MARCH 20, 2020, KEIZERTIMES, PAGE A3
Home demolition turns up trove from bygone era
By ERIC A. HOWALD
Of the Keizertimes
A group of dedicated Keizer
volunteers demolished a home
in Keizer Rapids Park in Feb-
ruary. Fortunately, they dug
through the attic before ripping
everything down.
The hunt unearthed a trove
of records, some dating back
more than a century.
A total of eight records were
found, each about three times
the thickness of a quarter.
Five of the records are
known as Edison Diamond
Discs. The records were pro-
duced exclusively for the Edi-
son Disc Phonograph produced
between 1912 and 1929.
The Edison phonograph
was unique because it was fi t-
ted with a permanent diamond
stylus. If owners attempted to
play the platters on a different
type of phonograph, the steel
needles damaged the shellac
without producing any music.
The discs costs $1 to purchase
in their heyday, the equivalent
of roughly $14 in modern cur-
rency.
The Edison discs recovered
looking into the cone of the
phonograph. The Victor player
was invented by Eldridge R.
Johnson, a machinist who be-
gan producing phonographs
as the fi rst records were being
produced in 1900.
The three Victor discs are:
• Think Love of Me\ Smilin’
Through (1914-1926)
• Come Where My Love
Lies Dreaming (One sided)
(1905-1909)
• Moonlight on the Lake/
Victor Minstrels No. 10 (1908)
The house that was torn
down was purchased by the city
in 2005 so that the land could
be added to the park. The re-
cords recovered in the demoli-
tion are on display outside the
Keizer City Council chambers
in the Keizer Civic Center. Af-
ter spending some time there,
the city plans to donate them to
the Keizer Heritage Museum in
the Keizer Cultural Center.
Digging in at Civic Center
KEIZERTIMES/Lauren Murphy
from the home in Keizer Rap-
ids Park were:
• Too Much Mustard – One-
step / Moonlight Rag
• Sing Me the Rosary / I’ll
Change the Shadows to Sun-
shine
• Love’s Melody Waltz -
Boston or Hesitation / Ecstatic
ABOVE: One of a
handful of Edison
Diamond Discs found
in a demolished home
in Keizer Rapids Park.
LEFT: The century-old
platters are much
thicker than modern
day vinyl.
- Waltz Hesitation
• Make a Little Heaven in
Your Heart / At the End of a
Beautiful Day
• Sweet Dreams of Home /
Fifth Nocturne
Many of the discs’ liners also
survived the years in the attic.
The sleeve for Too Much Mus-
tard provides a history of the
song from its French roots, an
anecdote about how dancing
to the song caused a ceiling to
crumble in Fairfi eld, Conn.,
and a brief biography of the
band leader – Henry Lodge, a
native of Providence, Rhode
Island – who led the recording.
The other three records
could be played on a Victor
Phonograph. Its logo is the
well-known Nipper the dog
Members of the
community pitched in
to help clean up the
Keizer Civic Center
Saturday, March 14.
ABOVE: Mark Caillier
delivers marching
orders.
FAR LEFT: Nathan
Farris (left) and Am-
mon Farris.
LEFT: City Manager
Chris Eppley reports
for duty.
KEIZERTIMES/Lyndon A. Zaitz
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