The Mary J. Chandler plat in Wedgwood

Posted on March 26, 2012 by Wedgwood in Seattle History

Mary J. Chandler’s Addition to Seattle is the name of a plat in Wedgwood.    The plat was filed in 1890 for land from 25th to 45th Avenues NE, NE 80th to 85th Streets.  To file a plat means to have a land area surveyed with streets and lots marked out on a map, and to give the plat a name.   Who was Mary J. Chandler, and what did she have to do with land in Wedgwood?

Note:  this article is based upon research that I did in property records and other original documents, and in historic background reading.  See the source list at the end of this article.  This blog is protected under a Creative Commons Copyright; all rights reserved.

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The Gateposts of Wedgwood

Posted on March 22, 2012 by Wedgwood in Seattle History

When Albert Balch, the developer of the Wedgwood neighborhood, put up stone gateposts at the entrance to his new housing area, he tapped into the gateposts’ symbolism of permanence and protection, qualities desired by young couples in search of homes.

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Apartments in Wedgwood: Oneida to Jasper

Posted on March 19, 2012 by Wedgwood in Seattle History

In the early 1900s in Seattle, apartments were built along trolley routes to close-in neighborhoods such as Capitol Hill.   Wedgwood was a remote neighborhood which didn’t begin to form an identity until the 1940s and was never served by a streetcar system.  Up until 1948, Wedgwood had no apartment buildings and was still known as a semi-rural area of single-family homes where most people drove cars to work.

Balch photo

Albert Balch 1903-1976

Albert Balch started building his original plat of Wedgwood houses in the early 1940s but the development grew slowly due to wartime restrictions on materials.   Once World War Two ended in 1945, there still was a struggle to get sufficient building supplies for new houses, but the post-war construction boom had begun.

After the war, floods of returning servicemen wanted to get married, have their own homes and start families.   The Wedgwood neighborhood became synonymous with family living as the small but well-built Wedgwood houses beckoned to young married couples. Continue reading →

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Parks in Wedgwood

Posted on March 15, 2012 by Wedgwood in Seattle History

Albert Balch, the developer of Wedgwood, intended to have some park space in the neighborhood but not all of his plans were realized, as he got busy with house-building.  In 1941 Balch platted a forty-acre tract of land from 30th to 35th Avenues NE, NE 80th to 85th Streets which became the first section of Wedgwood housing.   Balch won awards for the way he sculpted streets along the curving lines of the terrain, conserving as many trees as possible in his new Wedgwood plat.

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Wedgwood Rock: from Homestead to Houses

Posted on March 12, 2012 by Wedgwood in Seattle History

Wedgwood Rock is at 7200 – 28th Ave NE, Seattle.

The Wedgwood Rock section of homes is from 25th to 30th Avenues NE, NE 70th to 75th Streets.  This forty-acre tract was first platted (a plan for lots and streets laid out) in November 1945 by Albert Balch, a builder.

Balch had named a prior development “Wedgwood,” and he continued using that name as he acquired more land and built more sections of houses.   When Big Rock, as locals had called it, was absorbed into Balch’s building program, he renamed it Wedgwood Rock.

Copyright notice:  text and photos in this article are protected under a Creative Commons Copyright.  Do not copy without permission.

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Wedgwood Rock and Big Rock: the orphaned boulder-siblings

Posted on March 8, 2012 by Wedgwood in Seattle History

Big Rock at Coupeville, WA.  Photo courtesy of http://nwgeology.wordpress.com/

Wedgwood Rock has a sibling:   Big Rock at 106 S. Main Street, Coupeville, Whidbey Island, about fifty miles north of Seattle.

Testing of the mineral composition of both boulders has shown that they came from Mt. Erie, Fidalgo Island, near Anacortes in Skagit County.

As with all siblings, it is best not to get into a discussion of which is the biggest – that might set off a squabble.

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Wedgwood Rock: Fourth of July Picnic in 1881

Posted on March 5, 2012 by Wedgwood in Seattle History

Early surveyors had to try to draw straight lines through rough terrain.   This surveyor on a stump is probably at Fort Lawton, June 27, 1900.   Photo courtesy of UW Digital Collections KHL272.

Wedgwood Rock probably first came to the attention of white settlers in the 1870s.   A land survey of north Seattle was done in 1855, but there was no notation of the existence of the Rock.

The surveyors of 1855 described the terrain in their notes but the surveyors were not explorers; using a compass and chain, they walked straight across grid lines to mark what would eventually become arterial streets.   Walking east and west across what is now NE 75th Street, the survey party did not see the Rock.   It was only about 1,000 feet south of where the surveyors walked, but the Rock was hidden in a dense forest of trees.   At that time (1855) no white settlers had yet come to live in northeast Seattle.

Copyright notice:  text and photos in this article are protected under a Creative Commons Copyright.  Do not copy without permission.

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Continuing the Maple Creek Legacy

Posted on March 2, 2012 by Wedgwood in Seattle History

The story of the Maple Creek ravine in Wedgwood is that of dedicated conservationists who passed along the legacy from generation to generation.  Beginning in the 1930s Dr. & Mrs. Philip Rogers held their fifteen acres as a nature preserve.   In the 1950s they began looking for other like-minded people to share it with.

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The Wedgwood Broiler

Posted on February 29, 2012 by Wedgwood in Seattle History

This article gives the history of the Wedgwood Broiler restaurant in Wedgwood at 8230 35th Ave NE, in a two-acre shopping center at Wedgwood’s main intersection at NE 85th Street.  In 1959 a grocery store (Tradewell) was the first building to be built on the site.  Other shops and the restaurant were added later.

On September 16, 2024, the Wedgwood Broiler restaurant sustained kitchen damage in a fire.  They re-opened the cocktail lounge only, on October 1st, while other repairs (smoke damage) were being completed in the restaurant dining rooms.  On October 9, 2024, the Broiler opened its smaller dining room with limited hours.  Gradually, as the kitchen was restored, the Broiler was able to return to full hours and menu.

Fire at the Wedgwood Broiler restaurant on September 16, 2024.

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The Scout Camp in Wedgwood

Posted on February 27, 2012 by Wedgwood in Seattle History

Maple Creek Ravine

In the 1920s more people began to move into the Wedgwood area but there were still many large tracts of vacant, undeveloped land.  Sometime during those early years Scouts began going to Wedgwood’s Maple Creek Ravine for camping and climbing practice, led by Scoutmaster Clark E. Schurman.

The heavily-treed Maple Creek area is from NE 88th to 92nd Streets between 40th to 45th Avenues NE, with the creek flowing in a deep Y-shaped ravine.

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