Walla Walla's Seven-Day Push for Stubblefield Home
Walla Walla scrambles to raise a $10,000 bonus to secure a major charity endowment after county commissioners decline funding.
The story, cleaned up
A cleaned-up reading of the newspaper page: spelling and layout repaired, one story lifted off a crowded page. It follows the original closely but it is not a transcription. The original page is below; read it if a detail matters.
Now that the county commissioners have refused to make an appropriation of $10,000 to secure the location in Walla Walla of the Stubblefield home, and to insure to this county the benefits of the $135,000 endowment, the only hope left of having the home located here is in the raising of the required bonus by private subscription. Only seven days remain in which to accomplish the much-desired object. In some quarters there has been shown a disposition to throw cold water on all attempts to secure the home for this city, apparently through fear that so large an amount of money at interest in this community might interfere with the business of local money lenders and note shavers. Moreover, there has been some jealousy manifested regarding the place of deposit of the Stubblefield fund and this may account for the opposition to the establishment of the home here that has been shown by some monied interests.
“In some quarters there has been shown a disposition to throw cold water on all attempts to secure the home for this city, apparently through fear that so large an amount of money at interest in this community might interfere with the business of local money lenders.”
The tension between private philanthropic investment and the interests of local 'money lenders' remains a classic motif in city building. While the Stubblefield home was a specific 1903 charity, the scramble to secure regional institutions often pits civic boosters against local financial gatekeepers.
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