Firefighters work to put out a blaze behind the original Ernie’s Food Mart circa 1955.
Two historical walking tours are planned for Ridgefield and Battle Ground next month.
Clark County Historical Museum (CCHM) will play host to two North County tours in the first weeks of August during which attendees can walk and learn around the cities’ respective downtowns and get acquainted with the past.
This year, there’s good news for Ridgefield residents. Those living in the 98642 area code will be able to take the tour of their city for free, CCHM Programs and Education Manager Danielle Utter said, thanks to a sponsorship of the tours by the City of Ridgefield.
Though the Ridgefield tour has happened before, the Battle Ground outing is new this year. Utter explained a successful pilot tour for museum members in April led to an official walk planned for Aug. 10 and 11.
“It was Battle Ground’s turn,” Utter remarked.
Tours typically last between 45 minutes to one hour and feature stops that focus on a general history of their respective cities, diving deeper into the architecture and prominent figures of city history. Along the way, stories about crimes or city mysteries add color to the walking and talking event.
The recent expansion of more North County offerings fits in line with CCHM’s goal of living up to its name as a museum devoted to the whole county, not just Vancouver. CCHM has partnered with more specific historical societies elsewhere in the county to help meet that end, such as the Two Rivers Heritage Museum in Washougal and the North County Historical Museum in Amboy.
In an effort toward facts, not fiction, CCHM focuses on what can be verified by the historical record, not community rumors, Utter commented. She provided some examples of topics to be covered during the Ridgefield tour, including a bank robbery at what is now Ridgefield Hardware and the Old Liberty Theater, the original of which was destroyed in a fire in 1921.
Overall Utter said that the historical walking tours help keep alive the tethers of history as they ripple through modern day and beyond.
“History happens every day, and it’s the connections between what happens in the past, in the present and in the future,” Utter said, making it important that those past stories were still told.
