Author Archives: Wedgwood in Seattle History
Street Clocks in Seattle
In May 2020 a street clock called Benton’s Jewelers was removed from its location, packed and sent for restoration. The clock at 3216 NE 45th Street was located east of the University Village shopping center and east of the five-way … Continue reading
Autumn Season 2020 in Wedgwood
Autumn 2020 in Wedgwood in northeast Seattle is bright with colorful trees. The arterial 35th Ave NE is lined with flame ash trees from the center of the neighborhood at NE 85th Street, northward to where 35th Ave NE merges … Continue reading
The Rosaia Family in Wedgwood
Immigrants are the lifeblood of America, bringing energy, enthusiasm and enterprise to their adopted land. On this blog I have highlighted some stories of immigrants who settled in Wedgwood in northeast Seattle and who became active participants in the neighborhood. … Continue reading
Van Doren in Washington Territory
When we think of the pioneer white settlers of Washington Territory, we are referring to those who came before statehood in 1889. We assume that these adventurers were young single men out to make their fortune or young families seeking … Continue reading
The Minnie Kraus Plat in Northeast Seattle
Minnie Kraus was a young woman who made a real estate investment in northeast Seattle in 1918, filing a plat which she named after herself. A “plat” is a section of land, any size, for which a map of streets … Continue reading
The Stairways of Wedgwood
The City of Seattle’s geological formation looks as though a glacial hand pressed into the land like cookie dough. There are valleys across Seattle and north-south-running ridges as though the dough oozed up between the fingers of the hand. For … Continue reading
Along the Road: the Evolution of 35th Ave NE
From early years Wedgwood in northeast Seattle was a car-centric neighborhood because of the lack of other transportation options. Streetcar lines never reached Wedgwood, and there was no city bus service because the neighborhood was outside of the Seattle City … Continue reading
Annexed Cities
One of the most common questions I receive on my blog is about the Seattle City Limits and on what date different areas came into the city. Some neighborhoods of Seattle such as Ballard and Ravenna started out as separate … Continue reading
Life and Legacy in Wedgwood in the 1930s: the Hentschell Family
The Wedgwood neighborhood in northeast Seattle was never reached by a streetcar system, and the area remained outside of the City Limits until the 1940s-1950s. Up until after the end of World War Two in 1945, the (future) Wedgwood area … Continue reading
Binek’s Electric Bakery, a Beloved Business in Wedgwood in the 1950s
During the World War Two years of the 1940s the population of Seattle swelled with military and with civilian workers. People left other states in the USA to come to Seattle and get jobs in wartime industries such as Boeing … Continue reading
