Edmonds' Historic Log Cabin

Known to residents and visitors alike as "The Log Cabin," the rustic building at the corner of Fifth and Bell is a piece of living history with quite a story to tell.

The saga of the cabin begins in 1930 when Gaston Alfred Beck Ganahl embarked on construction of his dream home in Edmonds' Seaview Heights neighborhood.

Born in St. Louis and raised in Southern California, Ganahl started out working for various lumber firms. His big break came in 1922 when he was hired by international timber baron, shipping magnate and philanthropist Robert Dollar.

Dollar's empire extended around the globe, and included wharves in China, offices in Egypt, warehouses in Hong Kong and shipping facilities in Italy. He had extensive holdings on both U.S. coasts and the Great Lakes. Locally, his numerous holdings in Washington and Oregon included a lumber mill in Mukilteo. At the time of his death in 1932, he had the largest fleet of sailing ships, cargo and passenger liners operating under the U.S. flag. (Learn more about Robert Dollar.)

Ganahl traveled the world for Dollar, amassing a small fortune of his own in the process. In the late 1920s, he became manager of Dollar's Seattle division, where he would remain for the rest of his life.

After the death of his wife Nell in 1930, Ganahl purchased a sizable tract in Seaview Heights. He immediately began work on a grand home featuring lighted tennis courts and other Gatsby-esque appurtenances geared to entertaining and accommodating numerous guests in jazz-age style.

Ganahl's travels and business dealings had brought him into contact with an array of famous people from around the globe, and over the years his Seaview guest list featured many notables of the time, including the actress Gertrude Lawrence and Ernest Simpson. Simpson was also in the shipping business, and the second husband of Wallis Simpson, who later married the former King Edward, Duke of Windsor.

Ganahl's frequent guests would often outstrip the capacity of the main house, moving him to build a guest house on the property. On an earlier visit to Yellowstone Park, he had been taken by the rustic charm of the park's guest cabins.

He located a builder who had overseen construction of many of these, and in 1930 contracted with him to erect a hand-hewn Douglas Fir cabin on his property to be used as a guest house. All materials were taken from the land surrounding the construction site, the stairway handrail coming from a young bent tree. The cabin was used often during the next 15 years by visiting relatives and friends.

In 1945, Ganahl sold off the section of his property that included the main house and the log cabin to Lee and Dorie Hanley. Ganahl built another home for himself on the remaining property, now the site of Seaview Elementary School, and retained Edmonds as his home base until his death in 1958. 

(The Hanleys' daughter, Bridget Hanley, is best known for her starring role as Candy Pruitt on the ABC series Here Come The Brides. Her career spans more than 30 years of TV, films and theater. She co-starred in the television series Harper Valley PTA and has been a guest star on many other television series as well as being an accomplished theater actress.)

In 1947, Dorie Hanley's parents, John and Thyra Nihlroos, moved from Illinois and made the cabin their permanent home. John, originally from Sweden, added improvements that gave the cabin a distinct Swedish flare with Nordic style flower boxes, gardens, cabinetry, shelves and trim.

John died in 1959 at age 73, and Thyra continued to live in the cabin for more than 25 years. When the Hanleys sold the property in 1975, they donated the cabin to the City of Edmonds, hoping it might make a good Bicentennial project.

Later that year the City decided to move the cabin to the corner at Fifth Avenue and Bell Street, site of Edmonds' original City Hall. The trip from its original location in the 8500 block of 188th Street SW began on August 27, 1975. The journey to downtown was slow and arduous, and involved disconnecting and reconnecting utililty lines along the entire route to allow the 26-foot high peaked roof to pass.  

At the end of the first day the cabin had arrived at the foot of Maplewood Hill near the present Olympic View Deli. The next day it completed its journey and was set up next to the Carnegie Library, which now houses the and the offices of the Edmonds South Snohomish County Historical Society.

The Edmonds Chamber of Commerce set up its new quarter in the cabin in March 1976, and it was formally dedicated as the Bicentennial Cabin on July 4, 1976. In 1990, the cabin became the Edmonds Visitors Information Center, a collaboration of the City of Edmonds, the Port of Edmonds and the Edmonds Chamber of Commerce. It provides information, maps, brochures and other information to the public. The Chamber offices are now across Fifth Avenue on the street level of City Hall.

In the mid 1990s the cabin, now 60 years old, was in need of extensive repair. In addition to rotting logs, leaking roofs and faulty gutters, it needed an entirely new foundation.

In 1998, the grass roots Save Our Cabin Committee was formed, issued an appeal for donations and ultimately raised more than $100,000 through hundreds of individual private donations. The roof and rotting timbers were replaced, the interior was refinished and a new foundation was constructed. The committee presented the restored cabin once again to the City of Edmonds in November, 2000.

Today the cabin is home to the Edmonds Visitor Center. Staffed by volunteers, the cabin is open weekdays from 9 am to 4 pm, and Saturdays from 10 am to 2 pm. Now officially known as the Ganahl-Hanley Cabin in recognition of its former owners, it is a piece of living history that enhances the historic and cultural ambiance of downtown Edmonds.

Volunteers are needed to staff the information desk, meet and greet visitors, and provide information on local attractions. Call the Visitor Center at 425-776-6711.