THEN and NOW: The Old Campfire Girls Shack on Rose Hill, 1936

Only vaguely do I remember the old special education school on Rose Hill in operation when I was a kid, and never did I know what was at that location before -- until I saw this terrific old photo.

I loved the black and white photo of a Campfire Girls troop immediately, primarily because the shack looks like so many of the simple structures built in the early days of European settlement of Western Washington. The siding is of long boards made of native Northwest red cedar, still used today, only nailed on vertically. It was a common technique back in the day, but not seen much today. The boards typically go on horizontally now.

I also find the charming Campfire Girls outfits interesting -- even the adults are wearing them. And if you look closely, there is at least one compelling little detail: one of the girls on the right is holding up the front legs of a dog. Looks to me like the type of mixed-breed terrier that served as the old Victrola trademark!

Add it all up and this photo, now in the archives of the Kirkland Heritage Society, simply screams local history.

The photo was among many donated by Betty McClintick Gaudy, who is in the photo and is a Rose Hill native like myself, and her brother Russ McClintick, featured here a few weeks ago.

The shack, according to Heritage Society records, was built by a Mr. Ross Reed, no doubt entirely of native woods most likely milled somewhere in this region. Cedar was and is used as siding because it has uncanny properties that resist rot. Native Americans first used thick old-growth cedar boards for their longhouses -- it is also light and splits quite readily.

Anyway, the photo was taken by Miles Studio in about 1936 and shows Betty and her Campfire Girls group. Betty is the one near the center of the front row wearing a headband.

The site of the shack, which was later moved to the site of today's downtown, according to society president Loita Hawkinson, is a block east of today’s .

The site on 112th Avenue NE was later purchased by the Lake Washington School District and became the location of the special ed school I distantly remember. That school was later moved to Houghton, and the building was then used by the district as a maintenance storage area.

Now it's an office building, as you can see in the “now” picture.

I would have loved to have been able to walk into that old shack to check it out. But it’s long since vanished into history.