Historic Hood River
Hood River High Football
Notes
Meet the Hood River High School football team of 1908-1909. They are sitting on the stairs of their brand new high school at Tenth and May, now site of May Street Elementary School.
They played with little protection. You can see the extent of their padding, and one player sports his leather helmet. It’s clear turtleneck sweaters were popular that year.
We only have names of two of the players, Este Brosius and Karl Onthank. Este Brosius was the son of Dr. F.C. Brosius, owner of the drug store shown in an earlier view. Karl Onthank went on to become an associate dean of students at the University of Oregon and was quite active in Oregon conservation circles. He was involved in efforts to protect the Three Sisters and the McKenzie River. His papers are archived at the University of Oregon.
I recently viewed a small album full of pictures from this era, including several pictures of this team on the field. It is in the queue to be scanned this Summer due to a grant the Museum has received from the Google Data Centers Grants of the Tides Foundation. Thanks to our local Googlers we’ll soon have a wealth of new material for this photoblog.
Tags: 1900s, Brosius, football, Hood River High School, Onthank, sports, team photo
l.e.
Who did they play? Did they take the train into Portland?
Hood River had just become a county.
The boy in the upper left hand corner hasn’t learned to look tough yet.
Dan
Those stairs look more like the old Park St school where the children’s park is now than the May St. school.
spinsur
yeah, wondered ’bout that too, Dan… but I would think the museum would kinow where the high school was located, and I know this is before even your time!
Dan
I attended 3rd. and 4th. grades at Park St. School. And I even remember some of it.
Jim Gray
My mom went to 9th grade at May Street High School then went to the new high school the 10th,11th and 12th grade at what is now the Middle School. We have four generations still alive that went to May Street.
Jim Gray
The only part remaining of the May Street High School would be the gym, the rest is the main building built about 1956-1957 and later additions of course. When I went it was 5th thru 8th grades.
l.e.
The school doesn’t look brand new. It looks old. Older than new anyway.
The stairs might be new.
Arthur
Jim’s got it right. This May Street High School was built in 1908, and was replaced by the now middle school building in 1927. I’ll try to find a picture of the whole school, and get construction date for the Park Street school, but here are some details of the 1908 building. It was 2 stories plus a basement, boasted electric lights and forced air heat, with two 2500 gallon rooftop tanks for fire suppression. Not sure when the gym was added. The Park Street Elementary was built a few years later (it’s on the 1916 map).
Dan
Thanks Arthur, would love to see a photo of that.
Arthur
1928 map shows the auditorium building attached to this 1908 building. First floor: manual training and domestic science, second floor: auditorium, third floor (partial) gallery.
steve s
25 in the picture – a lot less than a modern FB team would have. I suspect many of the players played offense and defense.
Arthur
Based on a photo taken about 50 years later, I believe Karl Onthank is in the 2nd row, 3rd from the left.
Charlott
They would have played The Dalles definitely as that was always the big "rival." Hood River vs. The Dalles and later Wy’east vs. The Dalles…
Esther
Arthur, I should be able to help you on some of these, since I spend a couple of hours each week poring over our 1911-21-31-41-51 etc. etc. archived papers for the Yesteryears column. (One of these days I hope to post the last 10 years’ worth of Yesteryears online with keywords to facilitate research on a whole host of subjects!)
Right now lack of time is the issue; but I’m going to try to haunt this site and keep all these photos in mind as I’m going through the archives.
John A. Buck
I believe that the third boy from the left, back row (with white sweater and black spot covering his eye), could be Maurice Jayne. Age, facial features, and location all match what we know.
John Lamphiear
This photo was definitely taken at HRHS #2 (10th and May) as evidenced by a wide-view photo in my collection. The stairs on which the team is seated are on the west side of the school building (as opposed to the gymnasium building). HRHS #2 was used from September 1908 until June 1927 (19 years). Football opponents would have included The Dalles (the all-time #1 most played opponent), Camas (the all-time #4 most play opponent), Goldendale, Gresham and White Salmon. HRHS #1 was a wooden building at the corner of 9th and Park which was used until the fall of 1908 when HRHS #2 opened. HRHS #1 then became Park Street elementary until it was razed in 1920 to make way for the BRICK Park Street elementary at the same 9th and Park location.
Arthur
Thanks for the HRHS history lesson, John. I didn’t know about the first location (now Children’s Park). We also have several of the wide panoramas of the student body in our collection but they don’t post very well in this format.
Jeffrey Bryant
From pictures of "Officers of the Class of 1909" it looks like Reymund Early might be the second man in the front row, the one with something around his neck. His father, Charles Tyler Early, was general manager of the Oregon Lumber Company and also of the Oregon American Lumber Company and the Mount Hood Railroad Company and assistant to the president of the Sumpter Valley Railway Company. Reymund’s mother was Edith Blowers, daughter of Amby S. Blowers, a mayor of Hood River.
l.e.
From Fred Lockley’s 1928 book:
"Edward Estee, who was born in Nebraska, December 28,
1890, is a graduate of the University of Oregon, served in the coast artillery
during the World war, and is now employed by the Lumbermen’s Trust Company in Seattle, Washington."
Barbara Parsons Bernstein
The tall house with the second-story sleeping porch on Montello just one house east of Fourth Street was known as "the Onthank House." I think they had already gone on to greater things by the time we moved into the neighborhood, but their name still gave distinction to the house. Maybe we should put a plaque someplace on the property. The high school coach and his family, whose name was pronounced like "bitzenbaw" lived in it next, I think. It was a regular incubator of educators, it seems!