Burton Walrad with Goat

More about this item

Description

Black and white postcard photograph of teenage Burton Walrad, Jr. standing with a goat on a leash. Walrad stands in front of a wire fence and his right arm is bandaged and splinted. In his left hand he holds the leash of a white goat, with a leather harness around its head and neck. Attached to the harness are two ribbons, reading "Second premium" and "Gresham, Ore." Another photo of the same goat shows the ribbons also read "Multnomah County Fair 1916". People identified: Walrad, Burton

Provenance

Excerpt from comments by Doug Myers at a 1971 dinner in Burton’s honor: “…in fact, all the people that knew you when you were in school in Gresham could not recall any scandalous conduct of yours -- no tipping over of privies, no dipping girls' pigtails in inkwells, all said you were a perfect gentleman, which is personally disappointing to me! You even won first prize at the Multnomah County Fair, for your goat, and you even injured your arm at the time. Some say you won first prize because it was the only goat entered in the fair, but they’re just jealous of you, Burton.” Original belongs to David Widmark, who was a neighbor and friend of Burton Walrad for years. Burton acted as a mentor to David, who later became a city councilor. Burton Walrad was born in 1902 in Sandpoint, ID and moved with his parents to Gresham in 1912. They purchased a mercantile store on Main and 1st Street that became Walrad Mercantile. Burton graduated from Gresham Union High School in 1921 and started his first business, Gresham Transfer Co., in 1922. He drove his delivery truck locally all day and made all-night deliveries to The Dalles, sleeping in the truck while it was unloaded and wetting his shirt in the creek to stay awake. His next venture, Walrad Insurance, remained in business from 1928 until his retirement 50 years later. In 1931, he became the first president of the new Gresham Chamber of Commerce and was instrumental in bringing a new bank to Gresham after both of the town’s previous banks had failed in the stock market crash. He became known for charitable giving and investment in civic improvement, purchasing the Gresham Fire Department its first fire truck. He died in 1990.

Date

1916

Subject

Goats

Animals

Multnomah County Fair

Location

Gresham, Multnomah County, Oregon, United States

Rights

http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/NoC-US/1.0/

Identifier

ghs20250050001

Contributor

Gresham Historical Society

Extent

Print, Photographic

Type

StillImage