Frederic Homer Balch is unknown today, or nearly so. But apparently in the early 1900s he was a fairly well-known author around the Pacific Northwest. He was born in Lebanon in 1861 and attended Tallman School. Because of this the Linn Chapter of the DAR, and the Oregon Pioneers (a group headed by John B Horner) undertook to place a memorial to Fred Balch at Tallman School. The memorial was dedicated June 12, 1932. Dad’s photo album includes three photos taken during this dedication.

The print of the above photo is smaller than the other two, so I don’t think Dad took this photo. It has focus issues, as you can see.

I believe Dad took the above photo. It appears to have been taken about the same time as the one above it, although from a slightly different angle, it. The people in back are as interesting as the activity in the foreground.

I presume the lady on the left unveiling the memorial represents the Linn Chapter of the DAR. I thought perhaps the man on the right was John Horner himself, but it didn’t seem so when I compared with a few other photos of him. I imagine the child helping with the unveiling represented the students of Tallman School. But I do not have names for anyone in these photos.

I believe Dad took the above photo also, a short time after the one above it. This one takes in a different section of the crowd. Interesting the camera sticking into the frame on right.

The plaque reads:

This tablet erected in memory of
Frederic Homer Balch
author
The Bridge of the Gods
Born Dec. 14, 1861
Placed by Linn Chapter DAR
and Oregon Pioneers
A.D. 1932

Fred Balch was not in the area long. His family moved to Goldendale in the Washington Territory before his 10th birthday. Nevertheless he was probably the only person to attend Tallman School who later attained a degree of celebrity (except my mother and her siblings, of course ;–). If you’re curious about Fred Balch, the Oregon Encyclopedia, courtesy of the Oregon Historical Society, has an article about him.

This event was clearly a big deal for the tiny community of Tallman. I don’t know whether Dad had an interest in the event or in Fred Balch that extended beyond the “big deal.”

As you may know, Tallman School and the community of Tallman are gone without a trace. (Only Tallman Road gives a hint of their former existence and approximate location.) According to an article in The Oregonian from September 25, 1979 (which Dad cut out and stuck into his photo album), the memorial was “moved to a mini-park adjacent to the Lebanon Public Library” when Tallman School was demolished. The Lebanon Public Library has since moved and its former location is home to the Lebanon Boys and Girls Club. But the Balch memorial is still on that site at Second and Ash Streets (or so I’ve been told—I have not confirmed this, and I was unable to spot the memorial in that area in Google Street View.)

It is interesting that Dad clipped out the article about Fred Balch in the 1979 Oregonian and put it with these photos. We are nearing the end of the occupied pages of his album. There are many blank pages (the majority of the album) that follow those. One’s impression is that the album was abandoned when Dad married and started a family. But clearly he still remembered it, and remembered that these photos were in it, 47 years later.

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If the name “Horner” sounds vaguely familiar… John B Horner was a professor at Oregon Agriculture College (now OSU) in the early years of the 20th century. Among his other activities he organized what became Horner Museum. When I was a kid, the museum was housed in the basement of Gill Coliseum. (I remember going there on a school field trip.) In 1998 the Horner Museum collection was transferred to the Benton County Historical Museum after budget cuts forced OSU to close Horner Museum.