Vi and Bill’s, ca. 1951
We recently received a number of photos from Al Hanson, originally taken in the early 1950’s of what is now the Sievers Shop. After the Island schools consolidated in 1945 and the building was no longer used as a one-room schoolhouse, it was sold in 1948 to his parents Bill and Vi Hanson who owned and operated “Vi and Bill’s”, a tavern and restaurant (the fish-fry kitchen was half of the yarn shop). What is now the Teacher’s Cottage and a shed behind the main building were cabins rented to fisherman. Later Vi ran the business as a retail shop. Ann and Cindra remember moccasins, Native American souvenirs, models, knickknacks and packaged liquor.
Door behind the bar is the east entrance to the yarn shop.
Vi Hanson, at right, is standing where the “Students Come from Many Places” map is located today.
A view of the shop in the early 1960’s. Today, the door on the left leads into the apartment and the one on the right to the restroom.
Close up view of the shop.
Before this business venture, the Hanson’s owned Vi and Bill’s Fishing Lodge in West Harbor, known today as Cedar Lodge. There they advertised “Baths, Showers and Simmons Beds”.
