In the 1930s the residents of the Wellsdale plat were typical of the life of northeast Seattle in that time period.
The (future) Wedgwood area did not yet have an official name, it was outside of the Seattle City limits and was very rural. By 1926 water and electricity had been brought down the main arterial, 35th Ave NE, but not everyone hooked up to utilities. People could still live very cheaply with their own well for water and by use of a wood stove for heat and cooking. A strategy which was used, was to tarpaper a house so that its assessed value would be lower, thereby lowering the property taxes.
This house in the Wellsdale plat was built in 1935. The owner left the sides covered by tar paper only, to reduce the assessed value of the house for property taxes.
In the era of the economic crisis called the Great Depression of the 1930s many people in Wedgwood had large lots with outbuildings such as a chicken house and a woodshed, and space for a garden so that they could live more cheaply by growing some of their own food. In the 1930s people in the Wellsdale plat from NE 80th to 85th Streets, 40th to 45th Ave NE lived on lots averaging more than two acres in size (except Lot 1 which was 19 acres) and they lived a rural life.
Copyright notice: text and photos in this article are protected under a Creative Commons Copyright. Do not copy without permission.
Wedgwood in Seattle History 