Dool, Burt A.
1880-1934 | Laundry Owner
Burt Anderson Dool was born in Jefferson, Cass County, Michigan on October 9, 1880, the eldest of ten brothers and sisters of Robert and Georgiana Dool. His father was a farmer.[1]
Dool traveled from Michigan across the country to the west coast in search of opportunity and became involved in the laundry business, working for the Metropolitan Laundry in Seattle, Washington. He eventually became superintendent of the plant and worked there until 1922.
On August 15, 1910, Dool married Lillian DeHon in Seattle, Washington. In 1915, Eli DeHon, brother to Lillian DeHon, started the Pioneer Laundry at 739 Fourth Avenue, the first steam laundry in Anchorage. In 1916-1917, Eli DeHon and Elijah Ramsey probably built a large, one-and-one-half story house on the corner of M Street and Seventh Avenue. They started their laundry business at this location, though not necessarily in the frame house. By 1921, the entire Pioneer Laundry operation had been moved to Fourth Avenue.[2]
In 1922, Dool brought his wife, Lillian DeHon Dool, and her niece, Doris J. DeHon Dool (age four), to Anchorage to join Eli DeHon in operating the Pioneer Laundry. Several years later, Dool became the sole owner of the plant, which he operated until his death in 1934.[3]
Dool was a member of the Anchorage Chamber of Commerce. He was also a member of the Anchorage Elks Lodge, No. 1351, and the Independent Order of Odd Fellows (I.O.O.F.), Lodge 8A, Anchorage. He also was prominent in other civic activities.[4]
On April 11, 1934, Burt Anderson Dool died of a lingering illness, probably a stroke, at his home in Anchorage. He was buried in the I.O.O.F. Tract of the Anchorage Memorial Park Cemetery.[5]
Dool was survived by his widow, Lillian Dool, and her niece, Doris Dool (no relation to Burt A. Dool), of Anchorage; and a step-son Richard Scott, of Seldovia, Alaska.[6] Lillian Dool later married Jack Bergerson and she operated the laundry with her second husband until it was sold in the late 1940s or early 1950s.[7] On January 1, 1951, Lillian DeHon Dool Bergerson died in Anchorage. She was buried in the Anchorage Memorial Park Cemetery.[8]
In 1942, Doris Dool married Robert "Bob" Phillips and they had one child, Cherie Phillips Pickett, of Sequim, Washington.
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Endnotes
[1] Record No. 17, Burt Anderson Dool, Return of Births in the County of Cass for the Year Ending December 31st A.D. 1880, Department of Vital Statistics, Lansing, MI, 364, “Michigan Births, 1867-1902” [database with images], https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:NQ4G-DG4: 4 December 2014 (accessed November 21, 2016).
[2] Michael Carberry and Donna Lane, Patterns of the Past: An Inventory of Anchorage’s Historic Resources (Anchorage: Community Planning Department, Municipality of Anchorage, 1986), 43-44.
[3] John P. Bagoy, Legends & Legacies, Anchorage, 1910-1935 (Anchorage: Publications Consultants, 2001), 222-223; and Cherie Pickett, Sequim, WA, to John P. Bagoy, August 21, 1994, in Burt A. Dool file, Bagoy Family Pioneer Files (2004.11), Box 3, Atwood Resource Center, Anchorage Museum at Rasmuson Center, Anchorage, AK.
[4] “Burt A. Dool of Anchorage called to Final Rest,” Anchorage Daily Times, April 11, 1934, 8.
[5] Burt A. Dool, U.S., Find a Grave Index, 1600s-Current [database on-line], http://ancestry.com (accessed April 7, 2016).
[6] “Burt A. Dool of Anchorage called to Final Rest,” Anchorage Daily Times, April 11, 1934, 8.
[7] John P. Bagoy, Legends & Legacies, Anchorage, 1910-1935, 222-223; Jack T. Bergerson and Lillian Bergerson, 1940 U.S. Census, Anchorage, Third Judicial Division, Alaska, ED 3-21, page 24B, National Archives Microfilm Publication T627, Sixteenth Census of the United States, 1940, Roll 4580, 1940 United States Federal Census [database on-line], http://ancestry.com (accessed November 21, 2016); and Cherie Pickett, Sequim, WA, to John P. Bagoy, August 21, 1994, in Burt A. Dool file, Bagoy Family Pioneer Files (2004.11), Box 3, Atwood Resource Center, Anchorage Museum at Rasmuson Center, Anchorage, AK.
[8] Lillian Bergerson, U.S., Find a Grave Index, 1600s-Current [database on-line], http://ancestry.com (accessed November 21, 2016).
Sources
This biographical sketch of Burt A. Dool is based on an essay which originally appeared in John Bagoy's Legendes & Legacies, Anchorage, 1910-1935 (Anchorage, AK: Publications Consultants, 2001), 222-223. See also the Burt A. Dool file, Bagoy Family Pioneer Files (2004.11), Box 3, Atwood Resource Center, Anchorage Museum at Rasmuson Center, Anchorage, AK. Photographs courtesy of Sharon ("Cherie") Phillips Pickett of Sequim, WA. Edited by Mina Jacobs, 2012. Note: edited, revised, and expanded by Bruce Parham, November 21, 2016.
Preferred citation: Bruce Parham, “Dool, Burt A.,” Cook Inlet Historical Society, Legends & Legacies, Anchorage, 1910-1940, http://www.alaskahistory.org.
Major support for Legends & Legacies, Anchorage, 1910-1940, provided by: Anchorage Museum at Rasmuson Center, Atwood Foundation, Cook Inlet Historical Society, and the Rasmuson Foundation. This educational resource is provided by the Cook Inlet Historical Society, a 501 (c) (3) tax-exempt association. Contact us at the Cook Inlet Historical Society, by mail at Cook Inlet Historical Society, Anchorage Museum at Rasmuson Center, 625 C Street, Anchorage, AK 99501 or through the Cook Inlet Historical Society website, www.cookinlethistory.org.