“The task of instructing the youthful minds in the principles of science and religion is as pleasant to me as ever. No work to me looks so desirable.” Those were the words missionary teacher Chloe Aurelia Clark Willson wrote in her diary about her life as a teacher at the Methodist Mission site, located in what is now known as the city of DuPont. 170 years later, educators, children and community leaders are formally honoring the first school teacher in Puget Sound by dedicating a life-size memorial on July 10, at the elementary school which bears her name. The public is invited to attend.
Chloe Clark Elementary School opened its doors in 2000, and since then, thousands of ‘Explorers’ have passed through its halls, including retired Maj. Gen. John Hemphill’s grandchildren. “I’m a big history buff. The woman who this school was named after is important, and was a part of my grand children’s lives. I want to make sure Chloe Clark is recognized for generations to come,” he said. M.G. Hemphill, along with SHEF, helped organize the fundraising efforts for the memorial, raising over $90,000 in donations.
“Everyone contributed and pitched in. This was a real team effort,” beamed Hemphill. John Korsmo Construction created the concrete pedestal with donated labor. As a training project, the forms for the concrete pedestal were built by carpenter apprentices from the Puget Sound Training Center. “The pedestal design was more complicated than first expected, but we took care of it. The apprentice crews working on this project are near the end of their training,” commented Randy Scott, Superintendent with John Korsmo Construction.
Crews pour concrete into the memorial pedestal forms.
CalPortland donated 32 cubic yards of concrete for the pedestal and plaza and 13 cubic yards of crushed rock. “Plant Manager Jim Tweedy has supported the memorial since the beginning in 2007. When we asked for more concrete, he didn’t flinch,” stated Hemphill. The memorial will have three lights illuminating it, along with an outlet for electrical service. All were donated by Danard Electric, Inc. Rising above the concrete pedestal and lights, the statue of Chloe Clark will be mounted on a 10 inch thick granite pedestal that weighs 1420 pounds.
“It’s going to be beautiful, and really set off the school,” commented Chloe Clark Principal, Gary Yoho.
The larger than life bronze statue of Chloe Clark was sculpted by Dr. John Patrick Jewell of the Windy Bluff Studio in Vaughn, Washington. Jewell, who is also a retired principal of Saltar’s Point Elementary School, took great pains in making sure the statue was historically accurate. “He studied the dress and photographs and really made sure that everything was historically accurate,” said Hemphill.
So why was this 22-year old from Connecticut so important? Miss Clark was an explorer in her own right. She was brave. She was strong. She was part of the first United States settlement in Western Washington. And she was a teacher.
The Chloe Clark Memorial, created by sculptor Dr. John Patrick Jewell.
On October 9, 1839, Miss Clark boarded the ship Lausanne, and set sail from New York harbor on a teaching mission. On board were thirty-four adults and eighteen children. The ship sailed south towards Rio de Janeiro, and around Cape Horn, then up north to the Columbia River and Vancouver. During this eight-month journey, Miss Clark taught the children on board the Lausanne. From reading her diary it’s apparent that Miss Clark assumed she would never again see her family or friends, or at least until Heavens gates, as she wrote countless verses giving thanks to God. One descriptive passage in her diary describes a rough patch on the Lausanne:
“One hundred miles south of Cape Horn tossed to and fro upon the boisterous deep. This is the most rough day we have had since we left New York. When I awoke this morning I felt that we were in danger of a watery grave but my mind was calmly staid upon God.”
After arriving in Vancouver, Miss Clark along with Dr. John P. Richmond, his wife America, and William Holden Willson were assigned to a missionary site 150 miles away called Nisqually in Oregon Territory. They left Vancouver on July 2, 1840. The group arrived at Hudson’s Bay Fort Nisqually on July 10. They were the first Americans to arrive in a land dominated by native tribes and the British.
Miss Clark was married to Willson just thirty-seven days after arriving at the mission site. This was the first American marriage on Puget Sound. Based on dates in her diary, Chloe Clark and her husband only stayed at the Methodist Mission site for 11 months before returning to Oregon. The Mission was burned. But historians have kept her story, and the Mission’s, alive.
In the 1920s, a group of regional scholars including Ezra Meeker and Thomas Huggins, who grew up on the Hudson Bay Fort property, placed a marker that located the historic Mission site. In a letter written by Chloe Clark Willson’s great-great-great-granddaughter, she states: “Huggins could see the Nisqually Mission chimney from his house while growing up, and when the marker was first placed in 1927, the chimney rock pile still existed.” While the marker has been moved due to cleanup performed by Weyerhaeuser, most local historians believe the current location of the marker is very close to the historic mission site, and should be protected. Efforts are currently on-going to see that the site is protected for future generations.
“Just because the Missionaries were here for a short time doesn’t discredit their time here. They were here, a group of Americans establishing themselves in land owned and dominated by the British. That’s something we should never forget,” said Robbie Edgren, historian and preservation activist.
The Chloe Clark memorial dedication ceremony will begin at 11 a.m. on July 10. Steilacoom High School Key Club and Chloe Clark PTA will have food concessions after the ceremony for a picnic on the school grounds. Chloe Clark Elementary is located at 1700 Palisade Boulevard in DuPont. More information can be found online at www.chloeclarkstatue.com.
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