Ezra Manning Meeker (1830-1928) was born in Iowa and traveled the Oregon Trail eventually settling in what would become Puyallup, Washington, in 1862. He grew hops for brewing beer and he was known as the "Hop King of the World," as his agricultural business made him a wealthy man. Unfortunately, an infestation of hop aphids in 1891 destroyed his crops and took much of his fortune. The artist, Louise Crow Boyac (1891 – 1968), was born and raised in Seattle, a member of the Moran family. Crow achieved recognition for her Impressionistic landscape and figure paintings. Crow studied with Paul Gustin, Frank Duveneck, Rene Menard, and William M. Chase, winning an award of excellence in the latter’s important class in California. Widely recognized for the brilliance of her work during her lifetime, she exhibited both nationally and internationally at the Oakland Art Gallery, Seattle Fine Arts Society, Corcoran Art Gallery, and the Autumn Salon in Paris. Crow was an influential teacher at Cornish College of the Arts, Saint Nicholas School, the Bush School, and at her own studio.
