W-P House Ready to Celebrate

WAITSBURG - Volun- teers from the Waitsburg Historical Society have spent recent weeks at the Wilson-Phillips house, bus- ily readying it for the upcoming Waitsburg Celebra- tion Days.

The home was purchased in 2008 by Mary Phillips, who made significant im- provements, including new paint, a roof replacement and repairing and re-routing broken sewer lines prior to renting it out for a brief time. In 2011 Phillips donated the home to the Waitsburg His- torical Society.

The Society faced con- cern over taking on the expenses associated with the property -- utilities, maintenance and repairs. But they were able redirect some endowments to cover op- erating expenses, allowing them to accept the generous donation. Initially viewed as a meeting place and storage facility, the Wilson-Phillips house has grown into a legitimate extension of the adjacent Bruce House and Carriage House museums, offering specific advantages of its own.

"The Bruce House is a re- creation of a Victorian man- sion," said Waitsburg His- torical Society President Jeff Broom. "Because of that, we had many donations that we were unable to display. If it wasn't something typically seen in a Victorian home, it was left in storage. We had closets filled with items we couldn't use."

The W-P House provided the ideal solution to that problem. Individual rooms, and even closets, were as- signed to Society members who used stored donations to transform them into theme rooms. "We pulled out the items in storage to see what we had. If we had a lot of a certain type of item, we created a room around that theme," said Broom. The living room is reserved for rotating displays, appropriate to the current season or event.

The house also allows the Society to more fully fulfill their charter, which is to share the history of the larger Touchet Valley area, not just Waitsburg. Over time, the house may grow to include exhibits featuring Indian tribes, the Chinese and other area settlers.

Currently, the living room and entry play homage to the history of Waitsburg's Days of Real Sport. In the entry, visitors are greeted by a display of racing memorabilia, including a jockey shirt and hat from the stables of former area horse racer and trainer, Lacey Cole.

To the right is the living room, housing attractive displays created by Deanne Johnson and Pam Conover, which showcase more DRS memorabilia. Royalty uni- forms from the Dan McKinley family, Days of Real Sports 75th Anniversary layouts from The Times, and assorted racing photos adorn the space. A binder filled with DRS programs from years past, gathered and compiled by Terry Hofer, lies ready for browsing. The oldest program dates to 1916.

Beyond the French doors, off the living room, lies the society's meeting and storage area, newly memo- rialized as the Bettie Lloyd Chase Resource Center. Chase's desk, from which she worked at The Times, dominates the space. A por- trait of the recently departed Chase, a lifelong historian and founding member of Waitsburg's Historical Soci- ety, will hang above.

The room houses regional history books as well as scrapbooks and lists compiled by Chase, who devot- edly logged records of local politics, school issues, and floods. Russ Knopp and Jeff Broom are currently devel- oping a digitized index of the articles and scrapbooks, to be made available on the Waitsburg Historical Society website. Chase's 30-page pamphlet on the history of the Waitsburg schools is cur- rently available for viewing on the website as a "pdf" file.

Through the memorabil- ia-filled kitchen at the back of the house, is the former mud and utility room, now "Billy Thompson's Barber Shop". The "shop" boasts a vintage barber chair donated by the late Bill Thompson.

Upstairs, in the Military Room, are period weapons, uniforms and photos, including an 1898 shot of a group of 51 Waitsburg men who signed up to fight in the Spanish-American War. The group, known as "Company K," was stationed in the Philippines, and later returned safely. A photo of a welcoming arch over Main Street documents their citywide homecoming celebration. "The men brought the bell that currently hangs in Town Hall, back from the Philippines as a souvenir," said Broom.

The Millinery Room includes an impressive display of antique dresses, though Mary Phillips says, "there are still probably a hundred in storage." Many of the gowns are striking examples of the fine art of tatting. The room's closet is filled with period hats, hatboxes and purses. A hallway closet houses an overflow of vintage dresses as well as a sample of the recently discovered Waitsburg school band uniforms from years past.

The Sewing Needlework Room showcases several quilts and a sewing dis- play that includes a book of vintage patterns by Curtis Smith, whose grandfather was a one-time Waitsburg resident. In the Historical Photos Room, likenesses of area families decorate the walls. Wool swimsuits hang above the claw-foot tub in the upstairs bath.

Plans have been made to expand the display space to include the shop in the drive- way as well. Cedar fencing that once surrounded the property will be attached to the walls, rough-side-out, providing a rustic feel for a display portraying a blacksmith's shop.

The entire west wall of the building will be devoted to the history of Wait's Mill. Items salvaged from the ash- es of the 2009 fire, including the 1880's water turbine that powered the entire operation, will add authenticity to the display. It is anticipated that the display will be complete for the Fall Festival of 2014.

To learn more about Waitsburg's museums, visit www.waitsburghistorical- society.org or stop by for a tour during the upcoming Waitsburg Celebration Days, May 18-19.