Sena Park: paying tribute to an independent Issaquah woman

She ran a successful business, traveled the world and chose her career over marriage.

And she was born in 1891.

Yes, that’s 1891, not 1991.

Sena Wold was not only one of Issaquah’s most notable pioneers, but was a woman who defied the conventions of her day to carve out a fulfilling life for herself.

And Sena Park, the city of Issaquah’s newest park, found along Issaquah Creek near the Atlas Apartments, pays tribute to this early businesswoman in its name.

“It’s a nice way to recognize someone who was a significant member of the Issaquah community and did some really remarkable things given her time and gender,” said Erica Maniez, executive director of the Issaquah History Museums.

The youngest of four children of Norwegian and Danish settlers Lars and Henrietta (née Walter) Wold, Sena Wold was born the year before Issaquah became incorporated. She received an unusually good education for a girl of her day; after graduating high school in Seattle, Sena and her sister Mary went on to attend the Washington State Normal School (what would one day become Central Washington University) in Ellensburg.

Maniez guessed that Sena was considering going into teaching, as normal schools were typically teacher training schools — the New Whatcom Normal School (established 1893) and Cheney Normal School (established 1882) were the beginnings of Western and Eastern Washington Universities.

Sena returned to her hometown, where she established a poultry farm that was home to not only chickens, but dogs, cats, domesticated birds and horses.

“She was very interested in animals, so it wasn’t very surprising that she ended up founding a poultry farm,” Maniez said.

Sena proved herself an astute businesswoman, and her poultry farm reached high levels of success. By 1930, the farm and Wold house together were worth $4,000 — not a small sum in those days. What’s more, Sena was so committed to her career that she was willing to embark on large journeys, such as a business trip to London in 1930.

“She was so serious about [farming] that she went to the World Poultry Congress in London, which was a pretty big deal,” Maniez said, explaining, “This was an era when a big trip for a woman would have been to take the train into Seattle.”

Mary Wold, too, was unafraid to leave her small town behind and venture out into the world, even if it meant facing dangerous situations. During World War I, she served as a nurse in Siberia, braving cold temperatures and the unimaginable horrors of battle injuries.

It was not only in their travels that the Wold sisters broke the mold of societal expectations for women in a man’s world. Neither sister married or had children, preferring to stay single until death.

“I think they liked their independence,” Maniez said.

The young women even formed a group called the “Odd Old Maids Club” with their friends. The Odd Old Maids took part in somewhat unusual activities, such as dressing up in men’s clothing and going fishing or having tea parties on the porch in the costumes of fairy tale characters.

The Issaquah Independent, the town’s newspaper at the time (which would later become the Issaquah Press), ran articles speculating on why young ladies would behave in such a way and concluded that they must be trying to attract husbands.

Maniez, however, believes that the club was created for the opposite reason — after all, rather than be embarrassed of the name “old maids,” the young, unmarried women embraced the title. Taking on traditionally masculine actions, such as wearing trousers and going fishing, were ways for the women to break free from gender restrictions and have the kind of freedom that marriage might take away from them.

“They were very educated women and they definitely had a sense of humor,” Maniez said. “They were definitely feminists — they had their own ideas.”

Naming a city park after such a strong female role model, then, was only appropriate, according to the Issaquah City Council. What’s more, the parkland was once part of the Wold farm; the farmhouse, now part of Gilman Village, is the only of the village’s buildings that was not moved.

“This was a really strong, independent young lady for this time period … and I think she’s a good role model for our young kids today and I’m glad we chose her,” Councilmember Eileen Barber had stated at the Oct. 3, 2016 council meeting, just before the council unanimously approved the naming of the new park.

“She represents a strong female presence in early Issaquah history,” Maniez said.