William Strickler in Early Seattle

Posted on November 8, 2018 by Wedgwood in Seattle History

When I (Valarie) was growing up and attending Wedgwood School in northeast Seattle, city and state history was part of the curriculum of fourth grade.  That was when I first heard the amazing stories of “the pioneers,” Seattle’s first white settlers including the members of the extended Denny family.

The Dennys made an incredible journey of courage as they left their homes in 1851 and launched out into the unknown.  They traveled across the USA in a wagon train to come to a place which had no name: what is now the city of Seattle.

One of my interests is in the Fremont neighborhood of Seattle.  In exploring Fremont’s vibrant history, I learned the name of the original homestead claimant, William A. Strickler.  He filed a land claim in 1854 for the area which is now the main business district of Fremont and the Fremont Bridge over the ship canal, which used to be only a small stream.  I learned that Strickler disappeared in 1861 and no one ever found out what happened to him.

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Neighborhood Beginnings of Fremont in Seattle: William Strickler’s Homestead Claim

Posted on October 15, 2018 by Wedgwood in Seattle History

The Fremont neighborhood in Seattle is located at the northwest corner of Lake Union. Map courtesy of HistoryLink.

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 to be sold for $1 each, in the summer of 1888 there was a land rush of businesses and residents to take advantage of the opportunity to settle in Fremont.

Fremont’s naming was unique in that it was named like a suburb, because it was still outside of the City of Seattle boundaries as of 1888.  It wasn’t long, however, until Fremont’s vigorous community leaders applied to join the City of Seattle, which they did in 1891.

Before Fremont received its jump-start as a vital new neighborhood in 1888, Fremont’s land-claim history went back to the settlers who were Seattle’s eager land-seekers in the 1850s.

This blog started out in 2012 to be about the history of the Wedgwood neighborhood in northeast Seattle.  Over the years as I (Valarie) have participated in other neighborhood history projects, I began posting those writings here.  Go to “Fremont” in the Categories tab on the right margin of this page to find all that I have written about the Fremont neighborhood in Seattle.

The content of this article is protected under a Creative Commons Copyright.  Do not copy text or photos without permission.

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Wedgwood Neighborhood History Trivia Quiz

Posted on October 1, 2018 by Wedgwood in Seattle History

Test your knowledge of Wedgwood neighborhood history with this quiz.  Answers to the quiz follow Question #17.

Wedgwood Rock is located at 7200 28th Ave NE in Seattle.

1. In which neighborhood is Wedgwood Rock?

Wedgwood (duh!)

Meadowbrook

Ravenna

2. What does the “P” in P-Patch stand for?

Peat, for the peat bog at the current location of Dahl Playfield

Picardo, the name of the family that farmed the area

Pea, for the legume that grows there in abundance

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Posted in businesses, Land records and surveys, name of the neighborhood, Neighborhood features | Tagged , , | 4 Comments

The Rite-Aid Building in Wedgwood

Posted on September 16, 2018 by Wedgwood in Seattle History

UPDATE:  The Wedgwood Rite-Aid store 8512 35th Ave NE, closed on July 20, 2025.  Rite-Aid does not own this building, so in August 2025 the property owner is trying to lease the building to another business.

This blog article is a historical retrospective on the Wedgwood business district, specifically the intersection of NE 85th Street.

Wedgwood takes shape in the 1940s

In the 1940s Wedgwood was just beginning to take shape as a neighborhood with a commercial district. At the intersection of NE 85th Street on 35th Ave NE, there was only one building, Hansen’s Tavern, on the northwest corner, as of 1945.

The new Wedgwood Public House opened on November 2, 2024, in the former Wedgwood Ale House.

In 1945-1946 the tavern owner rebuilt the building to include storefronts, and he re-named his business the Wedgwood Tavern.  The first store to open in the new building adjacent to the tavern was McVicar Hardware, 8507 35th Ave NE.

As of 1945-1946 the tavern (as of 2024, it is called the Wedgwood Public House at 8515 35th Ave NE) was the first of the neighborhood businesses to name itself after the nearby Wedgwood housing development built by Albert Balch.  The naming “caught on” as other businesses began to use it.

In the 1940s developer Albert Balch gradually acquired ownership of the other three corners of the intersection at NE 85th Street, which he reserved for commercial buildings.  The intersection grew with a variety of stores in response to the population growth of Wedgwood.  Today the intersection of NE 85th Street on 35th Ave NE is the heart of Wedgwood’s business district.

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How Did Lake City in North Seattle Get Its Name?

Posted on September 7, 2018 by Wedgwood in Seattle History

Lake City in northeast Seattle, map courtesy of HistoryLink.

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 around the intersection of NE 125th Street, and Lake City had a strong community identity from early years.  Today Lake City has active neighborhood associations and a busy business district.

The Shoreline Historical Museum, located at 18501 Linden Ave N., has a lot of information about north Seattle areas which were once outside the City of Seattle.  Former museum director Vicki Stiles has written this wonderful essay about how Lake City got its name, which I (Valarie) am re-posting here.

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The Copestick Building in Wedgwood

Posted on August 26, 2018 by Wedgwood in Seattle History

Wedgwood neighborhood in northeast Seattle. Map courtesy of HistoryLink.

During World War Two from 1941 to 1945, Americans put their personal plans on hold so that they could serve in the military, work in war production industries or in support services.  After the end of World War Two the focus of American life turned from supporting the war effort to pursuing dreams of home and family which had been deferred during the war.  There was pent-up demand for houses and for consumer goods which had not been produced for civilian use during the war.

The Wedgwood neighborhood, including its name and its identity, was a creation of this post-World-War-Two pressure for housing for young married couples.  There still were large tracts of vacant land in northeast Seattle which developers like Albert Balch, the father of Wedgwood, used to create more single-family housing.

The creation of the new Wedgwood housing development in the 1940s led to the growth of an adjacent business district, centered at or near the NE 85th Street intersection along the arterial 35th Ave NE.  This blog article will tell about the Copestick building at 8613 35th Ave NE and how it was affected by the growth of Wedgwood, most especially the pressures of the arterial 35th Ave NE.

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Posted in businesses, streets | Tagged , , , , , | 1 Comment

Car Show and Cancer Fundraiser at the Wedgwood Broiler

Posted on August 9, 2018 by Wedgwood in Seattle History

Sunday, August 26, 2018 will be a day of fun, 10 AM to 3 PM, at the Wedgwood Broiler, 8230 35th Ave NE, for the Eleventh Annual Wedgwood Car Show and Cancer Fundraiser.

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Remembering Shearwater

Posted on July 22, 2018 by Wedgwood in Seattle History

The Decatur Annex building was on NE 77th Street at the corner of 43rd Ave NE, at the southern end of what is now Decatur School.  The little white wood-frame Annex was the last building from the complex of Navy housing, called Shearwater, which was on the site from 1945 to 1966.

The Decatur Annex building was located on NE 77th Street at the corner of 43rd Ave NE.  It was demolished in July 2019.

In 2018 neighborhood activists learned that the school district planned to tear down the Decatur Annex, and the activists brought the matter to the City of Seattle Landmarks Board to advocate for historic preservation.  The Annex building represented the era of World War Two housing for personnel of the Naval Air Station in Seattle and a time when housing for Navy personnel was racially integrated.

At the City of Seattle Landmarks Board meeting on January 2, 2019, the Decatur Annex failed to get enough votes in favor of historic preservation.  The large cedar tree on the corner of the lot was preserved when the Decatur Annex was torn down during the week of July 8, 2019.

The Decatur Annex, looking westward during demolition in the week of July 8, 2019. At left is the cedar tree which is being preserved. At right is the Decatur School building.

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A Market on Sand Point Way NE

Posted on July 5, 2018 by Wedgwood in Seattle History

During the Civil War in the 1860s, northern industrialists went to Scandinavian countries to recruit workers for mining, logging and factory operations, in place of American men who had gone to fight for the Union.

Frank Harold Rovainen (pronounced Rov-EYE-nen), born in Minnesota in 1905, was the grandson of a man who was in the first group of immigrants from Finland to Minnesota in 1865.  In the century following the Civil War, many immigrants and their descendants continued to move westward in search of other opportunities.  So it was that in 1936 Harold Rovainen, age 31, made the leap from Minnesota out to Seattle, where he got a job with a grocer at the Pike Place Market.

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Saving Wedgwood: Historic Preservation and Best-Use Planning in the Commercial Zones

Posted on June 12, 2018 by Wedgwood in Seattle History

In the 1940s during World War Two the population of Seattle swelled with war workers, and in the 1950s the population continued to increase with people who wanted to make their homes here in the beautiful Seattle area.

Young married couples of the 1950s loved the affordable homes built by Balch in the new Wedgwood development.

In the 1950s in Seattle a new generation of young married couples was starting new lives and wanted their own houses.  The thinly populated northeast Seattle area, much of which was still outside the official Seattle City Limits, began to fill up with single-family housing.

A developer, Albert Balch, acquired and built on tracts of land which became the Wedgwood neighborhood.  Wedgwood is centered around NE 85th Street with a commercial district on 35th Ave NE and with single-family homes to the east and west of 35th Ave NE.

The Wedgwood neighborhood in northeast Seattle has a linear commercial district along 35th Avenue NE.

Because Wedgwood did not come completely into the Seattle City Limits until 1954, Balch’s housing developments were not yet subject to City zoning regulations.  Balch did his own urban planning, reserving the intersection of NE 85th Street for commercial development along on the arterial 35th Ave NE.

Balch built office buildings at 8050 and 8044 35th Ave NE for his personal office and that of his accounting, architecture, development and real estate sales staff.  Other buildings in that complex from 8014 to 8050 35th Ave NE were medical and dental offices.  But Balch did not know that his office complex contained a fatal flaw:  it was built in a block which up to the present time is still zoned residential, not commercial.

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