290506 Topic: History of Seattle

Unfortunately, this is another episode for which I do not yet have a continuity. Perhaps someday I can find one. In the meantime, I’ll share what I do know.

I found a preview of the show in the Seattle Times. The headline of the piece read “SEATTLE HISTORY WILL TRAVEL FAR ON AIR TONIGHT – ‘Empire Builders’ Will Tell Story to Nation From New York NBC Studio.”

The article went on to describe the episode:

Across the continent tonight will come the story of the history of Seattle.

The “Empire Builders” are to broadcast, over a nation-wide network, some of the picturesque episodes which marked the city’s early beginnings. The program, originating in New York, will be heard by listeners from Coast to Coast, and from Canada to Mexico.

They will learn what part eleven women from Boston, a fighting parson, a university professor and many other colorful personalities played in the pioneer settling of Seattle. J. W. Spangler, president of the Seattle National Bank, who journeyed to New York to take part in the broadcast, will tell of Seattle as it is today – a modern cosmopolitan city of the twentieth century.

Radio fans in the Pacific Northwest will hear the program over KOMO, local unit of the NBC chain, at 6:30 o'clock.

The press release issued through Harold M. Sims of the Great Northern Railway mentioned the May 6^th broadcast would consist of “episodes from Seattle’s picturesque background.” The bit about eleven women from Boston is the fabled (but true) story of the efforts of Seattle pioneer Asa Mercer (1839-1917) to infuse some female companionship into the erstwhile rough and tumble male population of the fledgling community. In the early 1860’s, Seattle was dominated by lumber mills and fishing enterprises. Men outnumbered women roughly ten to one. Mercer managed to secure enough donations from various sources to travel to Boston and recruit young, single women to make a go of it out in the frontier West.

 

Asa Mercer - the man who brought the brides

The pitch delivered by Mercer was the young city of Seattle was in dire need of teachers, and women to work in other respectable occupations. One promise he made was these young women would be set up with established families in the community. Mercer made two trips to the East coast, and brought back quite a few adventurous young ladies. Nearly every one of the “Mercer Girls,” as they were known, eventually married a Seattle-area man, and many became active participants and leaders in the growing community. This story was the basis of the short-on-reality 1970s TV series, “Here Come the Brides.”

The press release reference to a “fighting parson” alludes to the story of Reverend J. F. DeVore. DeVore was a minister of the First United Methodist Church, serving as the third pastor of the Olympia congregation. At some point, DeVore traveled across Puget Sound (or perhaps around the south end of the Sound and up the Olympic Peninsula) to the town of Port Townsend, where he apparently made a dramatic impression on a few townsfolk.

Reverend John F. DeVore

Most of the episodes of the first season of Empire Builders were written by author Edward Hale Bierstadt. Representatives of the Great Northern Railway (chiefly, Harold Sims) eagerly loaded Bierstadt up with armloads of material about the history of the Pacific Northwest. The material used in the telling of Reverend DeVore’s tale most likely came from a reminiscence delivered by a man named Allen Weir (1854-1916), a man whose family were among the earliest settlers in the town of Port Townsend. Weir went on to become a Regent of the University of Washington, and served one term as the state’s first Secretary of State, in 1889, Washington’s first year of statehood.

Allen Weir - Washington's first Secretary of State; newspaper man and historical chronicler

In 1891, Allen Weir read a paper before the Washington Pioneer Association, in which he told of his family’s settling in Port Townsend, and a handful of colorful tales of his life there. One of those tales described an unannounced visit to the town by Reverend John F. DeVore. Here is how Weir related the tale:

The novelty of a real live Methodist preacher in town had aroused everybody's curiosity. It was an unusually quiet Sabbath morning. For a wonder there had been no "man for breakfast" for two or three days. Still, there was a little "game" going in the principal saloon. Not being able to meet the crowd anywhere else, Elder DeVore walked in and became a spectator. Improving his opportunity while the cards were being shuffled, he introduced himself and expressed a desire to hold services in the county court house, a wooden shack then gracing Water Street, down near Clinger's. John Quail, properly known as "Poker Jack," reached over and swept his coin and poker chips into his pocket with one hand and picked up the cards in the other, saying "Come, boys.'' And the entire outfit adjourned to hear the new preacher. What is more, Poker Jack took up a liberal collection at the close of the sermon.

No doubt this little episode was played out on the radio. The university professor referred to in the Seattle Times news item about the broadcast probably alludes to Edmond S. Meany (1862-1935). I have no way to prove this, but I believe it’s a reasonable assumption. In the 1920s and 1930s, there was hardly a man alive in the Seattle area with greater recognition and celebrity than Edmond Meany.

 

Edmond S. Meany - noted historian of the state of Washington

 

Well, okay – you can probably come up with someone else, but you’ll have to put a little effort into it. Meany was a Washington state legislator for the 1891 and 1893 legislative sessions, and for several years served as managing editor of the Washington Historical Quarterly. He authored a number of seminal titles on the early history of the state of Washington.

Several minutes of the broadcast were set aside for a live speech made by J.W. Spangler, president of the Seattle National Bank. Although I don’t have a copy of the broadcast’s continuity, I’m bothered by the thought that I did come across something about Mr. Spangler’s speech – possibly even a copy of his remarks. But alas, I can’t put my hands on it at the moment. Oh well… odds are it was pretty dry.

 

J.W. Spangler - President of the Seattle National Bank and the Seattle Chamber of Commerce