[Washington] Ledger and Records of Important Clallam County, WA Construction Business - Kuppler Family, 1913

Item Details

Ledger and Records of Important Clallam County, WA Construction Business - Kuppler Family, 1913

Large heavy ledger, three-quarters leather with gilt title and four raised bands on the spine. 11x16 inches. Very good condition overall, firmly bound, wear to edges and corners, label on front cover rubbed away. All 300 pages have entries, the earliest being 1913.

This was the ledger of Walter R. Kuppler and the Clallam County, Washington contracting company Kuppler Brothers. The firm was an important early day business in Port Angeles, known particularly for constructing pulp mills at Port Angeles, Port Townsend, Shelton, Longview and Hoquiam, Washington - including Crown Zellerbach and Rayonier Mills. The company also built many other buildings of note in the area, including the original hotel at Sol Duc Hot Springs, the Carnegie Library in Port Angeles, the Jefferson, Lincoln, Washington and Roosevelt schools, and downtown buildings in Port Angeles. The Carnegie Library is now the Clallam County Historical Society Museum. All four sons appear to have been involved in the business; however, from entries and dates in the ledger we have deduced that it was kept by Walter. The firm's name was changed to Chris Kuppler's Sons after the death of Father Chris.

The Kuppler family led by Father Chris Kuppler (1854-1920) and Mother Anna Marie Neitzel Kuppler, came West from South Bend Indiana in April of 1889, setting up home in Seattle. Chris' vocation was construction. The family moved to Keyport (Kitsap County), WA a few years later and lived there until 1912, then relocated to Port Angeles, about the time this ledger begins. Chris and Anna had four sons: Oscar A. (1882-1943) married to Haidee; Herman B. (1881-1932) married to Ethel; George W. (1878-1930) married to Willietta; and Walter R. (1889-1975 Seattle), married to Anna Elizabeth. Walter and his father and brothers, particularly George, were civic leaders in Port Angeles in the early part of the 1900s

The first three pages of the journal record important events in the lives of the Kupplers - births and deaths, marriages, travels, even weights and stays in the hospital. Interestingly, Kuppler records his weight on his birthday for 18 years between 1935 and 1965.

The journal's main entries begin in 1913; the last entry - just a notation - records the assassination of President Kennedy on November 22, 1963, but most of the entries date from 1913-1930s. The rest of the 300 pages record transactions of all kinds, for a combination of companies and individuals they did business with construction projects, properties they owned, personal information such as stock holdings and even transactions with various family members.

The family apparently owned considerable property in Seattle and Port Angeles; some of the pages reference properties in Seattle (1203 and 1309 7th Ave North & Highland Drive; 1018½ Taylor Avenue, Denny Park Addition, 209 and 211 8th Avenue North, 1203 Aurora Ave.) as well as ones in Port Angeles (Fourth & Cherry Street bungalow).   

Ledger pages relate to business done with Rainier Pulp & Paper, (likely actually Rayonier), Port Angeles High School, Olympic National Forest Special Use Permit on Lake Crescent, Sol Duc Hot Springs Mill, Bailey Du Bois Sash and Door Mfg. Company, Angeles Brewing & Malting, Port Angeles City Hall, Little River Logging Company, Standard Oil of Tacoma, Commissioner of Lighthouses in Portland OR, Radio Buildings in Cordova, AK, School District #16 Clallam County, Puget Sound Mills & Timber, First National Bank of Bremerton, the Carnegie Library, City of Bremerton, Washington Pulp & Paper, Clallam Canning Co., Crown Zellerbach, and many more.  Other Washington state projects include those in Maple Valley, Bellingham, Port Ludlow, Sequim, Joyce, Kitsap County, Snoqualmie, and Bremerton. We also find several projects noted in Alaska.

The ledger contains a wealth of information on this important Port Angeles family and early day Clallam County construction projects.