Depot and Boldman House Have New Exhibits

Exhibit at Dayton Historic Depot features historic maps of Dayton and Columbia County

DAYTON- Tamara Fritze, Museum Director of the Dayton Historic Depot Museum is putting the finishing touches on an exhibit of early maps of Columbia County, which are open for public viewing now through the end of the year.

Three Sanborn Fire Insurance maps from 1898, 1909, and 1916, military road maps, and maps of Huntsville, Starbuck and Columbia County produced by George Baker, who owned the title company in Columbia County in 1900, and many more will be on display.

One of the most interesting maps is an amateur map produced by John R. White of Waitsburg, dated October 3, 1948. The key to the map identifies the location of many interesting historical places, including the burial location of "Taylor and Gaston and others, after the Steptoe Defeat". This refers to the May 1858 attack of a force of Coeur d'Alene, Spokane, and Palus Indians, that defeated a force of 164 US military troops at Pine Creek near the present-day community of Rosalia, Wash.

Fritze said the maps are on loan from the City of Dayton, the Dayton City Shops, Columbia REA, Broughton Land Company, Columbia County Public Works, the Port of Columbia, Larry Fairchild, Katy Wamble, Garry Snyder and Christy's Realty, and Fred and Genie Crowe.

She would like to thank the Wildhorse Foundation and the Blue Mountain Community Foundation for grants that have expanded the space for hanging artifacts in the upstairs gallery where the maps on are display. The grants also provided for a fresh coat of paint on the walls, she said.

The Dayton Historic Depot Museum is located at 222 E. Commercial St. The current hours of operation are; Wednesday through Saturday from 11-4 p.m.

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Cameras used by the Boldman Family sisters are in a special exhibit at the Boldman House Museum through the end of 2018.

According to Museum Director Sylvia Beuhler, the oldest camera in the exhibit is the 1909 Brownie Camera # 2A, belonging to Minnie Boldman, and it has been placed next to an endearing photo taken of Gladys Boldman, holding the camera, sometime in the 1920s.

The cameras range in age from 1909, to the early 1980s, and include the Brownie Camera # 2, a 1929 Folding Autographic Brownie Camera, a 1940 Spartus Folding Camera, a 1950s Kodak Duaflex II Camera, a 1968-71 Kodak Instamatic, and the 1980s Kodak Disk 6000, which used microcomputer technology.

The Kodak Disk 6000 could have been the camera taken by sisters Gladys and Goldie Boldman on their 1982 European tour.

The display also includes Kodak Dark Room tools, featuring a dark room lamp, plates, trays, and developing paper and postcards, which indicate the Boldmans were experimenting with developing photos, said Beuhler.

"We have a whole lot of the same photo. Some are not very good," she said. There is also a double exposed negative, which points to some experimentation by the Boldmans.

Beuhler said she found the cameras and other artifacts stored in boxes beneath a stairwell, in the house, and she can't wait to see what else will turn up.

The Boldman House Museum, located at 410 N. 1st St, in Dayton. The current hours of operation are Wednesday through Saturday from 11-4 p.m.