Scandinavian American. [volume], June 01, 1945, Page 2, Image 2

About Scandinavian American. [volume] (Seattle, Wash.) 1945-1958

Image provided by: Washington State Library; Olympia, WA

                
2
The History of the Swedish
Club, Seattle, Washington
10 years). From what some of
the old-timers are telling me. that
must have been quite a party. but
most of us were born 50 years too
late.
A hall in the Ranko Building.
6th and Pike. was rented for a
monthly fee of $32. but on account
The club house as it appears today
of one of those depressions. thea
rent was reduced. at one time as3
low as $20 per month. The boys‘
had a nice club room. and when it }
needed decorating Mrs. R a n k c
supplied the materials. and somel
of the member-painters donated
their time and elbow grease. How»
ever, the members cherished beau- l
tiful dreams about a club housel
of their own. and with all the ‘ifs‘l
carefully weighed. one day a build
ing committee was appointed!
Progress was made and the com-E
mittee could soon give a very‘}
handsome report. Two houses and]
a lot right in the heart of the city.'
at 3th and l'nio’n. could be had for
The club house 1902-09 after grading of 8th Ave
$4.500. Naturally. they “'nuldn't
pass up a deal like that The club
decided to buy it. paid down the
earnest money. and m the mean
timqD engaged a lawyer to look Into
the title. But It must have been
too good to b0 true. the owner
could not produce vlvar title, and
the deal was; off
The club members. all ymmg
(Continued from Page 1)
then and full of enthusiasm and
ambitions galore, were determined
to do their utmost for a bigger
and better Swedish Club, and set
out again to look for a suitable lot
for a club house. And here is
where N. 8. Nelson the founder
of Frederick & Nelson came in as
.a guardian angel He bought a
1 double corner on Eighth and Olive,
rand offered the inside lot to the
ilelnb at cost. $3.000, providing a
‘vlub house was built. Otto Rose
! leaf. then a very prominent builder
i in Seattle. made the drawings. the
[money was raised through sub
iseription. and. ten years after its
ifounding. the Swedish Club moved
‘into their new home. This occa
, sion was celebrated with a big ban
!quet. and George Cotterill. who
:had just arrived home from a trip
‘to Sweden, was invited as guest
lspeaken
This clubhouse was no palace
h o u se. lot and furnishings eost
nnly 37.000, but it was a great
undertaking in those days. and
something for the members and
the Swedish penplc- m general to
he prnud nf. Thv r'luh. now in their
own mnlrling showed mnre life.
mnre new members were added.
and the r'lubhuuso- 5mm proved in—
adequate, Some members suggest
n-d to sell and rrm-t a new build-
ing. Property in this locality had
increased in value and some
thought the club's pXoperty now
could be sold for about $30,000.‘
No such luck, however, and the‘
building remained as before in the:
possession of the club. A few
years later Eighth Ave. was grad
ed and lowered some 15-20 feet.i
and the club house was now stand-l
ing high upon a hill, and. seen froml
the street. looked anything but at
tractive. A loan was arranged
with Mr. Chilberg. president of The
Scandinavian-American Bank and
a member of the Swedish Club, and
a new building committee en
trusted to carry out the task of
remodeling and enlarging the club
house. A. S. Peterson. past presi
dent of the club and by profession
a building contractor, was put in
charge of the work and carried it
out in a most commendable man
ner. but it cost the club's treasury
$17,000.
This was the year of Alaska Pa
cific Yukon Exposition, and in con—
nection with The Swedish Day the
newly formed Pacific Coast Divi
sion of The United Swedish Sing
ers held their song festival in
Seattle. and the club house just
renovated and now in a very pre
sentable condition. was turned over
to the singers as headquarters. A
banquet was given for the singers
and their ladies and other friends
in the new, enlarged dining hall,
which proved too small, and tables
OTTO ROSELEAF
had to he put also in the largv hall
upstairs.
Besides being a social club and
a center, where the members could
come together and spend their lei
sure time. the club has always
given a helping hand to those in
distress. whether members or not.
The club has been represented at
various times at rivic celebrations.
and at one 4th of July parade the
Swedish Club was awarded highest
honors for their “John Ericsson
Float,"
The club has donated large sums
to the University of Washington
for purchase of books for the
Scandinavian library, and the club. ‘
of eourse. has always had a library
of their own with several hun
dreds of volumes in Swedish and
English. Many of those books
were donated by the members. and
N. R. Nelson topped the list. Mr.
Nelson was always ready to assist
the elub and the singers, the ath
letic elub (within the (‘lllhl or any
branch aetivity of the elub. When
the singers participated in the eon
vention in San Franeiseo in 1907.
he eontributed $500 towards their
traveling fund. Mr. Nelson passed
away in the midst of his career on
his way from a trip abroad. and
the Swedish (‘.lub lost in N. B.
Nelson a most worthy and beloved
member.
The elub has been fortunate in
having many members of the best
type. Otto Roseleaf. one of the
three still living eharter members.
has been one of the untiring ones.
Dan Walgren. who passed away
two years ago. held {or a quarter
of a eentury the offiee of financial
secretary of the club. Ernie Lund
quist and big Bob Gelund depart
ed also a few years ago. and both
were very aetive in their days. Os
(‘Ilr Engstrom and Ludvig .leppson
have both served on the board of
trustees for 25 years. Jeppson is
istill serving. but Engstrom for
three years also club president
Iim-hned the renominatiun at the
last election. The present presi
dent, August Anderson, is now
serving his fourth term in that.
capacity.
Others who have served as presi
dents in later years are: Ludvig
Jeppson, Oscar E. Olson (part
owner of the shipbuilding firm,
Olson & Winge). Axel Nordine
(owner of Nordine Manufacturing
00.). Carl Fellstrom (owner of
Fellstrom Electric Co.). and the
last past president is Max Ander
son, now in charge of a state pris
oners camp at Onalaska, near Che
halls.
The club has had many clubs
within the club for such activi
ties as dramatics. athletics, folk
dancing, a 30-piece concert band.
the Svea Male Choir (with their
ladies auxiliary) and the club's
own ladies‘ society, organized by
Lilian Olson in 1936. In the early
days Freija Ladies Club was an
auxiliary to the Swedish Club. but
reorganized and devoted their ef
forts to charity and has ever since
been an independent organization
and still active along those lines.
The Swedish Club owns their
building at 1627 Eighth Ave. No
debts are against it, and in later
years the club has bought gov
ernment bonds for about 325.000.
Those bonds may some day in the
future be converted into a new
club house. A building fund has
been created, and the hope of every
club member is, that some day
they once more will move into a
new clubhouse. The club and their
ladies meet the second Wednesday
of each month at the club house.
at which time entertaining pro
grams are rendered and a ‘smor
gosbord‘ supper is served.
(The author of the above. John
Nordeen. has recently published :1
book (in Swedish) “Svenska Klub
bens Historia." The book is 6x9
inches in size, 176 pages and with
70 illustrations.
The first part of the book con
tains the history of the State of
Washington and the City of Seat
tle. It gives the proper back—
ground to the history of the Swo
dish Club.
It relates the struggles of our
pioneers and the remarkable spirit
of the Dennys. Borens. Yeslers
and others. the first settlers and
builders of this wonderful city of
ours, and after that tells of the
struggles of the pioneers of the
Swedish Club. The history of The
Swedish Club is not only the his
tory of the club. it tells in a con
densed form of the most important
occurrences among SWedish soci
eties, as well as private citizens.
and will serve as a ready and
handy reference diary and should
be a valuable addition to anyone’s
home library.
"Svenska Klubbens Historia" is
sold at the Club. 1627 8th Ave.
DAN WALGREN
‘ and also at Scandia Cafe, 904 How
! ell Street. The p r i r v is $2.00
*bound or $1.50 with lighter cover.
: Editor‘s note.)
There is a modern textile in
stitute located in Bora: that has
‘both men and women as appren
btices. Here you may become fa
miliar with all phases or the tex
‘tilv induatiy from color apprecia
[tinn and ttxtile designing to man-
Qipulation of the Weaving machin
‘ery itself and to the testing of
'the durability of the very threads
used in the Weaving. Ultra-mod
q-rn!
THE SCANDI NAVIAN AMERICAN
Rainbow Girls
Install Mary Lou
F riden as Adviser
Mary Lml Fridon was installed
as Worthy Adviser of Queen Anne
Assembly Nnumbor 24 of the 01'-
dor of Rainbow for Girls on May
MARY LOU FRIDEN
25. Installation oeremonlm were
held at the Queen Anne Masonic
Temple, located at 1608 4th West.
Seattle.
Miss Friden is the daughter of
Mr. and Mrs. Vic-tor Friden of
1012 Queen Anne Avenue,
The elected officers are as fob
lows: Mary Lou Fridcn, Worthy
Adviser; Peggy Ann McGirr. Wor
thy Associate Adviser: Miriam
Bright. Charity; Patty Lou Hut
chison, ano; Betty May R port,
Faith.
Denmark Seeks
To Regain Imports
LONDON. Some Danish busi
ness people are losing no time in
getting the wheels of trade run
ning again now that the Nazis
are leaving their homeland. Al
ready cabled inquiries have been
received in London from business
agents in Denmark anxious to get
American and British goods on
Danish markets again,
A country which produi-es more
than it can consume cannot be So
badly depleted as those relying
on imports. and Denmark pro
duced fun times as much butter
as it needed itself. The ('ombined
butter 'ind margarine output
amounted to 150,000 tons a year.
Denmark exported 300,000 horn
ed eattle. Here its butter produc
tion will come into full swing
again as soon as fuel is available
to get dairies going and fodder to
improve the condition of live
stock
Denmark will thorol‘orn be able
to contribute to tho relief of the
European food shortage almost
immediately.
It will help in butter. meat. and
eggs.
Thom are nwr 200,000 different
farms in Denmark. Danish agri
cultural prodm-ts have born pro—
cossed at morn than 2,000 dairies
and more than 100 bacon factories.
It is of great importance for
the part Denmark will play in the
matter of food relief that it is so
close in areas which have to be
supplied. as perishable fundstut'fs
may reaW-i consumers in a very
short time after processing.
Great Britain throughout the
years before the war had been a
most important buyer of Danish
butter. lt consumed some 70 to 80
per cent of its total butter export.
Britain'y large share will now
have to cover UNRRA’s needs in
underfeil Europe Denmark will
furthermore have a large share in
helping with medical supplies. of
which its prnduetii'o capacity was
always large.
Eskilstunu has a surplus amount
ut‘ men and Norrkdping a surplus
amount of Women.