Tenino Documentary Nov. 7, 1973 – “The South Thurston County Historical Society will have a special program at their meeting on Monday night, Nov. 12, featuring a film on Tenino’s early days and a presentation by an architect regarding the moving and refurbishing of the Tenino railroad depot for a museum.”
“Tenino: Boomtown of the Old Northwest” features historic photography of Tenino, highlighting much of the town’s prominent industry as well as all levels of its citizenry. The narrators are pioneers Frank and Edith Newell and Walter Scheel. Viewing the film feels like sitting down with one of these pioneers as they reminisce over old photos. Music from the Tenino Old Time Music Festival plays in the background.
Narrator Frank B. Newell (1890-1979) was born in Huron, South Dakota, and moved to the Skookumchuck Valley in 1896 and then to Tenino by 1910. Frank performed a number of jobs throughout his life. He was a planer at the Johnson and Clark Saw Mill in 1910, clerk in Peterson’s store in 1911, a confectioner in 1919 and the janitor at a high school in 1930-1940.
His wife Edith McClellan Newell (1889-1984) was born in Kansas and came to Thurston County in 1890. Her father, the entrepreneur Thomas McClellan, built Tenino’s first telephone system in 1905 and the first electrical power plant in 1906, as well as the first movie house. Edith had many talents, she played in her own dance orchestra, and wrote a short history of Tenino. Frank and Edith were married September 3, 1914.
Narrator Walter Scheel (1892-1984) was born in Tacoma to German immigrants Hans and Francis Scheel. Hans P. Scheel (nicknamed Horse Power Scheel) was a partner in the Hercules Quarry, which famously produced Tenino’s Big Blast. Walter followed in his father footsteps and became a quarryman. He apprenticed in San Francisco. While out hunting one day, Walter discovered granite up the Skookumchuck, which became Hercules No. 6. The legend goes that during an expedition of engineers and experts that went out to view the proposed granite quarry, each time they came to the river, Walter carried the men across piggyback. Walter also built the Hercules Quarry Office, which he later dismantled and moved to Sussex Avenue to become Tenino City Hall. So, he essentially built the same building twice. Like Frank, Walter tried his hand at many things. In 1910, he became a draftsman in Portland. By 1920, he was a carpenter in Seattle, a dairy farmer in Tenino in 1930 and a contractor in 1940.
