During this decade the southern beach of Browns Point was lined with summer cottages and some squatters who lived there permanently. Ernie Burrows remembers one squatter called “Dad” Adams. Around 1914 Ernie and a friend occasionally rowed across the bay to borrow Adam’s crab nets. Within a half hour they could catch eight to ten large crabs.

As a young boy, George Oathout rented launches from the Foss Launch Company and rowed over to Browns Point for crabbing and fishing. He especially enjoyed his visits with Oscar Brown and the tours of the lighthouse.

A list of some of the earliest residents of Browns Point, offered by Beverly Storkman, demonstrates how slowly the population grew there:

• 1911 - Ida Wyland Duncan
• 1913 - Katherine Doolittle & family, Fremont Campbell Jr., Jdg. Fremont Campbell, Clarence Campbell
• 1917 - A.R. Wingard
• 1918 - Ed McClure, Elmer Johnson, Dana Chappell, William Wharton
• 1919 - R.F. Gleason, Gus Shuett, Francis Simmons
• 1920 - J.E. Burrows, W.E. Burrows

The Clam Bakes of Jerry Meeker and Ed Newcome

As far back as 1912 Jerry Meekr’s clam bakes were enjoyed by his friends and neighbors. Jerry and another resident, Ed Newcome, began the first organized clam bakes for Republican Party rund-raising. They were held on the beach, but later were held next to the schoolhouse on Tok-A-Lou.

Newcome was a very visible member of the community. He lived across the road from the present Episcopal Church on Marine View Dr. Newcome owned dairy cattle and cultivated a large garden. Much of his living was made delivering milk to the people on Dash and Browns Points, and also from selling fresh vegetables in the summer. He owned a team of mules which enabled him to do a great deal of the point’s dirt moving, excavating and farm or garden work. He was a staunch Republican and a good friend of the county commissioners and other officials.

Although Newcome and Captain McDowell were close neighbors, a well known feud and rivalry existed between them. McDowell was strongly opposed to government intervention and refused to pay taxes, and he could not tolerate Newcome and his friendships with government officials. Their animosity toward each other was not reconsiled until just before Newcome’s death.

Another early resident, and one who still lives on Browns Point, is Ed Olsen who came with his wife and two children from Gold Hill, Oregon in 1914. His first job was with the Tacoma Lumber Company on the tideflats. He remembered his wages were 18 cents per hour until he got a promotion driving a team of horses for $2.35 per day. He was fortunate to be able to rent a company house from Tacoma Lumber for $6.00 per month which included utilities. For over 70 years he has lived on Browns Point and has owned three different homes there. When he first moved to the point there was no local school available. His children attended school in Tacoma with their transportation provided by a Foss tugboat.

Browns Point’s First School & Improvement Club

By 1918 there were enough children on Browns Point to warrant a school. It was built on the east side of Tok-A-Lou and the first year had about 12 students. Martha Floberg was their first teacher.

The Browns Point Improvement Club’s beginnings go back to 1919 and are attributed to the need for a piano in the new school. The first years of its existence it functioned more as a P.T.A. (Parent - Teacher’s Association) than the kind of club it eventually became. The first meeting was in the waiting room on Browns Point Dock.