The Bentons of Ravenna Orchard in Seattle

Posted on January 1, 2024 by Wedgwood in Seattle History

The Benton family arrived in Seattle in the early 1900s and lived on 29th Ave NE in what is now the Ravenna-Bryant neighborhood, near Bryant School.

Beginning in 1906, the Bentons became real estate investors who sold lots and built houses on 28th & 29th Avenues NE.

Benton family members founded the Benton’s Jewelers company in 1909.  Today the street clock of Benton’s Jewelers is a reminder of this family’s impact in northeast Seattle.

Benton’s Jeweler’s street clock has been set up at the former Baskin-Robbins site at Union Bay Place NE, now Aegis Laurelhurst. Photo by Valarie, December 2023.  The site was fenced as of this photo because the Aegis Laurelhurst building was still under construction.

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Wedgwood Ale House is closing December 28, 2023

Posted on December 7, 2023 by Wedgwood in Seattle History

The Wedgwood Ale House, 8515 35th Ave NE, closed on December 28, 2023.  The building had sold and the new owner would not renew the lease for the tenant, the Ale House business.

The iconic Wedgwood Ale House started its life as a cafe serving 3.2% alcohol-content beer in 1933 at the end of Prohibition, then for many years it was Hansen’s Tavern.

When Mr. Hansen remodeled the building circa 1945-1946, he renamed it Wedgwood Tavern.  It was the first business to use this name which Mr. Hansen got from the nearby Wedgwood housing development being built by Albert Balch.  After the Wedgwood Tavern chose this name, it “caught on” to become the name of the neighborhood.

A new pub, the Wedgwood Public House, opened in this remodeled space on November 2, 2024.

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Hunter Tree Farm at Christmas 2023

Posted on November 29, 2023 by Wedgwood in Seattle History

One of the delights of the holiday season in Wedgwood in northeast Seattle is the Hunter Tree Farm’s Christmas tree sales lot.  The tree lot is bright with lights and fragrant with evergreen smells while customers ponder their tree choices.  The tree lot is conveniently located at 7744 35th Ave NE next to the Wedgwood Post Office and is open daily from 9:30 AM to 8 PM through December 23, 2023.

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Candy Cane Lane 2023

Posted on November 19, 2023 by Wedgwood in Seattle History

A fun family holiday event in northeast Seattle is the annual Candy Cane Lane. Candy Cane Lane is a cluster of houses all decked out in lights and themed decorations, located on NE Ravenna Blvd/Park Road NE at 21st Ave NE (see map below).

Beginning on Saturday night December 2, 2023, through New Years Day 2024, you can drive through or walk through Candy Cane Lane nightly.

Hours on Sunday through Thursday nights are from 4 PM to 9:30 PM.  Friday and Saturday night hours are 4 PM to 11 PM.

Pedestrians are welcome at all times, and you are encouraged to walk through for a closer look at the lights and decorations.   There are three nights when Candy Cane Lane will be closed to cars and will host pedestrians only:  December 7, 14 and 21.

You are encouraged to bring food donations (canned food like soup or dry food like spaghetti boxes) for the University District Food Bank barrel at the end of the lane.

See the Candy Cane Lane Facebook page for more details.

Directions:  from the intersection of 25th Ave NE, go west on NE 55th Street.  Keep to the right and follow the curve of the road, keeping Ravenna Park on your right.  Look for the signs at NE Park Road aligned with 21st Ave NE.

The history of the houses on this street called NE Park Road (Park Home Circle) is that it was developed in the 1920s with a site plan and architectural plan for the houses as a group.  The site was owned by W.W. & Louise Beck who developed the Ravenna community beginning in 1889.  In the 1920s their son Broussais Beck engaged architect Carl Gould to plan the site and design the Park Home Circle houses.

Candy Cane Lane location map, Park Road NE off of NE Ravenna Blvd.

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Enjoying the Trees of Wedgwood

Posted on November 1, 2023 by Wedgwood in Seattle History

In the autumn season Wedgwood in northeast Seattle is bright with red, yellow and orange leaves.   Street trees called Flame Ash turn a deep red along 35th Ave NE from NE 84th Street northward to NE 137th where 35th Ave NE merges with Lake City Way NE.

Trees of related Flame Ash varieties such as Raywood, Marshall Seedless and Golden Ash line other nearby arterials such as NE 125th Street from Lake City westward to Roosevelt Way NE.  A guide to street trees is on the City of Seattle Tree Inventory Map.

Flame Ash street trees at the Wedgwood Shopping Center, 8400 35th Ave NE. Photo by Valarie, October 2023.

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The Pumpkins of Wedgwood in 2023

Posted on October 2, 2023 by Wedgwood in Seattle History

One of the delights of the autumn season in Wedgwood in northeast Seattle is the colorful display of pumpkins for sale by Scout Troop 151.  The pumpkin sales support the Scouts programs throughout the year.

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Illuminating Bryant

Posted on September 1, 2023 by Wedgwood in Seattle History

In the early 1900s Seattle neighborhoods were growing farther to the northeast, on the edges of communities such as Ravenna and the Town of Yesler.

Seattle Female College building as pictured in the 1890s, at 5702 26th Ave NE. Photo courtesy of University of Washington Special Collections.

Ravenna was a railroad stop at the intersection of Blakeley Street & 25th Ave NE.  The Town of Yesler grew at the present site of Laurelhurst where, in the 1880s, another Yesler sawmill had operated in addition to the Yesler Mill of 1853 on the downtown Seattle waterfront.

One of northeast Seattle’s earliest church groups began in 1901, calling itself the Yesler Sunday School.  Later it was called Ravenna Methodist Church when it met at the former Seattle Female College building at 5702 26th Ave NE.  Then finally the group built a church building which still stands today on NE 60th Street in what is called the Bryant neighborhood.

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From Pasture to Playfield: View Ridge

Posted on August 1, 2023 by Wedgwood in Seattle History

View Ridge map courtesy of HistoryLink.org

The years of World War Two (1941-1945) marked a major turning point in the development of neighborhoods in northeast Seattle.  Up until that time northeast Seattle had been very rural.  There were some real estate investors and builders of houses before the 1940s but northeast Seattle’s boom years of housing growth did not happen until after 1945.

As of the 1940s, neighborhoods like View Ridge and Wedgwood were unnamed and still had vast areas of vacant land.  These neighborhoods acquired their identities during the rapid-growth years of the 1940s and 1950s.

This blog post will tell how a pasture became a playfield in northeast Seattle, as the area transformed from rural to urban after World War Two.  View Ridge Playfield at 4408 NE 70th Street, is a field where cows once grazed.

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Then and Now on NE 45th Street in Northeast Seattle

Posted on July 4, 2023 by Wedgwood in Seattle History

Those of us who grew up in the 1950s and 1960s in northeast Seattle lived in a world of shopping malls like University Village, fast food outlets like Taco Time, drive-ins like Burgermaster, and multiple gas stations which seemed to thrive in commercial districts.  The block of NE 45th Street from 25th Ave NE eastward to Union Bay Place NE was like this.  University Village Shopping Center opened in 1956, and to the east of it there were gas stations, a car wash, Taco Time and Burgermaster.

In February 1957, workers on the NE 45th Street Viaduct looked out over University Village and the Carnation Dairy plant. Seattle Municipal Archives item #54114, Engineering Dept., colorized photo.

Our 1950s-1960s memories of NE 45th Street are of the second phase in its development.  Its first phase began in the 1920s when the site of University Village was farmland, and to the east was a gas station and a corner market.  In a photo of the NE 45th Street Viaduct under construction in 1939, looking eastward, we see the farmland and a couple of gas stations and stores beyond it.

In 1939 during the original construction of NE 45th Street Viaduct, we look out over the farmland which became University Village in 1956. Photo of May 1939, colorized; Seattle Municipal Archives item #38898.

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Old-Time Stores and Gas Stations at Union Bay Place in Seattle

Posted on June 8, 2023 by Wedgwood in Seattle History

Residents of northeast Seattle called it “the Baskin-Robbins corner.”  The five-way intersection of Union Bay Place NE is at the east end of a long block, east of the University Village shopping center on NE 45th Street.

One branch of the intersection is called NE 45th Place.  The roadway angles up toward the northeast and passes under an old railroad trestle.  That railroad line has been preserved as the Burke-Gilman Trail.

The former train trestle, now the Burke-Gilman Trail, over the roadway from Union Bay Place up to 35th Ave NE. The Exposition Heights real estate development is on both sides of the road.

Those of us who grew up in the 1950s and 1960s can remember the small stores and the gas stations at the crossroads of Union Bay Place NE.  In addition to the nearby train trestle as seen in the photo above, the most outstanding landmark at Union Bay Place was the Baskin-Robbins ice cream store, one of the small buildings in a commercial district of one-story storefronts.

Today we see that the character of the Union Bay Place intersection is being transformed with the construction of one much larger building, Aegis Laurelhurst, taking up the whole block of the former Baskin-Robbins and other storefronts.

Aegis Laurelhurst under construction as of December 2022, replacing the Baskin-Robbins corner at Union Bay Place NE. Photo by Valarie.

This blog article will trace the evolution of the intersection from the first buildings built in the 1920s and 1930s.

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