Name/Title
Victor Adding Machine, 1924Entry/Object ID
1986-020-0001Description
Victor Adding Machine.Context
The adding machine was part of the office equipment used in the general store and 4th class post office that the Gardner family operated in Nisqually (then Sherlock). The family first moved to the valley in 1911. The store was in several locations, moved to stay with the flow of traffic, at first on the original highway between Portland and Tacoma. When Martin Way was built, they had their last store there.
The adding machine was possibly bought in 1920 or there about. Fred Gardner, the oldest child of the family did all the office work for the store and post office, from the time he was a teenager until his retirement. He was born in Tacoma in 1890, lived from 1911 until his death in 1985 in Nisqually, with the exception of his navy service in World War I. It should be noted that in 1911 the Gardners first came to live at the property they bought. They traveled by their bicycles and stayed at a hotel there overnight. The hotel accommodated workmen building the railroad.