Was I capable of sitting back quietly after reading about the dissatisfaction of feeders at the trough of Centralia’s lodging tax money upon learning that all of their requests were not entirely filled? Does that perhaps mean that more organizations are trying to exist than the city is capable of financing? Just asking.
Some of you may remember my writing about a Seattle columnist named Emmett Watson who promoted his own organization known as “Lesser Seattle.” His premise was, essentially, that attracting more people to the area would result in destroying the very atmosphere that attracted them. If there was any response to Emmett’s pleadings it was laughter. In fact it’s been said that was the reason he wrote about it.
The city has continued to attract businesses and people to the point where people who work in the city can no longer afford to live there today. Major businesses, such as Boeing, have moved away or are planning to expand into (and change forever) other parts of our country. Maybe this is a warning to start slowing things down?
As I was reading the report of the funding request last Thursday, I got the impression that a major factor in the reduction of the shared money was that the city was taking almost half of it itself for “a signage project on Interstate 5.” I must be growing soft — or maybe careless — in my dotage because I didn’t even end that last sentence with an extended row of exclamation points!
In the absence of any further explanation in the article, I have to assume that the purpose of the signage will be to attract hordes of more people to witness, enjoy and eventually destroy our quiet atmosphere.
It’s time to put the broken record on the turntable again, because I just cannot understand the wish to entice more and more people to share what we have and thereby lose the leisurely atmosphere we should have saved.
It’s time to go online and type in “Who Killed Lesser Seattle?” It’s a well thought out critique of the result of “bigger is better.” The scale was larger there, but the outcome here will be the same — eventual regret.
Changing the subject, it may be forgotten that the tragedy of 1919 was preceded by the destruction of Wobbly headquarters at the corner of First and B streets in Centralia by a mob during a Red Cross parade the year before, on May 18, 1918. Almost every stick of furniture was taken out into the street and set afire; all except for one item — a large, ornately carved wooden desk.
John McClelland’s book, “Wobbly War,” states that the desk was auctioned off, bought by Francis Hubbard of the Eastern Railway and Lumber Co. and donated to the Centralia Chamber of Commerce. Another source says he used it for several years before the donation, and there is no listing for a Chamber of Commerce in the city directory until 1922.
In the late 1970s, Centralia constructed a building next to the fire station on Pearl Street for the Chamber. In my term as mayor I frequently saw it in the office of the Chamber’s manager, Folmer Sogaard. On my first visit, he identified it as the one that had been taken from the Wobbly’s headquarters. Where is it today?
It’s piqued my interest. As we know, Centralia and Chehalis, later, combined into one Chamber of Commerce, but a recent visit to the new location provided no record of the desk ever having been there. What happened to it?
Was it quietly taken home by a chamber member? Was it left behind in the building when the two chambers merged? Whoever has it, has kept the secret well.
I hate to think that it was sold. Even worse, sold to someone who doesn’t respect its historical value? A trip to the Lewis County Historical Museum indicated that they’d be thrilled to have it on display.
Does anyone know where it is?
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Bill Moeller is a former entertainer, mayor, bookstore owner, city council member, paratrooper and pilot living in Centralia. He can be reached at bookmaven321@comcast.net.
