HISTORY AT A GLANCE

In March 1985, the Journal published a special supplement celebrating Shelton's centennial. Several residents with deep roots in the community were asked to contribute their memories of the town's earlier years. The following was written by Ken Fredson. Ken's great-grandfather had come to the Oregon Territory in the late 1840s; his father was born in Oakland in 1888. (Oakland was the first town on Oakland Bay, established in about 1854 and eventually abandoned after Shelton began to take shape at the end of the bay in 1888.) His mother was born in Shelton in 1893 and Ken was born in Shelton in 1924.

My memories of Shelton begin in the early 1930s. Those years, up to 1938, were really happy years for a boy to grow up. My family lived on the corner of First and Railroad. The logging train ran by our house at least twice a day, serving as an excellent alarm clock as it shook our old house hard enough to wake me up in time to go to school. Those same tracks were often our sidewalks to the Lincoln Grade School at Fifth and Cota. We would try to walk the rails the entire five blocks without falling off the ties, though as I recall we never quite made it.

Railroad Avenue in the '30s was a very friendly place for a young boy. Everybody seemed to know me, and I suspect keep an eye on me, to keep me out of mischief. Lumbermen's Mercantile Store, the Shelton Hotel and the Shelton Bank were the backbone of that five-block area.

Many of us worked for Lumbermen's after school and Saturdays, especially in the grocery department. We would start out bagging produce, then cut butter from large blocks and section cheese into wedges carved from large wheels, finally putting up the orders that were phoned in by housewives for delivery that day. When we got older, we'd graduate to driving the little delivery trucks. The ladies always welcomed us into their kitchens and usually had fresh cookies, pastries, candy or other treats as a reward for our service. People didn't lock their doors in those days, and if no one was home I would go in the house and put perishables in the ice box and the other groceries where they were to go. I started out in the late 30s making 15 cents an hour and reached a high of 35 cents an hour as a delivery boy in 1941.

Another memory of this era was the opportunity for anyone who had home-grown fruits, berries, or vegetables to sell them to the local produce manager. I made extra money selling apples, raspberries and cherries - I received 25 cents a box for Gravenstein apples.

I cannot leave the '30s without mentioning one of the most pleasant memories of my early teens. In 1938, I was lucky enough to be chosen by Coach Frank Willard to be one of the 15-player American Legion Baseball team. Since I was the youngest player, needless to say I was not instrumental in the team's winning of the Washington State Legion Championship. In 1939, we were in the West Side Finals, and in 1940, at the State Finals, we were beaten by Spokane.

For three years, ending in the summer of 1945, Uncle Sam had my attention. In my absence, many changes were taking place. I can still recall the day in May 1945 that I came back home. Roy Kimbel found me in The Spar restaurant in Olympia looking for a ride to Shelton. He promptly changed his own plans and drove me to Grandma Fredson's house and a homecooked dinner on the back porch. Coming down Hillcrest that day, I first saw the landfill that had enlarged Shelton's waterfront by several acres.

Railroad Avenue would change rapidly in the years following the war. All of Simpson's railroad, its machine shop and yards, and other company support facilities disappeared from familiar locations to reappear on the present-day waterfront site. Railroad Avenue was then widened and Evergreen Square and all the development on the north side of the street from Third through Fifth streets were created.

Ken Fredson became manager of the Simpson Federal Credit Union in 1954. He retired in December 1985 and continued to live in Shelton until his death in January 2021.

■ Jan Parker is a researcher for the Mason County Historical Museum. She can be reached at [email protected]. Membership in the Mason County Historical Society is $25 per year. For a limited time, new members will receive a free copy of the book "Shelton, the First Century Plus Ten."