LA CENTER HISTORICAL Museum volunteer Myrna Viles stands next to one of her favorite pieces in the local history museum, a giant antique spinning wheel that would make Rumpelstiltskin cry with envy.
KEN VILES, A La Center native, is one of several dedicated volunteers who help keep La Center’s history alive at the La Center Historical Museum. Open from noon to 4 p.m. every first and third Saturday of the month and Wednesdays by appointment, the museum displays the everyday items that make up the story of a town with a rich and storied history.
DR. BARBARA BARNHART, president of the La Center Historical Museum’s board of directors, stands next to a taffeta prom dress from the 1950s. Behind Barnhart, a mural painted by former Clark County artist Denys Dutton portrays a scene from a turn of the century La Center.
THIS FOOD ROCKS — Donated by Betty Carpenter, courtesy of the Cathlapootle Gem Club of Woodland, this unique dinner table is one of the biggest crowd-pleasers at the La Center Historical Museum. Look closely and you’ll see that all of the “food” is actually made from rocks.
FOR NEW GENERATIONS, the common rotary telephones so common before the 1990s are simply a relic of a time long-gone. Luckily, the La Center Historical Museum helps keep the not-so-distant past alive with these types of fun, vintage displays.
THIS PARISIAN CAN-CAN doll from the 1930s is one of several antique dolls on display at the La Center Historical Museum, at 33920 NW Pacific Hwy., in La Center.
There’s something soothing about being inside the La Center Historical Museum. It’s as if the often crazy-hectic modern world has floated away. Cell phones are off. There’s not a computer in sight and everything seems just a little bit more relaxed.
Perhaps that’s part of the appeal for the small group of volunteers who help keep the museum going.
“We are completely volunteer run,” says Dr. Barbara Barnhart, president of the La Center Historical Museum’s board of directors, as she leads a tour of the museum, pointing out two of the museum’s most dedicated volunteers. “Myrna and Ken Viles are two of our star volunteers.”
Barnhart and the Viles are excellent tour guides. They guide visitors past displays of antique dolls, old rotary phones, roller skates from the 1950s, and turn of the century children’s toys – all the while talking about La Center’s storied past and teaching museum visitors how the modern-day La Center came to be.
Ken Viles, a former POW of the Korean War, and his wife, Myrna, are La Center natives. Myrna graduated from La Center High in 1953 and married Ken the following year. The couple is dedicated to keeping their town’s history alive for the next generation.
“It’s so important, to keep history alive,” Ken says. “That’s how you learn, so you never want to let go of these things.”
The Viles, along with Barnhart, know the types of stories that make history go from a static fact on the page to a living, breathing thing. They know about “The Leona,” a sternwheeler that caught fire in 1912, her ribs and burnt bones sinking into the Lewis River near La Center’s shores. They know that, in the summer months, when the water is low, visitors to La Center can still spot The Leona’s remnants on the west side of the Lewis River, near the La Center bridge.
In the museum’s “Sternwheeler Room,” the museum volunteers show off a picture of Minnie Hill, the first steamboat pilot captain west of the Mississippi.
“She raised a son and lived in La Center,” Barnhart says, glancing at Hill’s portrait. “She was a steamboat captain in the 1880s.”
Other museum rooms hold treasures like the giant spinning wheel, which looks like it actually could spin straw into gold for the Grimm Brothers’ Rumpelstiltskin; the taffeta prom dress from the 1950s; a collection of children’s toys from the early 1900s that once belonged to Barnhart’s mother and uncle; an antique sewing machine found buried in the ground in the Yacolt Burn area; and vintage black and white photos of the roller skating rink that once welcomed La Center youth in the building that now hosts the Palace casino.
Two striking murals, depicting the first days of La Center and painted by former Clark County artist Denys Dutton, hang in the museum. Myrna has a good story about these murals. Apparently, while hanging out at their former home, the old La Center Tavern, the murals collected their fair share of nicotine stains and smoke fumes. When the came to the museum, Myrna tried everything to clean the paintings without damaging them. Finally, she happened upon a cleaning miracle.
“I used Febreze,” Myrna says, laughing. “And it worked.”
In a glass case at the center of the museum is a wild collection of rocks, courtesy of the Cathlapootle Gem Club of Woodland and donated by Betty Carpenter. Designed to look like a festive banquet table, the rock collection is a definite crowd-pleaser. Every rock and gem included in the display looks exactly like food. There are steak and potatoes, butter pats, cake slices, eggs, even cups of coffee — and they’re all rocks. Words really don’t do the display justice. Let’s just say you have to see it to believe it.
“Isn’t it something?” says Ken Viles, peering into the display. Even though the volunteers see the rocks at least once or twice a month, they still get a kick out of the “food,” pointing out steaks that are really dinosaur bones and coffee that’s really just a shiny black obsidian cut to fit snug into a coffee cup.
Opened in 2010, the La Center Historical Museum celebrates La Center’s rich history of pioneers, sternwheelers and loggers. A small group of volunteers and board of directors keep the museum open. Memberships are available to the public, and include individual, family, organization, business and corporate membership options. The museum is located at 33920 NW Pacific Hwy., La Center, and is open from noon to 4 p.m., the first and third Saturdays of each month. The museum also is open by appointment on Wednesdays.
For more information, visit www.thelacentermuseum.org, or call (360) 263-6609.
