By LEAH WEATHERSBY

Times were good for the Ballard district in the 1920s. The area was home to several important industries including fishing, lumber mills and shipyards and well as many other types of manufacturing plants. Construction and retail trade boomed. In fact, the shoppers weren't all local. Customers could take the Ballard-Kingston ferry from Olympic Peninsula to purchase goods in Ballard's bustling commercial core. Sure, a statewide prohibition had been in effect since 1916, but Ballard proved you didn't need alcohol to make the '20s roar.

Into the scene stepped the Ballard Chamber of Commerce. The organization was the neighborhood's biggest booster in a time ripe for progress and is still going strong after 75 years. (Although 1921 has been listed the start date for a precursor group called the Ballard Commercial Club, the Chamber recognizes 1927 as its official start date.)

Barry Hawley is a Ballard real estate agent and the son of one of the Chamber's founders, Dwight Hawley. Barry said that the Commercial Club likely started when it did because of a confluence of several factors.

"The war's over, you have people who want to get things done, and you have a vibrant economy," he said. "The Chamber's biggest accomplishment has been (to act as) a clearing house for improvements."

The Chamber's contributions to Ballard are too numerous to list in full, but they include supporting infrastructure improvements such as the construction of Seaview Avenue, a road linking Golden Gardens to Ballard's commercial district and building the breakwater, which made possible the development of the Shilshole Bay Marina.

The group raised $100,000 to build Ballard Hospital (now known as Swedish Medical Center/Ballard Campus) and was instrumental in renaming the Ballard Locks after Major Hiram Martin Chittenden of U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. Chittenden was responsible for several aspects of the locks' design including building them with concrete instead of wood. Early leaders of the Chamber included Dwight Hawley and M.B. "Mike" Mitchell.

Hawley was a Ballard son born and bred. He returned to the old neighborhood after serving in World War I.

In his professional life, Hawley served as secretary of the Ballard Elks until he decided to start his own insurance business. Eventually he became a state legislator from the Republican party in the 44th district, serving for over a decade in the '50s and '60s. He passed away in 1981 at the age of 86.

Another important founding member of the Chamber was Mitchell, publisher of the Ballard Tribune. Mitchell, a South Dakota native, moved to Seattle in 1915 to study journalism at the University of Washington. He ran the Ballard Tribune from 1920-1963, eventually selling the paper to the News Publishing Company, thereby merging it with the Ballard News, a competing publication. Like Dwight Hawley, Mitchell gravitated towards politics. He served on the Seattle City Council for 30 years and as a state legislator for four. He was also the first president of the Ballard Lions and Director of Lions International.

Ted Peterson was another early leader of the Chamber. Peterson owned a beautician's supply company in the district and served as a state senator over 25 years. He is remembered as a booster for was Ballard's bell tower, which was built and dedicated in 1990.

The Ballard Chamber of Commerce office is located at 2208 NW Market St. They can be reached by phone at 784-9705.