Woodland native to offer history tours

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WOODLAND – Walter Hansen Sr. knows a lot about the town where he’s lived all of his 85 years, including some trivia from more than a century ago.

It was during the 1890s, he said, when the company that now makes Tillamook cheese operated in Woodland. The business eventually moved to the Oregon coast to be near a more reliable supply of milk, Hansen said.

There was even a war over the name Woodland. Two Woodlands less than 100 miles apart vied for the name, each urging the other to adopt another identity, Hansen said. But because the southern Woodland had more population in the 1880s, the northern town capitulated and is now known as Lacey.

Hansen wants to keep history alive, so he’s planning to offer walking tours of the town, either for groups or one-on-one. He envisions most tours being conducted during the summer, but said he’s also willing to go out during the winter.

“I’m not afraid of rain,” he said with a grin last week as water dripped from a gray sky. “Someone needs to keep track of the history of Woodland.”

He’s already done much toward that goal, having written historic columns for The Reflector and the now-defunct Lewis River News of Woodland. He and the late North County matriarch Margaret Colf Hepola, who died Dec. 6 at age 97, have been keepers of the flame for decades.

“I’d get on the phone with Margaret and we’d talk for two or three hours about history,” Hansen said, calling Colf Hepola a combination of mother and big sister to him. “There’s only one in 100 people who are real historians.”

J.J. Burke, executive director of the Woodland Chamber of Commerce and president of the town’s museum board, said he will occasionally tap Hansen for historic information, especially if it concerns Woodland Planters Days – the oldest continuously operating festival in Washington. Hansen has been involved with the event since 1953, and originated the popular jumping frog contest.

Hansen has talked about Woodland’s past in schools and before civic groups, and he hopes the tours will be another way to distribute information. They’ll be free, he said, because “I’ve been blessed with a good memory and I don’t want to charge people for its use.”



Anyone who wants to schedule a tour may call him at (360) 225-8858 or (360) 225-1024.

One of his historic preservation projects involved Hayes Creek, which runs through a farm property Hansen owns. His neighbor wanted to change the name to Heritage Creek, but Hansen wouldn’t have it. The case finally reached the State Department of Natural Resources for a ruling, and Hayes Creek prevailed.

Still, Hansen doesn’t want to turn the entire town into a museum. His successful 60-year career as an insurance salesman influences his civic philosophy.

“I’m one of the oldtimers who is not against growth,” he said. “I believe nothing moves until something is sold.”

Hansen explained that Woodland was a riverboat town before automobiles arrived on the scene. In the past, people could only reach Woodland by boat or horse, he said.

Hansen wants to begin his tour stories while his health still allows it. He had a serious heart attack 12 years ago that resulted in a quadruple bypass operation, and he was hospitalized two years ago with a blood clot in one of his lungs.

He figures there’s divine support for the tour project.

“The good lord kept me alive for some reason,” Hansen said. “I guess I better do some payback.”