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The following "Northshore Citizen" column appears in the Bothell/Kenmore Reporter newspaper edition of August 18, 2004.
What's all this talk about Grace? I’m frequently asked, “What’s the deal with this town of Grace business?” My best response to date has been the suggestion to “look on any legitimate map and you’ll find Grace just a little north of Woodinville and in much bigger type than Maltby.” As the official grand marshal of the tiny township, I’m in charge of parades, celebrations and special events. It’s a great job after 40+ years in the publishing and printing business. With cohort Terry Jarvis, I co-publish the Greater Grace OnLine Daily Gazette and if you have checked the website lately (www.townofgrace.org) you’ll notice that I am running for president of the U.S. under the name of Hugo B. Jonsen on the Grace-based So-So Party. To be fair, this township business is about 10-15 per cent geographic and 85-90 per cent “state of mind” in keeping with the town motto of “Having fun is serious business.” Prior to the 1900s the area was settled by loggers, farmers and entrepreneurs of many stripes, backgrounds and ambitions. Families settled in and raised their kids to work the land and fell the timber. Grace boasted a rail depot, Grace Public School No. 1, a two-story mercantile-hotel, two or three lumber and shake mills. The town doctor maintained a “hospital” in his residence and Little Bear Creek was a major salmon spawning stream. Naming Grace still a mystery A 1903 abstract company map pinpointed Grace just north of the King-Snohomish County line. The same map showed a settlement to the south of Grace called Snohomish Junction (later to reprinted as Woodinville). In short, Grace had a colorful history from the 1880s until the big World War of the 1940s. To this day, though, no one is sure how Grace got its name. Speculation has it that one of the railroad engineer’s wife or girlfriend might have rendezvoued with him frequently at the settlement. It was against this background that Grace was “re-established” in August of 1992 with a grand celebration along Highway 9 at the former Vintage Auto Parts operation, which had been established by Jarvis and his family in the 1960s. “We were concerned that the history of Grace was going to be lost if we didn’t find some of the pioneers of that era who could give us first hand accounts,” Jarvis said. He went about interviewing second generation Graceans and gathering old-time photos of life in Grace. He talked his friend Don Fitzpatrick Jr. in joining him in preserving the history of Grace. The Fitzpatrick family owned considerable property in the area and operated Fitz Auto Parts. Jarvis declared himself “mayor for life” (it saves the cost of elections, he explains) and appointed Fitzpatrick as the town’s police chief. Jarvis explains with a twinkle in his eye, “Don’s the best police chief money can buy.” Population 12 and holding The two erected signs along the road that welcomed motorists to Grace, added their names and titles on the sign and posted the town population at 12. “We’re not about to spend any money changing that sign,” Jarvis notes. “If someone wants to move into Grace, somebody will just have to move out.” Jarvis trotted out the town mascot for the 1992 celebration (Scape, a goat) and introduced such luminaries as then mayor of Woodinville, Lucy DeYoung. Ms. DeYoung had been criticized in her election run for Woodinville’s chief executive. Opponents contended she didn’t actually maintain a residence in Woodinville. Lucy showed up at the “re-establishment” event to present Jarvis with a fold-up cot in the unlikely event any of his rivals questioned whether Jarvis actually lived in Grace. That good-natured act set the tone for years to come. The town issues annexations at the drop of an application form – printing up certificates of authenticity upon the slightest request. Titles are handed out freely. The present town treasurer Steve Dolan holds meager municipal funds in an ancient cigar box (There are no taxes or accountants permitted in Grace). Town historian Elsie Mann is serious about compiling the definitive town history. An actual-but-still-to-be identified person nicknamed “Fats” writes for the town newspaper all the way from La Conner. The town fire department is in the capable hands of Ted Johns (chief) and son Dave (battalion chief). The two own three fire trucks and Dave is frequently seen driving in community parades throughout the region. Jarvis boasts that Grace is in the most enviable position of having one fire truck for every four residents, probably a national record of some sort. Bob Russell serves as deputy town clerk (there is no chief clerk yet) and is president and only member of the Greater Grace Downtown BusinessPerson Association. Bob Rosso serves as the old-growth forester in charge of the supposed spotted owl sanctuary located near Scotch Broom Park, site of the monthly meetings of the Grace Co-ed Garden Club, led by the vivacious and charming IdaBelle DeWitt. Parking meter fugitive still at large Chief Fitzpatrick once apprehended news personality Patti Payne for her failure to feed the town’s mobile parking meter. The transportable meter happened to be positioned outside the Maltby Café while Grace revelers were holding forth in the semi-underground restaurant for the annual breakfast town meeting. Ms. Payne had showed up to cover the event for KIRO radio in her company car. The chief noted no money in the meter and promptly loaded the car onto a flatbed truck – with Ms. Payne in it. The pitch of her voice increased a notch when Patti nervously described the annual Grace St. Patrick’s Day Parade from atop the flat bed as it wound its way from the café, down Highway 9 and onto the final assembly area at Vintage Auto parking lot. To this day, Ms. Payne is known as the Town Parking Meter Fugitive, precariously avoids the town and has not applied for annexation. When asked about any political setbacks, Jarvis recalls the loss of the first town treasurer, Leslie Lu Ransom, who mysteriously left town with the first cigar box and fled to Maltby. She maintains contact with the town, however, often submitting items for the town newspaper (now only on the Internet). She recently dispatched an hilarious account of her attempt to get a personally autographed copy from President Bill Clinton when the former U.S. chief executive was in Issaquah for his book-signing event at Costco.
The Grace landscape will soon be changing (Brightwater and
Costco’s arrival will soon signal that) but it’s not likely that the
character of Grace will change very much as long as Jarvis, Fitz and
company are in charge of “America’s only all-volunteer
bureaucracy”.
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The The
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John
B. Hughes Previous Columns August
4, 2004 July
21, 2004 July
7, 2004
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Hughes
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Hugo
and (425) 482-4076 |
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