A Mill Town Gets a Recreation Hall—and a Makeover
The Consolidated Lumber Co. builds a reading room and ball alleys to keep its married workers—and remakes a shack town along the Great Northern.
The Consolidated Lumber Co., of Elk, is having a large building erected for the use of their employees. The building will be used as a reading and recreation room. It will contain two box ball alleys, a long distance telephone booth, reading matter and other attractive features.
The company now has a desirable class of employees and is desirous of keeping the men, most of whom are married, intact, hence they have gone to the expense of making the men's surroundings more attractive. Jerome Depew will have charge of the building, which will be open at all hours of the day or night.
Two years ago there was but one painted building in the mill town of Elk, and that was the company store. Most of the buildings were shacks boarded up and down and battened. Now nearly all of the buildings are sided and painted and many of the cottages are very attractive. The water supply comes from the Little Spokane river and all of the houses are connected with the mains and all have electric lights. Other improvements will be made during the coming year that will make Elk one of the most attractive little towns along the line of the Great Northern.
“The company now has a desirable class of employes and is desirous of keeping the men, most of whom are married, intact, hence they have gone to the expense of making the men's surroundings more attractive.”
Company towns once competed for workers with cheap housing, recreation halls and electric lights. Elk's upgrade is an early version of the amenities race employers still run when labor is scarce and turnover costly.
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