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By Lauren Powell Join us for the opening of our newly installed exhibit “The Doctors of Independence: 100 Years of Medicine” on Saturday September 13 at 1:00 pm. The acquisition of Dr. Clifford Fratzke’s collection this past winter from Nancy & Jeff Pullman necessitated that we switch some displays around so come by for our grand opening to see the new exhibit! Dr. George Knott, a pioneer physician who came to Independence in the 1920's, paved the way for Independence's once flourishing medical scene. After being invited to Independence by Dr. F.G. Hewett, Dr. Knott inspired many others to begin a practice in the town, including Clifford Fratzke, Donald H. Searing and Dr. Orban G. McConnel. George C. Knott was a doctor in Independence after traveling here from
Yoncalla in 1921. He was at first very reluctant to come to Independence after hearing widespread rumors that the town was the “Toughest, most undesirable town in Oregon,” but was eventually persuaded by his long time friend and colleague Dr. Hewett when he admitted that the workload in the town was too large for just one doctor. Together they created the Independence Hospital.
Although he was a well experienced and educated man, having studied at the University of Iowa, it was proven to be a challenge for him to keep up with the never ending calls to care for hop workers during the season (much of the reason previous doctors decided to abandon practice in the town). Through determination he was eventually able to convince the owners of the hop yards to insure their workers which eliminated one of the biggest medical hurdles in Independence. After losing his partner F.G. Hewett to a cerebral hemorrhage in 1924 he was alone in his practice until 1929 when Dr. Orban G. McConnel joined him. By that time roads
Autumn 2014
Independence Schools 2
Profile: Dennis Eberly 3
Kersey Eldridge House 4
Inside this issue:
Volunteer Opportunities:
Cataloging and storage of donated artifacts,
Housekeeping,
Rotating & creating new exhibits,
Minor interior repairs (paint, plaster, wood-work),
Organizing archives,
Computerized data entry;
Event planning,
Present your favorite topic,
Display your favorite things.
Phone: 503-838-4989
Email: [email protected]
Mail: P.O. Box 7
Site: 112 South 3rd Street
Independence, OR 97351
Heritage Herald
Heritage Museum Society
New Exhibit! The Doctors of Independence:100 Years of Medicine
Continued on page 5
By Amy Albrich
The air is beginning to have a crispness to it, leaves in the trees
are starting to turn shades of orange, yellow and red, newspapers are
advertising sales on pencils, notebooks and new lunch containers. It’s
that time of year when Back To School preparations are going on in a
lot of households and to celebrate here are some fun trivia facts about
schools in this town of Independence.
Mrs. Thomas Burbank was the first school teacher in Independence,
her school being a tiny log cabin that was formerly a home and
located on the north side of town. The school started about 1852-
53.
A school, taught by Alonzo Gesner, was organized in a vacant saloon about 1865-66.
On Monday, February 9th, 1891 the public school was opened in a
fine new building just completed by the Independence District.
Al W. McAdams was the first principal of the new school, followed
by Mrs. L.W. McAdams, Miss Carry Fowle, Miss Hattie Hays, Mill Ella
Shupp, Mrs. F.L. Tuck and Mrs. F. Gates as the new teachers.
The “Trades Carnival” was given in honor of the completion of the
eight room school house which would hold children from the
consolidated districts #38 and #29. It was held in the new Opera
House in 1890 and symbolized the end of this decade.
To quote from the Westside newspaper about the Trades Carnival:
“At 8:15 through the open doorway came filing 41 young ladies, representing the
several trades and professions of the city of Independence. It was a royal company, and as they marched through the hall, an excellent
opportunity was offered to viewers of the ladies who regardless of expense were advertising the wares of the firms they represented. Miss
Miller representing the electric light company stepped forward and suddenly was enveloped in a flood of light from incandescent lamps
fastened to her clothing and on the banner. The audience was so enthusiastic
that a recall was necessary.
On June 17th, 1917 the school district voted to enter into a
contract with the Oregon Normal School permitting its school
to become a training school. On June 1st, 1925 the school
board voted to deed block 19 of Henry Hill’s town of
Independence to the state for a new training school.
High school was inaugurated in 1891 with a two year course
and was increased to the four year course by a vote of the
directors in 1910, the same year in which the high school
building was erected.
Trivia: History of Independence Schools
Page 2 Her i tage Hera ld
Independence Public School, ca. 1905. Independence
Elementary was built in this building’s front yard. The
gym for this building became the gym for IES.
View of Independence from Main Street looking
northwest with the Independence Public School at center
left. Circa 1905.
Independence High School, ca. 1910. Approximate site of
former Henry Hill Elementary School, now the Central School
District administration offices.
Volunteer Profile: Dennis Eberly “Mr. Eb” Part 1
Lifelong Oregonian Dennis Eberly, a 1966 graduate of Oregon
College of Education (now Western Oregon University) and longtime
resident of Monmouth, has been an ex-officio member of the Heritage
Museum Commission since its inception in 1976, when two ex-officio slots
were created on the board to allow area residents not residing in
Independence to serve in an official capacity as museum volunteers.
Mr. Eberly taught at Henry Hill Elementary School in
Independence for 32 years; and though he retired in 1998, he still loves
teaching, especially demonstrating wagon wheel making and giving tours to
school children at the Heritage Museum.
I, Andrea Pittman, Museum Assistant, had the honor of
interviewing him for this newsletter on August 15 and am excited to tell the
readers a little of his story, of which this newsletter contains Part 1. Stay
tuned for Part 2 in the Winter newsletter.
Dennis was born in 1942, and his brother Dave was born 14 months later. Their father Dale served
in the U.S. Navy during World War II and was stationed in Pearl Harbor after the attack. Their mother Gloria
cared for her invalid father, a World War I veteran at their family home in Banks, Oregon (near Hillsboro,) along
with Gloria’s mother Jessie Peppard, who taught in a one-room schoolhouse in Buxton. Jessie’s stories about
teaching always stayed with young Dennis.
Not long after Dale’s return home following his naval service during the war, he and Gloria divorced.
After a little while a young farmer named Jack Kamna came to court Dennis’ mother Gloria, whom he
married; and the new family of four moved to Jack’s 100 acre farm which Dennis fondly remembers as a
wonderful place to grow up. Dennis and Dave could run all over the farm, as long as they stayed away from the
Tualatin River! They helped care for the farm animals and enjoyed picking fruit from the nearby orchards. As time
went by their mother and step-father had five children together: John, Kathy, Henry, Darryl, and Marilyn.
Dennis’ father Dale also went on to remarry, and he and his second wife Lucetta adopted two children,
Debbie and Kevin; so Dennis and Dave were the eldest of a total of nine siblings!
Page 3 Her i tage Hera ld
Museum Society Board and Advisory Board
We need you to serve on one of our boards!
Heritage Museum Society Board: This board is for the non-profit that supports the
Heritage Museum. Volunteer board members meet the third Saturday of the month at
10 a.m. at the Independence Library. Members currently include: Robert Richards, Dan
Hanson, Diana Lindskog, Scotty Girard, Billie Kay Herrell, Mike Fisher and Tom Parker
(ex-officio).
Heritage Museum Advisory Board: This board is the city-appointed advisory board
that oversees museum operations. Volunteer board members meet the second Wednesday of the month at 4 p.m.
at the Heritage Museum. Members currently include: Dave Martin, Bob Severance, John Young, Anita Cantu,
Rebecca Berry, Diana Lindskog (City Council liaison) and Dennis Eberly (ex-officio).
Continued on page 6
In the Western Days July 4th Parade this year
he rode with Betsy the Cow and students all
along the route honored and thanked him
with signs indicating when they had been in
his class.
Page 4 Her i tage Hera ld
By Patty Nevue, with Mayor John McArdle
The first time John and I saw the Kersey Eldridge house,
it was love at first sight. The evening was December 14, 1991.
John had just asked me to marry him while we stood under the
Christmas Tree on the Western Oregon campus. We were on our
way to celebrate the great occasion when John pulled over on
Monmouth Street in front of the Kersey Eldridge House in
Independence. The house was beautifully decorated with lights
and Holiday wreaths in the windows. We commented on how the
house was so majestic and the house looked like a postcard photo.
Almost three and a half years later, we moved into the Eldridge
house with our 10-month old son, Marcus. In the process of buying the
house, we asked that the same Holiday wreaths, the ones we saw the night
we got engaged, be included in the purchase price. So every Christmas
since, the wreaths are in the windows of our home. I will always remember
our first Christmas in the house. It was dark and we had just put the
wreaths in the windows. John picked up Marcus and we went outside to
see how it looked. Just as we turned to look at the house, it started to
snow.
The Eldridge House was constructed in 1914 and is a Craftsman
style. It was built by Kersey Eldridge who came from Lawrence, Kansas in
1897 and first settled in Newberg, Oregon. He started a Creamery which
made outstanding dairy products. In the early 1900’s a group of
Independence businessmen brought Eldridge to town to establish a
Creamery here. The Creamery products were shipped in from all over
Oregon, as well as several other states and British Columbia. In 1915 Eldridge’s butter took first place at the
World’s Fair in San Francisco. At one time Kersey Eldridge was also mayor of Independence.
During the 1940’s, the home was divided into five apartments. In the 1970’s, Gerald and Betty
Moreland restored the house from five apartments back to its original single-family home. The Moreland’s
maintained the integrity of the house by restoring the entire house: the original light fixtures, wood walls, the
wiring and remodeling and decorating all of the rooms.
We realized quickly that to live in a 100-year old house is a
joy and a responsibility. Each year we have completed a project to
maintain and restore the home. Each time we work to keep its
historic features. Since the house is on the National Historic
Registry and the State Historic properties, in many instances, we
have to submit plans to the state. Projects have included restoring
the original hardwood floors throughout, repainting the home’s
interior and exterior, putting on a new roof, restoring the guest
house, water-proofing the basement, remodeling upstairs
sunroom and designing an exterior fence to compliment the yard.
The Kersey Eldridge House: Celebrating 100 Years
The House always seems to be happy when it’s full of people. Over the years we have hosted
people who have owned the house or who lived in the house when it was a rental. One family called and
asked if their mother could come to the house to celebrate her 85th birthday. She and her husband had
owned the house in the 50’s. Other families have stopped by to reminisce about the wedding they attended
or to see the apartment area where they lived as newly-weds. Some grandchildren of previous owners
remember cooking pancakes on the wood burning stove.
Since we have lived here we have had the honor of hosting many community gatherings. The
Governor has been here twice, Congresswoman Hooley twice,
the YMCA Holiday fund raiser six times, the Council of
Government Annual Holiday Mayors meeting for twelve years
and many meetings for local committees. Our son became
used to the groups of people and meetings. Following one
meeting, I remember him running through the living room
waving a toilet plunger thanking everyone for coming and to
be sure and come back again. Of course there were many,
many parties for our son, family and friends: team
celebrations, birthdays, photos, Easter egg hunts and photos
before the big dances. The house loves to be filled with
excitement and laughter.
The Kersey Eldridge House has been our home for over 20 years now. In many ways it seems like
we just moved in yesterday.
Editor’s Note: This house is located at the southeast corner of Monmouth and 7th Streets.
Keep your eyes open for an open house this fall!
Her i tage Hera ld Page 5
had been paved between Salem and Independence so he decided to close up shop at the little Independence Hospital. He moved on to working as a surgeon at the Salem Hospital from 1929 to 1932. After retiring from work at the Salem Hospital, Dr. Knott once again began his own private practice. In 1934 he contacted his nephew Clifford Fratzke to join him in Independence, and within hours Dr. Fratzke was on a train to Oregon. He arrived in only three and a half days and created a small practice with Dr. Knott where they worked during all of World War II. Despite being blind in one eye, Clifford Fratzke was dedicated in his practice and would work all hours, day and night, during the war. About a decade later, after the end of the war, Fratzke and Knott were joined by Dr. Donald H. Searing, a Monmouth resident and war veteran. The trio's practice soon became the first Independence Clinic (located on Log Cabin Street) and was still up and running when Dr. Knott passed away in 1967. Dr. Knott left this world not only with a large mark on the medical community in Independence,
but also an inspiring outlook. This is a snippet from the last page of his memoir:
Continued from cover page
“When the complete sunset of this life occurs, I can only feel much gratitude to humanity for its kindness to us,
and for the experiences of this life. And I will look forward with great interest to discover just what sort of a world
my next sunrise will reveal.”
Page 6 Her i tage Hera ld
Continued from page 3
Dennis spent his first year of school in what was a one-room schoolhouse, but which
technically did have an anteroom for coats and lunches. He learned easily and thus had the spare
time to get into mischief. One of his favorite misbehaviors was putting Betty Lou’s pigtail in the
inkwell and sticking a pin through it so if she got up she didn’t go as far as she expected to! Even
though he learned easily he wished he’d had more hands-on lessons, especially in science. That
dramatically affected how he ran his classroom when he eventually became a teacher.
Dennis was elected freshman class president at Hillsboro High School, where he was first
given the nickname Eb. His Senior year English teacher, Shirley Brown, had a tremendous
positive influence on his education, and told him if he wanted to succeed in college he would need
to master the subjects of English composition, Western Civilization, commas in sequence and “comma splices”
(semicolons).
By this time (1961) he was thinking he’d like to be a teacher so he joined Future Teachers of America and
listened to a presentation by a representative from Oregon College of Education (now WOU). It sounded good so
his dad took him down to Monmouth to look around. Dennis decided this was where he wanted to be.
When he and his dad were checking into freshman living facilities, however, they learned that the men’s
dorm was so full they had cots in the lobby. Well that wouldn’t do, so they arranged for Dennis to rent a room at
the Monmouth Hotel for $25 per month. Built in 1895, it reminded him a lot of the farmhouse where he grew
up—it had no insulation! But it was a roof over his head, he had a bed in his own room and a place to eat (a good-
sized hamburger and fries cost all of 85 cents).
Between doing farm work for $1 per hour and other odd jobs as a youth Dennis had saved $830. Tuition
at OCE was $87 per term, so though he had enough for his first year it was clear he needed to find a job to
continue funding his education. It so happened that the Monmouth Furniture Store across the street from the
Monmouth Hotel was looking for help, and the owner Jake asked Dennis if he could drive a truck and lift 100
pounds. Being able to drive and having bucked hay on farms Dennis answered in the affirmative and was hired
part time for $1.25 per hour. He also was hired to work in the College Materials Center for $1 per hour.
In addition, Dennis was able to continue his education thanks to the receipt of a full tuition scholarship
from OCE; but he still kept both jobs to cover living expenses.
His senior year of college came and it was time for student teaching. Dennis was in contact with a school
principal in Dallas who had told him to look him up when this time came so he could be of assistance in placing
Dennis as a student teacher. Dennis recalls, however, that during a meeting with Henry Tetz, who was in charge of
student teaching assignments for OCE, he leaned toward Dennis and said very matter-of-factly, “You will teach at
Independence Elementary School with Thelma Tallent and you will
thank me.” He did, on both counts. Dennis remembers Mrs. Tallent
as very kind-hearted and a wonderful supervisor, and he learned many
teaching techniques from her that he used throughout his career.
To be continued in the Winter Newsletter!
Oct. 3, 1982- Mr. Eberly at a cider press in front of
the museum.
Become a Member to Support Your Museum
Please Renew Your Membership
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Museum Society; in this
way your matching dona-
tion to the Oregon Cul-
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Return this section and
make checks payable to:
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P.O. Box 7
Independence, OR 97351
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Thank you Life Members! Tom Marquette Gail Saunders-Boyle Jo Ann Yeager Fred Brauti, MD
Judith Blue Tomas & Harriett Wilson Dave Martin Bev Chistman
Glenn & Suzi Brown Ernest P. Greenwood Scott McArthur Marion Baker
Judy Powers Biggie & Jean VanMeter Carrie Casebeer Vivian Stephens
Drs. Laura & Bob Archer John & Eleanor Titus Gloria McGee Ann & Ken Larson
Marjorie Pfaff Family Trust Phyllis Stone Fay Young Margaret Donsbach
Mildred & Paul Worthington Nancy Sullivan Robert Pettit Betty Morlan
Barbara Martin Don & Verna Duncan Mrs. Garlin Jones Bernice Harlan
Ovid Long Dennis & Valerie Eberly Frances Engblom
Page 7 Her i tage Hera ld
Donations: As you know, we are a small non-profit
organization. We couldn’t continue to operate without the
generous contributions from our friends, members and
volunteers. Please continue your support during the year
with donations and purchases from our gift shop. Thanks
to those of you who have contributed in the past.
Remember, your donation is usually tax deductible and
matching your donation to the Oregon Cultural Trust
could yield a tax credit on your Oregon tax return. For
more information visitwww.culturaltrust.org/donate
The mission of the
Society is to
support the
Heritage Museum
through donation
and service.
Please circle the type of
membership you would
like:
Senior: $10.00
Individual: $25.00
Family: $50.00
Business: $50.00
Life Member: $500.00
Hop & Heritage Festival: Sept 26-28,
Independence. Celebrate our heritage with
all sorts of fun the last weekend of
September. Ghost Walk Friday & Saturday
nights. For details visit www.hopfesitval.org.
“Snapshots of the Past”: Wedding
Trends, Stories, and Special Memories,
through Sept 30, Deepwood Estate. Eight
wedding dresses spanning over 100 years are
placed into their historical contexts, allowing
visitors to Deepwood to dive in and gain a
greater understanding of social history
through the lens of love and marriage.
www.historicdeepwoodestate.org
Special Exhibit: From the Sheep’s Back to
Yours: Pendleton Blankets, and Oregon
Tradition September 26-December 23,
Willamette Heritage Center. Explore the
history of Pendleton Blankets through this
rarely displayed collection. Exhibit included
in regular museum admission, Mon-Sat 10-5.
www.willametteheritage.org
Paula Booth: New Work, a mixed
media exhibition, Sept. 4-27;
Reception Sept. 18 Ash Creek Arts
Center, The Gallery @ Ma Mere’s B&B,
212 Knox St. N, Monmouth. 503-808-
0026 www.ashcreekarts.org.
Doctor Exhibit Opening, Sept. 13,
1-5pm, Heritage Museum. See
newsletter cover story.
Wine & Music Picnic, Sept. 14, 2-6pm,
Historic Gentle House, Monmouth.
Local wine, local food, local history, live
music. $15 tickets available from Crush
Wine Bar, 105 Main St. E, Monm. For
more info call 503.838.8281.
Oregon Trail Live September 20,
Willamette Heritage Center, Salem. In
this family friendly competition, register
your team of four and take the 10
challenges to reach the land at Eden’s gate
and build your homestead. Pre-
registration required: oregontraillive.com.
Ancestry.com Workshop: Oct. 4, 9-10am,
Independence Public Library. Learn how
to use this great genealogy resource that is
available for you to use free at the library.
503-838-1811
Apple Fest: October 11, 10am-3pm,
Brunk House. Join us in a celebration of
the harvest! The Brunk House will be open
with docents inside. Stroll through the
gardens and orchards to get a sense of life
on a period farm. Apple harvesting and fresh
apple cider made on site, available for
purchase. The OSU Master Gardeners’
demonstration garden will also be open and
staffed with green-thumbed folks ready to
answer your gardening questions.
www.polkcountyhistoricalsociety.org
Oregon National Guard History: Nov 22,
1:30pm-4pm, Polk County Museum.
Warren Aney shares his passion and research
regarding the history and impact of the
National Guard, the original citizen soldiers,
in Oregon. polkcountyhistoricalsociety.org
Upcoming Events
Mail: P.O. Box 7
Site: 112 South 3rd Street
Independence, OR 97351
Check out our new website!
www.orheritage.org
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