Presidential visit subject of museum lecture
Courtesy photo What happens when President Franklin Roosevelt (left) and his wife Eleanor (center, back to camera) drop in for a visit will be the subject of a lecture Wednesday at the Moses Lake Museum & Art Center.
MOSES LAKE — What happens when the president and first lady drop by the house – or at least what happened in Neppel in 1934 – is the subject of a lecture at 3 p.m. Wednesday at the Moses Lake Museum & Art Center.
Local historian Mick Qualls will talk about the visit of Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt to the home of farmer and business owner Frank Bell in summer 1934. Admission is free.
Franklin and Eleanor were known to bicker – at least that was the word after they both died – but even couples that didn’t bicker might have been tested by the circumstances. “It was a hot August day,” Qualls said, and Franklin brought his wife along to look at the site that would become Grand Coulee Dam.
Alas, the most efficient way to get to eastern Washington was by train, and the train didn’t go to Grand Coulee. The closest rail stop was Ephrata, then they drove up “55 miles of dirt road,” Qualls said, to the construction site. And no air conditioning. Anywhere.
So – a long hot dusty drive through the middle of nowhere, to a canyon with hot dusty construction work to look at. It was then that Eleanor allegedly uttered the phrase that became a local legend. “Whoever sold Franklin on this dam was an awfully good salesman,” she is quoted as saying.
Qualls said he interviewed people who were there that day, and they confirmed her remark. It was enough to annoy her husband, and so he decided to show her what could be done in central Washington with a little water.
“I’m going to show this woman something green,” Franklin is alleged to have said, and instead of getting back on the train in Ephrata, they headed south to the town of Neppel (which hadn’t changed its name to Moses Lake yet) and the home of Frank Bell.
Bell had known FDR for more than a decade, had worked in Washington D.C. and owned a farm on the outskirts of Neppel. Qualls said he would talk about the life and career of Frank Bell, along with the story of what happened when the Roosevelts dropped by his house.
The lecture is part of the museum’s Salon Series, free lectures on a wide range of topics. Lectures are held on the first Wednesday of the month.
Cheryl Schweizer can be reached via email at education@columbiabasinherald.com.