Among the photos in the 2012 Greater Bonney Lake Historical Society calendar is an arial shot of the city taken in 1980 and despite it not seeming like too long ago, current residents may not even recognize their city.
“It’s just amazing as to what’s not there,” said Historical Society President Dennis Dhaese. “Thirty years ago it was a very different place.”
At that time, many of the shopping centers and developments along state Route 410 were not yet built, leaving the Diary Queen near the city’s western boundary as the city’s most recognizable man-made landmark.
But the city’s history extends well before the state highway was built and back even before there was a city to speak of and the Historical Society’s calendar once again features photographs of the earliest settlers, including a 1910 photo of the Moriarty Family at their cabin near the southern end of what is now Lake Tapps.
The calendar also features pictures of local kids in a car in the 1940s, a 1936 picture of some children rafting on Lake Bonney (with the shores covered with trees instead of homes) and the old brewery that used to be located at a barn on the Kelley Farm property on Sumner-Buckley Highway.
There are also a few pictures of famous resident and famous suspected residents of the city.
One month features a picture of wildlife photographers Alfred and Elma Milotte, whose work making documentaries for Disney earned the couple a total of six Academy Awards. Last year, the calendar featured a picture of the skeleton of the “Bonney Lake Whale” from 1976. This year’s pictures highlights what the couple used to call their “Island in the Sky,” located in the section of town now known as “Sky Island.”
Also included is a picture of D.B. Cooper, the famous skyjacker, who in November of 1971 jumped out of a plane with $200,000 in cash. To this day, the mystery of who Cooper was or where he landed has yet to be solved, but many historians point to Bonney Lake as one of the possible places he spent his life.
Along with the famous, a pair of longtime residents who died in 2010 are also honored with months, including Ron Smith, whose band The Great Pretenders often played city events to large, appreciative crowds, and Duane Tidball, who owned one of the first businesses in the city and served as Bonney Lake’s first garbage man.
Dhaese said he hopes the calendar will give residents a sense of the city’s past and show them there is more to their city than the popular perception of strip malls and subdivisions.
“It wasn’t just a bedroom community,” he said. “It’s always had its own identity and has always been an interesting place to live.”
The Greater Bonney Lake Historical Society 2011 calendar is available for a $10 donation at CJ’s Carryout Deli and the Bonney Lake Food Mart. For more information visit http://www.citybonneylake.org/section_community/community_resources/historical_society.shtml or to order a calendar call 253-863-0595. The historical society is a 501-C3 non-profit organization.
