Many memorable mayors managed Issaquah
June 30, 2009
Portraits of Issaquah’s mayors can be found in a display case on the stairwell leading to the second floor of City Hall. The photos tell a great deal about the people and times of the fledgling city.
Some of the city’s early mayors were doctors, including Issaquah’s first mayor, Frank Harrell. During the Great Depression, Stella May Alexander was elected the first woman mayor, campaigning on the Taxpayers’ Ticket.
She was elected to a two-year term, defeating the Progressive ticket candidate, M.H. Clark. Ninety-three percent of the city’s registered voters cast ballots and Alexander won 195-136. She lost in a recall election the following year.
In the last half of the 20th century, mayors such as Bill Flintoft and A.J. Culver had to grapple with the emerging growth of the quiet little burg on Lake Sammamish into a thriving bedroom community to Seattle.
Harrell came to the area as the surgeon of the Seattle Coal and Iron Co. He was elected mayor of Gilman without a dissenting vote in 1892. Seven years later, the town was renamed Issaquah, after the original Indian name Is-qu-ah.
In the pioneer days
Governing of the small mining and timber community was far different a century ago.
During Mayor John McQuade’s term as mayor in 1900, the town enacted an ordinance demanding that every able-bodied man over 21 and under 50 pay a yearly poll tax of $3, or two days’ labor of eight-hour periods or $4 if they could not read.
The following year, electricity was introduced to the small town of about 600 when Issaquah entered into an agreement with Snoqualmie Falls Power Co. to bring power in the form of 30 incandescent lamps powered by electrical current.
The following year, H.R. Corson, was elected mayor. A doctor by trade, he came to town as the mining company director for the Issaquah Coal Co.
Following World War I, the two-year term of mayor was changed to four-year terms with the election of P.J. Smith.
‘Like she had cooties’
No look at the city’s mayors would be complete without mentioning Stella May Alexander, the city’s first woman mayor.
Mayor from 1932-1934, Alexander was later recalled because of a variety of conflicts with the City Council and the fire chief. A decade removed from passage of the 19th Amendment specifically guaranteeing women in the U.S. the right to vote, Alexander had a strong personality and some men of that era had a hard time working with her, said Erica Maniez, director of the Issaquah History Museums.
“She was referred to as the lady mayor, the woman mayor and the petticoat mayor,” Maniez said.
In one instance, three councilmen refused to serve under a petticoat mayor, she said.
“The men acted like she had cooties,” she said. “They didn’t want to sit at the table with her.”
Some speculated that her assertiveness would have been better tolerated if she had been a man.
The volunteer fire department resigned en masse over a dispute as to whether the fire department would fight fires outside the city limits. Alexander often clashed with Fire Chief Remo Castagno, who said that “no woman is going to run this city.” Castagno later served as mayor shortly after World War II.
Alexander lost a recall election in 1934. She moved to Renton and in 1940 she ran for Secretary of State. She was described as “the famous woman mayor and councilwoman of Issaquah” in her campaign literature, Maniez said.
Growing pains of a city
The opening of the Lake Washington Floating Bridge in 1940 (today’s Interstate 90 bridge over Lake Washington) brought more people to the Eastside. In 1960, work began on Interstate 90, connecting Issaquah with Seattle. A decade later, Issaquah’s population more than quadrupled to 4,300 residents.
Bill Flintoft and Keith Hansen brought Issaquah through its growing pains through the 1960s and early ‘70s, Maniez said.
“They helped guide the city as developers came to the area, and they accommodated that growth by developing codes and ordinances for those changes,” she said.
Tom Flintoft said his father Bill brought a common sense approach to managing growth.
“He realized that Issaquah was changing fast, but he wanted it to grow sensibly,” Tom Flintoft said. “There were those promoting growth and there was a no-growth faction. He sought to find a compromise between the two.”
With the growth, he planned for the infrastructure of water and sewer lines to accommodate the additional people, Tom Flintoft said.
He also insisted on an I-90 exit at East Sunset Way when the state initially balked at the notion.
“If it wasn’t for him, we wouldn’t have that exit today,” he said.
From sleepy to thriving
A.J. Culver was mayor of Issaquah for most of the 1980s. Culver said he helped guide Issaquah from being a sleepy little town to a thriving commercial center.
During his term, the city approved development of the Pickering property, as well as the commercial center where Target and Safeway are located.
“It has made the difference between Issaquah being strapped for money and being financially well off,” Culver said. “And it will continue to be as a commercial center for the city. That continued by Rowan Hinds and Ava Frisinger, who is doing a fantastic job today as mayor.”
History of Issaquah mayors
F. W. Harrell —From Apr 27, 1892
Town of Gilman
(incorporated Apr 1892)
Two-year terms until 1918
From Jan. 10, 1893 — P. V. Davis
From Jan. 8, 1895 — John Davis
From Jan. 12, 1897 — John L. Hughes
From Jan. 10, 1899
Resigned Aug. 7, 1899
Henry Hunter
Town of Issaquah
(name changed Feb 1899)
From Sept. 5, 1899 — W. D. “Will” Conner, Filled unexpired term
From Jan. 3, 1900
Resigned April 27, 1900
John McQuade
April 27, 1900 – Jan. 8, 1901
Wm. E. Gibson, MD
Filled unexpired term
Jan. 8, 1901 – Jan. 10, 1905
H.R. Corson, M.D
Re-elected, served two terms
Jan. 10, 1905 – June 4, 1906
(resigned), Frank Day
June 4, 1906 – Jan. 14, 1913
William E. Gibson — Filled unexpired term and elected to three consecutive two-year terms
1913-1915 — P.J. Smith
1915-1917 — John H. Gibson
1917-1918 — C.R. Berry
1918-1921 — P.J. Smith
Two-year terms changed to four-year terms
1921-1924 — William E. Gibson
1924-1925 — V.M. McKibben
1926-1928 — P.J. Smith
1928-1930 — John Fischer
1930-1932 — L.R. Hepler
1932-1934 — Stella May Alexander,
First woman mayor
1934-1937 — Laurence J. Harris
1937-1940 — William Mitchell
1940-1947 — Thomas Gibson
1947-1948 — Albert Jensen
1948-1952 — Remo Castagno
1952-1956 — Alting R. “Buck” Lee
1956-1970 — James William “Bill” Flintoft
1970-1974 — Keith M. Hansen
1974-1981 — Herbert G. Herrington
1982-1989 — A.J. Culver
1990-1997 — Rowan C. Hinds
1998-present — Ava Frisinger
Source: City of Issaquah
Issaquah doc has eye for aiding the sightless 7,000 miles away
June 30, 2009
An elderly Nepalese woman covers her left eye during a free vision-screening test. The screening is part of a traveling clinic that temporarily sets up in remote regions of Asia, Africa and Nepal. Photos By Tracy Prescott, and Daniel and Jodi Karr
If you could give someone sight, how far would you go to do it?
Joining with the Himalayan Cataract Project, Dr. Janet Barrall, an ophthalmologist for Virginia Mason in Issaquah, traveled nearly 7,000 miles to give the gift of sight to 158 people in need.
“It’s profoundly deep and completely life-changing to give sight,” she said. “It is so necessary to their way of life.”
Today, there are 37 million blind people throughout the world, according to the World Health Organization. Many suffer from cataracts. Read more
Bearup, Detrick
June 30, 2009
Jennifer Bearup and Brad Detrick
Jennifer Bearup, of Selah, Wash., and Brad Detrick, of Redmond, announce their engagement. The couple plans to marry Aug. 29, 2009, at the Washington Cathedral, 12300 Woodinville-Redmond Road, Redmond.
The bride to be, the daughter of John and Susan Bearup, of Selah, is a 2000 graduate of Selah High School. She earned a degree in elementary education at Central Washington University and works as a kindergarten teacher at Satus Elementary School. Read more
Liberty grad follows family legacy to USC film school
June 30, 2009
Alex Bell, a Liberty High School graduate, works on a home movie project from his laptop, a skill that helped get him accepted to the University of Southern California film school. Contributed
Maybe it’s in the genes.
Alex Bell, 18, of Newcastle, a 2009 Liberty High School graduate, is one of only 20 incoming freshman accepted into the film school at the University of Southern California.
About 1,200 high school students applied to study at the same school that produced George Lucas, Steven Spielberg and Gene Fowler Jr.
Though not as well known as Lucas and Spielberg, Fowler Jr. was a prolific editor and director of film and television. His efforts won him a Golden Globe, four Emmys and an Oscar. He studied film editing at 20th Century Fox as a student at USC. Read more
Ith, Feder
June 30, 2009
Madeline Ith and Alan Feder
Madeline Ith and Alan Feder were married Oct. 25, 2008, on the beach in Maui.
Madeline, the daughter of Sophal and Narin Ith, of Vancouver, Wash., is a 2000 graduate of Evergreen High School.
Her bridal attendants were Marlana Ith, Amelia Chheang, Carisa McCathern, Serena Creagan, Ashley Lund and Brooke Velazquez. Read more
Grand Ridge Grows a Garden
June 30, 2009
Grand Ridge Elementary School students and employees celebrated the opening and dedication of their new Grizzly Patch, a garden where students will learn the fundamentals of how to grow their own food and learn about farming and the
environment. Students, teachers and parents were given garden tours by the school’s
garden volunteers during the day. Organizations like the Issaquah Schools Foundation,
the school’s PTSA and Port Blakely provided funding for the garden. Contributed
Eagle project is community garden
June 30, 2009
Boy Scouts install the first of three raised garden boxes at the Rose House. Those whose faces you can see are (from left to right) Ed Belleba, Troop 571 Scoutmaster; Zak Vdolek, Eagle Scout and assistant Scoutmaster; Scout Zach Molina; Eagle Scout candidate Nathan McKorkle; Scout Jimmy Boyle; Scout Toby Brown; and Scout Jordan Rabold.By Janine McKorkle
Completing an Eagle Scout project is a huge challenge all Boy Scouts must complete before attaining an Eagle rank.
The project must benefit the community, but the main objective is to demonstrate leadership of others. Fourteen-year-old Nathan McKorkle, of Sammamish Troop 571, had a perfect idea for his project — lead a team to build an accessible raised garden for the residents of Rose House in Issaquah.
“I had a lot of great help. I led mostly younger Boy Scouts, but there was some older ones and some adults, too,” he said. “Even some of the residents’ family helped, too. I had a lot of volunteers and everybody did a really good job.” Read more
Fancy fenders fill Front Street
June 23, 2009
Thousands attend weekend car show
‘Got Wood,’ said the car with the canoe on top. Not only were many of the cars at the event classics, but some had personal touches as well.
Special olympians
June 23, 2009
Eight members of the Issaquah Eagles Special Olympics team excelled and received medals May 29-31 at the 2009 Summer Games for track and field, held at Fort Lewis and McChord Air Force Base. Will Birdsey (second from left) receives an award and Wil Searing (right) receives one of three gold medals during one of the ceremonies. Other local participants were Sean Benson, Erick Gomez, Devin Christensen, Corey Lord, Lad Smith and Dan Sinnema. The Eagles’ medal count was seven gold, eight silver and two bronze. By Rhona Lord
Student filmmakers host their own Oscars night
June 23, 2009
Seventh-grader Jaden Mongauzy acknowledges the crowd as teammates Michael Butler, left, and Tanner Laine accept the award for best use of sound effects at the BLMS Oscars night. By Christopher Huber
For his age, Beaver Lake Middle School eighth-grader Cody Hatfield is good at making movies. He and his friends often make videos for fun and post them on YouTube.
But Hatfield also has a knack for acting, directing and editing movies in teacher David Clymer’s Advanced Video class.
He won the Steven Spielberg Award June 10 at the second annual BLMS Oscars night.
“I thought it was pretty cool,” Hatfield said. “Everyone told me that they thought I should win it.”
The award went to Hatfield because as a director and editor, he demonstrated skills that went above and beyond what Clymer taught in class. The Steven Spielberg Award was one of 13 categories highlighted at the event in the school library. About 25 students gathered with friends and family members to view the year’s best productions from all four production groups.
“I was pleased with it. It really represented just the overall breadth and creativity they put into all their productions this year,” Clymer said after the event. “It’s really fun to see what comes out of the favorite ones. It’s not always what you think it’s going to be.” Read more
