A woman who came on one of the Clark County Historical Museum’s downtown walking tours said she grew up on a farm in Camas. Hidden bricks — named for the hallowed foundry family — were stacked all over the place because her father used them for all kinds of building projects, from home foundations to chicken coops.

But one morning the family rose to discover every single brick broken open.

That tantalizing word — “Hidden” — had gotten the better of the woman (then a girl), and she’d gone looking for the secret prizes stowed inside.

Teasing out the historical secrets of the Arnada neighborhood is easier and more rewarding. Just go on a walking tour with Kas Anderson or her mentor, Mary Grgich, who did the historical research for the tours and got them strolling three years ago.

When The Columbian tagged along on a tour of the north Arnada neighborhood a few weeks ago, Grgich was out of town and Anderson led the group, which consisted of Stef-Anie Wells of Rose Village, her sister Melissa of La Center, and 11-year-old nephew C.J. Boots of Orchards.

“I love history,” said the appropriately named Boots as he tromped along. “It’s just so cool to learn about everything that’s happened. There’s so much of it.”

And it’s right out there in plain view — if you know where to look.

Anderson pointed out the sidewalk stamps that show street names and the names of the builders of this neighborhood about a century ago. (And she pointed out the typos in some of these stamps, like “22DN” instead of “22ND” street.) She related the tale of the naming of Arnada, when a developer grafted three lady friends’ names together: AR from Margaret Ranns, NA from Anna Eastham, and DA from Ida Elwell. She pointed out the towering California bay tree in a yard once called Curmudgeon Park, thanks to a previous property owner who contributed cheerfully cranky notes to the neighborhood newsletter.

She steered the group through quiet Arnada Park, once the site of a neighborhood school, and around the spectacular Kiggins House, home of Vancouver’s longest-serving mayor, recently relocated from Evergreen Boulevard.

And she guided her group past a number of vintage homes that reveal a variety of approaches to architecture, from boldly American boxes, all square corners and sharp edges, to Dutch colonial revival farmhouses that yearned for a time that felt simpler and quieter.

Arnada is also full of Craftsman architecture, an earthy approach that featured wide-open eaves, exposed rafter ends and an overall feeling of handmade pride and simplicity. Hundreds of Craftsman-style homes were built in Clark County between 1905 and 1930.

“It was a trend away from mechanization and toward the environment,” Anderson said.

Not every historic Arnada home can be pigeonholed as one style or another, she emphasized. And some were built from plans bought through the mail.

“For the first time in history, a common man could buy an architecturally designed home,” she said. “There was a mix of different styles. They had the freedom to combine styles, so sometimes it’s a little hard to tell what style a home really is.”

The gabled roofs, the square posts, the wraparound porches and bay windows — all combine to make Arnada feel like a landscape where history is still alive.
Feet, not wheels

The key to appreciating that life is seeing it at a human speed — which means getting out of your car so you can notice the details and learn what they mean.

“You’ve got to see it from your feet, not the street,” Anderson said.

Walking tours in the downtown area continue Thursdays (for one hour, starting at 12:10 p.m.) and some Saturdays (for two hours, starting at 10 a.m.) through Sept. 6; check the museum’s Web site, cchmuseum.org, for details and prices, or call 360-993-5683.