Continued from Page 8
200 images of the three cities, surrounding
farmland and forests. It is the first “Images
of America” book to feature a city in Tilla-
mook County.
Each historic image pairs with a detailed
photo caption to outline the story of an area
most local residents call north county.
Though the cities are often grouped as
one — in part because they are linked by
shared public utility districts and school
systems — the cities all have unique per-
sonalities, Beach said.
“I try to make that clear in the book and
in my classes,” he said.
Nehalem, for example, was the first
north county town to be founded in 1899.
It also was the first chartered city between
Tillamook and Seaside, Beach said.
Its “identity” grew out of the “com-
mercial needs” of a fledgling town, Beach
said. Nehalem had all the necessary ame-
nities: a post office, church, general store
and school. Eventually a railroad connected
the city to Portland. The railroad brought in
supplies and tourists, and shipped out local
produce.
Wheeler was chartered in the early 20th
century. Sitting about three miles south of
Nehalem, the city sprung from the logging
industry.
“There had been a little sawmill there
but when the bigger sawmill was built,
Wheeler almost just … grows overnight,”
said Beach, who included a number of his-
toric photos in the book that reflect Wheel-
er’s ties to logs and lumber.
Manzanita received its charter last, in
1949. Beach surmised that the reason its
establishment lags behind the others is
because early surveyors noted that the sand
dunes around the city were “of little eco-
nomic value.” There was little lumber for
logging and no fertile fields for farming.
The city’s value eventually skyrocketed
as tourism became more common and visi-
tors flocked to Manzanita’s sandy shores for
a look at the Pacific Ocean. Today, Manza-
nita is a “tourist town … in the very broad-
est sense of the word,” Beach said. Many of
its homes are vacation rentals and its econ-
omy runs on annual beach-goers.
Beach’s photo collection focuses largely
A historical image of Neah-Kah-Nie during spring.
on aerial photos and images of historic
buildings, many of which made their way
road and highway system, state parks and
fellowship from the Smithsonian Institution
into the book.
shipwrecks.
and research grants from the Ford Founda-
“I’m interested in how towns develop
“Everyone is so interested in shipwrecks. tion and National Academy of the Arts.
and the kinds of buildings that folks built
He began collecting historic photos
50 or 100 years ago. That’s one of the most You can’t leave that out,” Beach joked.
shortly after he retired to Neah-Kah-Nie in
Beach has a doctorate from the Univer-
useful arts of aerial photos because they
sity of Wisconsin. He taught at the State
1992.
let you look at a particular location … The
University of New York, Cornell Univer-
“I owned a piece of property out on
aerial photos let you tell a story over the
sity and the University of Rochester, where Highway 53 … and I wanted to know more
years,” Beach said.
about that particular piece of property,
He also included photos of Native Amer- he also served as an associate dean. During
ican tribes, early European settlers, the rail- his academic career, he held a postdoctoral
because it was one of the original home-
stead,” Beach said.
Some of the first images in his collection
came from the U.S. Army Corps of Engi-
neers archive. He carries a portable scanner
with him whenever he visits public agen-
cies or local families willing to share their
old photos.
“This is fun, it’s relatively easy and it
calls on my historical background,” Beach
said.
THURSDAY, APRIL 1, 2021 // 9