Residents asked to delve into B.G.’s past

No battle ever took place in Battle Ground. It was a joke of a name given by the sharp-tongued folks around Vancouver Barracks to snub a captain who ditched a would-be fight in an area that is now the county’s second largest city.

But it’s a good story (certainly more interesting than Vancouver, named for a captain who never saw the city), and the Battle Ground City Council wants more of them. The city’s recently appointed Historical Advisory Committee has come up with its own list and has asked residents to submit others for future buildings and roads.

“We just pretty much relied on memory and personal experiences at this point, but we’re going to rely on the community to bring others to our attention,” Battle Ground’s de facto historian, Louise Tucker, said.

For Battle Ground old-timers, the names are a nod to days gone by. The city has ballooned since those horse-and-buggy days or even since 2000. Then, the city had under 10,000 people, compared with 16,710 today.

“There are so many new people in town who don’t have any appreciation at this point for the history,” Tucker said. “But I’m sure they’re interested. Most people move to small towns because of the character and personality. And it’s the historical people who have brought about the historical quality of the town.”

On the list is Miss Eliza Scherzer, who became the Battle Ground school district’s first female superintendent in 1922.

Vernon Plamondon was a mentally challenged man who sold tickets for charities and Harvest Days. The Historical Advisory Committee notes that he was “an icon of politeness and friendliness.”

And there’s Fred Kettenring, a Great Northern Railroad engineer who laid out the railroad line from Vancouver through Battle Ground and Yacolt. His son was a two-star Admiral in the U.S. Navy.

D.B. Mickey owned the Mickey Building, which housed the post office. He was Post Master, owner of a photo studio, newspaper office and beauty shop. He was also the school district’s first janitor and a school bus driver.

Tucker won’t indulge complacent bellyachers: “A lot of times people will sit back and say, oh, they should have put so-and-so and so-and-so on the list, but they don’t come forward and we don’t know those people were out there.”

Have scandalous names been submitted?

“Not that I’m aware,” Tucker said. “The scandalous ones sure don’t survive very well in small towns.”

(In other words, don’t expect a Tonya Harding Boulevard anytime soon.)

Would Tucker consider herself for the list?

No way, she said: “I’m older than dirt but I’m too new for that.”

Isolde Raftery: 360-735-4546 or isolde.raftery@columbian.com.