You may not know this historical home is a public park. It’s set for $1 million update
A historical house on Sumner’s Main Street needs some TLC, and it’s going to receive it as early as this summer.
The early stages of renovation work on the Lucy V. Ryan Park, also known as the Ryan House, have begun. The City Council dedicated $125,000 this month from the city’s lodging tax so renovations on the house can begin in August.
“It’s time to give this building some love,” city spokesperson Carmen Palmer said.
It has been over 90 years since the city took ownership of the house at 1228 Main St. The family that lived in the house initially were lumber mill owners and farmed hops, fruits and vegetables.
Over the years, the house has served as the city’s post office, town hall, library and museum. The Sumner Historical Society has been the tenant for the last 40 years, Palmer said, and they’re in the process of formalizing an agreement with the city.
With the upcoming renovation work, the city hopes to open the house to the public as much as possible. Before the pandemic, the house was generally open 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. Saturdays and Sundays during summer months and around the holidays. The house is oftentimes seen as private property and not a city park, Palmer said.
“It’s their money paying for this — heating from the boiler, keeping the grounds beautiful,” Palmer said. “We need to build that connection and that value back in for everybody.”
The renovations are necessary for the house to serve Sumner another 100 years, according to the city’s website. It will also allow people to host meetings, classes or gatherings while attracting visitors to Main Street.
The first thing the $125,000 will do is tear the panels out from the ceiling of the cabin part of the house. Before the house turned into what it is now, it was originally a cedar cabin. Other parts were built shortly after the Ryan family bought it, Palmer said.
The cabin was first built around the 1850s. Lucy Ryan and her husband, George Ryan, moved in around 1875. They added a second story as they raised their five children. Lucy Ryan was known as the town’s postmistress and George Ryan was Sumner’s first mayor in 1891, according to the Sumner Historical Society’s website.
The city plans to install multiple ADA-accessible doors on the first floor, Palmer said. Plans to include two restrooms and a working kitchen are also on the table. The house will also get a new HVAC system as the house still has its original boiler room.
The city is also considering adding more components to the museum when renovations are finished, Palmer said. One of the children who lived in the house often wrote about the city during the 1960s and the farmworkers who worked with the family, she said.
Most of the farmworkers were Native American and Chinese, Palmer said. One of the stories was about Lucy Ryan wondering if her sons would ever learn to eat with a fork because they learned to eat with chopsticks as one of the cooks taught them, she said.
During WWII, the city lost some of its residents when the Japanese internment camp was established at the Puyallup fairgrounds. The city is considering featuring some pieces from the Puyallup’s Japanese American Citizens League, Palmer said.
“We would like to tell all of Sumner’s stories, especially the stories that have maybe not been told over time,” Palmer said.
Although $125,000 has been secured for the house, it will not be enough. The city will continue applying for grants as the total cost to renovate the exterior and interior of the house is about $1 million, Palmer said.
Before renovation work can begin in August, the historical society needs time to clear out items that have been stored in the house, Palmer said. The city anticipates the historical society will finish clearing out by the end of July.
“This house has been really integral to Sumner throughout its history, and we’d like to bring it back to that level of importance,” Palmer said.
This story was originally published February 22, 2022 at 5:00 AM.
