(Image courtesy of Washington State Archives)

We’re giving little old Tenino the spotlight not once but twice this month as focal point  of our second Archives Treasure for September. It’s some cool history.

The first Archives Treasure focused on the Oregon Trail marker located in the small Thurston County town. The second is a photo of the famous wooden money that Tenino’s city government briefly used during the Great Depression.

Unfortunately, Tom Cruise has yet to enter the State Archives, stand on a desk and yell, “Show me the wooden money!”

This excerpt from a website about Tenino sheds more light on the wooden money:

The “Great Depression” hit Tenino as hard as most other areas of the country, but did manage to make the town famous at the same time. As the “home of Wooden money,” Tenino hit the front pages of newspapers all over the world, was mentioned in the Congressional Record, and drew reams of other publicity. “The wooden money” scheme grew out of a Tenino Chamber of Commerce plan to issue emergency scrip to relieve the money shortage caused by the failure of The Citizens Bank of Tenino. The original scrip was on paper and was given to bank depositors in exchange for assignment to the Chamber of up to 25% of the depositor’s bank account balance. Shortly afterward, the scrip was printed on “slice wood” of spruce and cedar, and immediately became famous as the original wooden money. Eight issues were printed between 1932 and 1933 with a total of $10,308 of the wooden currency put into circulation. It became a collector’s item and only $40 was ever redeemed by the Chamber.

Our third and final Archives Treasure is later this week. Will there be a Tenino angle? Wait and see!