William R. Munger WEDS Maria Theresa Engel in 1914

I bought this poor old marriage certificate at an estate sale. I found it in a closet. I think I paid $1. It's quite large and, as you can see, mounted very badly on cardboard.

I know nothing about the people who were married:

William R. Munger from Eagle Creek, Oregon

Maria Theresa Engel from Hazel Green, Oregon

Married on September 1, 1914

Witnessed by Guy E. Munger and Josephine Wolf

The document was copyrighted in 1903 by Rev. I. M. Beaver in Bangor, Pennsylvania.

It's a lovely old tattered piece and certainly worth the dollar, even if I did wonder what the heck I'd do with it.

It is now in my closet.

UPDATE: Well, as of next week this family certificate will no longer be in my closet. Family members have contacted me.

They have kindly allowed me to post some historical information about this couple including two photos.

Theresa immigrated to America with her family at the age of 10. The family settled in North Howell, Oregon. In 1913, at the age of 20, Theresa went to Philomath, Oregon, where she enrolled in High School at a United Bretheren College and Academy. Bishop Castle, President of the College, opened his home to her where she worked for room and board. She also played on the women's basketball team. She met William, who was on the men's basketball team and working his way through college.

Children of William Riley and Maria Theresa: Eunice, Roy, Oren, Wilma, Joyce, Phil, Lois

They were married September 1, 1914. They pastored several churches, first with the United Bretheren Church and then with the Assemblies of God. After they retired, they returned to North Howell, Oregon. William passed away March 17, 1957 at the age of 66, and Theresa died on July 29, 1974.

Another photo sent to me this weekend taken in 1939 on William and Maria's 25th wedding anniversary.

The children are:

Front row (left to right): Phil, Oren, Roy, Lois
Back row (left to right): Joyce, Eunice and Wilma (John's grandmother)

Thank you Munger family!

THE LITTLE TRAIN that did

I don't know where he's going, but I'd be happy to take a ride.

I love this little self-contained internal combustion-engined train car. There were only 152 of these built between 1905 and 1917 by the McKeen Motor Car Company in Omaha, Nebraska. This postcard was sent on January 4, 1914. Lucky lady got to ride on one.

It's just, dare I say it...cute. All those portholes down the sides make me think of being aboard ship.

I'd love to have one of these little cars fixed up, placed on the rails, and enough time and money to wander all over the continent. What a dream. Just putter along in your own little car with enough windows to see everything.

Click on either image to see it larger.

There are several sites with information about the McKeen company and the history of the little cars.

History of the McKeen Motor Car - includes a photo of the interior seats)

The McKeen Motor Car - includes an old photo of one that was used as a diner in Carson City, NV

Wikipedia

Nevada Appeal - an article about the restoration of car No. 22 for the Nevada State Railroad Museum

And if you're going to be near Carson City, Nevada on May 9, 2010...

V&T McKeen Motor Car Celebration – Sunday, May 9, 2010

The Nevada State Railroad Museum, Carson City, NV, announces that it will celebrate both the 100th birthday (to the day) of the delivery of McKeen Motor Car, V&T No. 22 to the railroad in Carson City and the completion of the decade-long restoration of the car at the museum on Sunday, May 9, 2010. The celebration will get underway at Noon on Mother’s Day, May 9th on the platform of the historic Wabuska Depot. Numerous Local, State and Federal officials and noted railroad historians have been invited to attend and participate. The Bernhard family, donors of the car will be honored guests. During the ceremony a representative of Preserve Nevada will announce the 2010 list of the “Eleven Most Endangered Historic Places” in Nevada.

To read more about this celebration click here. I'm thinking I need to make a trip over the mountain this spring to Reno and Carson City.

All aboard!

MANITO PARK, Spokane, Washington

This is sort of an odd postcard. The colors are a bit over the top. The staging is WAY over the top. Things look out of proportion. I have another card from Washington state that is posed in this manner. It's of harvesting. I will eventually post it. For now, we'll focus on Manito Park in Spokane.

Click on image to see it larger.

This card was published by Edward H. Mitchell in San Francisco and has a postmark of 1914. Other than that you can easily see why this ended up at a place called Tattered and Lost.

I've never been to the park. Only stopped in Spokane once, and I think it was for a grocery store, though I do recall going into a used bookstore and buying a stack of mystery books. That's the extent of my personal knowledge. Thanks to the folks at Wikipedia I can actually tell you a bit more.

Manito Park and Botanical Gardens is a 90-acre (0.36 km2) public park with arboretum, botanical gardens, and conservatory, located at 17th Ave and Grand Blvd in Spokane, Washington.

The park was originally a public recreation area called Montrose Park. In 1903 its name was changed to Manito, said to mean Spirit of Nature in the Algonquian language. A park commission was formed in 1907 with annual funding, and in 1913 the famed Olmsted Brothers firm completed their landscaping plans for Spokane parks, including Manito Park. The Park was at one time a zoo until 1932 when the zoo closed down because of the lack of funding during the Great Depression. Today some remnants of the zoo can still be seen, such as an iron bar sticking out of a rock that was once part of the bear cages.

Aside from the gardens, Manito is home to more common park fare. The park has two play structures, one in "Upper Manito" and the other by the Duck Pond at "Lower Manito". The Duck Pond is located at the Northern End of the park, and is home to many ducks, swans and geese. The Park Bench Cafe is a small cafe serving drinks and snacks during the Summer. Much of the park that is not a garden is left wild, with trails for bicycling and hiking. During the winter, the grassy hills of Manito are popular destinations for sledding. (SOURCE: Wikipedia)

What I'm really curious about is the Native American style dwelling on the little island. I'm not finding any reference or photos of it anywhere. The fact that it looks out of proportion to the people standing along the fence...well, I said the card was odd.

To see other images of the park and read more about visiting click on their official site, Manito Park.

UPDATE: A nice post from Larry Cebula about the park. Thank you Larry and to your student.

Hi, I am a history professor who lives a few blocks from this park. One of my students did a lot of research on the city parks recently.

It is tricky to match this image with the modern park because the landscape has been changed. The duck pond has been moved around a few times--I think that the same area is a playground now, and the modern pond is a bit to the west. I believe that white house still stands, hidden in the trees--I need to go check it out.

I don't know anything about the hut on the island, but it is not an Indian structure. Manito was established at the height of the Arts and Crafts movement, and many of the surviving structures are of a purposely rustic design. I am sure that was the case here. 

Here is some of the information my student gathered about Manito Park:

The pond: http://spokanehistorical.org/items/show/47

Entrance: http://spokanehistorical.org/items/show/115

You can find more at Spokanehistorical.org

DO WHAT YOU LIKE and the money will follow

Bad times. Genuinely bad times for so many people. And what of the future? What of education? The arts are being cut from schools with the sharpest of blades. "No child left behind" means that indeed all children will be left behind. The system is set-up to squash creativity, real creativity that allows the soul to sing. We are creating test takers. We instead are left with the creativity of those who figure out how to gauge the system. Those are the creative types who are respected now. Even many of the successful artists are little more than frauds, working the gallery system to get ahead, make money, become famous. Look at Wall Street and their creativity. Maybe if those people had been taught to think and value something other than money we wouldn't be in this mess. Too many MBA's were handed out and not enough BFA's.

Too many kids will either quit school because it doesn't speak to them or come out of the 12 year grind rudderless except for the thought they must succeed. They must make money. What a sad and empty future they see extending before them.

Perhaps make copies of the card below and send it to all who work at Goldman Sachs, possibly the most heinous group of greed creators I ever recall. They make Madoff look like a chump for getting caught.

Click on image to see it larger.