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| Volume XV, Numbers 1 & 2 |
Spring & Summer,
2005
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| The Dennis Company: 100 Years of History | |
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| Volume XV, Numbers 1 & 2 |
Spring & Summer,
2005
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| The Dennis Company: 100 Years of History | |
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| The
Sou'wester |
| ISSN #0038-4984
Copyright, 2005, by the Pacific County Historical Society. No portion of this publication may be reproduced in any form without the written permission of the Society's Editorial Board. The Sou'wester is a quarterly publication of the
Pacific County Historical Society and Museum. The Pacific County
Historical Society is a non-profit 501(C)(3) organization in South Bend,
Washington.
In addition to the Sou'wester, the Society publishes a quarterly newsletter for its members and operates the Pacific County Historical Society Museum in South Bend, Washington.
Design and page layout by Charles B. Summers, South Bend,
Washington.
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| The
Sou'wester Spring & Summer Issue, 2005
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One particular business that was established in Raymond a century ago is still in business today, albeit its products and services have changed. The Dennis Company, established in 1905 by S.L. Dennis, is still family owned and managed by great grandsons Brent and Randy Dennis. In honor of the Dennis Company’s one-hundredth birthday, we present here a history of this remarkable firm. In order to place the Dennis Company story in perspective I would like to contrast the business environment of Raymond of today, with the one 100 years ago. A century ago Raymond (and all the communities in Pacific County for that matter) existed in relative isolation. The only way in or out of town was by railroad or steamship. The business community here was composed of lots of small, specialized stores, selling a remarkable variety of products and services. Freight came in on ships and railroad boxcars, and was unloaded into trucks owned by a local transfer company. While smaller shipments were taken directly to the store, larger quantities were taken to the transfer company warehouse, and distributed to the shops as required. Although there were usually several Raymond merchants selling similar products, prices in isolated markets like ours tended to be higher than in the big cities. Consumer travel to those bigger markets was restricted, however, to scheduled ship and later rail service. Although there were several passenger trains a day from Raymond to Seattle, it was an inconvenient shopping trip for most people. Today, by contrast, Raymond is connected to the outside world with good, paved roads leading north, south, east, and west. Car ownership is nearly universal, and gasoline is (relative to the cost of living and adjusted for inflation) cheap. Raymond, South Bend, and Long Beach merchants must compete with larger businesses in other cities. The economies of scale enjoyed by large chain stores in neighboring counties allow for higher volumes, and lower prices, making small, local, specialized merchants in a place like Raymond a thing of the past. This trend toward out of town shopping and multiple product stores started in the 1920s, and accelerated through the 30s, 40s, and 50s. The 1960s saw a particularly rapid decline in the older type Raymond business community. Most stores closed their doors, and both merchants and their customers moved elsewhere. This radically changed business environment is partly due to decreased population, and partly to locally generated wealth that no longer stays in the community. The total amount of wealth generated in our hills and bay is not significantly less. The business climate in Raymond today is extremely competitive, but the competition is now to the north in Aberdeen and Olympia, and to the south in Oregon. Opportunities in transportation of goods from depot and dock to business and warehouse are non-existent. Even the beverage and construction materials businesses are no longer profitable on a strictly local scale. The total number of Raymond businesses has declined, while the range of products offered at The Dennis Company has expanded. Far from being the cause of this change, the Dennis Family has sought to adapt to changing circumstances in order to stay in business. For the reader with little interest in economics I apologize for dwelling on the subject in this introduction. Commerce, however, is the lifeblood of communities. Personalities and faith play important roles as well, but I feel compelled to give credit and attention where it is due. I applaud the Dennis family for their willingness and support in sharing their history with our readers. In fact, this issue would not have been possible without the full cooperation and assistance of Brent and Randy Dennis, company president and vice president respectively, plus their father and former company president Gary Dennis. Brent was especially helpful in taking the time to research family and business history, to participate in extensive interviews with the author, and to provide access to the family collection of historical photographs for display in this issue. We are also very grateful for the contribution of historical perspectives and remembered details from Bob Beck, Eddy Bridges, Ed Franks, and Joe Berbells. The author of the Dennis Company story is Charles Summers, a free-lance writer and photographer living in South Bend, who also does the text layout and photograph displays for each issue of the Sou’wester. In addition to the historical photographs provided courtesy of the Dennis Company, the current photographs of people and places were taken specifically for this issue by Summers. Bruce Weilepp, Editor |
| The Dennis Company: 100 Years of History
Text by Charles B. Summers
Eighty percent of new businesses
fail within in the first year, according to some studies, and only a few
of those that make it last for more than five years. By comparison,
any company that can remain in business for over 100 years is truly unique
and must have found the fabled key to success.
Historical Research by Brent Dennis On April 2nd, 2005, the Dennis Sales Company in Raymond celebrated a century of history that began in 1905. That was the year when Stewart Lake Dennis—known throughout his adult life as “S. L.”—joined P. W. Shepard to form the Shepard & Dennis Transfer Company. In 1919, Dennis assumed sole ownership of what then became S. L. Dennis Transfer Co., which grew and diversified over the next five decades, incorporating as the Dennis Sales Company in 1968. Stock was issued to Bruce (S. L.’s son) and Thelma Dennis, and to Gary (Bruce’s son) and Irene Dennis, with Gary as President and CEO, and Bruce as Vice President. In 2002, Gary’s second oldest son Brent was named President, and his younger brother Randy became Vice President and Secretary/Treasurer. After 100 years of doing business in coastal southwest Washington, the Dennis Company remains a major player in the area’s retail economy—not only at its original store and corporate offices in Raymond, but at satellite locations in Aberdeen, Elma, Long Beach, and Montesano, plus a concrete plant in Ilwaco. These stores provide jobs, salaries, and benefits for approximately 100 employees, serve a total customer population base of 70,000, and generate $13 million in gross annual sales. Given the extent of its historical and economic impact, the story of how this family-owned business evolved from hauling firewood with a horse and wagon to become the successful five-store retail chain it is today deserves to be told. |
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| Early Dennis Family and Business History
Dennis family history in Washington State dates back to 1890 when Harry and Sarah Dennis moved to Olympia from Wisconsin with their 17-year-old son. Years later the 1917 edition of Washington, West of the Cascades reported the following regarding the younger Dennis’s history: “S. L. Dennis . . . comes to the coast country from the Mississippi valley, his birth having occurred at Clinton Junction, Wisconsin, in 1873. During his childhood, he became a resident of Dakota and afterward of Akron, Iowa, where he pursued his education. He followed farming for a number of years [presumably with his father]. He came to Washington in 1890 and first settled on a farm near Olympia, where he devoted three years to general agricultural pursuits.” In 1897, S. L. went north to join the rush for Alaska gold. However, rather than dig the gold himself, he showed early signs of his future success in business by grasping an opportunity to profit from those who did the digging. Among the basic needs of miners and the settlements they established was lumber to build everything from sluice boxes to saloons. So S. L. went into the Yukon Territory near Bennet Lake, cut trees from the abundant forest, rip-sawed the logs into lumber, and floated his product down river to markets in the gold fields. He returned from Alaska in 1898 with a $10,000 nest-egg and began a sawmill business in the Olympia area. Also, he apparently decided it was time for a family and began courting Josephine Brower, whose family had moved to Tumwater from Missouri. They were married June 2nd, 1901, in the Brower family home, and spent their honeymoon aboard a boat on Puget Sound traveling from Olympia to Bellingham. During the same period, S. L. and his father joined forces in what his son Bruce many years later was to call a “prune ranch”—presumably an orchard of plum trees—on land now occupied by Tumwater High School. Unfortunately, a very hard winter freeze killed the trees and left the two men looking elsewhere to invest for the future. |
Stewart Lake "S. L." Dennis, circa 1900 |
| Move to Pacific County
Their search took them south to Trap Creek—located eight miles east of Raymond on what is Highway 6 today—an area also known at the time as Channel Change or Nalpee. Although Harry maintained his home near Olympia, S. L. moved with his wife to the Pacific County site, where their first and only child Bruce was born in 1902. Their joint venture at Trap Creek was a shingle mill, a business that would supply a much-needed building material for the construction that was booming along with the population of southwest Washington. It was a good location, not only for the ample supply of cedar nearby, but also for the rail line that ran through it on the route between Chehalis and South Bend. |
The S. L. Dennis woods crew supplying cedar for his Channel Change shingle mill, circa 1901. PCHS #5-1-84-1.10, Bruce Dennis Collection. |
| Merged Shingle Mills
By 1905, however, supply had exceeded demand in the shingle business and reached a point where the going price dropped to $1.25 a square—barely enough to break even with the cost of cedar, according to Bruce. Shrinking profits may have led to the Dennis’s decision to consolidate with a competing mill. A merger came when Albert Shore decided to retire and leave his shingle mill just east of Raymond on the site now occupied by the Ed Norman home on Highway 6 across from Case’s pond. A report of the agreement appeared in the South Bend Pilot newspaper on January 13, 1905: “S. L. Dennis of Channel Change and A. Shore of Willapa were in the city Wednesday concluding the deal whereby Mr. Dennis and Mr. E. O. Shore become new owners of A. Shore’s shingle mill near Raymond. The machinery of the Channel Change mill will be brought down to the Raymond mill and the two mills will be consolidated under the name and title of the Raymond Shingle Manufacturing Company. Mr. H. Dennis, father of S. L. Dennis, returned Wednesday night from Olympia where he went to file the articles of incorporation with the Secretary of State. It is expected that the new company will have the mill in operation within thirty days. Mr. A. Shore proposes to retire from the manufacturing business to a small farm near Lebam.” It’s not certain exactly how long the new mill was able to operate, but the Dennis’s plans for any long term success were literally blown away when the boiler exploded later that same year. There were no injuries since it happened at night when no one was working, but the explosion destroyed the building. Although the mill was later rebuilt and became known as Case’s Shingle Mill, S. L. chose to liquidate his assets and begin looking for yet another business. |
Remains of the Dennis and Shore shingle mill, adjacent to what is now Case’s Pond, after the boiler exploded in 1905. PCHS #5-1-84-1.9, Bruce Dennis Collection. 4 |
| Establishing Business in Raymond
S. L. Dennis found his next opportunity in Raymond with P. W. Shepard, a like-minded entrepreneur who began hauling and selling firewood with a horse and wagon in 1904. “My father bought into the Shepard outfit,” recalled Bruce in a 1984 interview, “which did transfer work and hauled wood. We used to handle all the wood—mill ends and reject lumber—from the mills. In those days, the only fuel we had was wood, and we had the contract with six mills in Raymond. A cord of nice fir sold for $1.50. The wood was dumped in the street, then we would put it in the woodshed for another 50 cents.” The transcript of Bruce’s interview puts the Dennis family’s initial Raymond home location at First and Duryea streets. Space was rented from a grocer by the name of Rugger, according to Bruce, and it served as both a home and a boarding house. He also says the family lived there while his father built a new building on Commercial Street, and that the construction was completed soon after they arrived in 1905. “However, further research using the 1909 Sanborn Fire Insurance map,” says present company president Brent Dennis, “shows the corner of First and Commercial to be empty. That matches a 1917 account in the book Washington, West of the Cascades, which says the Shepard & Dennis Transfer building was not built until 1910. So Bruce may have been correct when he said that their first location was at First and Duryea, and it’s quite possible that the company operated from there, but construction of the new building on Commercial was not completed until 1910.” |
1909 Sanborn map showing Shepard & Dennis location on Commercial still empty, and the Dennis’s first home at the corner of First and Duryea. |
| Partnership with Shepard
After S. L. bought into the partnership it became the Shepard & Dennis Transfer Company, and his investment was used to purchase more wagons and horses. Services were soon expanded to include the selling of building materials as well as firewood and coal, plus general storage and draying—hauling of pianos, furniture, and anything else that needed moving. They also maintained a blacksmith shop, which bookkeeping records show may have done work for customers in addition to their own wagons and horses. The company grew as Raymond’s population increased from only 150 citizens in 1905 to over 4,000 in 1920. In order to meet the greater demand for services, Shepard and Dennis expanded their storage and warehouse capacity in 1917 by renting the two-story, 20,000 sq. ft. building on the corner of Fifth and Blake streets. “The building had an ice plant, cold storage, and warehouse space, and we utilized that,” said Bruce. “The ice plant had an old Imperial steam engine, and you had to fire it with four ft. pieces of wood, and you had to run the thing continuously. So we started selling and delivering block ice, too.” The Fifth Street structure was built of solid concrete in 1912 by Olympia Brewing and Pacific Brewing & Malting. With the beginning of Prohibition eliminating their need for the facility, the brewing company sold it to Raymond Cold Storage, which soon became Raymond Storage and Transfer Co. However, the business was unsuccessful, and the resulting foreclosure put the property back on the market in 1917. This was the building—still in use today—that was to become the literal “corner stone” for the Dennis Company complex of businesses and buildings that would one day cover the entire city block. |
The earliest surviving document in Dennis Company history showing the sale of firewood to L. V. Raymond in 1907. |
| Growing Success
In addition to the facility’s general storage capacity, cold storage, and ice-making capability, it provided space for vehicle parking and repair. Although they continued to use horses and wagons, Shepard and Dennis were quick to take advantage of developing automotive technology, particularly in trucks. The first was a hard tire, chain-drive truck bought in 1912. “They now engage in light and heavy trucking and keep an automobile truck together with several moving trucks,” reported the author of Washington, West of the Cascades in 1917. “Their patronage has steadily and constantly increased until the business is now one of large and gratifying proportions returning to them a very substantial income.” |
Looking south down First Street from Duryea. The building on the right is where Dr. Nevitt had his office and where Bruce Dennis says his family lived in 1905. PCHS #5-1-84-1 (16) Bruce Dennis Collection. |
| Regarding S. L.
in particular, the book goes on to say: “Mr. Dennis casts his ballot in
support of men and measures of the Republican Party and his fraternal connection
is with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. For 13 years a resident
of Raymond, he is well known in the city and throughout the surrounding
District, and his friends have watched with interest his business progress
and development, rejoicing in what he has accomplished, knowing that his
success is a direct and merited reward of earnest, persistent, and intelligently
controlled labor.”
S. L. continued to build on this solid personal reputation throughout his years in business. Seventy-four year-old Eddy Bridges, whose family-owned restaurants began buying fuel oil and beer from the Dennis Company in the 1930s, recalls that S. L. was a hard-nosed businessman but someone with whom you could deal. “He would give you credit when no one else would,” Eddy says. “He was plenty tough, and he had to be. If you’re going to be a good businessman you have to listen to people, but you’ve got to be tough at the same time. He always had his eyes open and was looking around to make sure everyone was working and everything was going smoothly.” Although successful in business, S. L. experienced an early failure in politics. The Pacific County Board of Commissioners had approved the incorporation of Raymond on July 17, 1907, making it a full-fledged city and requiring an election. Voters went to the polls in August and elected A. C. Little as mayor, plus a slate of largely unopposed city council candidates to serve for the remainder of 1907— including Leslie V. Raymond. When a second election was held for the following year’s full 12-month terms, S. L. challenged the town’s namesake and leading citizen. It’s not known why or what was at issue between them, but S. L. lost to L. V.—181 to 42—and apparently did not attempt any further runs for political office. |
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The earliest know photograph of the building at Fifth and Blake, taken in 1912 from Seventh Street at the rear of what is now Slater’s Diner. The Millican boarding house on the right is on the corner of Seventh and Blake, and the woman is Della Millican. This view also shows how Raymond streets and buildings at the time were constructed on pilings above tidal sloughs. 6 |
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| Dissolved Partnership
Although the partnership with Shepard appeared to work well for almost 15 years, it suddenly came to a halt in 1919. According to Bruce, the bookkeeper at the time was a Finnish woman who apparently detected that something was wrong. She went to S. L. and told him she thought they had better have someone audit the books. The head bookkeeper at the Raymond Lumber Company, believed to have been Jerome Francois, was asked to investigate. He ultimately discovered that Shepard had indeed been stealing from the company profits as far back as 1906. |
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The Shepard & Dennis Transfer Company building at First and Commercial, circa 1919. |
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| There is no evidence of the
exact amount of money involved in the theft, or if any criminal action
was taken. However, records remain of an agreement reached that resulted
in Shepard giving S. L. the entire business before he left town.
According to Bruce, being forced to leave the company and all its assets
to S. L. for only a token amount of money was considered just punishment
for all the money Shepard had stolen.
“Bruce was consistent in telling that story over the years,” confirms Brent, “and the remaining documents seem to bear it out. We have a bill of sale dated December 11, 1919, for P. W. Shepard to sell his one-half interest in the property ‘including 10 teams of horses, four auto trucks, all wagons, harnesses, tools, implements, office equipment, and all other materials now owned by Shepard and Dennis Transfer Co. in Raymond for the amount of one dollar.’ Then we have another warranty deed for the sale of the actual real estate of the lot in Raymond for the amount of $1,500 executed on the same day. There is also record of an agreement that says the ownership of Shepard and Dennis goes to S. L. Dennis, but no mention of an exchange of dollars.” |
S. L. Dennis Transfer Co. still using horses as well as trucks in 1919. S. L. Dennis second from left, and bookkeeper Jerome Francois third from right. Francois joined Dennis after the partnership with Shepard was terminated and kept company records for many years. |
| Dennis Company Growth and Diversification
With Shepard gone, the business became S. L. Dennis Transfer Co., and the rented building at 146 Fifth Street was purchased from the Olympia Brewing Company in 1920 for $14,500. The other building at First and Commercial was retained for its stables and storage as long as horses and wagons were still used, but there is no record of exactly when it was sold. The last occupant was Don and Mac’s Auto Repair prior to the building being demolished in 1975. In the early 1920s, the company continued to offer the many services that had been profitable throughout the previous decade. They sold ice produced in their own plant and wood collected from local mills, plus lime, brick, cement, plaster, fire clay, and firebrick—products shipped by rail from distributors in Chehalis and elsewhere. In addition to storage, S. L. kept his 25 employees and fleet of wagons and trucks busy hauling anything others could not move themselves and were willing to pay to have it done for them. |
The Dennis Company building at the corner of Fifth and Blake, circa 1925. |
| Automotive Repair
Servicing and maintaining the company’s vehicles required the hiring of qualified mechanics, purchase of specialized tools, and designated space inside the building to do the work. The availability of these resources and the need to keep them fully occupied in order to remain profitable soon led to the establishment of a sub division of the business—the S. L. Dennis Auto Repair Shop. The earliest journal records show the service began operation in 1922—probably working more on Model-T Fords than anything else. Vehicles entered the building from Fifth Street and were lifted on a hoist to the second floor where the work was done. In addition, Kelly Springfield tires were sold, beginning with the early solid rubber version. By the mid-1930s, however, growth of the automobile industry led to the establishment in Raymond of local dealerships and competing garages dedicated to automotive services. As a result, the Dennis Company discontinued its repair services to customers and limited their shop to maintenance of company vehicles. |
The Dennis Auto Repair Shop letterhead advertising Kelly Springfield tires, mid-1920s. 8 |
| Road Construction
Along with the increased use of cars and trucks throughout the region, the need for more and better roads became apparent and prompted S. L. to extend his growing resources into road building. With a steam shovel, teams of horses, trucks, and a crew of up to 150 men, S. L. Dennis Construction was credited with putting in over 100 miles of roads from 1923 to 1936. Projects included portions of Highway 101 north of Raymond, the road to Tokeland, Bloomhart Road, Rhodesia Beach Road, the Willapa Monohon Road, and even some streets in Raymond and South Bend. “I remember growing up how much my grandfather Bruce used to enjoy talking about the construction side of the business,” recalls Brent. “It seemed that was the first love of both S. L. and Bruce. It was primarily road construction, rather than anything to do with buildings, and they bid for contracts from the state and the county. Although it was during the Great Depression, a lot of things were going on around here with a lot of expansion related to logging, lumber production, and the seafood industry.” |
Dennis Company construction of the road between Raymond and Aberdeen in 1927. The Power Poles remained in service until 2005. |
| Dynamite was a common tool used
in road construction, and S. L. Dennis Construction maintained a powder
magazine located at the Beatty gravel pit in Baleville. They also
sold dynamite retail until the late 1950s. Robert Ellingwood—a company
employee—luckily avoided injury while driving a truckload of dynamite south
on Highway 101. The truck left the road and fell into a deep ravine
by the North River bridge, but it failed to explode.
“Dad [Gary Dennis] remembers the storage building being broken into a lot because it was up there in the gravel pit by itself,” says Brent, “ and opening the door and having rats come out. I remember Grandpa Bruce always liked his dynamite—he liked blowing things up.” Some construction required the use of a dredge, and a short-lived partnership was established in 1927 with W. R. Osborn, owner of Grays Harbor Dredging Company. It was also used on Smith Creek to fill scows with sand and rock that was transported back to Raymond and South Bend ports for use as ship ballast. Records show S. L. distributed stock in the company to himself, his son Bruce, and to steam shovel operator Tom Hughes. Stock certificates were also made out to Osborn but never issued, indicating that the partnership—for whatever reason—didn’t last. |
Dennis Company’s early road construction crew, still using horses and wagons to haul rock, along with the steam shovel in background, mid 1920s. |
| Logging and Lumber
With all the logging being done in the area, it was natural that S. L.—who had been involved with different aspects of the timber industry ever since his successful Alaska venture—would find a profitable way to participate. In 1923, he filed the letter “D” as his company’s log brand to mark cut timber and continued buying and logging acreage through the mid 1950s. For example, he had two sections of 160 acres—one in his wife Josephine’s name—a couple of 40 acre pieces, and a 30 acre plot. Although most of the timberland was in northern Pacific County, the family trust purchased 1,200 acres around Bone River at the south end of Willapa Bay in 1950 and was partially logged before it caught fire. Bruce had hoped to convert the land to farming with a dike on the river, but the project failed when the dike washed out, and the property was sold to West Tacoma Newsprint in 1960. During the mid-1930s S. L. added an alder mill on Camp One Road in Willapa. A March, 1933, issue ofAmerican Lumberman reported the following: “An order for 200,000 feet of alder lumber for the Dornbecker Furniture Corporation of Portland, Ore., has been taken by S. L. Dennis |
The document authorizing the Dennis Company’s use of the “D” brand to mark logs. |
| of this city [Raymond]. He announces he will begin
operation of his alder mill at Willapa near here next week. He plans
to do some logging himself, and to purchase the rest of the logs he requires.
Mr. Dennis said that there is considerable demand for low priced furniture,
and that the Portland furniture company is operating on a large scale.”
The mill had enough capacity to cut 8,000 feet of alder per day, as well as process fir and cedar, and employed 12 men. One of them was Paul Berbells who continued working as a Dennis Company employee for over 40 years and retired in 1974 as a beer truck driver. However, falling alder prices prompted S. L. to sell the mill four years later as part of a deal in which the Olympic Hardwood Lumber Co. of Aberdeen—a manufacturer of hardwood lumber—purchased the Sizer mill site in Raymond. “The transaction also included purchase of the Dennis alder mill at Willapa nearby,” according to the American Lumberman in April, 1937. “While remodeling of the Sizer mill, the company will operate the Dennis mill, but later this machinery will be moved to the site of the Sizer plant.” |
The Sunset Timber Co., Camp “Four” near Firdale, circa 1912. The camp was managed by Red Brower, S. L.’s father-in-law. PCHS #5-1-84-(16), Bruce Dennis Collection. |
| Olympic Hardwood continued into the late 1970s, cutting
mostly softwood until the mill was purchased by Mayr Brothers.
Bruce also purchased over 800 acres of timber on the Globe farm between Lebam and Frances in 1948 from W. C. Miles. Rather than focus on the timber potential, however, he tried ranching with 70 head of Hereford beef cattle and hired Charlie Falls to manage the operation. Portions of the herd mysteriously disappeared from time to time, however, and never produced a profit. Bruce sold the farm in the late 1950s to Moe Wilson, who logged the timber and set up a mill to cut lumber. “From day one the herd never grew and we never sold any animals,” recalls Gary. “That must have gone on for nine or ten years. There was a big bull that was supposed to have mysteriously died, but we never saw it or knew whether it really died or not. I will always remember hollering at Dad ‘what the hell is going on!’ It turned out that we should have kept it for the timber.” Yet, according to Bridges, they still made a nice profit on the land. “I think S. L. and Bruce paid $1,600 for the Globe farm,” he says, “and they sold it about 10 years later for $90,000. That was a tremendous amount of money. But that was a time when they preached the idea that timber had to be 80 years old before you could log. Now you are looking at 30 or 40 years, and the value of that property today just makes your mouth water.” |
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| Beer and Soft Drinks
When Prohibition was repealed in 1933, the sudden demand for re-establishing lines of distribution for the sale of alcoholic beverages presented yet another business opportunity. The Dennis Company already had a fleet of trucks and drivers, plus warehouse space and a cold storage facility. So, it was a logical and relatively easy step to begin wholesaling beer—and later wine—to stores, bars, taverns, and clubs throughout Pacific County. The first brands of beer carried were Rainier, Columbia, Hemrich, and Olympia. During the 1960s and 70s, Olympia and Blitz were the most popular, with Budweiser from Anheuser Busch accounting for the highest volume in the 1980s and 90s. At one point, the company distributed 14 different beers and became the oldest Olympia beer distributor under the same ownership. |
A Dennis Company beer truck. |
| With trucks already delivering beer and wine all over the county, soft drinks were a natural add-on for distribution to many of the same customers. Under the management of Bruce, the wholesale Dennis Beverage Company began in 1933 with 7-up and the Mission brand of beverages. In addition, the company purchased the South Bend Soda and Bottling Works from Chester Kellner. The plant was located in the building that stood on Adams Street between the Baptist and Lutheran churches until torn down in 1999. It produced the Dennis Company’s own beverage brand including cream soda, strawberry, and grape flavors. |
South Bend Soda and Bottling Works building purchased and used by the Dennis Beverage Company until 1955. The building was torn down in 1999. |
| One of Bob Beck’s first jobs with the Dennis Company in 1939 at age 18 was to sort all the empty bottles that were returned from the taverns and stores to be re-used by the bottling companies. “There must have been 40 different kinds of bottles,” he says. “Olympia’s stubby was different from Rainier’s, and there were the long neck bottles, then we’d go on to all the different pop bottles. It was quite a sorting job. It was the last order of the day, and the stacks were 20 cases high. So I had to crawl up, bring them down, and then I sorted and |
Shown here is an old photo of the Hammond and Hazeltine building when it was Willapa Harbor Cabinet Works. It still had large front windows back then, which allowed use of the building as a showroom for selling boats during the 1960s. |
| sorted. But when beverages started coming out in
aluminum cans, bottles became more disposable.”
In 1953, the building west of the concrete plant between Raymond and South Bend was purchased from Ezra Hazeltine and Art Hammond to increase storage for beer, beer kegs, and wine, as well as parking for the delivery trucks. It was built in 1947 for the Willapa Harbor Cabinet Works operated by C. J. Gabriel and included a large apartment on the second floor. “I lived in that apartment above the beer warehouse in 1965,” says Ed Franks, a Dennis employee since 1957. “I drove the beer trucks and cleaned up the beer bottles. That’s when we didn’t have to separate or sort anything—we just mixed all the bottles together, and by then we didn’t have the pop bottles to worry about.” |
A recent photo of the building originally built by Hammond and Hazeltine and later sold to the Dennis Company for their beer distributorship storage. |
| In 1955, the soda pop bottling
plant—then operated by Gary Dennis—was moved to a solid concrete building
on Sixth and Commercial in Raymond, which had been a laundry prior to purchase
by the Dennis Company in 1951.
The Raymond bottling plant continued production until 1961, after which
the building was demolished to make way for re-routing Highway 101.
“It was probably a good thing that the highway did come through,” says Gary. “It was an old building, and we were just about to get out of that business anyway. With all the mergers of the distributors, we couldn’t compete, and we were down to carrying only 7-up. That’s about the time that cans started coming in and the old bottles went out. You had to have expensive machinery to produce cans, and we didn’t see any point in spending the money to do it. So losing the building was just the straw that broke the camel’s back.” The beer distributorship continued to operate successfully until it was sold to Independent Distributing of Aberdeen in 1998. “One of the biggest reasons why we got out of the beer business was the demand that Budweiser put on us for new storage facilities” says Gary. “A new building would have cost $1 million. There were other factors in the economy, and it just boiled down to a cut-throat business. Of course, there is also the fact that only one tavern was left in Raymond where there used to be about 40 of them.” The property lease from the Northern Pacific Railroad was continued until 2002 when the building was sold to the Port of Willapa Harbor. That is also when the Washington State Parks Department acquired the property as part of the “rails to trails” project along the river. |
A sample of Dennis beverage brand soft drink bottles. |
| Retail Sales
The early 1940s saw the Dennis Company make its first foray into retail merchandising, which would eventually change the central nature of the company and become its sole focus by the beginning of the 21st century. Although the company had sold firewood, building materials, and block ice to retail customers for many years, the bulk of their business had been hauling, construction, manufacturing, distribution, and repair services. Their various structural facilities had been used for storage, shops, and production to support those activities. In 1940, however, the top floor of the building at Fifth and Blake was used for the first time to stock and display merchandise for retail customers. “By the time I came to work in 1939,” recalls Beck, “the company was out of the automotive repair business, and the upstairs was basically empty. So they started moving bins in up there, and I would have to go up there and start selling some of the plumbing for home repairs. I think it was Bruce who started bringing in the other hardware and house wares, and then there were some of the first sporting goods. It was just a matter of people coming in and saying well why don’t you sell this, and why don’t you sell that, so they stocked a little more and a little more.” Contributing to the increasing requests for more hardware in the late 1930s and early 1940s was the fact that customers were not too happy with the selection and prices they were getting elsewhere in town. For example, the wholesale hardware supplier from Naselle controlled the plumbing prices, and retail customers complained that they were too high. “So Bruce began stocking plumbing upstairs with half-inch galvanized pipe and fittings,” says Gary, “and he got a threading machine up there. Then, if the other guy was selling half-inch pipe elbows for 12 cents, we started selling them for 6 cents. Well, the next thing you know we’re selling more plumbing. I remember going to Bremerton with Dad many, many times to buy surplus material after the war.” “We still have some of the plumbing supplies in bins on the top floor,” says Brent. “Once they got into hardware, people began to ask for things they didn’t have. The town was still growing, so there was a natural progression into other products. S. L. and Bruce were the buyers and made many trips to Seattle for merchandise to sell. They both were sports enthusiasts, especially baseball, and I would imagine that played a part in their decision to begin carrying sports equipment. The retail business grew throughout the 1940s and eventually included toys and appliances.” |
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Brent Dennis holds an 8 inch galvanized pipe elbow, one of many fittings still in bins on the Dennis Company’s top floor that were sold retail, beginning in the late 1930s. 13 |
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| Ready-mix Concrete
In 1953, the Dennis Company purchased a concrete plant adjacent to the beer distribution warehouse from Art Hammond for $4,250. The first gas-powered truck hauled two yards of concrete compared to the ten-yard trucks used today. Prior to the pre-mix produced at the plant, the company sold concrete foundation blocks mixed and poured at the main store. “We used to sell 14-in. by 14-in., and 20-in. by 20-in. foundation blocks,” says Gary. “Almost all the houses around here at that time were built on posts and beams set on these blocks. Very few had concrete foundations. We had an old concrete mixer out back, and you had to put everything in by hand.” |
Ten cubic yard Kenworth concrete truck. |
| The sand and gravel used to
mix the concrete were delivered by rail. “I went out to help shovel
gravel out of the cars a couple of times,” recalls Beck. “I tell
you, that was a beast of a job if I ever had one. They didn’t dump
it—everything was done by hand. Later, after they got a scoop, they
could dump the gravel out and then pick it up with the scoop and put it
in the bunker. I could shovel sand, but if it was gravel, I found
something else to do.”
Even before the railroad stopped running in the late 1980s, the company started bringing materials down from Elma by truck. “We could get it by truck,” adds Beck, “have it dumped without unloading like with the railroad cars, and get it at a price about what the freight cost us by rail. That was great when the trucks eliminated all the handling—somewhere during the 1970s.” The concrete plant was upgraded in 2002 and continued to operate as a division of the Dennis Company until sold in 2005 to Bayview Redi-Mix in Aberdeen. However, the Dennis Company continues to produce ready-mix concrete and pre-cast concrete septic tanks at a plant in Ilwaco. |
The Dennis Company’s former ready-mix concrete plant on Highway 101 between Raymond and South Bend. The truck is parked under the new silo, which was part of the 2002 equipment upgrade, with the Dennis name still upon it. |
| Boats and Motors
For a few years during the 1960s, the front of the beer distribution warehouse was used as a showroom for selling boats and outboard motors. The product lines included Bryant plywood boats from Bryant Marine in Seattle, smaller aluminum boats, and Evinrude motors. Given Raymond’s location on the Willapa River, access to the Willapa Bay, and easy trailering distance to the Columbia River, it was first thought to be a likely business for local fishing and water sports enthusiasts. “But that was another dead venture,” says Gary. “There wasn’t enough turnover. Boats used to be a hot item around here, but they aren’t anymore. You’ve got to be around big water.” “When the tide goes out on the bay,” adds Ed Franks, “there’s no water in it. That’s the big reason you don’t see many boats here. And the fishing has gone down, and that’s where you used to sell most of the boats.” Furthermore, outboard motor sales did not warrant the cost of trained mechanics, specialized repair facilities, and parts inventory required to support them. As a result of those factors, plus increasing price competition from large volume boat and motor dealers outside the Raymond area, the business was soon dropped. Home construction
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On the front steps of the Dennis Company, circa 1944. From left: S. L. Dennis, Pete Lasky, and Walter Boock. At far right is S. L.’s 1939 Pontiac. |
| The company went beyond sub-contracting
during the mid-1970s and became general contractors to build complete homes.
“We took it in the shorts on that deal,” admits Gary. “We were selling
all the building materials except the lumber, so we figured to try building
homes as an experiment. Jerry Carl was the carpenter, and we built
three houses over in Riverview. But they were so slow to sell that
we had to sacrifice on the price. That’s why we got out of it.”
Plumbing and electrical services were also discontinued when they became unprofitable. “You always have to make money on each of these ventures,” says Brent, “and get out when you can no longer make a profit. We also did it with appliance, television, and automotive repair. It’s very difficult to have all the equipment and tools and make money at it if the employees are not busy all the time. The billing has to justify more than just their wages. When there’s a market for something, you do it as long as you can make money at it. When you can’t, you drop it and go on to something else.” Focus on Retail
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Gary Dennis, credited with successfully moving the company into retail sales after finishing college in 1955. |
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A late 1920s truck hauling a boiler built in Tacoma. |
An early 1920s truck still being used in mid 1930s to deliver beer. |
A 1936 General Motors gas-powered truck, being Dennis Transfer’s first truck for long-haul freight. Harland Brower, S. L.’s brother-in-law, is the driver. |
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The company’s first diesel-powered long-haul truck, a 1946 Kenworth, driven by Lloyd Fuller and then later by his son Jim Fuller. Also shown is the rear of a late 1930s delivery van. |
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A beer truck loading at the beer distribution warehouse. |
A present-day truck for short-haul deliveries. |
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| Long-haul Freight
For many years the Northern Pacific Railroad was the only method of transporting freight to businesses around Willapa Harbor. The rail service between Chehalis and South Bend began with completion of the line in 1893. Passenger service was available until March, 1954, while freight continued into the late 1980s. The track was permanently removed in 1993. The Dennis Company relied on the daily trains to bring in the basic items among their early sales offerings. They included coal, sand, gravel, wire, nails, flour, and animal feed, and later such items as presto logs, appliances, and even beer. As the number of automobiles and trucks grew, so did the demand for roads. Not only did the Dennis Company help in building many of them, but also they gradually replaced their horses and wagons with motorized vehicles. Their first trucks were used for local deliveries, and the company has continued to maintain a variety of trucks and vans over the years to make customer deliveries and short-haul freight requirements. With more and better roads, especially highways, it became possible for the Dennis Company to start hauling their own freight from suppliers as far away as Seattle, Portland, and even California. “Less and less came by rail,” says long-time employee and company bookkeeper Bob Beck, “and it gradually faded out completely by about 1975. The railroad began charging too much. For example, we could bring down sand and gravel from Elma by truck for the same price as the railroad’s freight charge. Also you could make a trip to Portland, stop two or three places to load up, and be back with merchandise on the shelf in a day or two. If it came in by rail, you had to order it in advance and it would take a week to get here.” The company was granted a permit in 1935 by the State of Washington to operate motor vehicles as a common carrier. It authorized the company to begin “non-scheduled intrastate and interstate service” for the transportation of household goods, furniture, fixtures, equipment, lumber, groceries, iron and steel castings, roofing, tires and tubes, paper and paper products, petroleum products, beer, empty beer kegs and cases, liquor, gas in cylinders, plus other kinds of commodities, machinery, and equipment. The first General Motors long-haul, gas-powered truck and trailer were purchased in 1936 and driven by Harland Brower. “We began by picking up beer in Olympia,” says Beck. “About 1940 they started going up to Seattle or Bremerton for plumbing and hardware. Then later, after they added house wares and sporting goods, that truck was going all the time—five or six days a week.” A 1936 contract between S. L. Dennis Transfer Co. and the Teamsters Local Union No. 699 stipulated the minimum wages for truck drivers based on the type of truck and freight: transfer moving and general hauling, $5.50 per day; log truck and trailer, $6.00 per day; and beer truck drivers, $6.00 per day. Beer truck drivers called back after 6 p.m. received $1.12 per hour with a $3.50 minimum, and all work over eight hours was to be paid time and a half. After the war, the company replaced the old gas truck with the first Kenworth diesel truck driven by Lloyd Fuller and later his son Jim Fuller. Everett Kreitzer began driving in 1969, about the same time the company replaced the Kenworth with a White-Freightliner flat-nose cab-over truck. “That was the truck I used to ride the long-haul route in with Kreitzer when I was about 14,” says Brent. “He was a great guy and quite a character. Everybody liked him and he taught me a lot about mechanics, freight handling, and how to drive a truck. We would make as many as 10 stops on a one-day trip to Portland and pick up everything from beer, to hardware, to appliances and bring them back to the store. It was a lot of fun.” There was also a white 1964 Chevrolet conventional truck with a 409 cu. in. gas engine that kept blowing up. “That truck was a big mistake—it was just too small for use on long-haul freight,” explains Brent. “I remember when I started working in the shop the mechanics were converting it to a flatbed dump truck. They lengthened the frame, put a bed on it, and installed the hydraulics. It was used like that for a number of years.” The company purchased a new Kenworth in 1980, but Everett didn’t like it because the engine and hood extended out in front of the cab. He preferred the cab-over style, which had much better visibility with the flat front end when maneuvering in tight spots. Krietzer retired in 1983, and Gary Robinson was hired to replace him. As it turned out, Robinson was also the last Dennis Company truck driver to make the long-haul freight routes. “We had been in the trucking business from the very beginning,” explains Brent. “We had a lot of trucks over the years, and took care of our own transportation. But things change, and it was no longer profitable to run the long-haul trucks. The biggest change came when we switched in 2002 from True Value Hardware as our major supplier to Ace Hardware. Their policy was to do their own delivery, and they would not allow us to haul the freight ourselves.” As a result, the company no longer owns or operates a tractor truck, but still has two 52-ft. covered trailers for distributing freight from the Raymond warehouse to different store locations. The truck and driver to move them, however, is now provided through an independent contract with Larry Bale at Royal Heights. |
| Building Expansion in Raymond
From purchase of the building at Fifth and Blake in 1920 up through 1940, the various parts of the business shared space on the main and top floors. The ice plant and cold storage for bottled and keg beer occupied approximately the north one-third of the main floor; the office, wine storage, automobile lift, and building materials were arranged around the Fifth Street entrance at the front of the building; and the rest of the main floor was used for truck parking. The top floor was devoted primarily to truck and automotive repair until 1936, when the Dennis Company discontinued that service. As a result, that space was available for the display of retail merchandise as that phase of the business began to grow. However, as sporting goods and house wares were gradually added to plumbing and hardware, it became obvious that more room was needed. |
The arrangement of space in the Fifth and Blake building changed considerably over the years. Retail space in the main building (left) was moved down from the top floor, and the south side addition (right) was built in 1941. |
| South Side Addition
The first of many expansions to come was added onto the south side of the original building in 1941. It covered the area now occupied by the house wares department, and the passage between the old and the new parts of the building is still used today with the ramp between paint and house wares. At the time, however, that additional space was used primarily for truck parking to make room available for more retail merchandise on the main floor of the original building. Large bi-fold doors opened out onto Fifth Street, as well as two large doors that opened onto the alley. One of the latter opened directly into the truck repair shop that had been moved to the back, southwest corner of the new addition—the space now dedicated to gift merchandise. |
| Mezzanine
The ceiling above the lower floor in the main building was quite high at 16 feet, which allowed for the addition of a mid-level mezzanine floor in the early 1950s—the space now used for the company offices. “They needed more sales floor, plus it was quite a challenge for customers to go all the way up those stairs to the top floor,” explains Brent. “The mezzanine level was very different than it looks now. It was completely open in the center with a rail around it, and you came into the store and walked straight back to a set of stairs leading up to the mezzanine level.” Hardware and sporting goods departments were moved from the top floor down to the main floor approximately where they are today, while house wares, toys, and appliances were sold on the mezzanine level. |
This photo was taken from the stairway leading up to the mezzanine and looking down on the first floor during a remodeling sales promotion in 1961. |
| By 1969, however, the need for still more
retail sales space led to moving the truck parking outside, but leaving
the repair shop in the back corner where it remained until 1982.
That entire area was then remodeled, and became the sales floor that it
is today. At the time, it included house wares and toys, plus the
introduction of clothing.
“Clothing was a totally new venture for us,” says Brent. “We were members of World-Wide Distributing, a buying co-op that specialized in sporting goods, surplus, and clothing, so some of the motivation may have come from that. Also, there were fewer clothing stores in Raymond at that time. There wasn’t very much to begin with, just some basics like sweatshirts.” |
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| Appliance Store
In 1950 major appliances—refrigerators, washers, dryers, and stoves (white goods)— became important “big ticket” retail items for the growing Dennis Company. In the mid-1960s, televisions and hi-fi sound systems (brown goods) were added, plus an appliance repair facility to service the products sold. Van Rule, a former Dennis Company television repairman, had left the company to start his own |
The Dennis Company’s television and appliance store on Fourth Street. |
| television repair business in the building
across the alley on Fourth Street. It was originally Pacific Fruit
and Produce, and later housed a Laundromat and a tractor repair shop.
When Rule died in 1976, the Dennis
Company purchased the building for $50,000 and moved all their appliances
and electronics from the main store to where the Dennis TV and Appliance
store remains today.
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| Honda Shop
In 1964, a small extension was built to house the Honda shop on the south side of the addition and opened onto Fifth Street. The motorcycle dealership had been established in 1962 when Honda first began selling their “nifty fifty” 50 cubic centimeter motor bikes in the United States. “We couldn’t keep them in stock,” recalls Gary. “We all had one. They were especially popular with the longshoremen who worked up in Aberdeen. There was a pack of them that rode back and forth. They were little more than a motor scooter and did about 35 miles per hour. Later they came out with the 90 c.c. trail bikes, which I think were the best, then the 125 c.c.’s and 250 c.c.’s—they just kept getting bigger and bigger.” The motorcycles were first stored in the truck repair shop and wheeled out onto the sidewalk every day. “I was mechanically inclined and started work in the Honda shop at age 15,” says Brent, “putting motorcycles together and making minor engine repairs. Of course, I had to test drive every one that came in by taking it out on the back alley.” |
The 1962 "Nifty Fifty" sales advertisement. |
| Feed Store
In 1966, the feed store building at the south end of the block facing Fifth Street was purchased from the Fisher Flouring Mills. It was built in 1908 by Raymond Land Development and first operated by Raymond Feed and Produce. Later it became Willapa Harbor Flour and Feed until 1951 when it was sold to Fisher Flouring Mills. Shepard and Dennis Transfer had rented half of the building beginning in 1915 and used it for additional storage until about 1925. At the time of purchase by the Dennis Company, the feed store was operated by Bob Curtis who continued as manager for the next few years. |
A portion of the feed store building, circa 1920. |
The Dennis Company building in 1970 with the fronts of the south side addition and the feed store visible beyond the foreground fence, but prior to construction of the connecting addition. 20 |
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| Connecting Addition
The company’s complex facing Fifth Street was completed in 1974 with construction of a major addition that connected the feed store to the first addition and the main building. This allowed for enlargement of all retail departments, especially garden, pets, toys, and clothing. “Just prior to that addition,” says Brent, “we had someone design a logo for us, plus a color scheme and interior decor theme. The clothing area had its own niche area, which we called the “Clothes Denn” and decorated with barn boards and black iron hanging fixtures made locally. It was pretty neat for that time, and the colors inside the store were yellow and orange. Bing Orr of Chehalis also came up with our Dennis Company “Duck” logo that we still use today. It seemed to fit with us because of the rain and all the ducks around our area—it seemed real appropriate.” |
The warehouse addition built in 1996 on the west side of the original building as seen from Fourth Street. Bins in foreground contain landscape materials. |
| Joining the structures also
allowed movement of the Honda shop into the feed store with the showroom
floor in front and the repair shop in the back. “The mechanics didn’t
just work on engines,” says Brent. “They had to be a jack of all
trades. There were different ones over the years, but the main guy
who did the mechanical work, sold Hondas, sold parts, and managed the shop
for us was Larry Reasoner. We stopped selling motorcycles in 1987,
and Larry became our TV and Appliance manager. But we continued with
Honda power equipment until we determined it was no longer cost-effective
to have a full-time mechanic on staff and closed the shop.”
Warehouse
Feed Store Remodel
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The feed store remodel completed the Fifth Street façade of the Raymond Store. This photo was taken in 2005. (To see a reverse-angle view of the Raymond Store, please see the page 34 photo) 21 |
| Bruce Dennis: Athlete, Engineer, Sport Fisherman,
Kiwanian, Scout Leader, and World Traveler
Family and friends alike agree that Bruce Dennis was a colorful character and is affectionately remembered for his story telling and sometimes humorous exploits. “He was a storyteller all right,” says Gary Dennis of his father. “Dad was a person that did a lot of talking. There were times that his stories got a little carried away, and he repeated them a lot, especially in his later years.” Bruce, who inherited the Dennis Company’s reins from his father S. L. Dennis, was also very clever, trained as an engineer, and always looking ahead, according to Eddy Bridges. “He was always in and out of my mother’s restaurant,” he recalls, “and I remember him coming to the Boy Scout meetings. Sometimes he was in a good mood and other times he wasn’t, but I always got along with him. He liked to be around people and went to all the Kiwanis and Chamber of Commerce meetings. He was very interested in the community, and he knew everybody in town as well as their families.” Bruce was born in 1902 shortly after his parents, S. L. and Josephine Dennis, moved from Tumwater to Nalpee. “My father had made arraignments for my mother to go to Olympia for the delivery,” Bruce explained, “but she caught a cold, was injured in a fall, and almost lost her life giving birth to me because there was no doctor nearby to help. However, the conductor on one of the daily logging trains between Chehalis and Raymond stopped the train at Trap Creek, although it wasn’t a regular station. He picked up my mother and took her to South Bend for treatment. She survived but was unable to have any more children.” |
Bruce Dennis at high school graduation in 1919. |
| He started school
in Raymond at age six, entered the second grade and finished the third
in the same year. As a youngster he played with other boys making
rafts and floating them around on the sloughs that once ran throughout
what is now the downtown section of Raymond. He also demonstrated
his interest and skill in sports at an early age playing first base for
the Raymond Midgets in the under 13 league.
The family lived at that time in a rented building at First and Duryea. “Among my fond memories of that building,” he said, “was the time I jumped on a couch next to a window and fell out the window onto the first floor, but wasn’t hurt. Also Dr Nevitt, who became famous for the delivery of over a thousand children in Raymond, had his office on the second floor. One of his famous exhibits was an urn with a tapeworm 350 ft. long.” In high school he enjoyed athletics, especially baseball and basketball. In order to play other schools, team travel in those days was quite an adventure without today’s modern roads. “We used to have to take the Lassie, which was a boat from Raymond to South Bend,” explained Bruce. “From South Bend we took the Reliable which went to Tokeland, Bay Center, and Nahcotta. Then we took the train down to Ilwaco. The Finns down there bet on the game one night, but we got hot and won. They lost so much money we didn’t know whether we were going to make it home or not, but we finally made it.” After graduating from high school in 1919, he went on to what was then Oregon Agricultural College in Corvallis and graduated in 1923. “Times were tough then and I had to make a decision,” Bruce said. “I was going to go into the Army as Second Lieutenant, but at that time a Second Lieutenant got only $65 a month. So I decided to come back and help my dad.” Bruce entered the family business and eventually became a transitional head of the company between his father and his son Gary. During the early years, he wasn’t very interested in office work or the store itself. He didn’t seem to mind physical work, though, since he would often pitch in with employees working outside. |
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| “He got in there and unloaded
railroad cars with feed or presto logs,” recalls Bob Beck who first went
to work for the Dennis Company in 1939. “He would help out, but I
was young and he was about 55, and yet he was out there unloading those
cars when it was hotter then heck. I wondered what the heck is that
old guy doing out there this time of day?”
One of his favorite aspects of the business was road construction, especially when it involved working with dynamite. “I remember when they would go down to Long Beach and they would blow ditches with it,” confirms Gary. “That was dad’s favorite thing, the ditching process. You shove a stick of dynamite in every eighteen inches or so down there where it was wet and boggy. Then all you do is light the first one, and all the rest of them of them go—almost instantaneously. It was all blown with our powder, and Dad loved that.” Bruce’s most memorable business venture appears to have been his plan to dike the Bone River at the south end of Willapa Bay. The family had purchased over a thousand acres of land in the area including a lot of timber. However, he thought it would be a great idea to dike the river, dry out the land adjacent to its banks upriver, and use it for farming and cattle ranching. |
Raymond High School basketball team 1919. Bruce Dennis at far right, front row. |
| In addition, part of the plan was to use
the warmer water behind the dike to establish a natural spawn and grow
oysters.
After much effort and paperwork to establish a formal dike district and receive the necessary permits from state government, he proceeded to install a tide gate in the river. However, despite all the concrete and rock to pack it in, the sandstone surrounding the structure could not withstand the water pressure, and the whole thing washed away in a matter of days. “The water came in through the dike and washed back underneath the sandstone, then it tipped forward, and that was it,” says Gary. “I remember the day it happened. Bruce came back and said ‘well there went $5,000, plus a lot of time and effort.” Bruce spent a lot of his time in the south county, especially after the company established a storage facility and later a retail store in Long Beach. “My grandfather Bruce liked the beach an awful lot,” says Brent. “He had a family beach house at Seaview on the ocean that’s still there today. He loved to fish, and my grandmother always liked to go down there. She liked to golf and have her bridge parties, and Grandpa would go down to the store and go salmon fishing.” The charter boat skippers in Ilwaco, however, learned to avoid taking Bruce as a customer because of his tendency to tell them how to fish and operate their boats. So he and his close friend Wally Traynor—the Long Beach store’s first manager—kept a double-ended gillnetter moored in Chinook for their sport fishing trips on the Columbia River. “Grandpa was forever leaving things in the back of his station wagon,” adds Brent. “There was all of his fishing gear, and sometimes he left some of the catch in the car too long.” As part of his long association with the Raymond Kiwanis, Bruce took it upon himself to raise funds each year by canning salmon and tuna. He packaged gift boxes with six cans per box, which he sold, along with club members, with all proceeds going to the Kiwanis scholarship fund. Some of the fish he caught himself, and the rest he purchased from commercial fishermen at his own expense. On one occasion, he bought 1,000 pounds of chum salmon and had it dumped out behind the Raymond store. “I remember that,” says Brent. “There was Bruce in his big rain pants starting to clean all those ugly-looking salmon in a space directly below what was then the office. His intention was to fillet them and take them to the canner, but it was a warm day and reeked to high heaven. Dad went ballistic. I don’t know how we got them all out of there, or where they all ended up.” He also contributed a great deal of his time and energy to the Boy Scouts. In fact, he was awarded the Silver Beaver Award in 1949 by the Twin Harbors Area Council for his distinguished service. “This is national scouting’s highest award to civilian volunteers,” notes Bridges. “Bruce was very active in Scouting and represented the Raymond Kiwanis Club in its sponsorship of Troop 36 in Raymond. He was also active in district and council activities of the Boy Scouts.” |
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| Like S. L., who ran for the
Raymond City Council back in 1906, Bruce thought he would try his hand
at politics in 1932. The Raymond Herald noted the following as a
caption to Bruce’s high school graduation photograph on the front page
on August 19th: “Bruce Dennis, young Raymond Business man, who entered
the lists for state representative just before the close of filings Saturday.
Mr. Dennis is a native son of the county and a graduate of Raymond Schools”.
However, he shared the same fate as his father and was not elected.
In addition to fishing, one of the things he enjoyed most for his own pleasure was travel. “Grandma and grandpa made good money but they were not what you would consider wealthy—they used the money to put back into the business, to buy property for a home, and to travel all over the world. They would travel for three to four weeks at a time and bring back many, many slides and some movie film. I remember Bruce showed us a film once from the Fiji Islands. He took pictures of everything, but the longest running section was of a dancer shaking her grass skirt.” Although they normally flew to various destinations, some of their earlier travel was done aboard a ship the old-fashioned way. “It wasn’t a cruise ship back then,” explains Bridges. “They went on a freighter that carried 10 or 12 passengers. That’s how Bruce and Stan Gillies went in 1964 on that same boat to Japan and all over the South Pacific, including Vietnam.” After his wife Thelma died in 1981, Bruce tried to continue traveling, but it wasn’t the same. Plus, age simply caught up with him. But before he died in 1990, he gave a recorded interview in 1984. Although he had seen many wonderful things in exotic places, he concluded the interview by confirming his lifelong commitment to the community in which he lived, worked, and called home. “Well, I’ve traveled all over the world,” he said, “and my happiest moments have been when I got back to Raymond.” |
Bruce Dennis with son Gary, 1934. |
Along with Business growth, the Dennis Company has been a staunch supporter of the community, especially youth activities, and currently sponsors seven boys’ and girls’ baseball and soccer teams. This is a photo of the 1968 Dennis Company boys’ baseball team named “Dennis’s Menaces.” From left standing: Coach Joe Basil, Joe Basil, Klon Bloomstrom, Ron Meek, Steve Heath, Jeff Taylor, Brent Dennis, Tim Lam, and Coach Dick Runyon. Front row from left: Randy Anderson, Paul Kamps, Don Kolcz, Rich Runyon, Matt Holm, Tommy Wahl, Larry Melberg, and Rick Lee. 24 |
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| Regional Expansion to Other Locations
Long Beach—1933 The Dennis Company’s first expansion into south Pacific County was a cold storage facility in Ilwaco, located behind what was then Red’s Restaurant and is now an antique store on the west side of First Street. It was the distribution center for beer and soda to customers in the Long Beach Peninsula area. However, problems with the water source for the building’s cooling system precipitated a move in 1937 to the building now occupied by Ocean Kites at 511 South Pacific Street in Long Beach. |
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Long Beach store at the corner of Second and Pacific in 1985. |
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| When property became
available in 1940 at the corner of Second and Pacific, the company purchased
it and constructed a new building. The 50 ft. by 148 ft. structure
built almost entirely with cinder block, became a warehouse for storing
not only beer, wine, ice, and soda, but for the Arden line of ice cream
the company had begun to sell wholesale in that area.
The front portion of this building became the Dennis’s first Long Beach retail outlet in the late 1940s. “We had the space for it because the ice and ice cream business had gone by the wayside by then,” explains Gary, “and the beer storage was moved up to Raymond. You have to pay the state the full licensing fee for a warehouse even if you just stored two cases of beer in it. So we warehoused all the beer in one location for economic reasons.” Much like the Raymond store, the earliest merchandise was limited to hardware, house wares, and sporting goods. Wally Traynor, who had been a Dennis Company truck driver in the south county, moved from Raymond and became the first manager of the Long Beach facility. Jerry Jackson took over as manager when Wally Traynor retired in 1968. The retail store was significantly enlarged that same year when 4,800 sq. ft. were added on the north side of the building and provided the Pacific Street entry still used today. In 1973, a two-level addition was built on the west side, which made room for a separate clothing area on the ground floor with space on the second floor for an office, a lunchroom, rest rooms, and storage. A third addition on the north side in 1986 completed the present 22,000 sq. ft. “L” configuration of the total building, extended the sales floor by 3,400 sq. ft., and provided more storage upstairs. “There wasn’t a lot of competition in Long Beach during the early years,” says Brent, “although there were some lumber yards, including the still operating Oman & Son Builders Supply, and then Jack’s Country Store has always been at the north end of the Peninsula. Also, the Megler bridge across the Columbia River made Astoria more accessible when it was built in 1966. But the biggest impact on our business came when the toll was lifted in 1993. The fact that it no longer cost money to cross, plus the lack of a sales tax over there, prompted more people to shop in Oregon stores, especially for the larger ticket items like appliances.” |
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| Despite the increased competition,
the Dennis Company’s Long Beach store has continued to succeed. In
fact, during the peak summer months of July and August, sales exceed those
of the both the Raymond and Aberdeen stores.
“It is operated in a very similar way to the Raymond store with the only real difference being in the product mix,” explains Brent. “The Raymond store carries more animal feed, while Long Beach has more space devoted to clothing. The clientele is quite a bit different with the tourist trade bringing in people from Portland and Seattle. So we sell a lot more sweat shirts and rain gear, a lot more gear for clam digging, and the usual beach related kinds of toys. The hardware mix is close to the same, but we’ll sell more entry-level, less expensive things because a lot of the homes down there are just beach houses, and the owners aren’t down there full time. It has its ups and downs, but the Long Beach store has always been a profitable store.” |
The Long Beach store in 2005. The cedar shake siding and façade addition were done in 1986. |
| Elma—1978
Construction at the nearby Satsop nuclear power plant site brought a lot of growth to the Elma area during the 1970s. An existing Coast to Coast store occupied a building at 115 South 4th Street and sold appliances in addition to hardware. Gary Dennis saw the potential for a Dennis Company store and approached the Coast to Coast owner Hilding Anderson. The building was constructed in 1964 with 7,000 sq. ft. of selling space, and Anderson agreed to sell in 1978. Ken Strozyk, who had been manager of the Raymond store, moved to Elma and became the manager there. In 1991, 3,000 sq. ft. of warehouse space was added with the idea that it could be converted to retail at some point. That was done in 2003, increasing the total sales floor to 10,000 sq. ft., and another 2,500 sq. ft. warehouse facility was built. In addition, a complete remodel of the retail space gave more room to garden, which was the largest department, moved the paint |
The Elma store in 2005. |
| department up front on one side, and put
clothing in front on the other side.
“Clothing was an area where we were doing well—primarily work clothing,” says Brent, “and the other clothing store in town—Elma Clothing—had closed down. So we expanded on the departments where we saw growth and potential.” When the Satsop construction shut down in 1981, the Dennis Company’s Elma store felt the impact in a reduction of heavy hardware sales. However, a loyal community has continued to support the store in its other retail departments. Although primarily a blue-collar community in the past with a lot of farms in the surrounding area, it is beginning to change and become more of a bedroom community for those who work in Olympia. That has not yet greatly affected the store’s selection of merchandise, but could have a future impact. “It has been a very good store,” says Brent. “The last two years Elma has had the largest increase in sales of all our other stores. It is ranked fourth in volume sales, but it has shown the largest percentage increase in sales since the 2003 remodel.” |
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The Elma store in 1985. 26 |
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| Montesano—1988
The Dennis Company’s move into Montesano in 1988 ultimately integrated two previously established businesses—a hardware store and a men’s clothing store—along with a building located at 413 West Pioneer. The latter was constructed in 1927 for Jo Harvey Ashby, owner of Ashby Motors and a dealer for Chevrolet and Buick. The unique Spanish style structure later housed a variety of businesses over the years, including El Monte Lumber, Bayview Lumber, Herr Lumber, Cummings Classic Cars, and Mark-N-Pak grocery. In 1988, it was purchased by the Dennis Company from Chris Pickering of Pick Rite Thriftway. The occupant at that time was Montesano Hardware, a small store with limited inventory owned by Jim Cobb. He had purchased the business in 1986 from Ken Strozyk, who had bought it in 1982 after he retired from managing the Dennis Company store in Elma. Cobb later moved the business from the store’s original Main Street location to the Pickering building in 1986. |
The Montesano “Clothes Denn” during the late 1980s. |
| After buying the
business from Cobb in 1988, the Dennis’ stripped the store and removed
all the antiquated grocery warehouse fixtures left over from previous occupants.
In addition to remodeling the interior and expanding the merchandise, a
2,000 sq. ft. warehouse space was built at the back and brought the total
building to 10,000 sq. ft.
The clothing store had been Rottle’s Men’s Clothing located at 322 Main Street. When Jack Rottle retired, he sold the building to John and Barbara Hasbrouck, who in turn granted the Dennis Company a 5-year lease in 1988. They completely remodeled the store with a new entry door, adding women’s and children’s clothing—plus shoes—to the men’s ware, and some work clothing. “We called it the ‘Clothes Denn’, and the original manager was Gerri Giles,” says Brent. “My mother, Irene Dennis Smith, was the buyer for the store. The business was doing OK, but we were not making much money and didn’t see much future potential. So, after 5 years, we decided not to renew the lease in 1993 and closed down the clothing store. We had already decided to move appliances out of the hardware store, and so we had room to move all the work clothing in. Ginny Jones, who had been a clothing store employee, now manages the Montesano store and has seen small but steady growth.” |
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The Montesano store in 2005. 27 |
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| Aberdeen—1998
Safeway had two locations in Aberdeen for many years—one downtown on Wishkah, and the other across the Chehalis River bridge on Boone Street. In 1997, they consolidated and built a new superstore at the downtown location and closed the south side store. The latter was left empty while Safeway looked for a buyer—a business that would be different and not another grocery store. “It had been closed for about a year when we looked into it in 1998,” recalls Brent. “They saw the Dennis Company as being good for the community and made us a very good offer on the building.” |
The Dennis Company Aberdeen store in 2005, formerly a Safeway grocery. |
| The building was gutted inside,
and it took some work to clean out all the wiring and redo the flooring.
The space was then filled with merchandise for the hardware, house wares,
sporting goods, clothing, and garden departments. The size of some
departments have since been enlarged while others were reduced, but no
structural changes have been required, except for an entry door to the
covered garden area on the south side.
The move to Aberdeen was different from the expansion into Long Beach, Elma, or Montesano. It was a much bigger city and there was a lot more competition, including a very successful Wal-mart. On the other hand, the 20,000 sq. ft. building was the perfect size for Dennis Company’s retail departments with a big parking lot and room for an outside garden area. “It’s all about whether you can make a profit,” says Brent. “We crunched the numbers, and given the price we were able to get the building for and the potential we saw, it showed that we could start turning a profit rather quickly. Although it was a big move for us, we decided to do it.” “I knew it was going to require us to sharpen our skills a bit when we entered a bigger market where there is more competition like Wal-mart,” adds Brent. “One thing you don’t do is try to compete head to head against them. Instead, you try to do something different. We have to offer the best prices we can, but the thing that has made us successful is providing the best possible customer service. We focus on a strong advertising program and good customer service so people continue to be loyal customers and come back to our stores.” At the time Aberdeen store opened, True Value Hardware was the Dennis Company’s buying source. In 2002 when True Value began having some financial problems and raised concern that they might not be around much longer, the Dennis’s switched to Ace Hardware. The latter had more stores in their chain, were a more aggressive company, and appeared more financially stable. However, it meant that the Dennis Company would be competing directly against the other Ace Hardware in Aberdeen’s Wishkah Mall. “That was a little strange,” admits Brent, “but Aberdeen is unique in that the Chehalis River Bridge really divides the town, and most of our customers come from the south side. In addition, a couple of years ago Ace Hardware gave all their stores the choice of dropping the Ace name. We chose to do so and are now just the Dennis Company, but we still handle all the same merchandise and the Ace name is still on a lot of the products. The big advantage is that we don’t have to pay for the Ace Corporation’s national advertising.” Of the five stores in the Dennis Company chain, Aberdeen, Long Beach, and Raymond are the largest with Elma and Montesano being approximately half the size of the others. Although the former tend to have more clothing and animal feed products, there is very little difference in the general merchandise mix among the main departments for hardware, house wares, and sporting goods. This allows the company to more efficiently coordinate the buying and advertising promotions for all of the stores. |
| Key Company Employees, Past and Present:
Dennis Company Store Managers:
Dennis Company Truck Drivers:
Dennis Company Mechanics: 1962 - 2000
Dennis Company Buying Groups:
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| From Past History to Future Change
Anyone attempting to evaluate the Dennis Company’s 100-year success story will recognize the ample business opportunities provided them during an era of rapid growth in a once fast-developing corner of the country. Most important, however, were the four generations of resourcefulness and management skill that took advantage of those opportunities. In fact, there appears to be a combination of four specific qualities shared by family members most responsible for the company’s success:
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S. L. Dennis, his wife Josephine, and the family pet “Trixie” on the steps of their Raymond home at 1024 Duryea in 1945. |
