The Times - Serving Waitsburg, Dayton and the Touchet Valley

WALLA WALLA - Turn the clock back 90 years to a time when some women were "flappers," gin was made in bathtubs, good times were enjoyed by many and few foresaw the Depression just around the corner.

Beginning July 19, the Kirkman House Museum presents "The Roaring Twen­ties"

- an exhibit that looks at how Walla Walla lived after the "War to End All Wars" and before the Crash of 1929.

The 1920's brought mo­mentous change to Walla Walla as its borders and busi­nesses grew rapidly. Even as other Washington cities flour­ished, Walla Walla continued to be an important Northwest center of agriculture and culture. Vegetable farming expanded as canneries were established.

Washington women had been voting since 1910 and in 1920, women throughout the US won this right. Even in Walla Walla jazz became a mainstream enthusiasm. And at the end of the de­cade, the Walla Walla busi­ness community bankrolled the construction of one of the grandest hotels west of the Mississippi, the Marcus Whitman Hotel.

"Most people don't know that Whitman College owned the Kirkman House during the Twenties," said Carolyn Priest, exhibit curator, "and used it as a men's dormitory. One of the student-residents was Walter Brattain. Brattain went on to win a Nobel Prize in Physics in 1956 for his con­tributions to the development of the transistor. And he used to study physics right here."

"The Roaring Twenties" runs through October 27 and will be followed by "Hope in Hard Times," an extraor­dinary presentation of life during the Depression era produced by Humanities Washington.

The Kirkman House Mu­seum is located at 214 N. Colville Street in Walla Walla. Museum hours are Wednes­day through Saturday, 10 am to 4 pm and Sunday, 1 pm to 4 pm. Admission is $5 per person up to $20 for a family.

Museum and NARM members enjoy free admis­sion. For more information, see http://www.kirkmanhousemu­seum.org or call 509-529- 4373.