History of Lakewood Library

January 22, 2009

Spike Maras of Enumclaw holds a photo of a smaller tree felled earlier. Maras was involved with cutting "the big one" and bringing it to Tacoma. (Photo by Dave Sclair – The Suburban Times)

Have you ever looked at the huge section of tree on display at the Lakewood Library? Given any thought to the details of the tree and how it happened to be situated at the Lakewood Library? What did it take to cut that tree down and how was it moved?

A lot of the history of that big tree is contained on plaques posted on the tree itself but on January 22nd, 2009, one of the men who helped cut that monster down and bring it to the area provided a lot of background during a meeting organized by the Lakewood Historical Society.

Spike Maras of Enumclaw was a young logger in early 1946. While he didn’t personally fell the giant Douglas fir that was later dubbed “The Big One", he watched as it was being taken down by two contract loggers, Doyle and Bob Miller. It took three days for the two of them to get the job done.

Speaking to a crowd of about 60 at the Lakewood Library, Maras explained that the tree was cut because it had been struck by lightning years earlier and was rotting from the inside. The tree was in a stand of timber located seven miles south of Packwood. Herman Tenzler, owner of Northwest Door Company in Tacoma, had a section of the tree brought to the company’s factory so it could be put on display. Tenzler paid Maras $1,200 to deliver the cross section to his plant.

The section of tree stayed at the company’s plant for years and when the firm was sold to St. Regis Lumber Company in 1965, Tenzler made arrangements to get it moved to Lakewood where he had financed the building of the Lakewood Library which originally was named for his late wife, Flora B. Tenzler.

The Flora B. Tenzler Memorial Library was built in 1963 at the corner of Gravelly Lake Drive and Wildaire Road in Lakewood. It was funded by the Tenzler Foundation and owned by Friends of the Lakes District Library.

The tree section measures 12 feet, 9 inches in diameter when measured inside the bark. It is 14 feet including the bark at the widest point. It weighs 9.25 tons and the tree was 238 feet tall. It was born in 1359.

In addition to hearing Maras tell about the giant tree, Lakewood Historical Society and Museum President Becky Huber provided the history of the library itself from its origin in 1944 approval by voters through opening of the first location in 1947. The library was moved several times in its history, including one stint in the basement of the original Park Lodge Elementary School. The current building was opened in 1963 with funding from the Tenzler Foundation and operated by Friends of the Lakes District Library. It has been remodeled and expanded several times since then. The original cost was $239,800 for the building with furnishings bringing it up to $400,000.

Reprinted with permission from The Suburban Times