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Gig Harbor Now and Then | Our first Historical Location of Mystery
Today is the debut of the Gig Harbor Now and Then Historical Location of Mystery series. I would prefer to call the first one Location of Mystery #1, but the AP Style Guide frowns on using the pound symbol in that way. So instead, it will be known as Location of Mystery No. 1.
It is a well-known spot to most people on the Peninsula, but today looks not just vastly, but entirely different than it did in the photo below. That’s what makes it so mysterious.
In this picture, a crew from Spadoni Brothers paves Location of Mystery No. 1 (although the location was not a mystery to us at the time; we all knew where it was). Photo from the Claude M. Spadoni Collection.
I don’t know the specific year of the photo, but is in the range of the late 1970s to mid-1983.
To take a current photo for a now and then comparison (which will appear in the next Gig Harbor Now and Then column), I needed to enlist help. I would not have been able to find the spot where the photographer (Claude Spadoni) stood when he took the picture. I might not have been able to get within a couple hundred feet. So I asked Stan Macumber, the owner of Gig Harbor Auto Body, to show me where to stand to take the new picture, which he did.
That’s a clue, but it comes with this discouraging hint: Gig Harbor Auto Body is not now, and has never been, in that location.
Where is Location of Mystery No.1?
Here’s another clue: it’s on the Gig Harbor Peninsula, not the Key Peninsula.
The answer will be provided in this very column on April 6.
Shifting Peninsulas
Having given the Gig Harbor Peninsula attention to begin this column, in the interest of fairness, the rest of the space will concern the Key Peninsula.
(Ok, so maybe I was going to use this next story anyway, but the previous sentence made for a good segue.)
Jack Annesser
Some people have a knack for keeping out of recorded documents. Their success is a serious detriment to anyone trying to find their stories long after they’re gone. But sometimes we can still find enough to tell at least part of their life’s history. Today’s example comes from the community of Home on the Key Peninsula.
The story of Jack Annesser (whose middle initial appears alternately as B and D, with no indication of which is correct), begins with mere wisps of information. It gains details near the end of his life.
John B. Annesser was born in 1875. He began military service at about age 25.
After three years in the U.S. Army, Annesser was discharged at Fort Ethan Allen in Vermont. He made his way back to Montana, where he had enlisted in 1901. By 1920 he was living in Tacoma, listed in that year’s Census as a laborer in a coal yard.
In 1925, as John D. Annesser, he bought two adjacent lots, one with highway frontage, in the plat of Home. In the 1930 Census, he was living there, and still a laborer. By 1940 he was no longer working, but still in Home.
Pierce County Assessor-Treasurer aerial base map.
The rest of his life is told mostly through bits published in The Peninsula Gateway in the late 1940s. His life took a tragic turn, but the surrounding community made sure that his fortunes improved quickly. (The newspaper spelled his last name wrong every time.)
Oct. 11, 1946:
On Tuesday night between 12 and 1 o’clock Jack Anniser in Home woke up to discover his house was on fire. He tried to combat the fire and in doing so received most severe burns on his head and hands. The house with all his clothes and belongings, burned to the ground.
Mrs. Clara Dodge who lives across the highway from his place … invited Jack to stay there and gave him a good outfit of much needed clothes. He carried a small amount of insurance. In spite of the late hour many cars lined the highway and quite a few close neighbors came to see the fire. We hope Jack Anniser’s burns will receive needed care and soon heal.
It was a sad turn of events, but the community quickly organized to help him recover. They went to extraordinary lengths. Contributions to the effort included money, labor, building materials, and household goods.
Oct. 18:
Since Jack Anneser’s house burned down on October 8th, he has been in the hospital. In the meantime several of his neighbors have been busy collecting household goods and clothing, Ernie Nordquist, Wallace Tillman and Cash Thornhill, on investigation, have found they can fix up a building on the place for a home for him. They wish to have it ready when he returns from the hospital. A work bee is called for Saturday and Sunday. There is much to be done. Helpers are asked to come at 9 a.m. The ladies will serve the luncheon at noon, which they are asked to bring.
Oct. 25:
While Jack Anneser has been in the navy hospital in Bremerton many of his neighbors turned out on Saturday and Sunday, and worked on the 12 by 18 foot shell of a building that was on the place. They rebuilt it, fixed the foundation, put in several windows, a door, shingled the roof and part of the building, built a chimney and sealed the inside with plywood. He will have a warm house to come home to. It will have all the necessary furniture, a stove, bed, dishes, and a neighbor is going to hang curtains for the windows. Generous neighbors have also donated clothing. The Lakebay Construction Company, John Larsen and Rod [Rog] Johnson, donated the bulldozer work, leveling up the grounds before the rebuilding began. The ladies, as usual, served abundant lunches for the men who worked. There is about $125 to be paid for materials, $25 of which has already been donated. Some benefit affair will soon be given to get the balance needed.
On Tuesday Mrs. Martha Neal, Mrs. Clara Dodge and Sarah Muir called on Jack Anneser in the hospital. He is getting along very well. When he was told that his neighbors had built him a house over the weekend, and furnished it, he was so moved he wept with joy. … The exact time of his return is not known, the hospital is trying to build up his general health for the present.
Nov. 1:
During the week a couple of neighbors were busy painting Jack Anneser’s house on the inside. Curtains are even ready. So far the public has donated generously of money in jars at the stores to help cover expenses on materials for the Jack Anneser house. This concerted effort on the part of the neighbors to build and completely furnish a house in three weeks for a fellow citizen hit by misfortune is a record we intend to remember.
Nov. 8:
The latest statement on money collected for materials for Jack Anneser’s house, comes from Cash Thornhill; it is $89.15. The house stands as a fine tribute to neighborliness. It is a neat house, furnished with everything for his housekeeping. It has shades, curtains, pictures on the walls and a little rug on the floor, and a very good bed, heater, cook stove, and even dish towels and hand towels are placed on its racks. The cream color paint on the interior gives it a cheerful appearance. Mr. Anneser is expected home at any time now.
Nov. 22:
On Monday, Nove. 18th, in spite of snowcovered slushy roads that prevailed on that day, Mrs. M. V. Neil, accompanied by Mrs. Rose Coon drove to Bremerton to bring Jack Anneser home from the Navy Hospital. When he entered his new home he found it completely furnished, even down to his personal needs of 3 pairs of shoes, and sufficient groceries on the table for an immediate meal. He could find no words to express his gratitude and asked that I write his ‘Thanks’ to all the good neighbors who built him the nicest place he ever had.
Last week a check for ten dollars was received for Jack Anneser building fund, from Radium La Vene in Los Angeles. He liked the spirit of the undertaking. This last contribution has covered all expenses incurred.
A job well done
The community’s combined efforts had saved a disabled Army veteran from homelessness, making Jack Annesser a very happy and grateful man. He returned to his quiet life until two years later, when he made the news one more time.
Dec. 17, 1948:
On December 11, between 5 and 6 p.m., a fire of unknown origin destroyed Jack Anneser’s small house on the corner of the Highway and 5th street [6th Ave.] in Home. Waldemar Moveall [Movall] sent in the alarm. When the fire truck reached the scene, the house was a mass of flames. The unfortunate Jack Anneser was burned to death. The sheriff found the bones in the ruins.
Washington State Digital Archives.
Falling asleep while smoking his pipe was the suspected cause of the fire.
Having no known relatives, the Lakebay chapter of the Veterans of Foreign Wars held a memorial service for Jack in the Lakebay Church.
The V.F.W. bought Jack Annesser’s two-acre property several months later, and Rog Johnson moved a used building donated by R. Allan McEwan onto it in 1951 for use as a meeting hall.
Surprise
It’s no doubt a coincidence, but there will always be someone trying to read more into this than is really there: In an odd twist to the story of Jack Annesser’s two house fires, the second one having taken his life, his property has been occupied since 1977 by Key Peninsula Fire and Rescue’s Station 47.
Pierce County Assessor-Treasurer aerial base map.
— Greg Spadoni, March 23, 2026
Greg Spadoni of Olalla has had more access to local history than most life-long residents. During 25 years in road construction working for the Spadoni Brothers, his first cousins, twice removed, he traveled to every corner of the Gig Harbor and Key Peninsulas, taking note of many abandoned buildings, overgrown farms, and roads that no longer had a destination. Through his current association with the Harbor History Museum in Gig Harbor as the unofficial Chief (and only) Assistant to Linda McCowen, the Museum’s primary photo archive volunteer, he regularly studies the area’s largest collection of visual history. Combined with the print history available at the museum and online, he has uncovered countless stories of long-forgotten local people and events.