In this installment of A Look Back in Time, the Thursday, April 11, 1946, edition of The Chronicle featured a story about Chehalis residents William and Blanch West donating 18 acres of land to the Chehalis School District, which would eventually become the location of W.F. West High School.
Accident-prone Skippy the dog, owned by Centralia teenager Jay Ensrud, was stuck in a pair of front leg casts after he fell off the family’s porch two weeks earlier and broke his legs, according to the Wednesday, April 11, 1956, edition of The Chronicle.
And in the Saturday, April 10, 1976, edition of The Chronicle, it was reported that Ginger, a chimpanzee owned by the Lupo family in Centralia, had returned home after breaking out of the Lupos’ basement and running away when she had been punished by being sent to bed early two days earlier.
The Sunday, April 11, 1976, edition of The Chronicle was not in the archives, so stories from the Saturday, April 10, 1976, edition have been featured instead.
A Look Back in Time is compiled using Chronicle archives stored at the Lewis County Historical Museum — located at 599 NW Front St. in Chehalis — along with digital archives on newspapers.com.
Saturday, April 11, 1936
• The Chronicle featured an “Philatelist note” for stamp collectors about the first trans-Atlantic flight of the German Zeppelin Company airship Hindenburg — designed to cross the Atlantic in just three days — along with how interested locals could get “first flight” stamps marking the occasion. “Nobody but a stamp collector would be interested in sending a post card for 65 cents, but there are enough of those, it seems, to fill the mail coffers of the Hindenburg, new German dirigible, to overflowing on its ‘first flight’ between Frankfort-Am-Main (Germany) and Lakehurst, New Jersey on May 6, and its return flight, leaving Lakehurst May 9 or 10. And postcards are cheap compared to ‘first flight’ stamps for which cost 70 and 85 cents. Anyone interested in getting in on the first flight from Frankfort can send his, or her, letters to Frederick William von Meister, U.S. zeppelin representative, 354 4th Avenue, New York City, with the required postage.” While the Hindenburg did successfully complete its first trans-Atlantic flight that summer, along with 16 subsequent ocean crossings over the next year, the airship tragically went up in flames in a crash landing at Lakehurst on May 6, 1937, killing 35 of the 97 people on board and being enshrined in history with WLS Radio reporter Herbert Morrison’s famous “Oh, the humanity,” broadcast description of the crash.
• “Chehalis newspaper editor” Chapin D. Foster was named the new president of the Chehalis Chamber of Commerce after the former president, Dan W. Bush, died from injuries sustained in an early March car crash, The Chronicle reported. “Foster was chosen at a special meeting of the board of directors. Other officers of the organization were re-elected for the coming year. Those include Norman Brunswig, vice president; Arthur St. John, treasurer; George R. Walker, managing secretary.” Foster, who was known not only for his work as a reporter — starting in the region in 1907 with the Tacoma News — but also for his involvement with churches and love of history, according to his obituary in the March 29, 1966 edition of The Chronicle. He served as a Methodist Church layman, and was the Washington State Historical Society director. “Foster subsequently became publisher of the Grandview World and the Chehalis Advocate. During his many years in Chehalis, he served as president of the Lewis County Fair Association and was also elected president of the Washington State Fair Association … Shortly before his death, Foster had completed work on a history of the Methodist Church in the Pacific Northwest.” Foster died at the age of 78.
• “Hatching” Rhode Island red chicken eggs were listed for sale in The Chronicle’s classifieds for $0.50 for 15 eggs. A furnished two-room apartment with “kitchenette, lights, water, fuel furnished,” at 124 N. Diamond St. in Centralia was listed for rent for $15 a month.
Thursday, April 11, 1946
• Chehalis residents William F. and Blanch West donated land to the Chehalis School District to construct a new high school, The Chronicle reported. “Completion of their proposal to give to the Chehalis School District a tract of land on which to a erect a new senior high school, has been effected Wednesday by Mr. and Mrs. William F. West, owners of the St. Helens Hotel, who delivers to the board of education a deed to 18 acres of land located on Sixteenth Street … The announcement was made by Theodore R. Teitzel, chairman of the board, who said, ‘the board and the citizens of this area are deeply appreciative of Mr. and Mrs. West’s gift of this school site. All children of the school district for generations to come will benefit by the improved educational and recreational offerings which this gift makes possible.’” The new high school was completed and first opened in 1951, and it was renamed to what it is now known as, W.F. West High School, in 1957, according to the Sept. 25, 1957, edition of The Chronicle.
• The Johns Manville Company of Seattle won a City of Centralia contract bid to replace 16,000 feet of the city’s 18-inch main gravity water line, The Chronicle reported. “The Manville Company submitted the lowest bid, as well as promising the quickest delivery. The cost of the pipe will be approximately $66,000. It will be made of concrete and asbestos, and has been used successfully by many communities in this area. Installation of the pipe will begin in July, and it is hoped three miles can be laid by next winter.”
• A three-room “modern” home with a hen house, garage and “lots of fruits” on two acres of land on Seminary Hill was listed for sale in The Chronicle’s classifieds for $4,250. A five-room home with a barn, hen house, garage and “good, young orchard,” on six acres of land on Old Highway 99 was listed for sale for $3,500.
Wednesday, April 11, 1956
• Skippy the dog, who seemed to be rather accident prone, was featured on the front page of The Chronicle with casts on both of his front legs, The Chronicle reported. “Life has been rough on Skippy, cocker spaniel pet of Jay Ensrud, 17-year-old son of Mr. Conrad and Mrs. Cora Lou Ensrud, 937 Florida Avenue. Skippy has survived three mishaps with cars, but his latest accident came in a fall from a back porch two weeks ago. He broke both front legs. Skippy gets the best of care, including slow walks with owner Jay, who hopes casts can come off soon.”
• Morton Elementary School principal Walter Hansen announced the East Lewis County school had obtained a new “control reading machine,” The Chronicle reported. “The new machine provides left to right control and a variable speed range on a lighted screen with speeds from 0 to 900 words projected on the screen per minute. The projector has a moving slot which travels across the lens, covering and uncovering a line of print. Hansen said, ‘use of this machine makes it possible to develop the total reading activity, in the children.’” Hansen added the machine’s advantages included improving reading comprehension and developing students’ reading skill and efficiency. “Teachers using the machine to aid their reading classes: Ralph Cournyer, Mrs. Louise Gates, Mrs. Leona Wallis, Mrs. Tom Lyda and Miss Elizabeth Costy.”
• A two-bedroom "plastered home” with water, a heater and an oil stove at 808 W. Walnut St. in Centralia was listed for sale in The Chronicle’s classifieds for $5,900. A furnished, one-bedroom home which was “newly decorated, insulated,” was listed for rent for $55 a month.
Monday, April 11, 1966
• A concrete hopper used to build the Mossyrock Dam which broke down after being “snarled in fog and darkness,” was due to be repaired that week, The Chronicle reported. “John Deen, of Tacoma City Light’s Mossyrock project, said the eight-ton hopper would be moved to the high north bank above the concrete arch for repair. Deputy resident engineer Art Linden said Monday the carriage was to be removed and taken to a fabricator shop for repair by the general contractor, Dravo-Johnson. The overall schedule should not be hampered by the mishap, Deen said. He said a whirley crane is used in separate work on concrete placement on the power house and this work would be done while arch section work was halted.”
• Charges of armed robbery were filed in Lewis County Superior Court against a pair of Aberdeen men accused of going on a crime spree in the region which included robbing McQueen’s Southgate Food Center in Chehalis the previous Thursday, The Chronicle reported. “Named were Larry Wayne White, 27, and Gerald E. Cooper, 22, both of Aberdeen. Bail was set at $2,500 each. (Lewis County) Undersheriff William Wiester pointed out the two men are currently in custody in Longview following their arrest there the same night after a shooting episode. Wiester said Lewis County will wait on further action until Cowlitz County acts … A total of $300 was taken at gunpoint in the Chehalis food store robbery. The hold-up victim was Larry Bonagofski, Chehalis, store clerk. The money has apparently been recovered, police said.”
• A four-bedroom home “plus acreage, barn for horses,” within Centralia “city limits” was listed for sale in The Chronicle’s classifieds for $14,000. An unfurnished two-bedroom home in Chehalis was listed for rent for $60 a month.
Saturday, April 10, 1976
• Ginger, a chimpanzee owned by Centralia resident Diane Lupo, had returned home nearly two days after escaping from Lupo’s home, The Chronicle reported. “A truant member of a Zenkner Valley family returned home Thursday night. Ginger, an impish 3-½-year-old chimpanzee, had run away about 45 hours earlier. Ginger had been sent to her bed in the basement early as punishment for swinging on a television antenna, explained Mrs. Diane Lupo. But the punishment didn’t sit well with the little rascal, so she broke a window and like so many other youngsters, ran away from home. The distraught Mrs. Lupo brought two photographs of the chimp to The Chronicle. They were printed in the hope someone would recognize the rogue chimp and telephone Mrs. Lupo. But nature intervened and accomplished what watchful eyes and worried owners couldn’t. It rained. A hard rain, one Ginger apparently tired of. The runaway returned home soaking wet. ‘She came back while I was gone and I heard this ‘hoo-hoo’ behind me,’ said Mrs. Lupo. ‘I just dropped everything and ran in there screaming.’ It isn’t known whether Mrs. Lupo will risk punishing Ginger for running away. Regardless of that, Ginger will spend a lot of time in the basement. Mrs. Lupo said the simian goes to her bed of hay early each night, about 8 or 9 o’clock. Moreover, she’s a late riser, often sleeping until 1 p.m., when she knocks on the basement door to rejoin her ‘family.’ Mr. Sam and Mrs. Lupo have three children. Of them, their three-year-old daughter gets along best with Ginger. The chimp even wears the girl’s cast-off clothing. Mrs. Lupo said Ginger eats like a human (the same food and often with the same utensils). She especially likes coffee, soda, rice and gravy, and even has an occasional sweet mixed-drink.” Though she found her way back home, the Lupo family would eventually end up rehoming the chimpanzee, which was actually the second they owned, according to the Saturday, June 11, 1977, edition of The Chronicle. “Jane, their first, threw a tantrum and jumped in a river. She couldn’t swim, so she drowned, Mrs. Lupo related. Ginger, their second, found a new home in Tacoma after she overdid swinging out of the trees at riders who board their horses with the Lupos.”
• A “horse lovers special” three-bedroom home with a four-stall horse barn on five acres of land “just off I-5 near Tenino” was listed for sale in The Chronicle’s classifieds for $37,500. New, unfurnished apartments in downtown Chehalis were listed for rent starting at $150 a month.
