A commemorative issue published by the Kent Reporter May 22, 2015
Looking back: The original Kent Recorder newspaper offi ce on South First Street, as captured by photographer W.S. Walbridge in about 1891 or 1892. COURTESY PHOTO, Greater Kent Historical Society
KENT CELEBRATES ITS RICH HISTORY, GROWTHREPORTER STAFF
Kent, you’re 125 years old.You started out as a small farming
town of hops fi elds succeeded in time by lettuce crops and dairy farms. Now, hundreds of companies from a Starbucks roasting plan to Recreational Equipment Inc., (REI) to Boeing call you home.
“Kent has come a long way since it was fi rst incorporated on May 28, 1890, with a population of 793,” said Kent Mayor Suzette Cooke. “Now, as a hub of innova-tion with over 124,000 residents, we’re a globally-connected community with so much progress and history to recognize.”
Th e town, originally referred to as Ti-tusville, fi rst became permanently settled by westerners in the early 1860s along the banks of what was then the White River.
Hops were shipped by rail or river from Titusville, though in 1889 folks were calling you Kent, aft er Kent County in England, a major hops-producing region. But in 1891, an invasion of aphids wiped out your crops.
Aft er the turn of the 20th century, you turned to dairy farming, and became home to a Carnation Condensed Milk plant.
Flooding from the Green and White
rivers was a constant problem. In 1906, fl ooding changed the course of the White River, which reduced the fl ood hazard by half.
You continued to have fl ooding prob-lems until the federal government built the Howard A. Hanson Dam at Eagle Gorge in 1962 along the Green River.
During and aft er the Great Depression, you were known as the “Lettuce Capital of the World.” Aft er World War II, your population grew more rapidly. From 1953 to 1960, you grew twelve-fold.
In 1965, Boeing opened a space center in Kent, followed several years later by other
aerospace and high-tech companies. Th at trend continues today with such
companies as Blue Origin, owned by Ama-zon.com founder Jeff Bezos, which aims to one day feature human travel to space.
In 1992, the Greater Kent Historical Society formed to promote the discovery, preservation and dissemination of knowl-edge about your history.
In 1996, the city of Kent purchased the historic Bereiter House, home of one of your early mayors, to serve as the Kent Historical Museum, where your 125-year history comes to life.
Kent’s 125th Anniversary2
SERVICE AB VE SELF
WWW.KENTROTARY.COM
Club of Kent, WA
Kent’s 125th Anniversary 3
BY STEVE HUNTER
Hops farming disappeared many years ago, but it’s the reason the city of Kent got its name in 1890 from the Kent County in England, also a boom-ing hops-growing area in the 1800s.
As hops farming soared locally in the late 1880s, residents considered other names, including Titusville, aft er James H. Titus, a pioneer farmer and black-smith, according to an article in the 1964 Kent News Journal.
A hotel, post offi ce and the commu-nity’s fi rst Odd Fellows Lodge already had the name of Titusville, according to the book, “Kent - valley of opportunity: An illustrated history.” But Titusville didn’t exist in any directory.
Current Kent Mayor Suzette Cooke read excerpts from the book at a recent City Council meeting, in celebration of the city’s 125th anniversary, to explain how Kent got its name.
“Some say (pioneer farmer) Ezra Meeker from the neighboring Puyallup Valley fi rst suggested the name of Kent envisioning a hops culture in White River Valley to rival the county of Kent in England,” said Cooke, quoting the book. “Others say the name came from a railroad employee who fi rst dis-patched box cars from Stuck Junction for White River hops.”
Hop buyer Isaac Pincus also has been given credit for coming up with the name of Kent, according to the Kent News Journal article.
“No matter how you look at it, hops were very directly related to us being called Kent and being named for our namesake of Kent County, England,” Cooke said.
Aphids destroyed many of the hops crops in the 1890s, and farmers later put in numerous lettuce crops.
Other names considered included Yesler, aft er Henry L. Yesler, Seattle’s fi rst sawmill operator. Yesler bought property locally in 1884, a mostly wooded area where downtown Kent now sits from Gowe Street to Willis Street and First Avenue to Fift h Avenue.
Residents were asked to pick a name by the U.S. Postal Service because it wanted a name that pleased most people aft er a strong debate between Titusville and Yesler.
With its incorporation in 1890, Kent is the second oldest city in King County, behind only Seattle.
Senate leaders joined Kent offi cials in Olympia to honor the city’s 125th birthday and proud history with a proclamation. At the April 23 ceremony were, from left: Gina Hungerford; Doug Levy; Sen. Karen Keiser; Brittany
Jarnot; Ronald Moore; Sen. Joe Fain; Kent Council President Dana Ralph; Kent Mayor Suzette Cooke; Michelle Wilmot; and Sen. Bob Hasegawa. COURTESY PHOTO
How did Kent get its name?
FOR THE REPORTER
Th e state Senate recently passed a resolution, celebrating Kent’s 125th anniversary and its evolution from an agrarian community to an economic dynamo.
Sens. Karen Keiser, D-Kent, Joe Fain, R-Auburn, and Bob Hasegawa, D-Beacon Hill, sponsored Senate Resolution 8671, which honors the city’s past and praises its growth as a resourceful and diversifi ed community.
Kent is known for creating the fi rst lunar rover, design-ing next-generation rockets, and serving as a globally-con-nected hub of innovation and transportation.
“Th e Kent Valley is now the fourth-largest manufacturing and distribution center in the United States,” Keiser said. “Our economic engine gener-ates $49 billion annually, one-eighth of Washington state’s total gross domestic product.”
In the 1860s, the area was called Titusville, and it was a major hops-growing center. Th e city was incorporated as Kent in 1890, named aft er a region in England known for its fi ne hops.
“Honoring Kent’s 125th an-niversary really means honor-ing the many great people who make up the community,” Fain said. “Bringing together such a diverse community, including
people from many backgrounds, cultures, ethnicities and inter-ests, has led to a unique place for many to call home.”
“Kent’s 125,000 residents represent one of the most diverse and vibrant cultures in the state, speaking 137 diff er-ent languages,” Hasegawa said. “With more than 43 percent of Kent residents speaking a primary language other than English, this is a community that stands as a testament to the increasing diversity of our wonderful state.”
Kent Mayor Suzette Cooke, on hand to watch the passage of the resolution from the
Senate honors Kent’s 125th anniversary
DID YOU KNOW?
Kent is the state’s sixth largest city, is a culturally-rich destination, featuring diverse neighborhoods, award-winning parks and an exceptional school district. REPORTER FILE PHOTO
Census Pop. % ±
1890 853 –
1900 755 – 11.5%
1910 1,908 152.7%
1920 2,282 19.6%
1930 2,320 1.7%
1940 2,586 11.5%
1950 3,278 26.8%
1960 9,017 175.1%
1970 16,275 80.5%
1980 23,152 42.3%
1990 37,960 64.0%
2000 79,524 109.5%
2010 92,411 16.2%
2013 124,435 34.7%
KENT’S POPULATION
Source: U.S. Census[ more HONOR page 11 ]
History • During the 1880s the town dis-
covered hops production as its major source of income. Owing to an aphid invasion that aff ected hops crops in Eu-rope, hops from the Puget Sound area commanded high prices. Hops produc-tion in the White River Valley ended soon aft er its own invasion of aphids in 1891.
• Aft er the turn of the 20th cen-tury, dairy farming became a popular
industry. Kent was home to a Carnation Condensed Milk plant.
• Flooding from the Green and the White Rivers was a constant problem. In 1906, fl ooding changed the course of the White River. Th e Green River continued to present problems until the creation of the Howard A. Hanson Dam at Eagle Gorge in 1962.
• During and aft er the Great Depres-sion, Kent was known as the “Lettuce Capital of the World.”
[ more KENT page 8 ]
Kent’s 125th Anniversary4
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A Kent pioneer and his place: O’Connell legacy lives onBY MARK KLAAS
From his perch atop a small tractor, Tom O’Connell appears at peace, puttering about his family’s enduring farm.
“I love this place,” said O’Connell, the 91-year-old patri-arch of a family whose roots can be traced back to more than 140 years in Kent, and whose farm stands untouched by surrounding commercial development.
Tucked away in the heart of the Kent Valley along the Green River, the O’Connell family’s 30-acre farm on Frager Road South remains timeless, preserved, one of the last of its kind in a changing landscape that supports Boeing’s empire, corporate warehouses and other growing industry.
Right at home: Tom O’Connell has maintained the farm his family established more than 140 years ago. MARK KLAAS, Kent Reporter[ more O’CONNELL page 8 ]
Kent’s 125th Anniversary 5
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BY HEIDI SANDERS
Th e Greater Kent His-torical Society is all about preserving and sharing the history of Kent.
Th e society, which was formed in 1992, operates the Kent Historical Mu-seum, located in the his-toric Bereiter House, 855 E. Smith St. Th e museum is open Wednesday through Saturday, from noon to 4 p.m., and by appointment. Admission is a suggested $2 donation.
“(Th e museum) provides a place where people can go and just gain informa-tion about Kent,” said Ed-mond L. Reitan Jr., histori-cal society board member and a past president.
Reiten said his parents were active members of the White River Valley
Historical Society, which rotated its monthly meet-ings between Auburn and Kent, before his mother, Rae, who served as Kent’s historian, suggested the city should have its own historical society.
Reiten said his mother loved sharing the city’s history.
“She used to give walk-ing tours of downtown, and she used to go to the schools,” he said. “She had this old dress she used to wear.”
Aft er its creation, the historical society began meeting in City Hall, and in 1993, moved to a temporary home on West Meeker Street. In 1996, the city purchased the Bereiter House, and the museum moved in to the building in 1999 aft er several years of
renovations. Th e Bereiter House
was built in 1908 by Emil Bereiter, an owner of the Covington Lumber Com-
pany and mayor of Kent in 1912. Later occupants of the home included the Saito family, members of the Japanese-American
community before being interned during World War II, according to the Greater Kent Historical Society’s website.
Th e museum features seven period rooms that are furnished as they would
Special place: The Bereiter House, site of the Greater Kent Historical Society Museum, is where the history of the Kent Valley comes alive.
The museum is one of Kent’s oldest and fi nest homes, a three-story 1908 craftsman style with carriage entry. HEIDI SANDERS, Kent Reporter
Greater Kent Historical Society preserves, promotes local history
[ more SOCIETY page 8 ]
Kent’s 125th Anniversary61323988
IMAGES OF YESTERYEAR
The Interurban Railroad was a popular way to get from Kent to downtown Seattle. The trip took only 25 minutes and followed the electric tracks through Tukwila to Seattle. The railroad started in 1902, connecting Tacoma and Bellingham.
The Interurban Station on Meeker Street, looking North, around 1902. The back side of building was under construction.
PHOTOS COURTESY, GREATER KENT HISTORICAL SOCIETY
Women sort through crates
of lettuce as the men stand
by crates at the Hogue Plant
in 1934.
Kent’s 125th Anniversary 7
FOR THE REPORTER
For over the past 50 years, Fox Plumbing & Heating has been proud to provide premium plumbing, heating and air conditioning service to Kent and King County.
Kent has helped to make Fox Plumbing & Heating one of the most trusted service companies in Kent, and it’s Fox’s privilege to provide qual-ity service.
To show that trust, Fox uses drop clothes, shoe covers, calls customers 30 minutes prior to arrival, and other techniques to ensure customers trust. David N. Brown, owner of Fox Plumbing & Heating, personally guarantees that, “If you ever have a problem with anything that we do, we’ll come back and make it right,” ensures that Fox will continue to serve Kent for another 50 years.
When Brown began work-ing for Virgil Fox in 1973, he had no idea that he would be the president and owner of Fox. Within six years, David was part-owner of Fox. Dur-ing this time, he was still run-
ning calls and getting to know all the ins and outs of Kent, Seattle, Bellevue and the rest of King County.
Today, Brown no longer goes out on calls, however, he still takes time to answer calls from customers and spend time with every member of his team. Brown believes that if you treat everyone honestly and fairly, then good things will happen to you. Th at’s why every tech at Fox Plumbing & Heating treats their custom-ers as friends, neighbors and family.
Having just celebrated Fox’s 50th anniversary, the Fox family is happy to be included in the city of Kent’s 125th an-niversary. Fox was providing services to Kent when Boeing fi rst opened its doors in 1965. And Fox is looking forward to providing that same standard of quality service to the fami-lies who will be arriving in Kent with Amazon and other great businesses in the future.
“Congratulations to the city of Kent, and here’s to another 125 years of progress,” Brown said.
SERVING YOU: FOX PLUMBING & HEATING
America’s Pastime: A vintage photo of a Kent baseball team photo in the early 1900s.
Beginning in the 1930s, as the Kent Lettuce Festival, the event
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Legion Post 15 and Kent Lions Club.
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have been around the time the house was built.
“They try to maintain that look and feel of the ’10s and the ’20s,” Reitan said.
The museum houses per-manent exhibits, including a farming and agriculture display, kitchen and house-hold chores displays and a community room, which showcases Kent history and culture, as well as rotating displays, which change ev-ery three to four months.
“They try to keep it from getting too stale,” Reitan said.
The current display highlights Kent’s Titus-ville Lodge No. 34 of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, which is celebrat-ing its 130th anniversary this year.
The museum hosts spe-cial events throughout the year, and Kent Chronicles, a discussion group that explores different topics, meets from 11 a.m. to noon the first Thursday and the Saturday after the first Thursday of every month. Anyone, from students in fourth grade or above, is invited to participate in the monthly discussions. The
most recent topic was Kent in the 1890s.
The historical society will participate in various community events this year, including the International Festival on May 30, Kent Cornucopia Days from July 9-12, and Experience Kent History Day on Aug. 15, and will host its annual din-ner auction on Oct. 3.
The museum is available to rent for special events.
For more information about the museum or to join the Greater Kent His-torical Society, visit gkhs.org or call 253-854-4330.
[ SOCIETY from page 5 ]
All of which doesn’t seem to bother the good-natured O’Connell, a third-genera-tion farmer, who once oper-ated a producer-handler dairy outlet, a unique en-terprise in the valley at the time. The large O’Connell family business – at its peak – managed as many as 100 cows daily – milking, bottling and selling fresh raw milk for families in the O’Brien community who would make the trip to the 85-acre dairy.
“We sold it right on the farm,” said O’Connell, a fit, witty and sharp man who appears younger than he is. “Somehow we sold all of our milk. ... People would come here for their neighbors, you know, so they would only come once a month.”
Operating a successful dairy for decades was just one side of a man who has lived a long, fulfilling life – a life of hard work, struggles, prosperity, duty, service and volunteerism. O’Connell said he has so
many people to thank, fore-most his wife of 71 years, Margie, his six children, extensive family and many friends for making it all happen.
“You could say I had a good life,” O’Connell said.
The O’Connells, long in retirement, enjoy 21 grandchildren and 36 great-grandchildren.
A long family tradition
O’Connell, a Kent pioneer, still maintains the same farm today that his grandfather, an Irish immigrant, established in 1872, and the same farm his father inherited in the 1950s.
O’Connell hopes one day to pass the farm down to his two sons – Tom and Richard – who practically live next door. His four daughters – Eileen, Barbara, Monica, Kathryn – also keep close.
“And I’m still living here, and I don’t know of any other farm in the whole valley that’s still under the same name,” he said.
Born in 1923 in Auburn, O’Connell attended O’Brien Elementary and Kent Junior High prior to graduating from Kent High School in 1941 before the school merged with Meridian to be-come Kent-Meridian High.
Out of school, he went right to work – on the farm and in the Seattle shipyards before serving in the Navy during World War II.
Following the war, O’Connell worked on the Northern Pacific Railroad and the Briscoe School dairy before opening a family dairy business that thrived for many years.
“(Farming) taught me persistence, not to give up,” O’Connell said. “If you had a job to do, you did it.”
From 1966-86, O’Connell was Kent’s postmaster and served on many state and national committees before
retiring.O’Connell has been a
part of the community through his work and vol-unteer efforts, namely with the Knights of Columbus, Elks, Rotary, and Toastmas-ters. He has done his share of hunting and fishing. He enjoys gardening and golfing.
Away from the farm, the O’Connells have travelled far and wide, seeing many parts of the country, as well as Canada, Mexico and other countries.
What’s O’Connell’s secret to longevity?
“He has a good sense of humor, very affable, person-able,” Margie said. “He has a good temperament ... and enjoys very good health.”
Good health from a good run at life, he insists.
“A wonderful wife ... we’ve had a great life,” O’Connell said. “Great woman behind me, and a great family. They say it takes a village. Well, our family is a village.”
[ O’CONNELL from page 4 ] Economy
• REI, Oberto Sausage Company and Seattle Bicycle Supply (owner of Redline Bicycles) have their headquar-ters in Kent, and many warehouses are located in the city, due in part to its proximity to key transportation routes. Whirlpool Corporation and General Electric Appliances have regional distribution centers in Kent.
• Kent is home to a large steel industry dating to the early 20th century. Steel and metal manufacturers include Salmon Bay Steel Company, Puget Sound Steel and TMX Aerospace.
• The former headquarters for Boeing Information, Space & Defense Systems was in Kent. The Kent plant was responsible for engineering the wings on the Boe-ing/Lockheed Martin F-22 Raptor.
Sports• In 2003, Kent was named Sports Illustrated’s Sport-
stown of the year for Washington. • The 2012 Skate America figure skating competition
took place at Kent’s ShoWare Center Oct. 19-21.
Sister cities• Kent’s sister cities are: Yangzhou, China; Tamba,
Japan; and Førde, Norway.
Notable nativesEarl Anthony, professional bowler; Josie Bissett,
actress who appeared in Melrose Place; Rebecca Corry, comedienne/actress; Daphne Loves Derby, indie-pop rock band; Ernie Conwell, Mike Karney and Jeff Jaeger, former NFL players; Rodney Stuckey, NBA player for the Detroit Pistons and Indiana Pacers; and Courtney Vandersloot, WNBA player for the Chicago Sky.
[ KENT from page 3 ]
Kent’s 125th Anniversary 9
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FOR THE REPORTER
Kent Cornucopia Days, as we know it today, has a history as an on-again, off -again summer festival in Kent for more than 80 years.
Beginning in the 1930s, as the Kent Lettuce Festival, the event was a cooperative eff ort of several community service orga-nizations, led by Kent American Legion Post 15. Th e Kent Lions Club, which was originated in 1938, began an active role in the community festival beginning that year. Th e festival empha-sized the valley’s cash farm crop of lettuce, the area’s main farm product in that period.
During the years from 1939 through World War II, the Let-tuce Festival disappeared, only to emerge again in 1946 as the Kent Cornucopia Festival.
Cornucopia, which is Latin for “horn of plenty” and symbolized by the horn-shaped basket full of fruits and vegetables, was the
festival’s new name because Kent had emerged as a producer of many farm crops besides lettuce and had a widely diversifi ed agricultural base.
Th e Cornucopia Festival existed in Kent until the mid-1950s. During the late-’50s and into the 1960s there was an on-again, off -again Cornucopia Home Show during the summer, which was organized by one of the Kent Lions.
In 1969, the Cornucopia Home Show disappeared, and a festival reappeared but under the name Ezra Meeker Days in honor of Ezra Meeker, an early entrepreneur and farmer who fi rst brought hops to the Kent Valley, which caused the farm-ing economy to boom in the 1880s and 1890s. Meeker had run a business not far from the festival’s location decades earlier. Meeker Street in Kent still bears his name.
When the Kent Lions took
over stewardship and manage-ment of the summer festival in 1972, they shortened the name to simply Meeker Days. But, as many know, there was also a summer festival named Meeker Days (completely diff erent event) in Puyallup. Th e fi rst Meeker Days was a two-block street fair, located at the site where Th e Commons complex now exists at Smith Street and Fourth Avenue.
In 1980, the Kent Lions
renamed the Kent summer fes-tival Cornucopia Days, thereby reverting to local tradition and relieving the confusion with the Puyallup festival. Th en, in 1981, the Lions made another slight name change to Kent Cornu-copia Days. Th at name has remained unchanged ever since.
Each year since 1970, Kent Lions have produced this sum-mer festival during early July, including a large street fair, parade, carnival and numerous
athletic events, including soccer tournaments, skateboarding competitions, as well as 5K and 10K running events. In 2001, the Lions added a dragon boat racing event on Lake Merid-ian, which has grown to be the largest such race in the state and enabled a thriving community of dragon boating competitors in the city of Kent.
Annually, more than 200,000 visitors attend various functions of Kent Cornucopia Days.
Kent was a center for vegetables and its fi rst summer celebration was the Lettuce Festival. Part of that event was the creation of the “World’s Largest Salad.” Here, young beauties (in rubber boots) toss the mixed salad, shredded by the mechanical device to the left.
COURTESY PHOTO, CIRCA 1934,
GKHS
Festival remains bigpart of Kent community
Kent’s 125th Anniversary10
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FOR THE REPORTER
Carpinito Bros began back in the mid-'60s by two broth-ers, Dan and Mike Carpinito. Mike and Dan attended Kent-Meridian High School and were involved in Future Farmers of America. Th eir farm location was on Cen-tral Avenue North in Kent, where the store is now.
Fift y years ago, things were much simpler. Th e Carpinito brothers owned a few acres along with other farmers in the area. Initially, they began selling just produce, but in the mid-’70s, the Carpinitos extended their retail sales to nursery and garden, as well as bulk landscape supplies. Soon to follow would be wholesaling farm fresh produce and bulk and bagged landscape material.
Today, Carpinito Bros, Inc., is still a family-owned business. Th e family has expanded with Mike and Dan’s family, with fi ve boys involved
in the family business. Carpinitos off ers year-round, premium land-scape bark, topsoil, compost and gravel products for the customer to haul or for a home delivery.
Th e store opens the fi rst week of February, providing a wide selection of quality nursery and garden prod-ucts. Th e fi rst week of June, the retail store expands to the opening of the local farm fresh produce market.
Carpinitos carries the fi nest quality fruits and vegetables from
local farms, including its own Green River Valley farm.
In late September, Carpinitos opens the family-friendly pumpkin patch and corn maze. Th rough December, seasonal produce is available, and for the holidays the store is fi lled
with fresh-cut Christmas trees, as well as featuring Santa's reindeer.
Today, the original Carpinito brothers and their sons continue to operate all divisions of the company on a daily basis.
Carpinito Brothers would like to thank the community for naming it Best of Kent in Nursery and Garden Centers and for being named Business of the Year by the Kent Chamber of Commerce.
SERVING YOU: CARPINITO BROS, INC.
Kent’s Carpinito Bros, Inc., is a successful family operation, handed down through generations. REPORTER FILE PHOTO
Kent has its landmark districtBY MARK KLAAS
A historic Kent neigh-borhood glows today as a registered landmark, the fi rst of its kind in South King County.
Th e King County Landmarks Commission unanimously approved the Mill Creek Neighborhood Association’s nomination for offi cial landmark designa-tion at a public hearing at the Kent Senior Activity Center last November.
Th e Kent Historical Museum and Mill Creek Neighborhood Council had been working with city and county offi cials to complete the steps necessary to des-ignate a concentrated, lower East Hill area of historic homes as a registered King County Landmark District.
According to the commis-sion, Kent is the fi rst city in
the county outside Seattle to earn the historic designation in about 10 years.
Aft er several years of action, advocacy, historic house research, tours and more, the neighborhood council was rewarded for its eff orts.
“It is terrifi c,” said Sharon Bersaas, the Mill Creek council vice president and homeowner in the district. “It’s very exciting. It makes for a bigger historic foot-print.”
Fift y of the 60 homes in the historic Mill Creek neighborhood agreed to contribute to the district from an area that was originally platted in 1890, Bersaas said.
Th ose noncontributing homes have either been re-modeled to the point where they no longer have original features or have moved into the district from diff erent neighborhoods, she said.
Th e historic district’s general boundaries are Clark Avenue North to the west, Hazel Avenue North to the east, Smith Street to the south, and a portion of Cedar Street to the north.
Kent’s 125th Anniversary 11
The American LegionKent Post 15 Chartered in 1919
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Veterans helping Veterans for God and Country ~American Legion
Annual Memorial Day ServiceHillcrest Cemetery @ 10amRifl e Salute by Kentwood ROTC
Tahoma National Cemetery @1pmRifl e Salute byAmerican Legion Post 15 Honor Guard
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Large Memorial Hall availablefor rent that seats up to 250 people
Tahoma National Cemetery Our Honor Guard Salutes Fallen Veterans every other Wednesday
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Senate gallery, noted the state’s sixth-largest city had come quite a way since the days it was known as the lettuce capital of the world.
“Kent has a lot to celebrate ev-ery year, but we have a signifi cant milestone to celebrate this year: our 125th anniversary of incor-
poration,” she said. “Th e second city in King County to incorpo-rate, we have grown from hops to aerospace and have become the sixth largest and most culturally diverse city in the state. It was an honor to accept a proclama-tion from Washington state Sens. Karen Keiser, Joe Fain and Bob Hasegawa in recognition of May 28, 2015, Kent’s 125th birthday.”
[ HONOR from page 3 ]
Legion helps many in the communityFOR THE REPORTER
Th e Kent American Legion Post 15 has been an integral part of the local community for over a half-century.
With more than 400 mem-bers, representing the fi ve mili-tary services, supporting Sons of the American Legion and the Women’s Auxiliary, this post is a hub of social and recreational activity.
Located on Kent’s East Hill, at the east end of Earthworks Park, the Post is actively involved in youth and veterans activities. Kent’s Youth are annually helped via Boys State, the American Legion oratory contest, and
through the support of Boy Scout Pack 406.
Area veterans are directly served through the Post’s service offi cer, a specially trained indi-vidual who can off er fi nancial and non-fi nancial support.
Th e post directly supports the Kent Food Bank and other se-lected charitable organizations.
Veterans in dire fi nancial straits are also assisted.
Th e 250-seat meeting hall hosts a multitude of local func-tions for legion and non-legion members and can be rented for weddings, anniversaries and birthdays.
Th e regionally renowned Post 15 Honor Guard provides full military honors to recently de-ceased service members thrice monthly at Tahoma National Cemetery.
A.T. Van De Vanter
1890-1891
J.H. Titus
1891-1892
W.H. Overlock
1893-1894
J.J. Crow
1895-1896
George Wood
1896-1900
B.A. Bowen
1901-1907
W.H. Overlock
1908-1909
KENT’S MAYORS
M.M. Morrill
1909-1910
J.P. Calhoun
1911-1912
E.W. Bereiter
1912-1913
M.R. Hardy
1914-1915
W.H. Overlock
1916-1918
W.L. Fulp
1919-1920
Dave Leppert
1921-1924
A.N. Berlin
1925-1926
R.W. Murkar
1927-1930
Sidney Boucher
1931-1934
R.E. Wooden
1935-1942
Grant Dunbar
1943-1946
Dave Mooney
1947-1957
Alexander Thornton
1958-1968
Isabel Hogan
1969-1984
Daniel P. Kelleher
1985-1993
James White
1994-2005
Suzette Cooke
2006-present
PHOTOS COURTESY, GREATER KENT HISTORICAL SOCIETY
Kent’s 125th Anniversary12
Events sponsored solely
or partly by Kent Lions
Service Organization
Memorial DayCeremonyat Tahoma
National Cemetery
May 25, 2015
Farmers Market(Oldest Market
in King County) Saturdays, 9 am – 2 pm
June 6 – Sept. 26, 2015
at Town Square Plaza Park
www.kentfarmersmarket.com
Cornucopia Days(Largest Street Fair
in King County)July 8-12, 2015
www.kcdays.com
Dragon Boat Races(One of the largest in the
Pacifi c Northwest!)July 11, 2015
WinterfestDecember 5, 2015
Serving Kent for 77 years
Serving Kent Since 1938
Kent Lions Meeker Days July 1972, renamed Cornucopia Days in 1980, became Kent Cornucopia Days in 1981
1305485
Cake-eating contest at Cornucopia Festival, Kent, July 13, 1956
1954 Cornucopia Parade
1946 Cornucopia Queen
A world wide organization of volunteers dedicated to sight and hearing. In Kent, we specialize locally in youth, families,
seniors and veterans. We also own and produce Kent Cornucopia Days and
the Kent Farmers Market.
History of Cornucopia Days
A Kent Lions Project Since 1970
Kent Cornucopia Days
Kent Farmers Market
A Kent Lions Project Since 2003
Kent Dragon Boat Races
Photo courtesy of Dan Meeker
A Kent Lions Event Since 2001
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