The opening of the Lewis County Historical Museum's tribute to women coincides with celebrations worldwide such as International Women's Day, being celebrated today, and March's National Women's History Month. Today's grand opening of "Women's History: A HER-itage Celebration" is open to the public.
Those responsible for putting the current exhibit together have been working for months to pull it off, and they're excited about what they've accomplished.
"We've never had a women's exhibit before," said Rianne Perry, assistant to Lewis County Historical Museum Director Ernie Graichen.
According to a press release issued by Perry, "Women's contributions to society, culture and history are numerous and warrant recognition. A HER-itage Celebration will feature significant women in Lewis County's history from the early 1800s through today."
Women's suffrage will also be showcased on the local, state and national levels, and women's contributions during World War II, in the military and on the home front, will also be highlighted. National and international women will also be honored, with many "women's firsts" recognized.
During this afternoon's grand opening of the women's exhibit, Lewis County Historical Society President Bob Schroeter, and exhibit coordinator and volunteer Dale Carroll, will present introductions and thanks. Refreshments will also be served.
Perry said it is Carroll who provided the energy behind this exhibit. She, along with fellow volunteer Karen Johnson, has spent endless hours researching and preparing for this first-time-ever women's exhibit.
"I called last summer and said, 'I'm interested in a women's history exhibit,' " said Carroll.
True to her word, Carroll began work on the exhibit shortly after graduating from The Evergreen State College with a degree in women's studies and library science. Although out of school, she knew she didn't want to stop researching women's history. It was this knowledge that proved to be the impetus for the exhibit.
Johnson has also been coming in every day to work on the exhibit. Perry said, "She's very dedicated."
Graichen, the new museum director, said he's hoping to build an ever-stronger and ever-larger volunteer base as is represented so well this time by Carroll and Johnson.
Some of the items for the "Women's History: A HER-itage" exhibit are either on loan from other museums or local families, said Perry. The majority of items on display, however, are from the museum's own collection, and include possessions or materials surrounding 13 notable women from this area.
Among the women being honored in this exhibit are Mary Jane Cooness Washington, Margaret Corbet, Matilda Koontz Jackson and Eliza Barrett.
Cooness was born and educated in the South, and lived in Canada and Hawaii prior to moving to Washington Territory. When she met George Washington in Olympia in 1868, she was a widow with one son. George and Mary Jane married in 1869, and she moved to his settlement on the banks of the Chehalis and Skookumchuck rivers.
When the Northern Pacific Railroad crossed their land in 1872, the Washingtons discussed plans to start a town and filed a town claim in Saundersville (now Chehalis) on Jan. 8, 1875. The document was signed by both George and Mary Jane. She chose the names for the streets of their new town: Centerville, now Centralia.
Corbet's family emigrated from Ireland to the United States when she was an infant, settling in Seattle in 1908. By 1925, possessing degrees in English and Latin, she had become head of the English department at Centralia High School. That year she would also be selected as the first dean of the newly-formed Centralia Junior College.
Corbet died Oct. 9, 1971. Thanks to her leadership and devotion, Centralia College has survived its humble beginnings to become the oldest continuously operating community college in the state.
Koontz Jackson was born in Maryland on Jan. 29, 1811. In 1820, her family moved to Missouri, where, in 1837, she married Nicholas Koontz, with whom she had four sons. In 1847, the family set off across the plains for Oregon City, Ore., but Nicholas drowned while attempting to rescue their oxen in the Snake River.
The same night, Matilda gave birth to a daughter who also died. Although very ill, she continued to Oregon City with her young sons. In 1848, she met and married John R. Jackson, who had come to Oregon City for supplies, and she and her sons returned with him to his half-completed log cabin above the Cowlitz River where eventually they had three children.
The Jackson home became a place where politicians and dignitaries were common guests, and it also became the first Lewis County courthouse. Many prominent people stayed with the Jacksons, including Gens. Grant, McClellan and Sheridan, as well as Isaac Stevens, the first territorial governor, and his wife.
Mrs. Stevens remarked that "(Matilda's) home was spacious, warm, welcoming and I enjoyed my stay there very much."
Eliza Tynan Saunders Barrett remains mostly unrecognized for her role in shaping the urban form of modern Chehalis. The current site of Chehalis is largely located on land once owned by Eliza and her husband, Schuyler Saunders. Following her divorce from Saunders in 1859, Eliza controlled more than 300 acres of land in Chehalis, and for almost 40 years, her decisions about land speculation and development guided urban growth.
Elizabeth Tynan was an Irish immigrant to the United States who was working as a waitress in Portland when she met and married Saunders in 1851. Shortly thereafter, the couple moved to the Chehalis Valley and filed a claim under the Donation Claim Act, an early version of the Homestead Act unique to the Pacific Northwest.
Following nine years of marriage in which Schuyler and Eliza had five children, the couple divorced. Eliza married three more times. Her second husband deserted her and their daughter. A third marriage produced two children and ended in divorce. A fourth marriage to John C. Barrett also ended in divorce, but Eliza chose to keep this husband's last name until her death in 1900 at the age of 74.
Because of her considerable real estate holdings, a number of men, including many of her husbands, attempted to take advantage of Eliza. Cautious about selling her land, Eliza had her critics.
Chehalis promoter William West once wrote, "The growth of Chehalis was greatly hindered by the reluctance of the owner of the land to lay off a townsite, or to sell any land to anyone else that would do so, only a few blocks being laid off at any one time so the population increased very slowly."
In spite of her caution, between 1888 and 1893, Eliza sold or platted a total of 10 sizable parcels, and decided to develop a couple of lots herself. Significantly, the decisions about land use and civic progress held by this woman, unable to read or write, emphasized priorities rather different from the materialistic calculations of city fathers.
"I like to call her a city mother," said Carroll.
In addition to her real estate holdings, Eliza chose to construct in 1889 the first music hall in Chehalis — the Tynan Opera House. She is credited with building the first Catholic church (1889) and a Catholic boarding school for girls in (1895). Her one purely commercial venture was the construction of the the Barrett Block (1891) across Chehalis Avenue from the current county courthouse.
The exhibit that has taken about six months to research is expected to run about six months, said Carroll, who has been setting up the exhibit while working.
"The way I feel about the exhibit is that I planted the seed and met Karen (Johnson), who's been a big help," said Carroll.
Johnson, who had remained fairly quiet throughout the interview, said she likes working at the museum now under Graichen's direction. She figures she'll be called upon for more things in the future.
"If you volunteer to work in a museum, you can't be a one-trick pony," said Johnson, who was putting make-up (actually acrylic paint) on the lips of one of the mannequins.
Proud of the work that has been done on the exhibit, Graichen said, "This is one of the larger exhibits we've had here. What I'm excited about is that the content amplifies the under-appreciated role of women in history. It also sets the stage for what this museum will be about — it's not static, and will change periodically."
Carroll said she is proud of the exhibit because, "If you read history, you can't help but ask yourself, 'What were the women doing?' I don't want women to be left out of history."
Pat Jones covers arts and entertainment and lifestyle stories for The Chronicle. She may be reached by telephoning 807-8226.
