Yellow Pages
Aug. 12, 1909
Rear-Admiral Uriel S. Sebree of the United States navy, commander in chief of the U.S. Pacific fleet, now on the flagship Tennessee at Bremerton, is the most distinguished visitor Anacortes people have had the honor and pleasure of entertaining this year. Admiral Sebree and his distinguished party arrived here on the Chippewa on Monday and were the guests of President Hensler of the Anacortes Chamber of Commerce for the rest of the day.
Aug. 14, 1919
Work began this week on the rock wall at Causland Memorial park. Architect LePage took men to Waldron Island where he found sandstone of the quality and color he wants for the park’s wall. The park should be complete soon.
Out of respect for the late Andrew Carnegie, the Anacortes Public Library closed for three hours one afternoon last week, as did many libraries across the country that had received support from the philanthropist who died recently.
Aug. 8, 1929
Anacortes port commission executed its first tenancy lease on the Cap Sante waterway project, and it runs for 30 years. The lease is for the block between Thirteenth and Fourteenth streets, and Commercial and Q avenues, at the head of the waterway, and has been obtained by Shell Oil Co. of California. The terms require a minimum payment of $1,500 annually for 30 years, after 10 years the term to be re-arranged to provide for increase in values of the property and again at 20 years.
Aug. 10, 1939
Anacortes was assured of a municipal playground this week when word was received Wednesday that the WPA project totaling slightly over $8,000 had received the approval of president Roosevelt, and had now been forwarded back to Don Able, Washington Director, of the WPA for programing. Under the project an area between twenty second and twenty third street, between M and N avenues will be cleared up, drained, and graded to make a city block suitable for the installing of playground paraphernalia.
Aug. 11, 1949
Starting at the Anacortes industrial plants early this week the Washington State Mobile X-Ray Unit was well underway on its city wide program of x-raying all the residents of Anacortes by mid week of this week. “This is one of the most important steps taken for the control of tuberculosis in Skagit County,” said Ray Robinson, president of the Skagit County Tuberculosis Association. “Since tuberculosis often has no outward symptoms in its early stages people may be losing their health and giving the disease to others without knowing it.”
Aug. 13, 1959
Moving of the old Dewey Beach school from its present location to new quarters and a new life will take place sometime next week. The 46-year-old building, out of use for the past few years, will begin a new career as Dewey Beach community center and will be located beside the district fire hall. It will be lowered down a hillside from where it now stands, almost directly above the fire station.
Aug. 14, 1969
A 69 percent increase in drivers license suspensions this year can be largely attributed to the “implied consent” law, according to Judge Eugene Anderson of Anacortes. During the first six months of this year 61 licenses were suspended for at least 30 days each in Anacortes Police and Justice Court trials.
Aug. 8, 1979
Anacortes residents and tourists alike celebrated this city’s 100th birthday during the 18th annual Anacortes Arts and Crafts Festival. Some festival organizers are saying the event drew the largest crowds that Anacortes has seen in a long time. But the undisputed hit of the weekend was Tommy Thompson’s well-publicized and much-loved narrow-gauge steam railroad. Thompson estimates the little (nine passenger) train carried more than 2,600 persons during the festival. Many more visitors watched the train in amazement as it chugged between 4th Street and the port dock down Commercial.
— From the archives of the Anacortes American
