Politics Whew! The campaigns are over and the votes have been counted! I didn’t know many of the candidates personally (have met only two or three), but it got me thinking about politicians in general, and how they develop. Did we have any in Granite Falls? Were we a “power” in County or State politics? Then, in another museum “coincidence”, on Nov 11th a museum visitor brought in a perfectly preserved metal stencil from a long-ago campaign season that he found in a house on E. Union St. It says: C. H. VOORHIS LIBERTY PARTY NOM COMM. 1st DISTRICT GRANITE FALLS Clearly, it was intended for making signs and placards to support the campaign of Charles Voorhis, one of our City Council members who apparently ran for a County Commission position. A quick check of our newspapers provided a couple short articles mentioning his candidacy in 1932. Oddly enough, it was Frank Ashe (well-known Granite Falls businessman) who was famous for being a popular County Commissioner from District #1 through most of the 30s and 40s. How did that happen? We have a handwritten history of Frank’s career, given to us by his daughter Lois Jorgensen. She describes the Granite Falls arrival of the Ashe family (Frank Sr and wife Martha), with three sons (James-oldest, Frank-12yrs old, and Bernard-youngest) in 1906. Frank won an essay contest in 1907, garnering 3 dollars, enough to buy a used bicycle that he repaired. In 1910, at the age of 16, he quit school to open a bicycle repair business, which quickly turned into City Cyclery. Selling Excelsior motorcycles was a mainstay, and that progressed into Model T Fords. The garage building on W. Stanley St stood where today stands Mark’s Country Store, and we have a great picture of a multitude of Granite Falls young men on their Excelsiors in front of the business. Frank’s older brother James joined him in the business, and they ultimately bought the large brick building on S. Granite, built originally for the Granite Falls Mercantile Co, but for decades serving as Ashe Bros Garage. Today it serves as our firehouse! For a while selling both Fords and GMC trucks, they were forced to choose, and ultimately chose GMC/Chevy/Oldmobile. In 1926, they built a new building on their property on W. Stanley, opening it as the Mountain Loop Service Station with Bernard as the proprietor (but it said Ashe Bros) on the overhang. That became the Chevy and GMC dealership Frank operated until 1969. , OCR Text: Politics Whew! The campaigns are over and the votes have been counted! I didn’t know many of the candidates personally (have met only two or three), but it got me thinking about politicians in general, and how they develop. Did we have any in Granite Falls? Were we a “power” in County or State politics? Then, in another museum “coincidence”, on Nov 11th a museum visitor brought in a perfectly preserved metal stencil from a long-ago campaign season that he found in a house on E. Union St. It says: C. H. VOORHIS LIBERTY PARTY NOM COMM. 1st DISTRICT GRANITE FALLS Clearly, it was intended for making signs and placards to support the campaign of Charles Voorhis, one of our City Council members who apparently ran for a County Commission position. A quick check of our newspapers provided a couple short articles mentioning his candidacy in 1932. Oddly enough, it was Frank Ashe (well-known Granite Falls businessman) who was famous for being a popular County Commissioner from District #1 through most of the 30s and 40s. How did that happen? We have a handwritten history of Frank’s career, given to us by his daughter Lois Jorgensen. She describes the Granite Falls arrival of the Ashe family (Frank Sr and wife Martha), with three sons (James-oldest, Frank-12yrs old, and Bernard-youngest) in 1906. Frank won an essay contest in 1907, garnering 3 dollars, enough to buy a used bicycle that he repaired. In 1910, at the age of 16, he quit school to open a bicycle repair business, which quickly turned into City Cyclery. Selling Excelsior motorcycles was a mainstay, and that progressed into Model T Fords. The garage building on W. Stanley St stood where today stands Mark’s Country Store, and we have a great picture of a multitude of Granite Falls young men on their Excelsiors in front of the business. Frank’s older brother James joined him in the business, and they ultimately bought the large brick building on S. Granite, built originally for the Granite Falls Mercantile Co, but for decades serving as Ashe Bros Garage. Today it serves as our firehouse! For a while selling both Fords and GMC trucks, they were forced to choose, and ultimately chose GMC/Chevy/Oldmobile. In 1926, they built a new building on their property on W. Stanley, opening it as the Mountain Loop Service Station with Bernard as the proprietor (but it said Ashe Bros) on the overhang. That became the Chevy and GMC dealership Frank operated until 1969. , Granite Falls Historical Society,Documents (articles, clippings, letters, papers),Local History Articles,Other (articles, research, etc.),Ashe_politician.pdf,Ashe_politician.pdf Page 1, Ashe_politician.pdf Page 1