In One Ear: Yesterday’s news

Published 6:00 am Thursday, July 31, 2025

Old news rerun: Darwin Meiners, while pulling up old linoleum in an upstairs room, discovered 1941 newspapers covering the flooring below; several were Astorian Budgets. 

He’s fairly certain they were laid there by his grandfather, who owned the house from 1940 to 1942, when they moved into Astoria to be closer to medical care for their sick child. 

Set near the Lewis and Clark River, rumor has it that the four-bedroom house was built in 1915, using the wood from an old cheese factory that originally sat on the same foundation. It’s actually quite likely, as the full daylight cement basement has a trough down the middle, probably used to wash waste into the river. 

After his grandparents left, the house was out of the family for decades. Then one day in 1975, Darwin was driving by, and saw that the house, which is on three acres, was for sale. He snapped it up for $19,000 (about $113,500 now). 

“Not sure what I’m going to do with all of them after I finish going through them,” Darwin said of the newspapers he found. “I really enjoy looking at the sale ads and classifieds.” (Photo: Darwin Meiners) (In One Ear, 7/27/2018)