Early Tigard History - Agnes & Steve Kosnik c.1920 Agnes and Steve Kosnik
History of early Tigard as told by Anna Kosnik Gallo
About 1920
There were no street numbers,just RRi and Box numbers.
Across from the Commerce .building was Mr. Tigard's grocery store—an old wooden
building. He was the only one waiting on you. He had candy in large containers and
for 5 cents you got a small bag full of candy. He had a hard mix and a soft mix.
Crackers were in a barrel and he would put them in a bag for you.
Mr. Tigard used to get G cinnamon rolls every day from some bakery. They were quite
large and he sold them for 3 for io cents. l would buy three and he would always put
in a few hard crackers. There was no bakery in Tigard.
My friend and i were going home from school and were going to pass Mr. Tigard's
store. My friend said she would sure like some candy. She asked me f l had any
money. l had a penny. She took the penny and went into Tigard's store. Mr. Tigard
said `you sure can't get much for a penny" but he gave her about io pieces of soft
mix. He was a generous man. In back of the Tigard store was a dry cleaner place.
Across the street was the U.S. Bank and next to it was Mr. Shubring's grocery store.
Everything was higher than at Mr. Tigard's store.
There was a small post offtce, located on the same side as Mr. Tigard's store. There
was a train station where the commerce building stands.You could buy your ticket
there or else get them from the conductor on the train. The Greenburg Station was
where the auto repair is located.Across from the station was Eichmeyer's grocery
store. The Eichmeyer grocery store wasn't very big. They didn't sell meat;you had to
buy meat in Portland. Ice cream was sold by the pound. She spooned it into a
container and weighed it.
As time went by we had a Safeway Store and also Girods.We could then buy meat at
the stores.
Pagel
Since there wasn't any theater in Tigard at the time we either went to Portland or
Multnomah. The Multnomah theater had a free children's day with a parent every
once in a while. Our neighbor took his 6 children, my brothers and me and another
boy and told the cashier that they were all his. She just laughed and let us all in.
There was a small grocery store where the beer parlor is located. Above the grocery
store was a dance hall. My sisters went there to dance.
There was a beauty parlor later on in Tigard. I would go there to have my hair done.
A finger wave or a marcel cost 75 cents. At graduation time she had a lot of business.
1 don't remember how much a permanent cost.
The dirt roads were real dusty in summer but in the winter the roads were very bad
and you would get stuck in the mud. There were only a few cars and they had a hard
time getting through. The roads were very muddy and full of ruts. My dad would
have to get the horse to pull him out many times.
Mr. Herman Tiedeman did his own laundry but had my mother wash and iron his
white shirts, 3 shirts for 25 cents.
Matt Tiedeman had a couple of horses and he would do plowing and cutting the hay
for the neighbors. His brother Herman lived a short distance from him and the street
is now named after him.
The property,where the Windmill Apartments stand was a strawberry field. My
friend and 1 picked the strawberries far this lady (1 don't remember her name.)
When the season was over she gave us a little party. She had wieners and biscuits.
She couldn't get any hot dog buns so we had biscuits. It was very good and we all had
a good time.
Page 2
The Tigard Grade School played baseball and basketball. Mr. Gooding, the 7th grade
teacher was coach. My brother Charley was a very good athlete. He was on the All
Star team in grade school and high school. l played basketball and was on the second
team.We would go on the bus in the evening to different schools. It was fun.We
usually won the games. Mr. Gooding was a very good coach.
In high school at the footbal[games there was no place to sit and you had to stand on
the side lines to watch the games. There was no charge for the games. The Tigard
High School was located where Rite-Aid is located today. The grade school is still
standing.
Page 3
My father always had a nice garden. He built a storage cellar and we would put
carrots, beets,potatoes in there from our garden and covered it with a sack. It kept
real well and we had our vegetables for the winter.We had moles in the garden. I
would take a box to sit on and wait for the mole to work. They would work in the
morning, at noon and in the evening. l would go after it with a pitchfork. I usually
was successful. My dad paid me a dime for each mole.
My parents raised chickens, rabbits and ducks. My mother would fry the chickens
and rabbits in butter. Delicious! The gravy made from the fried chicken was very
good.
We had a cow so we had plenty of milk, cream and butter.When the cow went dry
we would get our milk from our neighbor.
My dad raised a pig and would kill it in the winter. My mother would make head
cheese and sausage. She would dry the sausage behind the wood stove as it was on
from 5 in the morning until around l2 at night. The sausage would dry real hard and
we cooked it in the winter. It had a wonderful taste. The rest of the meat was put in
the big barrel and salted down so it wouldn't spoil. She also made a big crock of sour
kraut. My mother would make cottage cheese. She would put the sour milk on the
edge of the wood stove where it wasn't too hot.When it was thick she would pour it
into a cloth sack and put it between two boards and put a heavy rock on it. It would
flatten out the cheese and when it was done you could slice the cheese for
sandwiches.We also would cut off a big piece and put it in the oven till all the
moisture was dried out.You could then sprinkle it over noodles or scrambled eggs.
We had fruit trees; cherry, apple, plum,pear and we had boysenberries, loganberries,
raspberries, currents (red and yellow) and gooseberries. I would make some muffms
and 1 would put in a cup of the red currents. It looked pretty and tasted very good. A
little old lady would come every other day to get a small pitcher of cream, about a
cup. My mother charged her io cents.
My mother and dad went to visit some friends. One neighbor lady saw them leave
and thought no one was home. I happened to look out the window and this lady was
digging up flower plants. I went out and told her to stop. She said a plant grows
better f you steal it.
Page 4
The doctor would come to the house f you couldn't get to his office. Dr. Bissett was
the doctor.We wanted him to come to the house because my mother was quite ill. He
didn't want to come but my husband insisted and he came. My mother had a heart
attach. He prescribed some pills. She couldn't swallow them so he said to put the pill
in some jelly and she would be able to swallow them. She died that night.
The lady that stole the plants came over to my mother to buy a dozen eggs. My
mother always gave a "baker's" dozen. She gave her 13 eggs and she went around and
told people that my mother couldn't count.
She came another time to borrow 4 eggs as she was frying noodles for supper and she
needed 4 eggs to put in her noodles. She never gave the eggs back.
Every now and then some poor guy would come to ask for something to eat.We had
just finished dinner but there were some potatoes,gravy and vegetables left. (There
wasn't any meat left as my mother would put meat on our plates. I always got the
wing and the gizzard.)We had chicken soup and he ate two bowls with homemade
egg noodles.We fried him some eggs to go with the mashed potatoes. Also he had
bread, cake and milk. That man sure did eat.We gave him some sandwiches for the
road. He was very thankful.
Another time a man came for something to eat.We gave him some sandwiches. I
watched him when he left. About 1/2 block from our house he stopped and ate the
meat from the sandwiches and threw the bread in the ditch.
Page 5
There were a couple of young men living not far from our house. One of them liked
my sister. She didn't care much for him as he was quite a jealous person. He didn't
life her to see some other,boyfriends. She used to go on the train and would meet
some boyfriend, have dinner and then go dancing. She would come home on the last
train. It was a beaut f l night, the moon was shining and it was quite light.
There were some trees on the side of the road and this fellow wanted to scare her. He
had his friend get on his shoulders and they threw a blanket over themselves so she
couldn't see it was two people. This tall person came out from the trees and made a
grunting noise as she approached them. My sister was terriblyfrightened and
started to run home. She has about 2 blocks before she reached home. She was so out
of breath that she could hardly open the door. She had a hard time running in high
heels.
Those guys finally told her that they did this crazy thing.
On one of the properties on North Dakota was a pond. It had big bull frogs in it that
croaked all night.You could hear the crickets at night. It was a nice sound. The pond
would freeze in the winter and the kids would go there to skate.
Now the frogs and crickets are gone and houses and a church are built there.
Everything has to come to an end.
Page 6
The Tigard Grade School stands where it is now. Mr. Nedry was the principal. He
always carried a stick. We would all have to line up in the hallways (all the grades).
We would have to be very straight in line. He would then start the victrola to a march
and then all the grades would march to their rooms when he gave the signal.
My brother and a friend were acting up and being silly. He told them to put out their
hands and he gave them several swats. They said it sure hurt.
A student, Alma Blue, brought him a fourth of a single layer sheet cake. He took out
his pocket kn fe and cut the cake into small pieces and gave us each a piece (one
bite). He had a larger piece. There were about 30 students in the class. Mr. Nedry
lived in a house where the liquor store now is located.
When 1 was in second grade we had a wonderful teacher, Miss Clara Luithi. The
second and third grades were all in one room. She had us make a little box out of
heavy paper. She showed us how and provided us with the paper and glue. On
Valentine's Day she placed the boxes on our desks while we were out for recess.When
we came in she said "Don't open your little box until 1 tell you to."When she said
"Open your box,"we found a chocolate marshmallow Valentine in it. All the children
were very happy with it and we were allowed to eat it.
My brother and 1 would have to take the lantern and go to the train station in
Greenburg to meet our sisters (they worked in Albers Milling Co. in Portland.) They
had to have some light to walk over the muddy road.
There was a little saw mill in Tigard across the railroad tracks. Later on they had a
little lumber company that made trusses for home builders (located where the Fire
Department is now.) They had big bins full of sawed off two by fours and you could
purchase the bin of two by fours for$2.00 a box. l f you cleaned out the bin real good
they gave you a dollar back. For about$12 you had wood for all winter.
Page 7
There was no electricity on our road or running water. You had to heat the water on
the wood stove for your bath and for washing clothes and dishes.
Everyone had wells.You pulled the water up from the well in buckets.You took a pail
of water into the house and used that for drinking. Many times during the winter the
water would freeze in the bucket as the winters were quite cold.
There were no ,bathrooms. You had to go outside to the outhouse.
Page 8
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