During the height of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, the City of Tenino made international headlines when it brought back a Great Depression-era wooden scrip currency program in order to help keep the city’s economy afloat and its neediest residents fed and clothed.
Now, some of that wooden scrip is on display at the Smithsonian National Museum of American History in Washington, D.C., according to a news release from the office of Thurston County Commissioner Wayne Fournier.
Fournier was the mayor of Tenino at the time and helped spearhead efforts to get the scrip program going again. Each wooden scrip was worth $25 and was redeemable for goods and services at various participating Tenino businesses.
To have been eligible to receive $300 worth of wooden scrip a month at the time, a Tenino resident must have had a utility account with the city, met federal poverty level income guidelines and proved their livelihoods were being harmed by COVID.
“As one of the leaders behind this initiative, I take great pride in seeing our community’s resourcefulness and determination recognized on a national stage. The COVID wooden money was not just a call for local economic action; they were a symbol of Tenino’s unity and strength,” Fournier said in the release. “It’s humbling to see this initiative — originally designed to support our local community — now acknowledged as an important part of American history.”
Fournier had the opportunity to see the Smithsonian exhibit titled “The Value of Money,” in person. It features Tenino’s 2020 COVID wooden scrip currency alongside the wooden money Tenino printed during the Great Depression in 1932.
It was in December 1931, when the Citizens Bank of Tenino failed, that residents first hatched the idea of printing their own wooden currency. With the bank closed, residents and business owners had no access to their funds.
Don Major, then the publisher of the Tenino Independent newspaper and local chamber of commerce member, proposed printing the wooden scrip using his newspaper printing press.
Major used spruce and cedar slices to print the money on and exchanged scrips with Teninoans for up to 25% of their frozen bank accounts.
The innovation quickly gathered national attention at the time, and though only a small portion of the scrip were redeemed, the wooden money became a symbol of Tenino’s creativity and resilience during tough economic times, according to the release.
“Walking through the display, I was struck by how this humble wooden money tells a story far greater than their material might suggest. In a time when traditional currency systems struggled to support our local economy, we in Tenino turned to innovation, not once but twice. The wooden money was more than just a makeshift economic tool; they were a symbol of unity, resilience, and the extraordinary spirit of local leadership,” Fournier said in the release. “Each piece on display is a tangible reminder of how our community came together to support one another in the face of unprecedented adversity. Seeing our work enshrined at the Smithsonian is deeply humbling. It reinforces my belief that local solutions — born out of necessity and nurtured by a collective will — can indeed leave a long lasting mark on our nation’s history.”
Immediately following the second printing of wooden scrip in 2020 by the City of Tenino, collectors began looking to buy them, with some paying up to 12 times the actual $25 value.
To learn more about Tenino’s COVID wooden scrip currency, read The Chronicle’s previous coverage at https://tinyurl.com/222mj5h2 and https://tinyurl.com/3x3a7eub.
