In 1951, Anacortes resident, Amelia Heilman, brought the work of Dr. Richard Poston of the University of Washington’s Community Development Department to the attention of Anacortes. The City was struggling in tough economic times, and residents were looking for ways to promote their town, improve economic stability and enhance their quality of life.

The Community Study, sometimes referred to as the Poston Study, helped identify areas where Anacortes could improve and many area residents were involved in efforts towards that end.

“During its 17-weeks of study, action and evaluation, [the Poston Study] included more than 1,200 dedicated citizens. Every facet of the community came under scrutiny — schools, churches, businesses, youth activity, civic and fraternal organizations — a complete census.” -Wallie Funk

10 years later, in 1962, Anacortes would win the title of “All-America City” from the National Municipal League and Look Magazine for improvements in the schools, health services, and public works. This large, black scrapbook, recently digitized by the museum, traveled to Miami Beach, Florida with Wallie Funk and then Mayor, Bud Strom to help Anacortes advance from Finalist to Winner of the prestigious award.

The scrapbook features about 300 photos in it’s 54 pages, divided into sections dedicated to Storm Drainage, Sewers, Street Paving, Schools, Hospitals, Industry, Business, Community Events, Ferries and Beautification. Some pages are collages of photographs, some feature newspaper clippings and others have a bit of both.

This photo from Page 8 shows a census taker speaking with an Anacortes mother and her children.-

Multiple pages were dedicated to issues with erosion, flooding, storm drainage, and the sewer system.

Pages 25-29 featured photos of school building projects and existing schools including this aerial image of the Anacortes High School campus before the Columbian School (at far right) was demolished in 1965.

Page 39 shows the dedication of the new ferry terminal at Ship’s Harbor, accompanied by an American Bulletin article, dated October 8, 1958.

The image below shows the installation of a new Tradewell sign at 11^th and Commercial Ave., now the home of Sebo’s Hardware.

*Note the terrifying ladder!

The scrapbook ends with images of Little Cranberry Lake. Thanks to the foresight and stewardship of the City of Anacortes and it’s involved citizens, this view has not changed much in the 66+ years since this photo was taken.

Just this week, Anacortes Museum staff temporarily removed the Wallie Funk and Douglass Allmond murals from the Anacortes American office at 6^th and Q Ave. After the building is repainted by new owners, plans include reinstalling these two historic murals. There’ll also be a newspaper history exhibit inside the front door of the American building.

Want to know more about Bill Mitchell and the Anacortes Mural Project? When murals change locations, updates are available here.

When Bill Mitchell passed away in 2019, his family asked the Anacortes Museum and the City of Anacortes to become custodians of the Anacortes Mural Project murals. Since officially accessioning the murals in 2020, the museum has established agreements with 70+ building owners to continue their public display. Museum staff have photographed, cataloged, cleaned and provided conservation work to the over 150 plywood murals in the Collection.

This stewardship is a continuation of 35+ years that Bill Mitchell and his Mural Team worked to revive the Anacortes downtown core by installing colorful murals to enhance local buildings and to inspire interest in local history.

The team both created and installed murals:

And after occasional thefts and vandalism, the team reinstalled and sometimes made replacement murals.

For even more information about artist Bill Mitchell and his projects:

• Link to a Bill Mitchell Documentary created in 2020.

• Link to the online Walking Tour.

• Link to Bill Mitchell’s Person Record in the Anacortes Museum’s online database.

(Article prepared in support of a presentation by Robert Burns, author of Rebels in the Wild, at the Anacortes Library, March 11, 2026 at 6 PM.)

The Equality Colony, located in northwest Skagit County (near Colony Creek and Colony Road along Chuckanut Drive), was founded in 1897. The “B.C.C.” seen in this group photograph stood for the Brotherhood of the Cooperative Commonwealth, which planned to convert Washington to socialism by creating a system of colonies throughout the state.

“For $160 a family was admitted to the colony. Every member was expected to work, including the children when they were not in school. Families lived in apartment houses, or in individual family cabins and ate in a communal dining hall. The colonists were not well received by the surrounding communities because they held radical beliefs such as free love, divorce, rights for women and socialism. By 1906 the colony dissolved. The newspaper Industrial Freedom was the official publication of the Equality Colony. It was printed weekly and distributed nationally”. – Archives West, Orbis Cascade Alliance

Peter Hegg, brother of the Klondike Gold Rush photographer Eric Hegg, worked closely with the Equality Colony to produce photographs of the colony for their newspaper, Industrial Freedom. In addition, these images were available for sale to the public for 30 cents each or $1.75 for the first seven.

Digitized issues of the Industrial Freedom are available via WashingtonDigitalNewspapers.org

Disagreements between the society’s members and a fire that destroyed a large barn and many of the group’s cattle marked the end of this social experiment.

The New York Times published this short feature:

Digitized images of the Equality Colony on the Anacortes Museum website.

Everyone deserves their Seahawk pride. Being the original Seahawks does not mean Anacortes thinks other Seahawks are less special. Peninsula high is cool for having osprey nesting at their stadium. And as the osprey flies, they’re among the closest Seahawks to Seattle.

When it comes to being the first Seahawks sports team in Washington, there is no gray area - it’s purple and white!

Whether as Sea Hawks or with one word, both spellings have been used by Anacortes since 1925. Say a Seahawk swooped down and ripped your argument to shreds - does it matter if there is a space between the A and the H?

The first time the new team name appeared in print was on January 29, 1925 when the local newspaper reported: “The Anacortes Sea Hawks sank their claws into the Stanwood Yellow Bellies.”

All of the newspapers and school yearbooks in the collection of the Anacortes Museum establish Anacortes as the world’s earliest Seahawks sports team.

What happened in the mid-1920s? Names for sports teams were becoming the norm, and a popular film, The Sea Hawk, was released nationally.

Here is a partial list of some of the Seahawk teams that followed elsewhere.

WORLD’S EARLIEST SEAHAWKS SPORTS TEAMS

Est. 1925 (Jan.) Anacortes High School, Anacortes, Washington

Est. 1926 (Mar.) Redondo Union High School, Redondo Beach, California

Est. 1926 (Apr.) Corpus Christi, Texas, Gulf Coast League Baseball Team

Est. 1926 (May.) New Castle, Delaware youth baseball team

Est. 1933 Seattle Seahawks hockey team

Est. 1939 Delray High School, Florida

Est. 1947 Peninsula High School, Washington

Est. 1975 Seattle Seahawks

In an interview with the Anacortes Museum, Gae remembered: “When I was in kindergarten, the teacher was a violin player. And of course, I just took right to it. I finally got a violin, $35 violin, which was a lot then. I went into flute, and I played piccolo all through school. I still have that piccolo hanging on my wall.”

Gae is a multi-instrumentalist who has performed in town throughout her life: “Let’s see. The first one I played with the cello, and then I went to the violin, and then I played piano, and then I played organ at church, and I played the flute and the piccolo. Now I play the bass, the standup bass, and I’m done. That’s it. Well, I like ‘em all. I guess violin is my favorite, but I’m having a lot of fun playing the bass.”

Gae has taught and performed locally: “I just played a lot everywhere, but I didn’t have any plans for it, but it just kind of happened around here, so it was a lot of fun. I played with a couple of my daughters that played flutes. We do two flutes and violin. We played for a lot of weddings like that.”

When asked if her children went into music by virtue of exposure to it, or because of her instruction, Gae replied: “No, well, just probably exposure. They just always wanted to play. I never made ‘em practice ever. They just did. But my husband (Hollis Dunton) was a really good musician. He played all the brass instruments. Yeah. And then the boys, my two boys also played trombone. I think the same trombone they just passed down.”

In the mid-1990s, family members launched a new music project, the Dunton Sisters. Gae recalled: “I think Jen’s husband was into bluegrass, and we kind of got interested in it. Then we got our own group. We went back to play some bluegrass festivals back east. Jen and Bev were playing the guitar and the mandolin and singing, and they said, we need the bass player. Okay, fine. So, I got this electric bass. We did that for a while. And then bluegrass, you really need the standup. Then we got a standup, and then we went from there.”

Jen Dunton continues with the musical history of her family:

“Music in our family goes way back. We had grandparents in vaudeville, opera singers, piano players (our aunt played for silent movies), grandpa played banjo, guitar, mandolin and fiddle and he also sang in the Stamps and Baxter Quartets.

The Dunton Sisters were first mentioned in the Anacortes American in 1969. Jen recalled: “When we were young kids my sisters and I used to sing around town for various clubs. Our mom made us matching dresses. We thought we were the Lennon Sisters. We loved listening to our dad’s stack of 45’s of the Blackwood Brothers. Our favorite song was Everybody Goes to Church Twice on Sunday.”

“We all went our separate ways for a while, had families and wanted to perform music again. My sister Bev, our mother Gae and I decided to go to Hugo Helmer and buy some instruments. I bought a guitar, Bev a mandolin and mom a bass. We listened to old recordings and got some bluegrass repertoire together and played some bluegrass festivals. We played a festival in Port Angeles and a promoter of the music heard us. He flew us to Hollywood and had our hair done at Jose Eber’s and flew us to Nashville. We played at the world-famous Station Inn and Tootsies (in Nashville) and we auditioned at Warner Brothers. We recorded a demo at Bil VornDick’s famous studio in Nashville. I came down with laryngitis. We still did the audition, and they liked us. We were going to go back again but things got in the way. We went back to North Carolina and Tennessee and played for some bluegrass festivals for a few years and got some notoriety. There were articles about us in the newspapers. We performed with Ralph Stanley and played a set with Tony Rice and his brothers Larry and Wyatt Rice”.

The Dunton Sisters remain a family music group based on Fidalgo Island: “Currently, our group consists of Jen (guitar and vocals), Bev (Mandolin and vocals), Jackie (drums and vocals), Gae Dunton 95 years old! (standup Bass) and Steve Bickle on (guitar and fiddle). The music has changed a bit…leaning more towards Americana, due to the fact that we added the drums. That opened a new door for more of an eclectic mix of styles,” Jen explained: “We played for the Anacortes Arts festival this year, Skagit County Fair, Deception Pass Concert Roots Music Series, etc.”

Unsurprisingly, there are more musicians in the next generation of the Dunton family:

“Jill’s daughter, Anne Drummond is a famous professional jazz flutist who plays all around the world and daughter Jayne is a professional oboe player.”

Nel Dunton plays Harp, piano, flute and Bass. Her son is Brayden Krueger, former member of the Lonely Forest, a well-known drummer, he also plays guitar and sings. Nel’s grandson, Jack Collins has a group called “Collins Beach.”

Taylor Dunton, also in Collins Beach, was a member of the Anacortes based band, New Uniform.

Gae Dunton tells how it has all come full circle: “I went to the Buxton (home of the Anacortes Music Project at 19^th and Commercial). They had three bands, and I had four grandkids playing in three bands, so I had to go. It was quite fun. That’s the Old Baptist Church. That’s where I did a lot of stuff. Then they built the new church up where my parents sold their property (to the church) where it’s at now.”

Check the Dunton Sisters website for upcoming gigs.

Tim Wittman: “A song by Perry Como titled Round & Round.”

Museum: How did your family’s taste in music influence you?

Tim Wittman: “We were a musical family singing at church (the St Mary’s by Causland Park), choral groups in school, violin lessons from Mrs. Lowman, etc. My dad sang in a trio at AHS back in the 40’s. All three guys were named Jack. One of the Jack’s was Jack McLaughlin, father of hit music singer Sarah McLaughlin.”

Museum: Over the years, how did you hear new music, and how has that changed?

Tim Wittman: “It started with my mom and I driving around in the car back in the 50’s. I told her that I was amazed and how many of the songs on the radio she knew and could sing. It wasn’t long before I was singing along with her. Everything just blossomed from there. Church choir, music lessons, singing in AHS choir, etc.”

Museum: Do you remember your first music purchase – when, where and what?

Tim Wittman: “YES!! It was a 45 by the Beatles. She Loves You was on side one, and I Want to Hold Your Hand was on side two. I bought it at Fisher’s Music.”

Museum: Do you remember the first concert that you attended of your own choosing – tell about the experience?

Tim Wittman: “It was Louis Armstrong when he and his band played a concert in the AHS gymnasium.”

Museum: In what ways have you participated in music on Fidalgo and/or Guemes islands?

Tim Wittman: “I’ve played in bands and composed music as a hobby most of my life. I played guitar in the AHS Stage Band and played in a folk group called The New Concepts.

I remember playing the "Hatchcover" restaurant (where Secret Cove was located) . . . the original restaurant at that location. We used to do big gigs there like the Texaco Annual Banquets, etc. What fun! Gordie Baxter was our "MC"

I played in rock bands for high school dances, etc, then played in a Blues band for several years upon returning to Anacortes from college. I have published a CD of songs that feature old Anacortes in the Maritime Folk genre “Tales of Cannery Kate and Other Northwest Songs.” Many of my songs have appeared on CD collections of Northwest artists. On Guemes Island I played several of the Woodchopper’s Ball events and at the store when it was Anderson’s General Store.”

Museum: If you ever played or studied a musical instrument – what instrument(s) and who were your teachers?

Tim Wittman: “Mrs. Ray Lowman, violin & guitar. Dr. Robert Plucker, Private voice at Skagit Valley College. Central Washington University - Private voice.”

Museum: Were you ever a performer, solo or in a musical group - please describe and include the name(s) of the group(s)?

Tim Wittman: “New Concepts – folk, The Mighty Viagras - Blues, Rock Solo performances of Gilbert & Sullivan songs with the SVC choir. Solo recitals SVC.”

Museum: If any of your musical groups recorded, performed live, or toured, please describe?

Tim Wittman: “Cannery Row - a CD collection of original songs “Tales of Cannery Kate.” Cannery Row - songs on CD collections of NW artists from BC to Oregon. Cannery Underground- a duo performing around Anacortes, La Conner, Seattle, Tacoma, Olympic Peninsula, Skagit Historical Museum.”

Museum: Who are some of the performers and bands that you associate with Anacortes Music?

Tim Wittman: “Jack Ross, Trish Hatley, Utopian Monks, the Lonely Forest.”

Museum: Do you remember the first concert that you attended of Anacortes-based music – tell about the experience?

Tim Wittman: “Bands in high school. The Utopian Monk, folk groups, church groups.”

Museum: Do you believe that “Anacortes Music” had or has a special quality, and if yes please describe?

Tim Wittman: “It has heart and soul.”

Museum: Feel free to offer your perspective on how music reflects the place and period in which it was created?

Tim Wittman: “Music records forever the pulse of the times. The happier music of the 50’s, the protests of the Vietnam War, the love generation of the 60’s and 70’s, and the list goes on.”

“On Friday nights there was a lot of activity in our small town. All the boats were docked, and the men were glad to be on land. A chance to have a warm bath and shave. Sometimes there were street dances, but usually the men who did not live in Anacortes would congregate in bars or just hang out on the docks. You would often hear the men singing their Croatian songs. Maybe someone would play an accordion.”

- Pat Francin Opia

Some local residents may have been unnerved when the weekend population swelled by one thousand fishermen, but most joined the fun of the Fishermen’s Dances, and respected how the fleet contributed to the local economy.

“They had street dances back then, in the summer. Oh, they were crowded. I mean, everybody went. They were fun.”

-- Martha Crowell Roll (Anacortes Museum Oral History)

Nearness to the fishing grounds was a chief advantage in the growth of Anacortes’ fishing industry. This proximity to the resource brought canneries to a dozen sites on the fast-flowing Guemes Channel. Naturally, many fishermen chose Anacortes as their home. Yet Anacortes became the salmon-season haven of the fishing fleet due to active recruitment and infrastructure improvements.

“Another thing that was an attraction for everyone in the summertime … they had what they called “fishermen dances.”

-- John Tursi (Anacortes Museum Oral History)

With the fortuitous expansion of its Cap Sante Waterway in early 1930s, Anacortes reaped economic benefits, like the enlargement of its own and visiting fishing fleets.

Such events date back in news accounts to 1895, and the party was described:

“Last evening the fishermen of Anacortes treated their friends to a dance at the bowery. The attendance was large and included a number of people not residents of Anacortes. The fishermen had had good luck and were happy to again be in port, and with a generosity characteristic of their calling, they wanted all their friends and acquaintances to share their joys and pleasures. It was very happily suggested that a dance be given, and although arranged on very short notice, it proved a very enjoyable occasion. Everything — refreshments and all, were free, the expenses being borne by the hosts.”

The Revelers performed at a 1932 pavement dance for fishermen. The for a headline “Fishermen’s Dance Proves Huge Success” appeared in the 12 April 1934 Anacortes American reporting on another remarkable party:

“A crowd which filled the Elks Hall to overflowing attended the dance given last Saturday night by the Dalmatian Citizen’s Club honoring visiting fishermen. Wallie’s orchestra from Everett supplied the dance music for the evening. Free wine and beer were served and an excellency program was given which included singing and dancing by local and out-of-town talent. Those attending the affair vote it one of the most successful ever given here.”

Venues for these dances included the Community Building at Sixth and Q Avenue, what became City Hall and was once the Elks Ballroom. Dances were a regular form of weekend entertainment, occurring also at the Eagles Hall or Oddfellows Lodge. The Goff brothers’ Serenaders performed around Anacortes and regionally. They were favorite performers at the Fishermen Dances that occurred on summer weekends, sometimes as huge street dances on the pavement of Seventh Street, when Anacortes hosted hundreds of purse seine fishermen in town for the salmon season.

Through the 1930s and 40s the Fishermen’s Dances thrived, but by the early 1950, attendance lessened and the events ceased. In tribute to this tradition, the Anacortes Museum hosted a series of Plaza Dances at the Depot for a few years beginning in 2014. Yet the raucous fun of the real deal was only faintly attained.

He eventually made his way to Hollywood, and his musical career grew to gain national fame. Once he began coming into the public eye, he changed his name to Jack Ross. In Hollywood, he played with other artists like Artie Shaw and Tommy Dorsey before forming his own quartet, the Jack Ross Quartet. He entertained for 14 years at the Fairmont Hotel in San Francisco and was the musical director there in addition to performing stand-up comedy, called the John Ross Show.

Ross recorded hit songs such as “Cinderella” and “Margarita”. He performed in nightclubs across the United States, including California, Florida, Hawaii, and more (AA 12/22/82). He reportedly played for Prince Philip of Great Britain in Seattle in 1962 (AA 6/14/62).

Despite his national fame, he did not forget his hometown and would return at times to play for various events such as Elks Club meetings and a concert at Anacortes High School. He raised money through golf tournaments for various causes such as the purchase of dialysis machines as well as a college scholarship.

Jack Ross passed away on December 15^th, 1982, at his sister’s home in Tacoma. He was buried at Eden’s Cemetery on Guemes Island. Following his death, his estate donated $150,000 to Island Hospital to support the construction of a new emergency room, which was dedicated to his memory.

Jean playing violin 1990

(2025.053.002)

Jean Faith (Perry) Lowman was born in 1890, in Covington, Ohio. Her mother died, aged 28, when Jean was 7 years old and her brother Hubert, just 2. Their father remarried a few years later.

After graduating high school, Jean attended Miami University in Ohio and majored in music. She spent her first year of teaching in Perrysville, Ohio before she moved to Anacortes in 1911 and was hired as a music director in the local schools. She taught violin lessons and played in local churches, (she listed five Anacortes churches) for special services.

2025.053.003

Jean met her future husband, Raymond Lowman at the Presbyterian church. He was singing in the choir.

“All through the years he sang in the choir at the Presbyterian church. He did ever so many solos ….and we don’t have a single record or any kind of thing of his voice. Raymond was a baritone. He had a beautiful voice.”

“Our connection was through music.”-

https://anacortes.catalogaccess.com/archives/38088

In 1913, she married Ray in Covington, Ohio. They made their home in Anacortes and raised their five children: Betty, Bill, Jack, Bob, and Jimmy.

In the 1930s, experiencing hard times during the Depression, Jean and Ray and their children moved into the Anacortes Hotel, owned by William Lowman at 8^th and J.

https://anacortes.catalogaccess.com/photos/4496

The family was there for 8 years. During this time, they built a stone house across the street. “Mrs. Lowman, formerly Miss Perry, had a studio on the first floor (of the old hotel) where she taught music lessons. She taught here and in the rock house, (across the street from the old hotel), for nearly seven decades”- (from Miss Perry Comes to Washington- see above)

Jean and Ray’s youngest son, George, known as Jimmy, died tragically the winter of his senior year of high school in 1940.

2025.053.003

Family historian, Claudia Lowman believes this photo shows Jean at the Mount Vernon train station in 1940, possibly going home to Ohio after the death of her son. On the back of the photo it says, “The violin HAD to go too.”

In 1951, her son Bill brought home an infant gorilla, Bobo. Jean took care of the gorilla as if it were her own child. Bobo became a part of the family and a news sensation but eventually had to go to the Woodland Park Zoo.

Jean holding Bobo (2014.041.018)

Claudia Lowman-

“My grandma Lowman presented me with lots of musical fun over the years, especially with small or improvised instruments. There was the proverbial flutophone, followed by the dulcimer, ukulele and guitar to name a few. She was always appropriating unusual small instruments: castanets, maracas, finger cymbals, ocarinas (also called sweet potatoes), bongo drums, tambourines, xylophones…”

”Once she let me fill up several water glasses to create distinct notes of an octave to “play” songs by rubbing the rims. She let the glasses take up space for a week or more so I could experiment”.

Great grandson, Phil Elverum-

”When I was a kid I spent most Sundays accompanying my mom into town to spend the day at my great grandma’s house on 8th street. My mom would clean and cook and take care of whatever, sharing the caretaking work with the rest of the family and keeping Great Grandma Jean in her home into very very old age. I remember a constant presence of music and information. There was always an audio book playing for her, or a radio program, or sometimes TV. Her mind was crystal sharp and she kept learning all the way to the finish line. But always, we knew she loved music above everything. If any of us had any musical dabblings, we’d bring them to Great Grandma first thing for a show and tell. She would listen, to me noodling wildly on a Melodica for example, and clasp her hands together and look off into space enraptured. Probably not at the music itself but at the satisfaction of nurturing a love of musical exploration down through the generations. The wide open enthusiasm for music set the tone for me. Because of this, I somehow never got the message that music and creativity was something impractical to grow out of and get a real job. She showed just how extremely long a person can stay passionate about learning, exploration, and music, and I attribute my rich creative life to the foundation she provided.”

Hannah Elvrum, sister of musician Phil Elverum, playing the violin for her great grandmother.

It’s impossible to say exactly how many young people learned from Jean (Perry) Lowman during her 70+ years of teaching music, but it’s clear there were many.

Jean passed away July 27, 1993, at 103 years old, and is interred at Grand View Cemetery in Anacortes, Washington

.

(This article originally appeared in the April 16, 1908 issue of the Anacortes American and is presented as part of our ANACORTES MUSIC EXHIBIT series)

A. L. Graham, one of the early pioneers of Fidalgo Island, was in the city on Monday (April 13, 1908). He has resided on his forty-acre farm three and a half miles from the city, a mile south from the Robinson glue factory, for the last 32 years and lived there before there was a single house in Anacortes. Mr. Graham has a fine ranch, twelve acres of orchard, four of garden and meadow, and 24 acres of pasture. He has 600 apple trees that last year produced 1,500 boxes of fruit, including Baldwins, Russets, Ben Davis and Gravenstein. He has 100 bearing cherry trees, including Bing, Royal Ann, Knight's Early Black, Black Tartarian and Black Republican. He says that the trees all indicate a heavy crop this year, although last year's crop was unusually big.

Amos Bowman, the founder of Anacortes, came here the following year, 1876, accompanied by Mrs. Bowman, whose maiden name, Anna Curtis, inspired the name Anacortes. Bowman had a portable house which he brought up from Seattle and erected it on the shore front between what are now O and Commercial avenues, near First street. This was afterwards used as a hotel.

Mr. Bowman was an enterprising man and had some very worthy constructive ideas, backed by an inclination to industry that soon gave his end of the island prominence. In 1877 he initiated a movement which resulted in the organization of a brass band and the musicians of the entire island were mustered into service. Mr. Graham was solo cornetist, leader and director of the band and it is related by old-timers that the organization put out some very enjoyable strains of music. It was known as the Anacortes Band. Bowman himself was one of the twelve performers, playing a B flat cornet quite well.

In the summer of 1877 the band boys built a large house at the foot of Cap Sante, on Fourth street, and here they held their practice meetings and nocturnal serenades to the vast delight of all the countryside.

In the following year Mr. and Mrs. Bowman moved into the big house and lived there for a number of years, the band, however, still continuing to practice there. This house is still standing in the same old place and is an interesting relic of the beginning of Anacortes. It wouldn't be out of the way of logical regard for the founder of the town to preserve this historic pile in some useful, public manner.

The band of the boom of 1890 was the Anacortes City Band, organized June 5, 1890, with fourteen members. Citizens readily and promptly subscribed $250 and the band was soon in uniform and had a full set of instruments and a collection of up-to-date music. J. W. Paterson was the ruling spirit of this organization, and was also director, while J. M. Platt was treasurer. Paterson, Platt, Christian, J. B. Fithian, W. F. George and Captain Gray fathered the organization.

It was the days of the flapper, short skirts, marcelled hair, and later the boogie-woogie, whatever that was.

I was young and loved dancing, drinking, and gals. This happened in 1924 when I was 26 years old. There used to be dances in and around Anacortes in three places. One was held every Saturday night at Eagles Hall built in 1921 at 7th and Q. Jack Crowder’s orchestra always played there. I remember Emil Brado, the trombone player. Emil was delivery man for the Erholm’s Anacortes Laundry. Ervin Thayer, a local barber, was clarinet player, and Jack Crowder, the leader, played violin. Charlie Lenning played the drums. He worked for Standard Oil Company. Oh, yes, Jack Crowder had a “near beer” tavern on 2nd and Commercial. That was a blind. The real business was peddling gallons of moonshine booze brewed on Guemes Island by some South Carolina expert. It was the best booze in town, five dollars per gallon; no small piddling pint sales. There was a young, fat gal whose parents had a boarding house on 4th and M Avenue. Her name may have been Marguerite—I’ve forgotten. She was about 18, good looking but too fat. She played the piano. She really could tickle those piano keys in fast jazz. The popular dances at the time were the two-step, three-step, waltz, and the new craze, the Charleston, which I could never manage. It was fast and beautiful, but I just didn’t have the knack of it. The popular dance place before the Eagles was built was the Pavilion on 10th and Commercial. Jack Crowder had played there then moved to the Eagles.

Another dance was usually held in Happy Valley, several acres of timber and grazing grounds, a truly beautiful, peaceful spot with a small group of houses uphill about a mile from 36th and Commercial. Most of the houses were occupied by the George Haddon family and their kinfolk. They all had come many years ago to Anacortes from the Carolinas, real southerners, ready for a fistfight at the drop of a hat. They usually won most fights, so they were left alone. They were the best bootleggers on Fidalgo Island.

The better ones were the Tar Heel folks by Hamilton, Concrete, and Rockport in upper Skagit County. They were moonshiners of three generations experience, and it was good but too far to go, so we all bought Haddon moonshine. Well, George Haddon had a large barn and a few cows, and on Saturday nights there would be dancing to music by old time fiddlers from around the county. And naturally the availability of buying a pint of booze for a buck attracted many of us young fellows and gals that were looking for excitement and fun. And it was good times to the small early morning hours. Another, not so popular place, was on Guemes Island. Nick Bessner who owned the ferry that was operated by his son Bill would make as many trips as necessary. And there was plenty of booze available there, only not as tasty as Haddon’s so I really did not attend too many dances there. They were great on square dancing, and I never liked it. It seemed like a lot of hard labor.

This one Saturday night we went to the Eagles Hall dance place. There was a house next to the Eagles building with shrubs all around. So we would hide our booze in the brush. Then, between dances, we would go down for a nip, the four of us, and usually there were several other couples scattered around. We drank almost half of the Mason jar of booze and when it was time for another drink we went down and no booze to be found. Boy, were we mad. Other couples heard us and invited us to join their drinking. We went to the Maryland Cafe for our usual eating and socializing, but we missed our booze.

The Anacortes police force consisted of two men, Al Sellenthin, Chief of Police, and Tom March, his associate. They walked the streets; no cars in those days.

Monday morning at opening time, before the clerks arrived, in came Chief of Police Sellenthin. I said, “Good morning, Chief, what are you doing out so early in the morning?”

He said, “I came to give you hell and to tell you I could have ruined you Saturday Night.”

I said, “Why? What did I do Saturday night? I didn’t violate any laws, so what’s the matter?”

“Didn’t you and Doug Cummings attend the Eagles dance with a couple of floozies?”

“Wait a minute, Chief,” I said. “You can’t insult my girl friend like that. She ain’t no floozy!”

“Oh, no? Well, let it go, but you were there, right?”

“Yes, Chief,” I said, “I was. So what?”

And he produced a familiar Mason jar half-full of moonshine. He said, “You recognize this?”

I started stuttering, and I said, “Yes, Chief, that is my booze!”

He said, “You ought to be ashamed of yourself. Here you are struggling to make a go of this small grocery store, then you go whoring around drinking like a Skid Road bum. Suppose I had arrested you and your three companions? It would be in the American: ‘Young grocer drinking booze outside the dance hall. His name is Paul Luvera!’ Many of your customers who are good church people would quit your store in hordes. You would be broke in three months. Maybe you already are broke, that’s the rumor. So I felt sorry for you and decided to give you another chance at being a man! Better quit the fast company, get married, and settle down! And remember, no more sympathy from me. You’ve been warned. Better learn your lesson.”

I really felt guilty, small, and humiliated. He said, “Do I have your promise, no more booze on the street? If you want to drink, have your friends at your house, and get drunk there.” And out he went. That was the best lesson and bawling out I ever got. And I sure behaved after that. Fortunately, I found my wife, Mary, and we got married on April 7, 1926.

Paul Revere Williams may not have visited Anacortes, Washington, but the Tudor Revival home he designed on the city’s northeast tip stands as a unique achievement. This article was written when his work was featured as part of the Anacortes Museum’s architecture exhibit, At Home in Anacortes, in 2017.

On Cap Sante, at the northern end of East Park Drive, a “mansion” was built for a wealthy California transplant, Luther Barrick, in 1928. Records from the Washington State Department of Archeology and Historic Preservation (DAHP) state: “The house was reportedly designed by a Los Angeles architect named Paul Williams.” Paul Revere Williams is the first known African-American member of the American Institute of Architects; inducted in 1923, he worked primarily in southern California. The home he designed for the Barrick family is the only known Paul Williams structure in Washington State.

A visit to the Paul R. Williams Project website offers insight into the architect’s biography as well as a gallery of his many works. He was born in a “vibrant multi-ethnic” Los Angeles in 1894, but lost both of his parents by the age of four. He graduated in 1912 from L.A.’s Polytechnic High School, "the acme of present day high school educational results," stated the June 21, 1912 Los Angeles Times. He began working for a Pasadena architect in 1914 designing luxury homes, eventually designing for numerous Hollywood celebrities.

Williams was raised by adoptive parents who encouraged his creative pursuits. He navigated occasional discouragement, like the high school counselor who advised against architecture as a suitable career path. "If I allow the fact that I am a Negro to checkmate my will to do, now, I will inevitably form the habit of being defeated," Williams stated. One chess-move example was his perfection of upside down drawing, so that white clients could sit across from him, rather than confronting potential discomfort at sitting next to a black architect. Says Beverly Hills realtor Crosby Doe, “He was the Jackie Robinson of architecture.”

“California represented an acceptance of both him, as an African-American, and his work,” says Robert Timme, dean of the USC School of Architecture. “Maybe Southern California was the only place he could have achieved all this.”

Luther Barrick likely became aware of Paul Williams’ designs as a Los Angeles resident before his move to Anacortes. “Paul Williams had established himself as a master of combining the physical setting with historical architectural elements,” and Cap Sante’s Tide Point is a stunning location, well suited to William’s talents.

Historians and other skeptics are already focused on the word “reportedly” in the DAHP report. The source in the 1987 report referencing Williams is likely Cap Sante resident Doris Packard, who is cited for providing an unrecorded interview to the DAHP inventory staff. This citation alone would be a thin link to proof of Williams’ design of Barrick’s Cap Sante home, were it not for the fact that Barrick was a client of Williams when he moved back to California in 1934. That home, now referred to as the Lloyd Bacon residence, establishes a second client/architect relationship. 

Some Williams’ business records – stored at a bank in Watts – were destroyed by fire in 1992 during civil unrest in Los Angeles following the Rodney King verdict, but the bulk of his archives were safely stored elsewhere. The Getty Research Institute and the USC School of Architecture jointly acquired the Paul Williams archives from his family, so there is hope of locating drawings or records that would establish a firmer link between Williams and the home on Cap Sante.

The home at 201 E. Park is referred to in DAHP records as the Thomas Morrison residence, and is described as being Tudor Revival in style. Barrick had the home built for $20,000, according to the Anacortes American, five to ten times more than the “less pretentious” houses constructed in town that year, stating, “With the well-appointed surroundings, it is now one of Anacortes’ most beautiful homes.” 

Los Angeles developer William Howden also hired Williams in 1928 to design a Tudor style house for one of his investment lots in Hancock Park, the description of which might as well be for Barrick’s home in Anacortes: 

“The house Paul Williams designed for Howden incorporated many of the “classic” Tudor elements: shake roof, leaded glass windows, over-sized chimney and stucco with decorative half-timbers. To provide a homey interior, Williams used oak and pine for flooring, ceiling details and a large mantel. While the majority of Los Angeles homes had one bathroom, this house had three fully-tiled baths with tile lavatories.” 

“He was completely undaunted by racism,” states Karen Hudson, author of books on the architect, and also his granddaughter. “Without having the wish to ‘show them,’ I developed a fierce desire to ‘show myself,’” Williams wrote in “I am a Negro,” his 1937 essay for American Magazine. “I wanted to vindicate every ability I had. I wanted to acquire new abilities. I wanted to prove that I, AS AN INDIVIDUAL, deserved a place in the world.” 

Paul Williams’ 50-year career produced thousands of projects, including Los Angeles International Airport, Saks Fifth Avenue and many more iconic buildings as well as homes for celebrities like Frank Sinatra, Lucille Ball, Lon Chaney and Zsa Zsa Gabor. According to the Los Angeles Times: “If you have a picture in your mind of Southern California in the 1950s and early 1960s, you are quite likely picturing a building created by Paul Williams.” 

At the northern end of the I-5 corridor, a lone example Williams’ multidimensional design portfolio took hold on the rocky shore of Anacortes. Would he have been welcome in 1920’s Anacortes, at a time when Klan organizers were occasional lecturers at local churches? Presumably he would have navigated that challenge with his intrinsic tolerance:

“White Americans, in spite of every prejudice, are essentially fair-minded people who cannot refuse to respect courage and honest effort. They will, therefore, give me an opportunity to prove my worth as an individual.”

-Paul Revere Williams

The First Seahawk Team 

Everywhere you looked in 2013 there was a Seahawk: on TV, newspapers, hats, hoodies, and foam fingers. The most famous "Seahawks" are obviously Seattle's football team, which selected their NFL moniker by public vote in 1975. But fifty years earlier, the student body of Anacortes High School took its own vote and selected Sea Hawks as our school nickname in February of 1925, making the Anacortes Seahawks the "Original Seahawks" in Washington, the United States of America, and probably the first Seahawk team name in the world! 

What is a Seahawk? Strictly speaking, there's no such thing, in zoological terms. The osprey carries the nicknames Seahawk and Fish Eagle because its talons are uniquely adapted to catching and carrying fish -- making it the ideal mascot for a fishing town like Anacortes. For A.H.S. students, initially "Seahawk" had less to do with birds than with cinematic pirates; meanwhile real fish pirates and rum-runners were active in the local waters before, during, and after the Prohibition era. 

What brought the name to the public's attention was a best-selling pirate novel by Raphael Sabatini, published in 1915. His book, called The Sea Hawk, was about a 16th century Cornish gentleman who is betrayed by his brother but later escapes from enslavement to become the pirate "Sakr-el-Bahr" or the Hawk of the Sea. This novel was made into a silent film released on June 14, 1924. Within seven months of the film debut of The Sea Hawk, the name had been adopted by the students of Anacortes High School for its athletic teams. 

Sea Hawk Fever 

The February 5, 1925, edition of the A.H.S. newspaper, The Anacortes Skyrocket, contained an editorial simply headlined "A Name:"  

"Have you ever thought that the A.H.S. teams should have a name? The school has come to the place where such a thing is necessary. There are the Bulldogs, Cougars, and Tigers; so it remains for the A.H.S. to complete the list with a distinctive name of its own. We favor the name "Sea Hawks," because it suggests speed, strength, certainty, and fighting spirit." 

The student association took rapid action, weeding out such names as the Codfish, White Mules, Hill Billies, and the Rum Runners. Nothing was reported on how the name was finally selected, but presumably by a vote of the student association. This was how the Sea Hawk name became official for sports, and eventually also became the name of the student newspaper. The school colors -- purple and white -- actually preceded the Sea Hawk name. 

Journalistic use of “Sea Hawks” preceded the vote to adopt it; appeared in print for the first time in the January 29, 1925, article about the boys' basketball team's game against Stanwood.

“The Anacortes Sea Hawks sank their claws into the Stanwood Yellow Bellies for the second time in one evening. Stanwood was leading the league and so they were favored to take the game; but the A. H. S. boys showed them how to play basketball, and took the game by the score of 18-15.”

This was the first recorded use of the Sea Hawks in reference to an A.H.S. team. Throughout the rest of 1925 it was used sporadically, and sometimes spelled Seahawks. Did the Skyrocket activists stop after the Seahawk nickname success? Not in the Roaring Twenties; they began their own stadium campaign, lobbying for a gymnasium, so that A.H.S. teams could play on campus rather than the Elks' (now City Hall) basement. 

Sea Hawk fever had taken hold by 1926, and the yearbook declared the "Sea Hawk Number" with a Sea Hawk and pirate theme throughout. All sports teams are referred to as Sea Hawks in the 1926 annual, which has remained the Rhododendron since its inception in 1910. The name of the Anacortes High School newspaper is another story; it was named The Anchor in 1915, The Sky Rocket in 1919, and The Sea Hawk by 1928. Another name change occurred when the High School Store (located at 17th Street & K Avenue) became known as the Seahawk Haven and later the Seahawk Store, operated for decades by the Atterberry family. 

Branding was a bit slower back then; it took a few years for the Seahawk emblem to arrive on jerseys and sweaters, notably on those of the Knight Hawks service club, which was "on guard against any dead beats who might try to enter without paying the admission price." A standout of the Knight Hawks and Seahawks was future hall of fame coach Richard "Boots" Wooten, whose family's local roots in the Samish Indian Nation extend to time immemorial.  

Wallie Funk, Anacortes's renowned historian (and A.H.S. Yell King in 1941) recollected that Langford White had something to do with suggesting "Sea Hawk" for a nickname. White was a 1925 A.H.S. graduate who was also on the Skyrocket staff and the A.H.S. basketball team. Of the other original Sea Hawks, Iver Moe became a labor activist during the Great Depression, Jerry Burich fished commercially, and Lennart Anderson had a limited run as a pro wrestler.  

Naming Seattle's Seahawks 

At least one Anacortes resident played a role in the naming of the Seattle Seahawks; among the 151 people who suggested the winning name in 1975 was Deane Brazas, whose father, Alphonse, was a teammate of Boots Wooten in the early days of the Anacortes Seahawks.

"'In addition to a framed certificate signed by the owners, I received a personalized book about the history of the team,' said Anacortes resident Deane Brazas. He e-mailed seattlepi.com and shared his story. 'In addition, I received two tickets to a preseason game every year until Paul Allen bought the team'" (seattlepi.com, January 17, 2013).

The name Seahawk has been treated reverently in Seattle for decades, and in Anacortes for fifty years prior. But both team's monikers were hatched in a nest of flippancy. A list of names rejected for our NFL team included Abominable Snowmen, Nibblers, and Rain-Dears; two names that were near-misses for both Anacortes and Seattle: the Flounders and the Crabs.

Find more Anacortes Seahawks history in the Anacortes Museum online collection.

Find more Sea Hawks articles in online Anacortes Americans.