The boys of summer…
Here's a photo of the 1911 Langley Baseball team... Back row: (l to r) Leon Hartley, Elmer "Skinny" Rothgeb, Ed Boynton, Ed Howard (manager), Carl Gillespie, Harry Kraber, and Bill Howard. Seated: (l to r): Fred Howard, Charles Alex, Ray Howard (mascot), and Walt...
Memorial Day weekend
Lest we forget... the names of students of Langley High School who died in World War II and the Korean War... names that are etched on the monument at the South Whidbey Community Center (formerly Langley Middle School). Named on the memorial are Paul Applegate,...
“Women Run the Town”
Langley on Whidby Island, which has the distinction of being the first municipality in this part of the world to be governed entirely by women, is quick to challenge the claims of Jackson, Wyoming announced recently in a press dispatch printed In the dally papers that...
Spring cleaning? Settling an estate? Downsizing?
If you come across old photos of South Whidbey taken from at least 50 years ago, family histories, local maps, deeds, old local newspapers, etc., please contact us at the South Whidbey Historical Society at SWHMuseum@gmail.com or 360-221-2101. If our curator decides...
High School graduation classes of 1932 and 1942
With the upcoming graduation class of 2022, we thought you might enjoy photos from the Langley High School graduation classes of 1932 and 1942. Thanks to the South Whidbey School District and the Island County Historical Museum for digitizing the graduation...
Sign up now for Langley Walking History Tours
They're coming back: local Langley historian Bob Waterman's popular Langley Walking History Tours. Sign up for a Saturday morning tour on May 14, 21 or 28. The 1.5 to two-hour tours are limited to 10 people and start off in the Museum. Whether you've lived on...
Bob Frear’s old Meat Market on First Street, 1948 – 1971.
Most towns had butcher shops or meat markets before that function was brought inhouse to grocery stores and supermarkets. The South Whidbey Historical Society recently received meat cleavers, meat saws, and a butcher's apron from Bob Frear's old Meat Market on...
James C. Langley
As Spring rains continue, we thought you might get a chuckle from these 1919 real estate advertisements of James C. Langley, aka 'Fidelity Jim', nephew of Judge James Weston Langley, the man for whom the town of Langley is named. One of the longer ads reads as...
Anton Myre Anderson
It was August, 1904, and it was hot the day that Anton Myre Anderson debarked from the steamer Fairhaven onto the Langley dock with his wife, Josephine, his nine-year-old son, Otto, and his two-year-old daughter, Alma. They had come from Everett with all their worldly...
A kids day at Mutiny Bay in the 1950s
Thanks to Bob Boswell for sharing the following memories of summers spent on Mutiny Bay. A lightly edited (for length) version is in our latest South Whidbey Historical Society newsletter. Enjoy. ------------ A Kid’s Day at Mutiny Bay in the Early 1950’s by Bob...
Sarah Ball
While the Hinman brothers were busy developing the town of Clinton, a 51-year-old widow named Sarah Ann Eldridge Taylor Ball was busy creating an exceptional farm by homesteading 160 acres about two miles inland, overlooking Deer Lake. It is...
Andrew Olsen
One of Clinton's early European immigrant settlers was Andrew Olsen, who was born in Stavanger, Norway in 1854.He lived on a farm, and as a child helped with the chores while learning the carpenter trade until he was 14 years old. Then he went to...
Booming Logs
These two photos, taken in about 1901, are from Mabel Anthes' photo album. The first one shows her father, Jacob Anthes, (founder of Langley) booming logs, and the other one was likely taken at a picnic outing, possibly in Holmes Harbor. It is unclear if...
Northwest Logging Camps
Do you know what a faller and a bucker do? What a misery whip was? What a steam donkey was used for? The purpose of a spar tree? These are all logging terms which a person working in one of South Whidbey's numerous logging camps would understand. While we don't have...
Ike & Kittie Bainter
The Ike and Kittie Bainter family left their mark on Langley, being remembered for their hospitality, music, and civic involvement in the early days of the city’s incorporation. Their 18-acre farm was a social center for community parties and potlucks. In...
1914 Photo Album of Hannah P. Jacobson
A shout-out to Cynthia Pancerzewski for sending us a Facebook link to a photo album of Hannah P. Jacobson (later Rasmussen), a schoolteacher in Langley about 1914. We love it when people share photos of South Whidbey with us!-------------------------From a Facebook...
Then and now glimpses of Langley
Through the talents of SWHS Board member and local historian Bob Waterman, we have these 'then and now" photo composite glimpses of Langley with added info available on each photo. Just click on the photos to scroll through. Enjoy. If you like local history, why not...
Hats and Gloves
Hats and gloves were almost always worn when going to town, to church and social events in the early 1900s. Even men wore hats just about everywhere. These photos are from a scrapbook of Mabel Anthes, daughter of Langley founder Jacob Anthes.
Jonathan ‘Joc’ Salisbury
Jonathan 'Joc' Salisbury was already in his mid-40s when he and his family headed west in 1889. They landed first in Tacoma, where they purchased a hotel to run, then headed up to Alaska in 1890 to set up accommodations for miners up there. According to a family...
Wickliff and Ellen Newell
This article on the Wickliff Newell family appeared in last Spring's "Now & Then" newsletter of the South Whidbey Historical Society. A HARDSCRABBLE LIFE ON SOUTH WHIDBEY YIELDS SUCCESSLogging, farming and fishing were the three main occupations of...
Luther L. Moore
Luther L. Moore and His Revealed Remedy…. Imagine a natural remedy that would purify the blood and cure everything from asthma to venereal disease--including conditions in between such as ague, alcoholism, asthma, bowel problems, consumption, constipation,...
Dug-Out Mail Boat
If you think mail delivery is slow today, consider what it was like in January 1892 when it was delivered from Mukilteo to Whidbey via a dugout canoe steam launch...
Hanna ‘Tommy” Double’s Caramel Recipe
Looking for a homemade Christmas candy recipe? You may want to make this recipe (below) for caramels by one of South Whidbey Good Cheer’s founders, Hanna “Tommy” Double. The recipe is from the original Good Cheer cookbook produced in the 1960’s as a...
South Whidbey Deputy Foils 1922 Bank Robbery
Whidbey Island is not the best place to pull off a bank robbery... especially not in 1922 when Deception Pass Bridge had yet to be built. That is what three bank robbers learned the hard way when their escape plans were foiled by a 'neighborhood watch' type of...