Category Archives: Plat names
Neighborhood Beginnings of Fremont in Seattle: William Strickler’s Homestead Claim
The history of the Fremont neighborhood in Seattle is unique in that the future-Fremont land was tied up in legal problems so that no one lived there until 1888. Then, with investors and promoters advertising the first one hundred lots … Continue reading
How Did Lake City in North Seattle Get Its Name?
Lake City is the northeasternmost neighborhood of Seattle and did not come completely into the City of Seattle boundaries until 1954. Though it was platted as a suburban area of single-family homes, Lake City also developed its own commercial district … Continue reading
Gas Stations and Open Space in Wedgwood: the Morningside Substation
Even in the short history of the Wedgwood neighborhood in northeast Seattle, there are some sites which have had multiple different buildings and uses over time. One such site is the northwest corner of NE 86th Street on 35th Ave … Continue reading
Searching for the Origins of Seattle Street Names
There is no resource list of the meanings of Seattle’s street names or how the street names were derived. Even the granddaughters of Seattle city founder Arthur Denny were left to speculate on his choices of the names for twelve … Continue reading
Fremont in Seattle: Street Names and Neighborhood Boundaries
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
The Fremont Neighborhood in Seattle: Why the Name?
Each neighborhood of Seattle proudly waves the banner of its unique name, and yet many were named in a similar way: by real estate investors. Fremont in Seattle was also named by real estate investors. What made the Seattle … Continue reading
Early Architecture in Wedgwood
The history of the Wedgwood neighborhood in northeast Seattle goes back only a little more than one hundred years. Wedgwood was slow to be settled because northeast Seattle was inland, not located on a water resource such as a river … Continue reading
Seattle Street Names
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
Names in the Neighborhood: LaVilla
In March 1945 during the final battles of World War Two in Europe, a homesick soldier wrote a letter to the Seattle Daily Times newspaper. Lieutenant Ralph A. Penington, age 34, was with the US Army’s 10th Mountain Division in Italy. … Continue reading
Wilson’s Exposition Heights
The Alaska-Yukon-Pacific Exposition, a world’s-fair event, attracted people to Seattle even before the fair’s opening date of June 1, 1909. When news of the Exposition plans became known in 1906, people from all over the USA began coming to Seattle … Continue reading
