1948 Coulee Dam Theater Fire

Coulee Dam Theater Fire,1948

1948 Coulee Dam Theater Fire

The Coulee Dam Service Station at the southeast corner of what is now Roosevelt Way and River Drive had been a Standard Oil station; but after my parents, Henry and Margaret (Seaton) Taschereau bought it at the end of 1942, it became Texaco. They sold it  and moved to Coulee City in  1953.

Just up and across the street, where the Coulee House Inn & Suites is now located, was a Ford Garage, and just east of that was a theater owned by Oliver Hartman, who had moved to the area about 1936, when his son, Rod, was nine. The theater burned down in early 1948, when my father took this photograph. I don't know the exact date of the fire but maybe someone reading this knows. A photograph he took on June 9, 1948, of President Truman's motorcade coming down the hill towards the bridge, shows the Ford Garage newly painted white, and the site of the theater cleaned up.

After the fire, Oliver Hartman bought the public laundry building just up and across the street, and turned it into a theater. His son, Rod, just back from serving in the Coast Guard, began working for his dad at the Roosevelt movie theater in Grand Coulee as well as the theater in Coulee Dam. He and his wife, Anne, became very involved in their community through Rotary and Chamber of Commerce. In 1959 he served as Chairman of the Advisory Board regarding the sale of the Town of Mason City and Engineers' Town from the Bureau of Reclamation. The property housing the Coulee Dam theater was purchased by the government for the construction of the Third Powerhouse.

Rod and Anne then built the Coulee House Motel in 1968, which they ran successfully for 20 years. During that time he served as President of Washington Hotel Motel Association. He was asked to serve as the Mayor of Coulee Dam in 1986 and served in that capacity for ten years. During his tenure as Mayor, he was instrumental in the Laser Light Show premiering during the 100th anniversary Washington statehood. Rod died on November 4, 2011.

Truman's motorcade approaching from the east, June 9, 1948