Category Archives: streets

Fremont in Seattle: Street Names and Neighborhood Boundaries

Posted on November 26, 2017 by Wedgwood in Seattle History

Fremont in Seattle began as a planned community after investors purchased the land and filed a plat map in May 1888.  A “plat” is any defined area of land for which a plan of lots and streets is laid out. … Continue reading →

Posted in boundaries, Fremont neighborhood in Seattle, Land records and surveys, name of the neighborhood, Plat names, streets | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

Historic Street Names of Ballard

Posted on October 13, 2016 by Wedgwood in Seattle History

The Ballard neighborhood in northwest Seattle was an independent city until 1907.  After annexation to the City of Seattle, Ballard’s street names were changed to be consistent with the City’s numbered system, with a few exceptions such as Ballard Avenue … Continue reading →

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Seattle’s Old Street Signs

Posted on May 28, 2016 by Wedgwood in Seattle History

The Seattle Department of Transportation is using a new digital method to print all kinds of traffic signs.  SDOT’s street sign replacement program was made possible by Bridging the Gap, the nine-year transportation maintenance levy. By 2016, every neighborhood had … Continue reading →

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Seattle Street Names

Posted on October 10, 2015 by Wedgwood in Seattle History

The vision of a city in the place where Seattle now stands was born in the heart of Arthur Denny, a 29-year-old surveyor in Knox County, Illinois in 1851.  As a surveyor Denny knew that in unexplored regions, early-arriving settlers … Continue reading →

Posted in Land records and surveys, Plat names, research resources, Seattle History, streets | Tagged , , , , | 3 Comments

The Future of 35th Ave NE in Wedgwood

Posted on July 17, 2015 by Wedgwood in Seattle History

What is the future of 35th Ave NE?  This arterial corridor through the Wedgewood neighborhood of Seattle has businesses clustered mainly at the intersections of NE 75th and 85th Streets.  As buildings at these intersections age and are replaced, we … Continue reading →

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Wedgwood’s NE 85th Street Dividing Line

Posted on March 15, 2015 by Wedgwood in Seattle History

On September 2, 1858, a team of surveyors stood at what is now the center point of Seattle’s Wedgwood business district on 35th Ave NE at NE 85th Street.  The survey team of the year 1858 consisted of two chain … Continue reading →

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Gerhard Ericksen’s Good Road

Posted on August 26, 2013 by Wedgwood in Seattle History

In the 1880s Seattleites were fed up with being snubbed by railroad corporations. The last straw was the Northern Pacific’s selection of Seattle’s rival city, Tacoma, as the western terminus of the NP’s cross-country line. Under the leadership of Judge … Continue reading →

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Street-grade: ups and downs in Wedgwood

Posted on March 29, 2013 by Wedgwood in Seattle History

Wedgwood’s main commercial corridor is along 35th Ave NE which was first declared an arterial in 1934.  Some improvements were made at that time, including some widening and some road-grading to level out the surface and make it more passable … Continue reading →

Posted in 7321 35th Ave NE, 7528 35th Ave NE, Big Green House, Houses, streets | Tagged , , , | 3 Comments

The House in the Road

Posted on March 24, 2013 by Wedgwood in Seattle History

The years 1945 to 1955, from the end of World War Two until the Wedgwood neighborhood came completely into the city limits of Seattle, were years of rapid change.  The population of Seattle had swelled with war workers in the … Continue reading →

Posted in Controversies, Houses, Plat names, streets | Tagged , , , , , | 2 Comments