Like any town, Hoquiam City, Washington started simple. In the 1850's white settlers found its estuary and settled on its banks with good lumber on their sites and since then just like the river it was named after the logging camp grew into a town that was always "hungry for wood". As it grew and the a few of the founders grew rich and famed in their own right and efforts, the City sought a marker for their achievements, one that the common folk, the lumberjacks, the shop keepers and their families can easily identify with and use to forget if just for a moment their daily toils and chores to earn a living and be alive in the truest sense of the word.
When the plan was hatched several decades later, the city was in the midst of slowing down the Great Depression was upon America as a nation and the city and its lumber industry and workers were not to escape its saddening effects, but the city council wanted their testament of defiance and if for no other reason than to show Grays Harbor's tenacity and perseverance they were going to get their stadium built.
The city applied for a Civil Works Administration grant with the all wood design persistently present and in 1932, the grant was approved. 6 years later, with enough funds, a final architectural design that almost everyone agreed to and a whole lot of lumber, construction started of the all-wood Olympic stadium.
The stadium officially opened for use by the public on November 24, 1938 with the construction itself not taking more than a year from start to finish and this is their take on things much like how the lumber industry takes time to let trees grow for decades, to agree that everything is right or satisfactory and when the time has come it takes but a moment to finish what took decades or even more than a century to nurture and give life to, such are the circumstances there, the patience and understanding of a tree farmer that completes his task as a lumberjack with a razor sharp axe.
In 2005, again after much time has passed a local man, Congressman Norm Dicks prodded by his community constituents was able to secure through request a renovation grant that was awarded through the "Save America's Treasures" program. The good Congressman also supported the State Historic Preservation Office request to recognize the stadium as a National Registry of Historical Places grantee, which the old stadium got in 2006.
The Olympic stadium is one of the more extraordinarily built stadiums in the area with its truncated U-shaped design and angled corners, with one of its portions facing to the east to shelter players and fans alike from wind and rain from the Pacific. The outside is covered with cedar shingle sidings and the L shaped grandstand is sheltered from top to bottom which extends all the way to the right and going out into the outfield. The wood used is of old-growth fir heavy-timber frame with most of the trees felled maybe more than 100 years old. The seats are of course also made of wood and are in surprisingly good shape after sitting and bearing the weight of those countless who went by its entrances.
The Olympic stadium is presently home to the semi-professional football team the Grays Harbor Bearcats. In the 1990's the historic stadium was the base of operations for the now defunct Grays Harbor Gulls of the independent Western baseball League. This is testament to the resilience of the stadium and its continued contribution to the prestige and honor of the town and its people.
Other notable events held in the Olympic stadium are the amateur games for the town's high school and the aged old football rivalry with Aberdeen. One of the most closest to the heart of the people of Grays Harbor is the annual Logger's Play Day where the past and the present meet in the same manner of strength and skill that has blessed those who have always called Hoquiam their home.
When the plan was hatched several decades later, the city was in the midst of slowing down the Great Depression was upon America as a nation and the city and its lumber industry and workers were not to escape its saddening effects, but the city council wanted their testament of defiance and if for no other reason than to show Grays Harbor's tenacity and perseverance they were going to get their stadium built.
The city applied for a Civil Works Administration grant with the all wood design persistently present and in 1932, the grant was approved. 6 years later, with enough funds, a final architectural design that almost everyone agreed to and a whole lot of lumber, construction started of the all-wood Olympic stadium.
The stadium officially opened for use by the public on November 24, 1938 with the construction itself not taking more than a year from start to finish and this is their take on things much like how the lumber industry takes time to let trees grow for decades, to agree that everything is right or satisfactory and when the time has come it takes but a moment to finish what took decades or even more than a century to nurture and give life to, such are the circumstances there, the patience and understanding of a tree farmer that completes his task as a lumberjack with a razor sharp axe.
In 2005, again after much time has passed a local man, Congressman Norm Dicks prodded by his community constituents was able to secure through request a renovation grant that was awarded through the "Save America's Treasures" program. The good Congressman also supported the State Historic Preservation Office request to recognize the stadium as a National Registry of Historical Places grantee, which the old stadium got in 2006.
The Olympic stadium is one of the more extraordinarily built stadiums in the area with its truncated U-shaped design and angled corners, with one of its portions facing to the east to shelter players and fans alike from wind and rain from the Pacific. The outside is covered with cedar shingle sidings and the L shaped grandstand is sheltered from top to bottom which extends all the way to the right and going out into the outfield. The wood used is of old-growth fir heavy-timber frame with most of the trees felled maybe more than 100 years old. The seats are of course also made of wood and are in surprisingly good shape after sitting and bearing the weight of those countless who went by its entrances.
The Olympic stadium is presently home to the semi-professional football team the Grays Harbor Bearcats. In the 1990's the historic stadium was the base of operations for the now defunct Grays Harbor Gulls of the independent Western baseball League. This is testament to the resilience of the stadium and its continued contribution to the prestige and honor of the town and its people.
Other notable events held in the Olympic stadium are the amateur games for the town's high school and the aged old football rivalry with Aberdeen. One of the most closest to the heart of the people of Grays Harbor is the annual Logger's Play Day where the past and the present meet in the same manner of strength and skill that has blessed those who have always called Hoquiam their home.
About the Author:
Wade Entezar finds the Hoquiam Olympic Stadium, A symbol of Hoquiam's sense of camaraderie!
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