Page 8A
OFF PAGE ONE
East Oregonian
Tuesday, November 22, 2016
LaDow block future in question
ALKIO: She spent about three
desires to
decades teaching home economics Alkio
restore building’s
Continued from 1A
dise spans the decades as
does Alkio.
Her grandparents came
on the Oregon Trail, living
in the Willamette Valley
and Washington, before
settling in Pendleton. Her
grandfather sold buggies and
wagons.
“In about 1909, he real-
ized cars were coming in and
he sold his shop,” she said.
Alkio sat in a chair in
a pool of sunlight filtered
through her shop’s large
front windows. Her two
Chihuahuas, Peck and Lucy,
stayed close. Behind Alkio
stretched her cavernous
store lined with shelves and
showcases filled with thou-
sands of objects. Up some
rickety stairs was a loft filled
with vintage clothing. Inside
drawers was hidden treasure.
On one shelf sat a bowl filled
with nothing but old keys.
“I never throw anything
away,” she said. “I leave it
until the right person comes
along.”
Alkio and Pat Glenn, a
colleague at Pendleton High
School, started the shop in
1969 as a place to showcase
the work of local artists.
After Glenn moved to Port-
land, Alkio switched over
from art gallery to antique
shop. In 1991, she bought the
building.
The LaDow block is older
than Alkio. Built in two
stages completed in 1880 and
1884, it stretches the entire
block on Southeast Court
Street, bordered by Southeast
Second and Third streets.
The ground floor offers eight
retail spaces. The building,
once Pendleton’s biggest
commercial space, has been
occupied by an array of
establishments
including
U.S. Post Office, tea room,
meat company, machine
shop, fabric store, piano
dealer, clothing boutiques,
bicycle shop, cigar factory,
gas station and music store.
Alkio is the third owner
of the LaDow building after
Mattie LaDow, who financed
the building, and William
Matlock, who purchased it in
1913.
Alkio said she was born
two blocks away at her family
home. Her father, William
Purchase, owned and oper-
ated the Troy Laundry at the
time. During World War I,
the business foundered along
with the economy.
“People sent their clothes
to the laundry, but they didn’t
have money to pay,” she said.
Her father shuttered the
business and started farming
façade, apartments
East Oregonian
Staff photo by E.J. Harris
Elnor Alkio walks through her antique shop, the
Collector’s Gallery, on Monday in Pendleton.
with his father-in-law on
land near the present-day
Wildhorse Casino. They
farmed wheat, peas, barley
and canola. Alkio and her
mom eventually moved to
a house in town so the girl
could attend high school.
After graduation, she earned
a degree at Oregon State
University (then Oregon
State College). She wasn’t
the first woman in the family
to experience higher educa-
tion — her mother, Catherine
Purchase, graduated in 1915
from OSU, then Oregon
Agricultural College.
In Alkio’s store, an orange
and black Oregon Agricul-
tural College pennant hangs
on the wall to document
the accomplishment. The
pennant is one of the only
items in the shop she refuses
to sell.
“A lot of people have
wanted to buy it,” Alkio said,
“but I’m not selling.”
She found love with
George Alkio, but lost him
early when he died at age 52.
They raised two daughters,
Elaine and Diana, who
eventually brought Alkio
five grandchildren and nine
great-grandchildren.
Alkio spent about three
decades teaching home
economics to Pendleton
middle- and high-school
students. One of her students,
Vic Kucera, 71, remembers
taking home economics from
Alkio as a seventh grader,
learning to do such things as
bake cinnamon apples, darn
socks and make potholders.
“She was very, very kind,”
Kucera said. “No matter how
crooked our potholders were,
she still liked them.”
Kucera, an Arizona
resident and author who is
researching old theaters,
stopped by the LaDow
building last month and
reconnected with Alkio. She
gave him a guided tour of
the building’s second floor
where an opera house once
featured chamber music,
plays and dances, and once
served as an armory where
recruits drilled before the
1890 Spanish American
War. The dusty time capsule
has apartments with vaulted
ceilings, claw foot tubs
and Murphy beds. Kucera
was charmed with both the
building and his former
teacher.
“She was a picture of
grace,” he said. “She just
smiled and answered all my
questions.”
As her 100th birthday
approached, Alkio
has
received an avalanche of
flowers and birthday cards,
including many from former
students. Family members
from near and far have been
celebrating all week, she
said.
She doesn’t have words
of wisdom to impart. She
deflects any such queries,
preferring to chat about the
history of an item or the here
and now. One hundred is
just a number to the newly
minted centenarian. She
plans to keep coming to the
shop until it is no longer
fun. She said she’ll have the
building paid off soon.
“Four months and it’ll be
paid for,” she said. “Then I
hope to do some cosmetic
work on the outside.”
She has backed off from
buying for her shop, though.
“I’ve been here so long
that people bring things to
me constantly,” she said.
“I’ve almost stopped buying
because I might not live
forever.”
Alkio said she still feels
good, except for macular
degeneration, which affects
her vision.
“I’ve been fortunate to
have good health,” she said.
“The store has given me
something to do. I’ve met
many very nice people over
the years.”
———
Contact Kathy Aney at
kaney@eastoregonian.com
or call 541-966-0810.
The LaDow block has
seen better days.
Many of the windows
are boarded up at the more
than 125-year-old building
on Southeast Court Street
in downtown Pendleton,
and the façade is in need of
restoration.
But that hasn’t prevented
interest from swirling
around the building, which
is owned by longtime resi-
dent Elnor Alkio.
Don Potter is Alkio’s
friend and manages the
building, and contends that
despite the interest, it is not
for sale.
Potter said Portland
developer Jordan Schnitzer
leveled a complaint to the
city about the building
in a move to possibly
acquire the structure, and
that complaint led to an
inspection.
Shawn
Penninger,
the city’s fire marshal
and assistant fire chief,
conducted the inspection,
and Pendleton police chief
Stuart Roberts said he also
was on hand because he
and Potter have a rapport.
“Initially, Potter was
not going to allow the
inspection, but eventually
conceded,” Roberts stated.
“We walked through the
building ... no issues were
noted.”
The East Oregonian
was not able to reach
Schnitzer for comment, but
city manager Robb Corbett
recalled this summer the
Staff photo by E.J. Harris
Many of the upstairs apartments in the LaDow block
have fallen into disrepair.
developer had invited
several local thinkers and
movers to lunch to discuss
the development of an
old bank building he had
bought on Main Street.
“In that conversation,”
Corbett said, “there were
a lot of projects that got
talked about,” including
possibilities of Alkio’s
building.
Mike and Jill Thorne
in 2008 bought the Haw
Building across from
the LaDow block and
established a home for
the thriving Prodigal Son
Brewery & Pub, 230 S.E.
Court Ave. Mike Thorne
said at one time they were
interested in the LaDow
block and looked at other
buildings as well.
Umatilla County assess-
ment records show the
building and land has a real
market value of $489,380.
Thorne said he is not aware
of Alkio accepting offers.
He added no one is likely
to buy until there’s a price
tag available.
While the LaDow block
might not have received the
same restoration treatment
as some of the buildings
that surround it, that doesn’t
mean that Alkio’s vision for
the building doesn’t match
the city government’s goals
for urban development.
According
to
city
officials, Alkio has long
desired to restore the
building’s façade and the
second-floor
apartment
units to re-open the space
to tenants.
Alkio did receive a
$72,358 façade grant from
the Pendleton Develop-
ment Commission, but
Pendleton Mayor Phillip
Houk said she never used
the grant because of the
financial demands the
project entails.
City councilor Chuck
Wood, chairman of the
commission, said he last
toured the building in 2013.
Given Alkio’s age,
Wood didn’t think she
would be able to undertake
a major renovation effort,
but he still had high praise
for the LaDow block.
“It’s a marvelous old
building,” he said.
———
Antonio Sierra and Phil
Wright contributed to this
story.
SETZER: Speaks six languages including Spanish
Africa and Asia has been
to foster a wide array of
partnerships
designed
to improve health in the
community and regions in
which he has served. He
has led projects and worked
in many areas including
Kenya, Niger, Ghana,
Cameroon, Togo, Bangla-
desh, Egypt, the Republic
of Georgia, Zaire, Mada-
gascar, Tanzania, Zambia,
Viet Nam, and Djibouti
among others.
Murdock said Setzer has
been published regularly
and won awards for his
work in the field. He speaks
six languages including
Spanish.
Setzer is a board
member of the Dikembe
Mutombo
Foundation.
Mutombo, who served as a
Continued from 3A
Murdock, “we are moving
away from direct services
and more into areas such
as prevention, healthy
communities, and popula-
tion health. Setzer’s broad
experiences in Africa and
Asia have provided him
with a wealth of experience
in the very areas that are a
focus for our work.”
Murdock said Setzer’s
epidemiology training is
a necessary tool of public
health.
“Eastern Oregon has
a shortage of individuals
trained in this area so this
will be a bonus for the
county and the region,”
Murdock said.
Murdock said a major
part of Setzer’s work in
BURKE: Marches on Main Street will continue
each Saturday until the pipeline issue is resolved
reference for Setzer, retired
after eighteen seasons in the
NBA and is known for his
world-wide humanitarian
efforts.
Setzer said he looks
forward to working in
Umatilla County.
“I see this opportunity
as a chance to bring it all
back home and engage
directly with the diverse
communities in the county
to see if we cannot collec-
tively work together to
make things better,” he
said in a press release. “I
see it as a chance to apply
my skills and talents on a
daily basis with a team of
dedicated
professionals
and see how to effectively
manage limited resources
in a creative and transparent
way.”
PRESENTS
Continued from 1A
Staff photo by Kathy Aney
Chief Bill Burke smiles during the unveiling of a statue of
his father, Chief Clarence Burke, Saturday afternoon on
Pendleton’s Main Street. Bonnie Burke sits to his right.
“Everybody liked him and everyone
thought he was a great person.”
— Bill Burke, son of Chief Clarence Burke
sometimes clapping for them
as they walk by.
After the march ended
back at Brownfield Park,
some of the participants
returned to the 100 block of
Main Street, where the Clar-
ence Burke bronze was being
unveiled.
Keith May, chairman of the
Pendleton Arts Committee,
said it was fitting that Burke’s
bronze faced the west since
his tribal name — Wetyetmes
Tileylekeepit
— meant
“Swan Facing the Sunset.”
“There is more that can
be said about this man than a
statue and a plaque with 200
words,” he said.
Bill Burke was pleased by
the tribute to his father.
“Everybody liked him and
everyone thought he was a
great person,” he said.
Both Bill Burke and the
march organizers acknowl-
edged the significance of
unveiling a bronze of a local
tribal figurehead on the same
day as people marched for
Native rights, but perhaps the
notion that connected the two
events the most came from
Clarence Burke himself, via
the plaque near his statue.
“A local tribal woman
once said that the most
important
thing
Burke
taught her was to build no
barrier between yourself and
others.”
———
Contact Antonio Sierra at
asierra@eastoregonian.com
or 541-966-0836.
25 TH ANNUAL
marches for the past three
weeks as a show of solidarity.
Wallace said the marches
have been larger each week
and will continue each
Saturday until the pipeline
issue is resolved.
Although she considered
the U.S. Army Corps of
Engineers’ decision to delay
the pipeline’s easement to
provide more time for envi-
ronmental studies a step in
the right direction, Wallace
said the oil company behind
the pipeline could still forge
ahead with the project as long
as they’re willing to accrue
the corps’ fines.
In addition to the Standing
Rock Sioux’s contention that
the pipeline trespasses on
ground sacred to the tribe,
the issue has gained wider
traction among environmen-
talists because of the pipe-
line’s potential to leak into
Standing Rock’s drinking
water supply from the nearby
Missouri River.
The crowd, a mix of tribal
and non-tribal members,
began a short march up and
down Main Street between
Byers and Frazer avenues,
alternating chants between
“mni wiconi” and “cuus iwa
waqiswit,” the Lakota and
Umatilla phrases for “water
is life.”
Although there was little
reaction from pedestrians
and business patrons who
watched the march, Wallace
and Wiley-Melton said
they’ve felt the downtown
business community has been
supportive of their cause,
F R I D AY
DECEMBER 2
PENDLETON
2016
CONVENTION CENTER
TICKETS ARE $30
EVENING CELEBRATION | 6:00 PM
• Heavy hors d’oeuvres
FAMILY DAY | 10:00 AM - 2:00 PM
• Free admission thanks to
Wildhorse Resort & Casino
• Live and silent auctions
• Mingle with community members
and enjoy the festivities!
• Lunch with Santa and his elves
• Make ornaments and playdough
• Letters to Santa
For more information, please contact St. Anthony Hospital Foundation at (541) 966-0528
A L L
P R O C E E D S
B E N E F I T
T H E
P I O N E E R
R E L I E F
N U R S E R Y