Ervin S. Goodwin, developer of Hawthorne Hills and Victory Heights.
In the 1920s, as developers began to build plats of houses in northeast Seattle, some attached property covenants specifying that no person of a race other than White, could own property in that neighborhood. One of the first to do this was Ervin S. Goodwin who bought and developed large tracts of land including Hawthorne Hills and Victory Heights.
On the east side of 35th Ave NE between NE 55th to 65th Streets, in the 1920s the Crawford & Conover Real Estate Company filed restrictive covenants on their plats called University Home Tracts and University Gardens, in what today is referred to as the Bryant neighborhood.
Like Crawford & Conover who had been active in real estate since the 1880s, there were other companies who held vacant land in northeast Seattle until such time as the population increased and more infrastructure (roads, electricity, etc.) was available. During the housing demand in Seattle during World War Two, the Mylroie family built houses on a section of land from NE 88th to 90th Streets. These traditional-style houses may have inspired developer Albert Balch who later built the original Wedgwood tract of houses.
In the 1930s two young men quit their jobs as radio advertising salesmen and went into real estate. Ralph Jones and Albert Balch started with just one lot, built a house and sold it. They kept expanding and named their development View Ridge. Ralph Jones went on to build houses in the Sand Point Country Club & Golf Course.
In 1941 Albert Balch bought a forty-acre tract of land on the west side of 35th Ave NE between NE 80th to 85th Streets. He named it the Wedgwood Addition. The name “caught on” in popularity as businesses began to use it, until Wedgwood became the name of the neighborhood.
All of the above plats of land have restrictive covenants. Developers likely knew one another and kept track of how their developments were planned.
Although the restrictive covenants are now illegal, you can also apply to have a covenant completely removed from your deed records. Read on for more info.
Wedgwood in Seattle History 