Resident recalls Washington's 1939 Centennial celebration

Wilfrid "Bill" Vittetoe of Washington said that with the 175th anniversary of the city of Washington being celebrated this week, he has been reminded of Washington's 100th aniversary held Aug. 8-10. 1939. He was 9 years old at the time.

He said there was much enthusiasm for the centennial and people really got involved. There were big carnival rides on the west side of the square. There were two parades ? a children's parade and a parade of adults.

Some of the highlights of the adult parade he remembers include a large group dressed as Native Americans, with men in full-feathered headdress riding horses, lots of children walking with some having headbands with large feathers, and some women riding on a wooden platform dragged behind a pony.

He remembers a large group of men walking with whiskers either dressed as Westerners or pioneers, all carrying sidearms. Many men were also riding horses. Dr. McLaughlin drove his horse and buggy, with a stork made out of wood, with a baby doll in a diaper in the stork's beak, attached to a pole above his buggy. The 113th Cavalry in uniform mounted their horses carrying guns. There were many women in long dresses and bonnets walking with their children. A pair of oxen pulled a covered wagon.

"My grandfather had a riding horse and his barber Guy T. had asked him to ride that horse in the parade," Bill recalled. "He had whiskers and was all decked out with a hat and Western attire with sidearms. Our dad took us boys with him over to grandpa's so he could help put the saddle on the horse, and get him ready for the parade. Guy had a big heavy and fancy saddle, and when dad put it over the horse, the horse snorted and shied away.

"After the saddle was cinched on tight, Guy mounted and started to ride him around the lot. The horse got real frisky and pranced around sideways," he continued. "This scared Guy, since he was an inexperienced rider, and the horse knew it. He reluctantly decided this wasn't going to work out. He would have to walk in the parade. As dad put the saddle in his car trunk, what a dejected and disappointed look I saw on that man's face! However, there was a big group of men walking with their whiskers and Western attire, so Guy had plenty of company to walk with."

"Why do I remember this?" Bill said. "Because there were six dollars in the billfold ? what a loss to them. As they told the story, it made me feel so sorry for them."

It was well documented how all the storefronts were covered with outer slabs of wood from logs cut for lumber. Oetjen's Seed storefront on the northwest corner was unique, in that they used small diameter white birch logs laid horizontally to cover the whole storefront. The reason he remembers this is he heard his dad tell about what a big issue it was that they broke the big plate glass window when taking down the logs on the front, and how much it would cost to replace it.

"I can still see the big canvas covering the broken window," he said.

The Centennial Fountain was dedicated during this celebration.

"On Saturday nights when we all went to town, I would always go watch the fountain with all the different water sprays and beautiful colors," Bill said. "The strawberry-colored water was bubbling up. I can still see it. It reminded me of strawberry pop, which was my favorite."