women, the Lakewood Civic Improvement Club. The groups met twice monthly; the women in the parlor of the McCloy home, and the men in a chicken coop and the Lakewood boathouse. Civic improvements included the installation of three plank sidewalks( instead of the standard two) to accommodate young families with baby carriages, the 48th Street overpass that crossed Genesee Street, and the grading of Genesee Street in 1912. A major success was the campaign to install a shuttle streetcar line for Lakewood residents -- the Genesee streetcar named the “Galloping Goose” ran on a one- track line from Hudson along 50th to Genesee and Rainier Avenue and back again. Civic improvements were just one aspect of the clubs’ goals. Having a social and meeting hall to host a variety of occasions was another. To that end, the “Lakewood Club House Company” sold $5.00 shares of stock to purchase land and building materials. With volunteer power from the Lakewood and Genesee Boat Club members, the first clubhouse in Seattle was built in 1914 on 50th and Angeline Street. In 1929, the name of the club changed to the Lakewood Community Club to include both the men’s and women’s groups. The mission statement “To unite all those whose homes and interests are in this vicinity and to work together for the development and common welfare of the community” still holds today. Seward Park neighbors joined this effort in 1979, consolidating the two neighborhoods of 6,700 residents, and the club name became the Lakewood Seward Park Community Club. Over the past 100 years, the Club has served the welfare of its community. It has provided a meeting space for hundreds of organizations and events, including Scouts, Little League, Food Co-Op, and Candidates Night, as well as private groups. Regular events hosted by members, such as the monthly dances, the New Year’s Eve Ball, picnics, potlucks, bingo, bazaars, are remembered by many. In the past year, neighbors have secured the continuation of the Cub for the next generation through a membership drive, the refurbishment of the clubhouse, and official adoption of not-for-profit 501(c)(3) status.

In the 2008-09 school year, fifty 6th grade students from the New School explored the rich tapestry of faith traditions in the Rainier Valley. They visited houses of worship, interviewed faith leaders, took photos and video, and wrote of their experiences. The project, Bringing World Religion Home, was a collaboration of the Rainier Valley Historical Society and teachers at the New School. Funding was provided by a Heritage Cultural Education grant from King County 4Culture. Bringing World Religion Home became a part of a larger curriculum piece designed by New School teacher Chris Quigley on World Religions and Spirituality. In the classroom, students learned about monotheism and animism, reincarnation, and evangelism -- the basic beliefs and historical origins of different faith traditions. Their field trips into the community allowed them to experience different religions as practiced by real people, to see how traditions from far away have been adapted in a new home, and to hear about each faith group's hope for the future. Watch this space for stories and slide shows from the project. Disclaimer! Please note that the stories here reflect the children's experience of individual congregations or groups. We recognize that there are many differences and nuances even within a single religion. Click here for the World Religions and Spirituality Curriculum Guide. The Jewish Tradition Catholic Tradition in the Valley Field Trip to Temple Chua Duoc Su

This exhibit was created in 2009 in conjunction with the Washington State History Society's Exhibit, "Women's Votes, Women's Voices". Rainier Valley Historical Society celebrates Rainier Valley's many women leaders and their varied avenues of public life and commitment to improving their communities and beyond. Exhibit Author: Mikala Woodward Explore the digital exhibit here: Beyond the Laundry: Women Changing the World Working for Change Without the Vote Mother's Clubs Lead the Way Marion Southard Weiss

This photo essay was created by Eleanor Boba Early Beginnings In the beginning, baseball was everywhere. Nowadays when we think about baseball, we think of major league teams, big stadiums, and all the trappings of a nationwide organized sport. In Seattle, minor leagues arrived in 1890, but before that, and for a long while after, neighborhood teams like these Hillman City players duked it out all over the city. Bill Phalen: Civic Leader with a Passion for the Game Bill Phalen arrived in Columbia City in 1900 and opened a grocery store on the ground floor of the Knights of Pythias Hall. Soon he became a community leader, with a hand in everything from the Volunteer Fire Department to the annual Rainier Valley Fiesta. One of his passions was baseball -- he had played professionally back in the Midwest -- and he was the founder of the Rainier Valley Athletic Club, which fielded Columbia City's baseball team. Childhood Champions Adults weren't the only ones playing ball, as this photograph of the Whitworth Elementary 1911 championship team shows. In the days before TV & video games -- or Little League -- every elementary school had a baseball team. Dugdale Park: Home of the Seattle Indians Daniel E. Dugdale arrived in Seattle in 1898, on his way to the Klondike Gold Rush. Fortunately, he decided to stay in the Queen City and establish professional baseball in Seattle. He was instrumental in founding the Pacific Northwest League in 1901, owned and operated the Seattle Northwestern League franchise through 1918, and built two ballparks in the city: Yesler Way Park in 1907 and Dugdale Park in 1913. Dugdale Park, the first double-decked baseball park on the West Coast, burned to the ground on July 4th, 1932 in a fire set by a local serial arsonist. Dugdale, who remained involved in local baseball, died in a traffic accident in 1934. "A fine new, thoroughly modern baseball park and the best baseball possible!" Such was the pledge of Emil Sick, the owner of the Rainier brewing company, who remade Seattle baseball in 1938. Dugdale Park had burned down in 1932, forcing the Indians to move out of the Rainier Valley to Civic Field. Sick bought the team, spending $25,000 for new players and $150,000 for a new stadium built on the old Dugdale site. At the time, minor league baseball was a good business investment and Colonel Jacob Ruppert (a fellow beer baron and close friend of Sick's) owned the New York Yankees. Poised for Victory The photo shows the Seattle Rainiers baseball team in 1939. This squad went on to win the first of three consecutive Pacific Coast League pennants for Seattle. A crude attempt has been made to paste in Hal Turpin, one of the team's ace pitchers who probably hadn't yet reported to Seattle from his farm in Yoncalla, Oregon, when the photo was taken (see back row, right). The Vacca Family farm is seen in the background of the photo. Support from Sal Vacca allowed us to acquire this image from the University of Washington. University of Washington Libraries, Special Collections, UW 15733. Fred Hutchinson: The Rainiers' Young Star One of the highlights of the 1938 Seattle baseball season, their first season as “Rainiers,” was local teenage pitching sensation Fred Hutchinson. Hutchinson was an all-around athlete at neighboring Franklin High, and captivated the city and entire West Coast with his spectacular first professional season in the fast Pacific Coast League. Hutch won 25 games and lost only 7, had a 2.48 ERA, and was named Sporting News Minor League Player of the Year. Among many highlights of the season was Hutch winning his 19th game on his 19th birthday before an overflow crowd at Sick’s Stadium on August 12, 1938. Hutch was the hottest prospect in baseball during and after the 1938 season. His sale to the Detroit Tigers for $50,000 and four players, particularly outfielder Jo Jo White and first baseman George Archie, led to the Rainiers winning three straight Pacific Coast League pennants from 1939 to 1941. Baseball in the War Years "Americans all, we join together for Victory!" says this 1941 holiday card from the Rainiers. After winning three Pacific Coast League pennants in a row (1939, 1940, 1941) the Rainiers were riding a new wave of popularity. That April, 15,300 fans poured into Sick's Stadium to watch the Rainiers battle the Sacramento Solons. The US had entered WWII, and rubber (a necessity for the war) was scarce. Sick's stadium held Rubber Nights where kids could get in free if they brought in old tires. There were often more people in uniform, sometimes cheering for the other team! The Neighborhood behind the scoreboard This 1946 view of the Rainiers scoreboard shows the Mount Baker neighborhood just over the fence, with Franklin High School at right. For those who lived in the neighborhood, Sicks Stadium was a source of employment, entertainment -- and random fly balls. The Vacca family farm just up the hill from the stadium provided free seating -- the beanfield was known as "Cheapskate Hill" by many. Vacca kids earned money parking cars and cleaning up, and often made friends with the players, who would stop by the family's produce stand for vegetables. Sick's Stadium and the Rainier Valley in 1953 In this aerial photo we see a more rural, less developed Rainier Avenue -- open fields and sparse residential surround the imposing structure of Sick's Stadium. All that open space was ideal for parking. The Vacca's beanfield to the left of the stadium was known as "Cheapskate Hill" because people would sit there and watch the games for free over the stadium wall. The Vaccas were part of Rainier Valley's early Italian community -- known as "Garlic Gulch" -- centered around Atlantic Street just north of the stadium. Dick "Kewpie" Barrett: Pitcher... Insurance Salesman... Late for Dinner Dick Barrett was one of the Rainiers' best pitchers, known for his chubby cheeks, cheery demeanor, and uncanny ability to successfully close a game. In the off-season he sold insurance out of his home, and even threatened to do so permanently in 1941 during an argument over his contract. Many, if not most minor league players also had off-season jobs. Barrett, like many of the players, became friends with the neighborhood families over the years and frequently came to dinner at the Vacca home -- on one such occasion he was unusually late -- Mrs. Vacca waited and waited, heating and reheating her famous meatballs, until Barrett finally showed up to eat. She forgave him when he explained that he'd pitched a perfect game, and had been swamped by reporters after the final out. Leo Lassen: The Voice of the Rainiers Leo Lassen, Rainier Valley native, was the Rainiers' beloved announcer from 1931 - 1958. His colorful language and infectious enthusiasm earned him a place in Rainiers history. Changing Neighborhood By 1969 the neighborhood around Sicks Stadium had changed a great deal -- note that "Cheapskate Hill" has been replaced by the Mount Baker Village Apartments, an affordable housing development. The streetcar line that originally brought fans to the stadium was taken out in 1937, replaced with buses along Rainier Avenue. Farewell to Sicks Stadium Declining crowds at Rainiers games in the 60's are blamed on a number of factors, from the growing popularity of televised major league games, to the decline of the minor leagues as a separate independent system, to the Dodgers and Giants teams moving to the West Coast.The first bill to secure a bond to build a new stadium was proposed in 1960, but it took more than a decade to finally pass the measure and build the Kingdome. The new stadium was completed in 1976, just in time for the Mariners' first season the following year. Sick's wasn't demolished until 1979. The Hillman City Hellcats, 2007 Dugdale Park and Sick's Stadium are memories now, but baseball continues to be enjoyed in the Rainier Valley. Today Valley residents take Sound Transit's Link Light Rail downtown to watch the Mariners play at Safeco Field, instead of riding the streetcar to Sicks Stadium in their own neighborhood. The Rainier Little League is alive and well, and neighborhood teams like the Hillman City Hellcats, a co-ed softball team, continue the tradition of whacking balls with bats in the Rainier Valley. Rainier Little League, 2024 The below photo was taken at the celebrations following the ribbon cutting of the renovated Rainier Playfield on March 23, 2024. Through the generous support of the Mariner’s MLB All-Star Legacy initiative, both the baseball and softball fields at Rainier Playfield, located at 3700 S. Alaska St., have undergone extensive renovations. This collaborative effort has resulted in an upgraded facility catering to high school varsity baseball and softball teams, as well as local youth leagues. Moreover, it aims to break down barriers to play equity, particularly for youth from diverse and low-income backgrounds, by providing increased access to quality sports facilities. Additionally, the fields will serve as venues for skills clinics and middle school programming, fostering community engagement and athletic development.

In the spring of 2005, a group of fourth and fifth graders at Orca @ Columbia School researched the history of the stream that used to run through Columbia City, and shared their findings with the community. The project began with rumors of a creek that used to run through Columbia City. Students in Ms. Katherine Law's class at Orca School were curious: Where was the stream, exactly? What did it look like? Where did it go? With the help of RVHS Director Mikala Woodward, they set out to find some answers. First they analyzed historic maps of Columbia City from the RVHS Collection and the Washington State University Library’s digital collection. The maps were incomplete and confusing: the street names had changed; the shoreline of Lake Washington had moved; Rainier Avenue had been realigned. Only one map even showed the historic stream. But the class worked out a way to transfer information from the old maps to the current map, using the few landmarks that had not changed. Eventually they were able to locate the path of the original stream, learning about cartographic concepts such as orientation and scale along the way. The class then took a walk through the neighborhood looking for physical evidence of the stream, following its path from Hitt’s Hill, across the schoolyard, through Columbia Park, and on toward Lake Washington. They identified some low-lying, swampy areas, some areas that had clearly been filled in, and several storm drains that seemed to follow the path of the stream. Ms. Woodward then brought in letters and documents from the Seattle City Archives relating to the fate of the stream in Columbia Park. These documents were difficult to make sense of – difficult to even read, at times, with their spidery handwriting – but the students pulled out important pieces of information from each document. They put all the facts they had gleaned on a big timeline, and a story began to emerge about the history of Columbia Park and the stream. Finally, the students made their work public. They invited Kim Baldwin, a landscape architect from the Seattle Parks Department, to come to their class to discuss ways to commemorate the stream in Columbia Park. They created a temporary installation of blue irrigation flags in the grass through Columbia Park, and a display and illustrated handout to explain the flags. The installation was up on a Wednesday, during the Columbia City Farmers Market, which is adjacent to the park. Hundreds of people saw it up close, and thousands more saw it from Rainier Avenue as they drove by. Due in part to the efforts of this class, the Seattle Parks Department incorporated the path of the historic stream into a Pro Parks improvement project for Columbia Park.  A “sinuous concrete path” now meanders through the park, with a plaque at each end explaining that the path follows the course of the historic stream. Softly glowing solar-powered blue tiles are embedded in the path, making the stream visible at night too. This project taught the students a lot about their hidden stream. But more importantly, they learned that history is, in part, a creative art. History isn’t just a series of objective facts out there, waiting to be uncovered. Historians have to put together coherent stories based on incomplete and conflicting information, using imagination and guesswork. The students also learned that sharing those stories with the rest of the community is an important part of the process. Their work will have a lasting impact on the neighborhood. The commemoration of the stream in Columbia Park will educate Columbia City neighbors for years to come, giving them a glimpse of the landscape of the past. The "Hidden Stream of Columbia City" won the 2006 Heritage Education Award from the Association of King County Heritage Organizations.

Audio recording of the song "Pioneer of the Valley," sung at the 1981 annual meeting of the Columbia Pioneers.

It was a Sunday in 1906 and the Columbia Hotel’s elegant dining room, with white linen tablecloths and floral centerpieces, was featuring their usual fare, a choice of either roast beef or chicken. The couple seated at the right is Mr. and Mrs. J. A. Kelso. He was one of the early Columbia pioneers and a partner in the Rainier Valley Investment Co., located at 4871 Rainier Avenue, kitty-corner across Rainier Avenue from the hotel. The company was involved in Insurance, Real Estate, Rentals, Loans, and investments. The hotel building, at 4900 Rainier Avenue, was originally built in 1892 as a residence for the Hellenthal family. It was the first brick building in Columbia and was also the only home built on Rainier Avenue between Edmunds St. and Hudson St. as the town officials designated those two blocks to be used for businesses only. It became the Dakota Hotel for a short period and in 1904 another floor was added and the building expanded to the south, doubling its size.  It was then renamed the Columbia Hotel. In 1906 the building’s brick face was covered with stucco. Mr. and Mrs. Jack Purkeypile are the couple standing in the center under the gas lamps hanging from the ceiling. Mrs. Purkeypile, a motherly lady, was the manager of the hotel and Jack was a motorman for the “Seattle, Renton & Southern Ry.”, one of the five different names used by the Rainier Valley street car line during its 47 years of service to the valley. The hotel kept its own pigs in a pen at the rear of the building. To feed their pigs the Purkeypiles had to go to the Renton saloons for the swill they used for feed. Since this was long before prohibition the saloons were running full blast in Renton while at the same time no saloons were allowed in Columbia. This was a result of the first Columbia town council, in one of their first resolutions, had banned all saloons within the city limits. The Purkeypiles had an arrangement with the “Seattle Renton & Southern Ry.” crews, on a regular basis, to pick up half barrels of swill at the Renton taverns, and put them on the streetcar’s platforms. Women boarding cars with the floor sweeping skirts of that day would gingerly pull them up as they would regally sweep past into the car. When the car reached Columbia, passengers would cool their heals while Jack Purkeypile and the hotel roustabout would slop the pigs. All this on a nickel fare. Then the car would charge off to downtown Seattle at what was termed breakneck speed in that era. According to the hotel’s desk register that we have in our files, many of the “guest” names in the book were the local residents, probably just there for Sunday dinner. There were many guests however that stayed at the hotel and their home addresses were from cities and towns all over the United States, some even visiting from overseas. One has to wonder what enticed them to visit the town of Columbia between 1910 and 1920? Maybe they were visiting friends or relatives? Were they salesmen there on business?  Or maybe they were prospective land buyers looking at the cheap lots that had been advertised in downtown Seattle newspapers. One of the guests who signed in at the hotel was Buffalo Bill Cody. A sign in the dining room proclaimed “If you leave this table and hungry be, the fault is in you and not in me.” In later years the dining room became Nobel’s Drug Store, followed by Jamieson Drug Store and then Nash Pharmacy in the 1920s. The south portion of the main floor, at 4902 Rainier, was occupied by the “Columbian”, a neighborhood dry goods store. This was an early day venture of Marshall Fields in his attempt to operate like J.C. Penny did originally, as neighborhood and small town units. Several years later the Bright Spot Tavern occupied the corner site. (Seattle had annexed Columbia in 1907 and the ban on saloons had been lifted) It became a trouble spot in the community and a hangout for all the bad guys. Then things only got worse when it changed ownership and became Slim’s Restaurant and Lounge. A major fire occurred at Slim’s on October 1st, 1981 and this was construed by the neighboring businesses as a major improvement in town as it forced the closure of the establishment. After standing empty for a while the building was renovated and restored as a historic building and is now listed on the National Register of Historic Buildings. It is currently home of Lottie Mott’s Coffee Shop and the local office for Sound Transit’s Light Rail Project scheduled to come through Rainier Valley in about five years, or is it now ten years. Buzz Anderson South District Journal 1/3/2001 President of the Rainier Valley Historical Society If you are not a member of the Rainier Valley Historical Society, we invite you to join. The dues are only $30.00 per year and include our quarterly newsletter, the “Rainier Valley Heritage News.”  Come visit us to see our displays and browse through our photos and files of Rainier Valley’s unique history. We are located in the Rainier Valley Cultural Center, 3515 S Alaska Street. We are constantly on the lookout for old photos, printed material and artifacts pertaining to Rainier Valley.