Historic Hood River
Memorial Day Parade, 1941
5-30-2013
Notes
The band is warming up and people are gathering for a parade on State Street May 30, 1941. Memorial Day was celebrated on May 30th until the “last Monday in May” convention was adopted in the 1970s.
The parade is starting in front of the old Hood River Distillers factory. A sign advertises “Hood River Delicious Golden Apple Wine”. The speed limit is 20 MPH, and travelers have a choice of Mobilgas or Shell gasoline. The factory was east of the location of Big Winds, on the north side of East State Street.
charlott
The house on the left is still there. I see the majorette is ready to lead the parade up the hill. Love the little boy in the "beanie" on the bike watching. The little girl is watching from the back of the scales of the distillery.
The women might be the Woman’s Relief Corp, which was the auxillery to the GAR.
Arlen Sheldrake
Brings back some good memories of my trumpet, HRHS band and marching in the Memorial Day parade. Must have been an interesting time with the war raging in Europe and worries of our involvement…….
AndrewB
That big building with the "APPLE …" sign facing us is disco bikes I guys right?
And those billboards are still there today! Doesn’t look too different. Although, I love in these old pictures how rough around the edges Hood River looked. Looked like a real working town.
Arthur
Andrew– we’re actually *east* of Front Street, close to the old bridge across the Hood River. The AGA and HRD buildings are long gone. If you look up State Street you can see the Sheppard’s building. I think the billboards are at the Front Street intersection.
spinsur
No, sorry, Andrew, you’re off about four blocks. Zoom in to the center background, and one can see Sheppards, and Discover bikes is another two blocks west. These buildings front and center are long gone. The curve in the front is heading northeast across the old arched Columbia River Highway Bridge taken out in 1981, but very close to where the current bridge also curves.
Arthur
One of the billboards: "Wow! Electric Cooking Only $2.50 a Month!" (along with a picture of an electric range)
spinsur
Timing is everything…
Lesa
AGA building! So that’s where that illusive building was. Moms dad, "Dick" Scearce worked for AGA. He was head of the traffic division for years. I will quote from a letter he sent to her in college, dated Sep 22, 1942. (On AGA stationary.)
"Last Thursday the whole town closed up and everybody picked pears. I picked with Clemmons, Meyers, Parkhurst and Klahre. Only picked in the morning and worked in the office in the afternoon. Sunday I went out and picked at Parkhurst’s in the morning and had to work at the office in the afternoon. Si Sonnichsen fell off a ladder Sunday and landed on his head in the crotch of a tree, almost fractured his head and sprained his hand. He was lucky it was not more serious. We went to the show Sunday night and saw Kings Row. It was quite a picture." That last bit he tacked on, with no break, just cracked me up.
Thanks for solving a mystery. Mom told me, where the building used to be, but I never could quite place the spot.
Arthur
Not so fast, Lesa! The Apple Growers’ Association was the successor to Davidson Fruit, and they owned many buildings downtown over the years. I think this one was a cannery, but they also had packing houses and cold storage. The Union Building and Waucoma Center were both owned by AGA, and I think Big 7 was too. I can understand why they would have needed a "traffic division" with so many facilities and so much material to move from orchard to storage/processing to market.
Lesa
Unfortunately I have never figured out in which AGA building his office was located. This building was just one of the many he was associated with, that Mom talked about. Even the letters addressed to him, are addressed, Mr. R.G. Scearce, T.M. (Traffic Manager) Apple Growers Ass’n Hood River, Oregon. No street address is included. He worked for AGA from 1938, retiring, due to ill health, in 1966.
Lesa
Correction, Grandpa, Dick Scearce, joined the fruit growers traffic department in 1928 not 1938. According to Hood River News article concerning his retirement in 1966. He stayed on as Traffic Secretary for some years after. Harper Barnard took over his position as Traffic Manager, at that time.
l.e.
I thought perhaps the building on this end, might be the white building in photo #604, but I don’t think so.
https://www.hoodriverhistorymuseum.org?showimage=604
charlott
You come right around that curve on the very right of the photo and you are onto the bridge that crosses the Hood River. This is no where near the Columbia River and bridges associated with it. If you go right straight up the hill you hit State Street going straight and a right jog down to the right puts you on Oak.
l.e.
Was State Street named State because it was the State Highway through town?
Except Oak was the one that went through town.