Renton History Museum

Before she left, Museum Office Aide Stephanie Snyder completed this excellent online exhibit about Longacres Racetrack. We're hoping this will keep your need for Renton history filled until the museum re-opens! Happy Fourth!

Longacres: Renton's Race Track History of Longacres Race Track in the 1930s and 40s

Liz and Stephanie will be here at the Renton History Museum for a few more days before the Museum closes for renovations in the month of July. Stop in and say hello, Tuesday, July 1 through Thursday, July 3, 10 am - 4 pm!

You never know when a new object will open up a Renton story you've never heard... This donated flyer for the May Valley Co-Op, located on 148th Ave. SE from 1955 through 1977, opens into the story of PCC, the local cooperative food market chain.

John Affolter moved his family to Seattle in 1949 to pursue his dream of creating cooperative housing; he also operated a food co-op from his basement. In 1955 he and other Seattle Cooperative Housing Association members purchased 55 acres east of Renton for the May Valley Co-op Community, also a housing cooperative. It survived as a housing co-op until 1977, when members voted to become a neighborhood. But Affolter kept the food club going at the Renton location. In 1960 the group voted to rename the co-op Puget Consumers Co-op. By 1967 the club had outgrown its more casual operations, and the health department shut down its May Valley location. The group opened its first storefront in Madrona and grew from there into PCC.