New Main Street Exhibit at VMIHM Shows Vashon Growth

When the hectic nature of modern life becomes overbearing, us Islanders are lucky enough to retreat to our private oasis here on Vashon. Let’s retreat even a little further into the Island’s past when life was deliberate, yet unhurried, and slowed down to an easygoing pace. Vashon-Maury Island Heritage Museum is dedicated to bringing us just such glimpses of the past with the opening of Main Street: Vashon Highway from the Heights to Tahlequah, June 1st, 2012.

The photo exhibit is designed to display the dramatic changes that have occurred on the Island. Viewing old pictures of Vashon’s main street accentuates the feeling of discovery into the Island’s past secrets, old tales, rumors and the like.

Beginning with the construction of the first section of Vashon Highway in the 1880’s, businesses have gravitated from the shores of the Island to the main street. Businesses that prospered, and those that did not, reflect the changes in the people, the economy, and transportation over these last 130 years.

The photos on view come from the Museum’s priceless archives. They show the embryonic roots of our beginnings. Road travel was limited at first and each community had its own stores, post offices, churches, and docks, which were served by the Mosquito Fleet. Travel became easy around the Island when the roads began to develop and improve, and as the first automobile arrived in 1903.

The Island has shifted from an agricultural based economy with multiple community centers, to a more centralized commuter community, to the modern fully centralized and increasingly gentrified community that is today.

For those of us who love this Island, seeing how its gown and evolved, what’s been preserved and what’s brand new, is always a warm and exciting pleasure. Fresh looks at old photos, new eyes on past lives, this is a thrilling chance find our center in the modern world. The Main Street exhibit will reveal hidden layers of context and meaning to our Island experience. It’s an eye opening must see for any newcomers, and a personal touchstone to everyone raised here. Come for the opening on June 1st and join us for the reception with the curators, Brian Brenno and Nancy Dierks.