Renton History Museum

On this day in 1935 Ernest Backlund was opening the Renton service station at 3rd and Smithers where he worked when Issaquah farmer Louis Bonifas came roaring up with young George Weyerhaeuser in his truck. Nine-year-old George had been kidnapped for ransom on May 24, 1935 from Tacoma, held in a hole in the ground for a week, and then let out of a car along the side of the road near the Bonifas farm. Lacking a phone, the farmer drove to Renton at 5:30 a.m. and stopped at the nearest open business. Backlund made the call to the Weyerhaeuser family, and the boy was reunited with his parents.

We were very excited to host a reception today for the high school artists who submitted work to the Congressional Art Competition from Rep. Adam Smith’s district. The winners will have their art exhibited in the congressional offices in Washington, DC and here in the district. Thank you to these talented young artists and Rep. Smith and his staff.

The Franklin D. Roosevelt National Historic Site in Hyde Park, NY is going out of its way to make disabled visitors welcome, but also to adjust the president's story to reflect the reality of his post-polio abilities. Their new exhibit explores how FDR navigated the public's perception of disability and shows how his attitude and behavior changed attitudes.

Reframing History at the Home of Franklin D. Roosevelt The Home of Franklin D. Roosevelt National Historic Site now has a disability-affirming interpretation of FDR’s life after polio. This article originally appeared in Museum magazine’s Mar…