In 1946 McVicar Hardware became the first business to occupy a new storefront building owned by Henry R. Hansen of the adjacent tavern.  Business owner Grant McVicar became a leader in the growing Wedgwood community, and one of his initiatives was to seek to establish a post office in the neighborhood.

The Wedgwood Post Office in the center of the neighborhood at 7724 35th Ave NE.  On its north side is the Hunter Tree Farm.   Photo by Valarie, August 2025.

Wedgwood takes shape in the 1940s

The Wedgwood business district hosts trick or treat for Halloween. Cartoon by Bob Cram, September 1994 Wedgwood Community Council Newsletter.

After World War Two ended in 1945 the new Wedgwood neighborhood grew with young families and with new businesses like McVicar Hardware at 8507 35th Ave NE.

A business center grew up at the NE 85th Street intersection with a grocery store (McCullough’s IGA) a drugstore (Bud Gagnon’s) and many other kinds of shops such as a barber and a drycleaner.

In the next block to the north at NE 86th Street, there was a gas station, insurance office, a cafe and an electrical & heating contractor.  There were community activities with the businesses, such as Halloween window-painting, which Mr. McVicar started in 1953.

In the 1950s & 1960s there was as yet no Internet, email, or social media.  Nearly everyone read newspapers for news and advertising.  Businesses were very dependent upon the U.S. Postal Service for sending out billing statements by mail.  Postal services were essential for receiving letters and packages.  But Wedgwood had no post office, so anyone who wanted to buy stamps or mail packages had to go to a post office in another neighborhood such as the University District.

Lake City Post Office built in 1956

In 1954 northeast neighborhoods, including Wedgwood and Lake City, finally came within the City Limits of Seattle.  Then businessmen like Grant McVicar increased their efforts to get more convenient access to postal service.

Although the Wedgwood & Lake City neighborhoods were not exactly “rivals,” Wedgwood businessmen noted that Lake City had already gotten a post office in 1956, just as Lake City also got its own fire station before Wedgwood did.

Looking for a location for a Wedgwood post office

When I interviewed him in 1992, Grant McVicar told me that in the early 1960s he’d invited postal officials to meet at his home, to discuss the issue of getting a post office in Wedgwood.  The problem was to find an available location.

At that time in the early 1960s a controversy called Shearwater was going on, in the eastern part of Wedgwood along 40th Ave NE.  Shearwater was a cluster of Navy barracks buildings which were still occupied by personnel assigned to the Naval Air Station on Sand Point Way NE (today’s Magnuson Park).  Neighbors wanted to get rid of the barracks buildings and make this area of Wedgwood, single-family housing only.

Shearwater barracks buildings as photographed in 1961. Courtesy of the National Archives of Seattle.

In 1961 some of the Shearwater property was divested for the construction of Decatur Elementary School at 7711 43rd Ave NE.

The postal service was interested in purchasing a parcel of the Shearwater property at the corner of 40th Ave NE & NE 80th Street.  But there was vigorous push-back from the neighbors who did not want any commercial development on 40th Ave NE.

Another 1960s controversy in Wedgwood was regarding the use of property at 7744 35th Ave NE, which had been a plant nursery called Wedgwood Gardens.  A developer had wanted to buy the site to become a grocery store and shopping center, but the City declined the application for rezoning.  The Wedgwood Gardens site stood vacant and was a bit of an eyesore.

The Wedgwood Gardens site in 1962, no longer in business.  A realtor with the sign “Select Homes” was using the old sales building. Seattle Municipal Archives photo #76712.

A site is found

Herkenrath house in its original location, present site of the Wedgwood Post Office.

The Wedgwood Gardens property finally was put up for sale in three parcels.  In 1963 Wedgwood Presbyterian Church bought two lots, the one at the corner of NE 80th Street and the middle one.

The Herkenrath house was on the southernmost of the three lots at 7724 35th Ave NE.  Circa 1962 the house was moved to 8004 36th Ave NE.

In 1967 the postal service was able to arrange to have a new Wedgwood Post Office built at 7724 35th Ave NE.  The previous proposed plan for a grocery store had been denied by the City due to zoning issues, but a “public service” building like the post office, was allowed to be built there.

Seattle Daily Times, September 10, 1967, page 159.

Ownership of post office buildings

Today the U.S. Postal Service operates about 32,000 post offices (not including contract stations inside of stores.)  Nearly 75% of the post offices are in leased buildings.  That is the case with the Lake City Post Office at 3019 NE 127th Street, and the Wedgwood Post Office at 7724 35th Ave NE.

The growth of Wedgwood

Hunter Tree Farm Christmas tree sales next door to the Wedgwood Post Office.

The Wedgwood Post Office was a big asset for the neighborhood, but it soon became apparent that the building was not big enough, including the parking lot.  Only nine spaces were allotted for customer parking.

Within just a few years of the opening of the building in 1967, neighbors complained about the post office employees’ vehicles which took up many parking spaces around nearby streets such as 36th Ave NE.

The Hunter family leased the middle lot, 7744 35th Ave NE, until they purchased it from Wedgwood Presbyterian in 1973.  Today the open space at Hunter Tree Farm, and the Grassy Lot at NE 80th owned by the church, informally provide parking for post office customers.

Sources:

Grant McVicar was a business and community leader in Wedgwood’s formative years.

Grant McVicar (1921-1995) interview in 1992.

Petition of Melville Oseran, et al, for Rezoning of Blocks 1 & 2, Oneida Gardens.  Clerks File 244840, Seattle Municipal Archives.

Shearwater — series of articles on this blog about the housing around the present-day sites of Decatur and Thornton Creek Elementary Schools.

U.S. Postal Facts – Size and Scope.