Steve Bloom/The Olympian
With a vintage chicken coop and storage area still standing on his property, longtime Lacey resident Larry Hoff dusts off a stove carved with the name J. Fromm, a former owner.

A sense of history

On old Himes Street, city's past lives on

Orginally published August 15, 2001

It's a lazy afternoon in historic Lacey.

Though situated near the main drag of Pacific Avenue, historic Lacey sits surprisingly quiet.

On Lacey Street, a group of young guys leans over a truck engine -- perhaps divining a way to fix it -- as they gaze occasionally at drivers passing by.

On Seventh Avenue, a boy meanders with a backpack in hand. He waves.

Brown signs note the road's historical title -- Himes Street, which was named for Illinois pioneer Tyrus Himes, who settled in Lacey with his family of six in the 1850s.

On old Himes, Breanna and Stephanie Hoff crouch by the foot of a cedar tree, snatching away weeds sprouting through compost.

They know they live on the edge of Lacey's little-known historic area, which spans from Bowker Street to Carpenter Street just past Lacey's century-old Saint Martin's College. They enjoy the huge yard -- an old farm plot where their mother, Barbara, grew up.

"That used to be a chicken coop," Stephanie says excitedly, pointing to a huge, sagging edifice.

"It's peaceful," Breanna says of the neighborhood.

Within minutes, the girls are showing off their yard, where a chunk of concrete in the grass bears the name of the man who built the house, circa 1937: "J. Fromm," short for James John Fromm.

Breanna, Stephanie and their father, Larry, clear the stone as if they've just discovered it.

"There's all kinds of pieces of sentimental value," Larry says, eyeing a 20-foot poplar nearby. "My wife could jump over this tree when it was planted."

Shirley Dziedzic, the president of the Lacey Historical Society, says the area offers a glimpse at Lacey in the 1930s, when many of the homes were built on one-acre lots.

"This is where it all began," she says. "This is a good foundation here that is typically Lacey."

Dziedzic is sitting next to the Lacey Museum, which was once a fire department and later a city hall, moved from Pacific Avenue years ago.

"You look out around you and you do pick up a sense of a different life," Dziedzic says.

Though Lacey didn't officially become a city until 1966, settlers moved in -- and clashed with resident American Indians -- as early as the 1840s.

While numerous sites across Lacey show up on the city's historic register, this historic neighborhood and its surroundings was home to some of the first schools, post offices, gas stations, grocery shops and railway stops.

Though developers have seized some of the land in the quiet, historic area to lay down more dense housing, large-lot farm homes like the Hoff's still dot the area's edges.

This is their Lacey.

"We love it because it feels like the country, but we're real close to everything," Larry says.

"We have deer in our yard constantly."

Larry says his daughters will go to the same schools -- Lacey Elementary and North Thurston High School -- that his wife attended years ago.

"It's a great place to grow up," he says.

The Olympian Copyright 2001

back to main Day in the life of Lacey index