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Friday, November 22, 2013

1962 Olympia SM5 and MacDougall's

Olympia SM-5 (Nick Bodemer Collection)
Olympia SM-5 (Nick Bodemer Collection)

Olympia SM-5 (Nick Bodemer Collection)
MacDougalls, . "Advertisement, The World's No. 1 Quality Machine." Seattle Daily Times 30 Sep 1962, Pg. 40. Print.

MacDougalls, . "Advertisement, Olympia, the Finest Name in Portable Typewriters." Seattle Daily Times 08 Dec 1963, Pg. 26. Print.

MacDougall-Southwick was founded in 1874 as The San Francisco Store, located on First Avenue, between South Jackson Street, and Yesler Way. In 1908, it moved to the corner of Second Avenue and Pike Street. It advertised itself as being the first electrically-lit store in Seattle. 
1916 photo of MacDougall's, with the San Francisco Store in the inset. (Image from the University of Washington Special Collections)
One of the main causes for the demise of MacDougall's was its competition--Frederick and Nelson expanded their store in 1952, and The Bon Marche expanded theirs in 1955. MacDougalls remodeled their store in 1950.
MacDougall's was incredibly proud of their remodel, as evident by this full-page ad, "Advertisement." Seattle Daily Times 05 Nov 1950, 15. Print.

First Avenue and Pike Street, April 2, 1963. MacDougall's is the gray building between the enormous Penney's sign and Kress. (to the right of the bus.) Image from PaulDorpat.com, http://pauldorpat.com/seattle-now-and-then/seattle-now-then-first-and-pike-nov-6th-1953-225-pm/

MacDougall's announced that they would close in January, 1966. The building changed hands several times, before being replaced by a parking lot in 1971
Staples, Alice. "MacDougall-Southwick Building to Disappear." Seattle Daily Times 24 Jan 1971, Pg. H-1. Print.

Lane, Polly. "Steps Toward Keeping Downtown Up." Seattle Daily Times 27 Aug 1972, pg D-1. Print.
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1 comment:

  1. TonysVisionDecember 2, 2013 at 8:06 AM

    That's a lovely white SM5. I've been fortunate to acquire one just like it, and recently managed a successful and interesting repair (http://tonymindling.blogspot.com/2013/11/olympia-sm5-adjustments.html). Thanks for the SM5 ad. Interesting to see that they mention the half-space feature. I recall using that feature fairly frequently to recover from typos on my high school and college SM3.

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