Fred Sander, Argus magazine cartoon portrait circa 1906. He is shown with a streetcar and with art work, as he was a collector.

Fred Sander (1853-1921) was an early Seattle settler who arrived in 1879, when Seattle didn’t look like much more than a seaside village, and yet Sander stayed to become a “city booster.”

Born in Mississippi, Sander left home at age fifteen and traveled the world.  He spent some years as a ship steward until he settled in the Pacific Northwest. When he arrived at Seattle in 1879 he got a job as a bookkeeper at the Stetson & Post lumber mill.

At age 26, Fred Sander seemed ready to settle down in Seattle, and he married well – his wife Nellie was the daughter of Henry Knox Hall of the Hall Brothers Shipbuilding Company on the Seattle waterfront.  The couple spent the rest of their lives in Seattle. 

Sander in real estate and transportation projects 

Interurban building, photo by Joe Mabel.

Fred Sander engaged in multiple business enterprises in Seattle, including transportation systems, banking and real estate.

With two other investors, J.M. Thompson and George Boman, Sander bought property on Yesler Way and built what is now called the Interurban Building, at 102 Occidental Way.  It was originally designed to be a banking and offices building.  Later the former bank lobby was used as a waiting room for the Interurban Railway to Tacoma.

In 1887, with Thompson & Boman, Sander constructed a cable car line from Pioneer Square to Lake Washington via Yesler Way.  A moving cable on the ground pulled the cars.  To make a stop, the car would unclamp from the cable.  This transportation line was successful for both passengers and freight.

Cable car at Second & Yesler with the Smith Tower at left. Asahel Curtis photo circa 1915 to 1920.

Other real estate investors began to build more streetcar lines as they saw that convenient transportation would bring buyers to residential areas. In the period of 1889-1893, Luther Griffith & E.C. Kilbourne built a line out to the new suburb of Fremont; W.D. Wood brought homebuyers to his Green Lake development; and Guy Phinney built a line to his private zoo at Woodland Park.  These lines all traveled along Westlake Avenue to Fremont.

Looking north on Westlake Avenue circa 1900, we see the streetcar heading towards Fremont. Photo courtesy of MOHAI Item #2011.26.712

Expanding rail lines out to suburban areas

In 1900 Fred Sander built an Interurban Railway line from Seattle to Tacoma.  Next, he started building a northern line, and he made the route the same as the streetcars, traveling northward on Westlake Avenue through Fremont.  At the north side of the Fremont Bridge, present site of the Waiting for the Interurban statue, there was a Grand Union track layout where streetcars and the Interurban could either turn or continue on straight ahead.

The northern route of the Interurban reached as far as Hall’s Lake (present 212th SW in Lynnwood) until the later owners of the Interurban completed the line to Everett.  From north Seattle through the city of Shoreline, much of the route, now called the Interurban Trail, can be seen alongside Aurora Avenue North.

A bridge over Aurora Avenue at NE 157th Street in Shoreline, the Interurban Trail. Photo by Valarie.

The rise and fall of rail transportation 

Interurban route map from downtown Seattle northward.

In 1910 Sander’s Interurban to Everett was completed by another company, the Stone & Webster cartel of Boston.  It was providential timing for Fred Sander to get out of this business, because city streetcar lines and the Interurban soon became unprofitable. If Fred Sander had continued in ownership, he likely would have lost money because of the rise of transportation competition from cars and buses.

The Interurban rail line to Everett shut down in February 1939.  At the same time, Seattle’s streetcar system was also in its closing days, about to be replaced by buses.  The last Seattle streetcar went to the car barn at 34th & Phinney in Fremont in 1941.

Like the Burke-Gilman Trail which is a former rail line, the Interurban route has been preserved as a trail.

We have the Waiting for the Interurban statue in the Fremont neighborhood of Seattle, to remember the heyday of streetcar and rail transportation, and the centrality of Fremont in the rail routes.

The Waiting for the Interurban statue is at the north end of the Fremont Bridge, on North 34th Street & Fremont Avenue where there was once a place to catch the Interurban. Photo by Valarie.

Sources:

Book: Seattle-Everett Interurban Railway, by Cheri Ryan and Kevin K. Stadler, 2010.

Cartoon sketches of prominent Seattleites:  Men Behind the Seattle Spirit – The Argus Cartoons.  H. A. Chadwick, editor, 1906.  Seattle Room of the Seattle Public Library, R.B.0 Ar38M.

Find A Grave:  the account for Fred Sander includes an obituary newspaper article with more details about his life.

HistoryLink Essay #2667, “Interurban Rail Transit,” by Walt Crowley, 2000.

HistoryLink Essay #2707, “Street Railways in Seattle,” by Walt Crowley, 2000.

Interurban Trail Bridges: artist Vicki Scuri.

Shoreline Historical Museum, 18505 Linden Avenue North.   The museum has displays about Fred Sander and the Interurban.  Open Tuesday through Saturday from 10 AM to 4 PM.

Interurban car circa 1920, photo courtesy of Seattle Public Library.