The Veterans of Foreign Wars of the United States was founded in 1899 when veterans of the Spanish-American War and the Philippine Insurrection arrived home wounded or sick. There was no medical care or veterans pension available so they formed local organizations to help obtain service benefits. Ballard Eagleson VFW Post 3063 carries on the VFW’s legacy with an active post that steadfastly supports Seattle-area veterans.
Ballard Eagleson VFW Post 3063 Historical Timeline
1926:
VFW Post 1416 initiated.
1949:
Plans to erect Post 3063 at 2812 NW Market St. were described in a newspaper article .
1953:
Original Post 3063 location built at 2812 NW Market Street.
1963:
Addition built that included the kitchen, new restrooms, and the small meeting hall.
1985:
Membership stood at 368 but even with that larger membership only had 10-20 members in attendance at meetings due to the ever-increasing attraction of television and the decreasing interest in patriotic organizations such as the VFW. Meetings occurred twice a month.
1989:
A motion was passed to change the second business meeting of the month to a social get together.
1993:
Post purchased current parking lot for $75,000.
1994:
VFW Post 1416 approached Post 3063 about consolidating. Their membership had been declining until they seldom had a quorum at their meetings. They sweetened the proposal by offering their savings of approximately $80,000 on the condition that we would combine their name, honoring Lt James Eagleson, with ours. Our membership approved the consolidation.
More can be read about Lt James Eagleson here and here.
2003:
Original front windows taken out and filled with concrete blocks.
2005:
The post sold the rental apartments it owned and invested the proceeds so it wouldn’t have to rely on hall rentals for income.
2016:
Today, even though there has been a resurgence in popularity of veterans, the national veterans’ organizations (along with fraternal organizations) all seem to be having trouble maintaining their membership. Fortunately, our post is bucking that national trend and even though our membership is about 140 the number of attendees at meetings and the social has gradually increased and now is a respectable 20-30 at the meetings and anywhere from 25-40 at the socials.