New photo exhibit opens at Edmonds Historical Museum

EDMONDS — The thousands of people who jam the Frances Anderson Center during the annual Edmonds Arts Festival may never wonder about the building’s namesake.

But a sepia-toned photo of her from the 1930s, with her bobbed hair and smiling as she kneels to cuddle a dog, is part of a new photography exhibit, “Edmonds in Focus.” The exhibit opens Saturday at the Edmonds Historical Museum.

The city bought the historic Edmonds Grade School in 1978 and named it for the longtime teacher and principal who retired in 1959.

The earliest photograph in the exhibit is of a city band from the 1910, said Katie Kelly, the museum’s director. The most recent is from the mid-1980s, a portrait of Gertie Perrin riding in the city’s fourth of July parade in 1986.

Gertie Perrin and her husband, Carl Perrin, moved to an area near the intersection of 76th Avenue West and Olympic View Drive in 1938. In 1939, Gertie Perrin paid 10 cents at the county courthouse to officially name the community Perrinville. She died in 1991.

The community is now remembered by its inclusion in the name of the nearby Perrinville Post Office.

University of Washington students assisted with the museum’s exhibit as part of an exhibit design class, spending about six weeks on the project. They selected the photographs to be included — many of which haven’t previously been publicly displayed, Kelly said.

Artifacts also are included in the exhibit, such as an original Kodak No. 1A pocket camera used by Rueben Roscoe, an amateur photographer and a member of the pioneer Roscoe family.

Baseball bats from the 1920s and 1930s, used by a man who played in the Edmonds and Richmond Beach areas, also will be displayed.

“I think the connection between the artifacts and the photos will really resonate with people,” Kelly said. “People will see some things they recognized.

“It’s Edmonds history being seen photographically,” she said.

Sharon Salyer: 425-339-3486; salyer@heraldnet.com.

If you go

The Edmonds Historical Museum at 118 5th Ave. N is open from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. Wednesday through Sunday. Call 425-774-0900 for information.