100-year-old home in Puyallup will be demolished. New parks trail to open next year
The vacant house on the hill near Wildwood Park is in bad shape, including water damage and damage to the roof, city spokesperson Eric Johnson told The News Tribune in an email.
Pierce County records show the home at 1701 13th St. SE was built in the 1920s, he said. The city bought it in 2022 for $500,000, according to Pierce County Assessor-Treasurer records.
Crews expected to start demolition Jan. 28 and finish it by Feb. 7, Johnson said. The city plans to build a trail through the property from Wildwood Park to the site of a future park at the bottom of the hill, the Labelle Neighborhood Park. He expects the trail to open next year.
The property has ties to a longtime mental health facility across the street. Dr. John Waldo Snoke founded the Puget Sound Sanitarium for Mental and Nervous Diseases in 1909, according to a South Hill Historical Society newsletter from 2011 and to Holly O'Brien, the curator for the Puyallup Historical Society at Meeker Mansion.
Snoke was the assistant superintendent of Western State Hospital in Steilacoom, O'Brien said.
'He purchased a failing sanitarium from another doctor in Steilacoom and, after a false start with some neighbors who were not too happy about another sanitarium in the neighborhood, he purchased what is known the Minnich property on South Hill,' she wrote in an email to The News Tribune. 'According to Dr. Snoke's son, 'the property already had a large home as well as several outbuildings.' The original Victorian home was converted into a hospital and several more buildings were added onto what became known as the Puget Sound Sanitarium.'
O'Brien said he thought his patients would benefit from 'fresh air and activity' and that there was a dairy on the property, according to a Tacoma Daily Ledger article.
'Dr. Snoke ran and lived at this facility for several years, bringing on his former co-worker Dr. Albert Cross Stewart,' O'Brien wrote. Snoke had a home built on the property in 1928.
'Dr. Snoke and his family lived in the house for a short time before turning over the sanitarium and the house to Dr. Stewart,' her email said. 'The Stewart family lived in the house and operated the facility until Dr. Stewart's death in 1944. Shortly after his death, Dr. Stewart's wife sold the sanitarium, but continued to live in the 1928 house.'
Stewart was stationed at Fort Lewis during World War I and studied 'shell shock' — post traumatic stress disorder, the South Hill Historical Society newsletter explained. His daughter, Laurie Stewart Minnich, remembered patients at the facility who suffered from flashbacks of the war.
He bought Snoke's facility 'with new ideas on how to better treat his patients,' the newsletter said.
Today the facility across from the 1928 house is the Luckett House, a residential behavioral health facility owned by MultiCare that helps 'people with serious chronic psychiatric conditions, such as bipolar disorder and schizophrenia, transition back to more independent community living situations,' the health system's website says.
Laurie Stewart Minnich and her husband, Scott Minnich, eventually moved into the 1928 home. Scott Minnich was an Air Force officer and was Puyallup's mayor from 1980-81. Their son, Bob Minnich, helped care for his mother in that home after his father died.
Both had strong ties to the region's history. Laurie Stewart Minnich volunteered at the Meeker Mansion for decades, and Bob Minnich was the longtime president of the Puyallup Historical Society.
Bob Minnich died in 2017 at the age of 66, and was posthumously awarded a lifetime achievement award by the Pierce County Heritage League for his historic preservation work, The News Tribune reported.
His mother lived in the home until 2019, O'Brien said.
Andy Anderson, a local historian and former president of the Puyallup Historical Society, was close friends with Bob Minnich. He said mother and son had geese, ducks and many peacocks on the property near Wildwood Park.
'They were pretty soft-hearted and wound up eventually with a lot of them,' he said. 'And a peacock is a noisy thing. And when they decided to go some place, they could wind up a half mile away, and there would be a call in the middle of the night: 'Bob, we've got one of your peacock.''
Anderson used to bring them peacock recipes as a joke.
He remembers the home as an old white house in the woods.
'The house is an interesting house,' he said. 'It is not a recognized historical property because nobody has gone through the paperwork, but there are some interesting windows that were designed by one of the followers of Frank Lloyd Wright.'
Bob Minnich said the windows were designed by architect Andrew P. Willatzen, Anderson said, who reportedly worked with Wright in the early 1900s.
Johnson, the city spokesperson, directed questions about the history of the home, including what will happen to the windows, to the Puyallup Historical Society at Meeker Mansion.
'We let their staff come and visit the house and take any items they believed to be of historical significance,' Johnson wrote.
O'Brien, the curator, gave The News Tribune a different account of the architectural history.
She said the 1928 home was 'designed by Seattle architect Andrew P. Willatzen who was rumored to have worked under Frank Lloyd Wright. However, the Historical Society has reached out to the Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation who have confirmed that there are no records of Andrew P. Willatzen working with Mr. Wright.'
She wrote that 'the architectural design is reminiscent of Frank Lloyd Wright design' and that they managed to confirm some sort of communication from Willatzen to Wright, but not about the Snoke house.
Anderson said he doesn't think many residents even know the home is there. It's hidden in the woods. He said the area used to be largely undeveloped, except for the Minnich property and an adjacent gravel pit.
The owner of the gravel pit had a private museum, he said, with an eclectic collection that included things like a Bavarian carriage, among other oddities. Bob Minnich was interested, and Anderson remembered that when Minnich finished taking his time going through it one day, the owner met him at the other end and told him he hadn't taken long enough.
O'Brien said she thinks Vinton 'Vint' Greeley and his wife Grace started that gravel pit in the 1940s, and ran Hilltop Gravel Company until 1959.
'The Greeley family lived nearby where they owned and operated the Puyallup Frontier Museum,' O'Brien wrote. 'There are people who remember the gravel pit who grew up in the area around the 1960s, but otherwise there is not much in the historic records to report on.'
The museum is gone, and today the gravel pit is a subdivision of homes just off 23rd Avenue Southeast.
'Everyone who goes through that part of South Hill today thinks it's always been that way,' Anderson said.
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National Geographic
11 hours ago
- National Geographic
Face wraps promise a snatched jawline—but do they really work?
A snug compression wrap promises to sculpt the jawline, but experts say its effects are only skin deep. The trend's fleeting results come from temporarily shifting lymphatic fluid beneath the skin. Photograph by Rebecca Hale, National Geographic Once a niche beauty technique practiced by only the most devout anti-aging obsessives, face wrapping has recently surged into the skincare spotlight. Beauty fans are raving about these snug, balaclava-like wraps and their supposed tightening and 'snatching' effects. But can a stretchy wrap really reduce your jowls and tone your jawline? Here's what experts have to say. What can face wraps do? The use of compression garments for treating facial scars dates back to World War I. It became widespread in aesthetic surgery in the 1980s and is still used today for post-operative patients. A 2019 literature review showed a statistically significant improvement in facial scars with the use of pressure masks and a 2023 study on facial skin cancer patients found long-term stable aesthetic outcomes after 10 months of mask use. 'The body's natural reaction to a surgery is to swell, to gather fluid,' says Foad Nahai, a plastic surgeon from MetroDerm, who requires patients to wear compression garments for up to a week after a facelift. 'It compresses and reduces the swelling in front of the ear, especially on the neck.' Compression is also 'incredibly effective' for treating scars, especially burns, he says. 'Early in my career, when I was taking care of burn victims, we used to put them in a custom-made face mask—not unlike the wraps that you see on social media – to compress the scars.' (How much SPF is enough? Here's what to know about sunscreen.) 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'If you compress too tight, you compress all the arteries and the blood vessels, and there won't be as much blood coming through into the tissues.' Over time, this reduced blood flow can deprive skin cells of oxygen and nutrients, slowing repair and potentially harming skin health. It will also not improve laxity, the firmness and elasticity of skin that decreases as we age due to the decline in collagen and elastin. 'The only thing that really changes skin sagging is if you can alter the collagen, elastin, or fat distribution in the face, and none of these can be done with compression alone,' Kopelman explains. Nosworthy adds that if you can hold a 'full pinch' of sagging skin between your fingers, surgery is likely the only way to tighten it effectively. (Interested in wellness? Learn more about the real science behind popular trends.) 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Buzz Feed
6 days ago
- Buzz Feed
15 Dark Historical Facts You Didn't Know About
It's no secret to anyone who's read my content on the internet: I've been obsessed with history lately. And recently, I was scrolling through the depths of the internet when I stumbled upon some dark historical facts that I seriously can't shake. It's been days, and I'm still thinking about them. There's something so shocking and fascinating about an eerie historical event that few people actually know about. So we're gonna learn about some of those today! I'll warn you: Some of these are really intense, so if you're sensitive to stories about dark topics, I'd proceed with caution. The Dancing Plague of 1518 is one of history's weirdest and scariest events. It happened in Strasbourg, now in France, and it's exactly what it sounds like: hundreds of people began dancing and supposedly couldn't stop. They were dancing consistently for days on end. 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People (wrongfully) thought radium was safe for humans to handle because it had worked in some cancer treatments, so female factory workers started putting it in everyday products like makeup and even toothpaste in the early 20th century. The radium they were handling made their skin literally glow, and they were assured it wasn't dangerous…but of course, it was. The workers slowly began developing terrible illnesses and later dying of radium poisoning — and they're now called the "Radium Girls." Before the atomic bomb was made, one of the largest explosions was a ship accident in Halifax, Canada in 1917. Two ships crashed into each other in the harbour, which wasn't unheard of — but the problem was that one of the ships was full of explosives that were intended to be used for battle in World War I. So when the ships hit each other, it caused a literal tsunami. The ship's explosion and resulting tsunami killed 2,000 people and left 9,000 more with permanent injuries. Plus, part of the city of Halifax was totally "wiped out" as a result, leaving thousands more without shelter. If you've got a weak tummy, I'd skip this one…because "The Great Stink of 1858" is enough to give me nightmares. It happened in London, and was caused by intense heat along with all the sewage people poured into the River Thames. And by the way, when I say the lake was full of sewage, that also includes household garbage, and even a few dead bodies. This led to virus outbreaks and death, along with horrendous living conditions for, well, everyone. Time for something a bit lighter. The Great Emu War of 1932 happened in Australia, and it was humbling, to say the least. It started when Australian soldiers were instructed to kill 20,000 emus — there were just too many of them, and they were killing crops. Seemed like a simple task, but the emus were just too strong and too numerous. The soldiers only managed to kill less than a thousand in a couple months, and the emus were eventually declared the winners of the war. The species is now protected by the government! So there you go, happy endings! In the mid-19th century, around 81 American pioneers (including children) were on their way to California when a snowstorm began. The conditions left them completely stranded. At that point, around half of the survivors allegedly (and unwillingly) engaged in cannibalism, eating the bodies of the people who'd already died, just to stay alive once their food supply was empty. The terrifying incident is now called the "Donner party," named after one of the families on the trip. Only around half of the original group survived. Similarly, in 1820, a whaling ship was travelling across the Pacific Ocean when a whale punctured and sank the ship. The 20 survivors loaded into small boats to travel to the closest land — which was more than 1,300 miles away. 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In 1876 in Kentucky, the unthinkable happened: chunks of meat started falling from the sky, out of nowhere. Locals were all baffled, and couldn't think of an explanation as to how it could've happened (which makes sense, yanno, because meat literally started RAINING from the sky). The grossest part? Some people actually tasted the sky-meat. Finally, a scientist figured it out: The "meat shower" was actually just "vulture vomit," birds spitting out their food up above. We're all aware many people were hanged for committing crimes until about the mid-20th century (depending on where you live). These executions were pretty straightforward and didn't typically have any major roadblocks. Well, in 1885, a man named John "Babbacombe" Lee was convicted of murdering a woman named Emma Anne Whitehead Keyse…but he actually survived his hanging. Here's what supposedly happened: The executioner tried to drop the trap door to complete the hanging, but it got stuck — not once, not twice, but THREE times. John was sentenced to a lifetime in prison after that, and now he's known as "The Man They Couldn't Hang." You know when people talk about asteroids hitting the Earth and you convince yourself that it'd never really happen? Well, it actually did. In 1908, the Tunguska Asteroid hit Earth, falling right through the atmosphere (that's where most asteroids break down…but this one stayed intact). The asteroid "exploded in the skies all over Siberia," and caused tons of damage including "forest fires, and trees blown over for miles," according to NASA. Because so few people lived there, it didn't make much news, but it sure was rare — and pretty freaky, if you ask me. The US's first documented serial killer is called H.H. Holmes, and he was active in the late 19th century. He owned a lot in Chicago where he built his "Murder Castle," which is exactly as horrifying as it sounds. The building was reportedly full of "booby traps," including "soundproof rooms," "secret passageways," "trapdoors," and allegedly a "crematorium." We're not totally sure what was in there, or even how many victims he had, because the initial reports were supposedly exaggerated…but that just makes it scarier in my eyes. H.H. Holmes was eventually hanged, and the Murder Castle was burned, then later torn down. The Italian Hall Disaster of 1913 happened in Michigan on Christmas Eve. At the time, in a village called Calumet, copper miners were striking. The miners and their families were celebrating Christmas Eve together when someone allegedly yelled "Fire!" — and this led to a rush of people trying to exit the hall. That's when tragedy struck. The stampede of people led to 73 deaths from suffocation, with the majority of them being children. It's still unclear how exactly it all went down, but the event is still memorialized every year in the town. In 1814, London experienced (dare I say, the world's first and only) "beer tsunami," which killed eight people. Yes, beer. So how did it happen? I'll explain. You could call it a freak accident: A tank at a brewery exploded, crashed through the building's walls and into the streets. And it sure wasn't small — we're talking about 320,000 gallons of beer here, in a giant uncontrollable wave. Now, what's a dark historical fact that others probably wouldn't know about? Tell me in this quick form, or in the comments below! And check out BuzzFeed Canada on TikTok and Instagram for more fascinating stuff! 🧠
Yahoo
11-08-2025
- Yahoo
7 Little Things Pilates Instructors Really Wish You'd Stop Doing in Class
Pilates isn't like a lot of other workouts. Rather than pushing to go faster or harder or do more, the challenge often comes from moving very specifically with precise control. To an outsider's eye, sometimes it honestly doesn't look like you're doing much at all. 'It might feel very different than what you're used to,' certified Pilates instructor Jennifer Phelan, founder of JPPilates in Boston, tells SELF. That means bringing old fitness habits with you isn't always helpful; you might need to take a slightly different approach from usual. This can make Pilates sound intimidating, but it doesn't have to be. To be sure we know exactly how we should be tackling this workout, we asked a handful of Pilates instructors about the most common mistakes they see students make—and what we can do instead to get everything we can out of stepping into the studio. 1. You rush through the exercises. The pace of Pilates can often be uncomfortably slow. But that's on purpose: Rather than letting momentum do a bunch of the work, Pilates builds strength by moving in a steady, controlled way. This gives you time to focus on proper form—keeping your spine neutral and not arching, and your hips even—which is essential to getting the full benefits (and avoiding injury). So when students speed up exercises in a mistaken attempt to make them more challenging or simply get them over with faster, they miss out. 'Faster doesn't mean that it's harder or better,' Phelan says. 'In fact, it's really challenging to move at a slow and mindful speed.' Certified Pilates instructor Chelsea Stewart, founder of HAVN Hot Pilates in Denver, tells SELF that when you rush through the motions, you're less likely to engage the right muscles. 'When you're going so fast, the integrity of the move has now gone away.' Remember, Pilates isn't meant to be a cardio workout—it's designed to strengthen your muscles and improve your stability. What to do instead: Don't worry about getting your heart rate up during Pilates. Take things slow enough that you can zero in on activating the right muscles, Stewart says. 'Really listen to the tempo that the instructor sets and try to follow their cues,' Phelan adds. Hint: If you focus on moving with proper form at all times, you won't have any choice but to do the exercises at the right pace. One cue Stewart likes to give clients is to think of their pelvis as a bucket filled with water. 'If you're pushing your butt back [or] too far forward, then the water spills out,' she says. Thinking about keeping the bucket level will help put your lower spine and hips where they're supposed to be. 2. You hold your breath. In Pilates, how you breathe isn't just a supplemental afterthought; it's a choreographed part of every exercise, designed to assist your form. 'The breath is just as important as the actual movement,' Phelan says. Yet it's all too common for students to hold their breath rather than follow the instructor's inhale-exhale cues. This can make the movements feel so much harder than they need to be. 'When you're coming up to a full teaser from a lying down position, if you don't breathe, your performance will not be good,' certified Pilates instructor Nofar Hagag, founder of Nofar Method in New York City and Miami, tells SELF. Stewart explains that when you exhale correctly on a contraction, you're able to get more muscle engagement in your core. It's easy to see how this works: 'Even just sitting down, if you contract your core and exhale, you'll see how much more activation you can get instead of just trying to contract,' she says. What to do instead: The general rule in Pilates is to inhale during the part of the movement when you're lengthening, then exhale during the contraction, Stewart says. So for example, during the Double Leg Stretch, you'll breathe in when you extend your arms and legs away from you, then breathe out as you curl them back toward your chest. She acknowledges that a good instructor can be a huge help by cuing the breath effectively (without becoming such a broken record that the room tunes them out). But if you're relying on yourself, just try to get into the habit of exhaling forcefully during any contractions—once you've pushed out that air, your lungs will then automatically suck in more. 3. You chat with your besties mid-class. Pilates has become übertrendy these days, which means it's sometimes turned into a social event, with chatty conversations infiltrating the studio. 'You'll get a group coming to class, they go get coffee after, and they'll start talking,' Stewart says. Carissa Fernandez, a certified master Pilates instructor for Club Pilates in Colorado, tells SELF she sees this happen at least once or twice a week. While a quick 'Woo, girl!' after a tough move can spread good vibes, having a full-on convo can disrupt both the teacher and other students. And if you have enough energy to chat, you're probably not putting as much effort into class as you could be. (Not to mention, it's hard to pull off those all-important inhales and exhales when you're busy yakking.) 'You don't want to spend 45 minutes to an hour half-assing your workout and then be like, 'Oh my gosh, I have to go work out again,'" Stewart points out. What to do instead: Dial in during your workout—you paid good money for it, after all—then catch up with your friends. Find it's simply too tempting to gab between leg circles? Fernandez suggests setting yourself up on the opposite sides of the room. Or, if you're just really in need of a good vent sesh, ditch the studio and get your sweat in by going for a walk or run together instead. 4. You bring distractions with you. We get it: We're all busy, and the drive to multitask can get the better of us when our devices let us easily connect to work, our families, and all our other obligations. Hagag says she's seen people leave a voice memo on their watch in the middle of class, and even had clients leave Zoom running on their phones so they can 'be' at a meeting remotely (off-camera, of course). But these distractions take away from what you could otherwise be getting out of the workout, particularly since so much of Pilates is about that mind-body connection and deep concentration on form. 'If you're not present in the workout, you really get only 50% of the benefit, in my opinion,' Hagag says. What to do instead: Even if you're not actively scrolling Instagram during The Hundred, it's all too easy for a notification to steal your attention. So it's best to leave your phone out of the studio if you can, and set your watch to Do Not Disturb. As a business owner herself, Stewart understands that this can be tough. She suggests framing the challenge of disconnecting as a mindfulness practice. 'It's the ultimate trust-fall that everything is going to be okay for 45 minutes to an hour,' she says. If that's not possible—maybe you've got a sick kid or you're on call—give the instructor a heads up. Stewart says that for students who want it, teachers at her studio will sometimes keep an eye on the student's phone at the front of the studio in case anything comes up, giving students the chance to work out distraction-free. 5. You try to keep up with your neighbors. With legs reaching into the air at all angles, it's easy to start to compare your positions to the person next to you during group classes. But trying to match your neighbor misses the point. 'Pilates isn't about how you look, but how you feel when you're practicing it,' Phelan says. Just because someone can straighten their leg all the way while you can't, that doesn't mean they're doing it better than you are, she says. 'You just might not be as flexible as them, but you're still working your core in the same way.' What to do instead: Instead of looking around the room, reflect on how you move and how you breathe, Hagag says. 'Everyone has a different body, different needs,' she says. 'Maybe what spring works for you doesn't work for them.' Phelan recommends thinking back to what drew you to class in the first place: It was likely to feel stronger and more powerful in your own body, not to copy the person next to you. If you find yourself struggling to stop the comparisons, try closing your eyes during certain exercises to refocus inward, she suggests. 6. Your clothes hold you back. Despite what fitfluencers on TikTok might have you believe, there's no one right 'Pilates aesthetic' to wear to the studio. Yet you do want to make sure your outfit is serving you. 'I don't love when clients show up wearing really baggy, loose-fitting clothes,' Phelan admits. As comfy as your fave sweats and oversized T-shirt may be, they can keep your teacher from being able to check on your form. 'If I can't see your spine moving or what's happening in your pelvis, it can be really tricky for me to give feedback,' Phelan says. On the other hand, Fernandez says she's had students take class in jeans when they've forgotten to bring workout clothes. 'It's a little hard to get your dexterity in your knees when you're wearing hard pants,' she says. Also: Pay attention to the studio's rules around socks. Some, like Club Pilates, for instance, require students to wear grip socks for better traction (and hygiene). Other instructors encourage bare feet so you have a more tactile connection to the mat or equipment. Just be sure to take off your everyday cotton socks that can leave you slipping and sliding around. What to do instead: Your clothes don't need to be skin-tight, Phelan says. Just make sure they're form-fitting—and stretchy—enough around the low back and pelvis so that your instructor can see your alignment as you move through the exercises. If you forgot your usual gear at home, Fernandez says that's why studios often sell apparel in the lobby (even if it is on the expensive side). 7. You don't speak up. The instructor is there to help you get the most out of the workout, so share the info they need to help make that happen. Maybe it's your first time or you have an injury or pregnancy that might limit certain movements—so tell them. 'It's easy to modify everything,' Fernandez says. 'We just need to be aware of what we have to modify.' If you simply try to make your own way through the exercises yourself, you could further injure something or just not get the full benefit, Fernandez says. 'You're going to get a way better experience if you let your instructor know what's happening,' Phelan adds. What to do instead: At the start of class, most teachers will ask if there are any first-timers or injuries they should know about, so speak up. 'You don't need to do a deep dive—a couple of sentences letting your teacher know what's going on,' Phelan says. Of course, you might not want to blurt out something personal in front of an entire room. You can always pull the teacher aside before class begins or give the front desk a heads up so they can pass it on, Fernandez suggests. 'I get emails from students who will say, Hey, I got injured last weekend. Is there anything I should know before class?" Phelan says. Of course, sometimes we don't realize something's not right until mid-way through a workout. In this case, Phelan suggests flagging down or making eye contact with the teacher so they can come over to help you. Don't let these tendencies stop you from practicing. If some of these mistakes hit a little close to home, don't beat yourself up. Even the most dedicated Pilates practitioners can be guilty of them from time to time. 'I can find myself getting misaligned and out of form, so I too constantly have to check in, slow down, and remind myself that form and alignment is key!' Stewart admits. The good news? The more consistently you practice, the more you'll strengthen that mind-body connection that Pilates emphasizes, and make the right habits come naturally. In the meantime, don't let the intimidation factor of Pilates keep you from trying—even if you have to 'fake it' a bit until you figure out the right approach, Stewart says: 'Do not worry. You are going to be great.' Related: 17 Pilates Exercises That Really Work Your Core Do You Really Get a 'Better' Workout With Lagree Than With Pilates? Does Pilates 'Count' as Strength Training? Get more of SELF's great fitness coverage delivered right to your inbox—for free. Originally Appeared on Self
