Nationally syndicated cartoonist George J. Smith moved his family and seven children to a new home in Mt. Angel, Oregon. The house at 880 Taylor Street was built around 1912 and had formerly served as a residence for Mt. Angel College students.

It was one stop on the long migration from Brooklyn magazine rounds to the Cascade foothills — city to college town to the woods above White Salmon. The strip went with them. So did the kitchen, the arguments, and the eleven-child track meet, whether all eleven were still at home or not.