| Historic Name: |
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Common Name: |
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| Style: |
Vernacular |
Neighborhood: |
North Rainier Valley |
| Built By: |
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Year Built: |
1901 |
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| Significance |
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Built in 1901, the building was owned by J. R. Fowler by February of 1909. The building was then occupied by Edward L. and Florence Bolton from ca 1930 through 1941, according to Polk directories. Mr. Bolton worked as a machinist. By 1949, T. C. Owen resided in the building, followed by Jack Grantham by 1953. John R. Liesinger lived in the building from 1955 through 1959. By 1962, Edward W. Woodrow lived in the house, followed by Josephine J. Tugodi in 1964. Polk directories indicate the residence was vacant from 1966 through 1970.
The electric trolley line through the North Rainier Valley only existed for 48 years, from 1889 to1937, but it had tremendous impact on the area. The line spurred residential and commercial development in the valley due to easier and more direct access to downtown Seattle. Development radiated from stops along the trolley line. When the trolley tracks were removed in 1937, Rainier Avenue had been designated a state highway (1913) and had already made the transition to an automobile arterial.
Banker J.K. Edmiston began construction on the Rainier Avenue Electric Railway in 1889, starting downtown at Washington Street and Alaska Way and following Jackson Street east. The route then headed south, through dense woods, along privately donated right-of-way, which later became Rainier Avenue. By 1891, service began to the tiny settlement of Columbia, approximately four miles south of downtown. Edmiston and partners owned forty acres at what is now Columbia City, which they platted in 1891, and they wished the trolley line to spur development there. The trolley line was a real estate development tool as well as a direct means of communication with the city for the isolated early settlers in the North Rainier Valley.
The Rainier Avenue Electric Railway was heavily used for both passengers and freight. By the time the line was completed to Renton in 1896, cars ran every forty-five minutes and were averaging over 144 miles per day. Fares were five cents from Seattle to Columbia and five cents additional from Columbia to Rainier Beach. The trip from Seattle to Rainier Beach was seven miles and took approximately one half hour. Freight was shipped at night, and included lumber from sawmills at Columbia and Rainier Beach and coal shipped from Renton to fuel yards scattered north along the right of way.
The Rainier Valley saw rapid growth in the first decade of the twentieth century, changing from a sparsely settled wilderness to a series of communities clustered along the trolley line. Seattle experienced a tripling of its population in the period 1890-1910, and the North Rainier Valley was accessible and attractive to both real estate developers and would-be homeowners. The trolley line itself provided jobs, as did the businesses that sprang up at the trolley stops to serve residents in the area. Downtown Seattle was an easy commute and some residents of the North Rainier Valley worked downtown. Major stops along the line included Atlantic Street, where there was a growing Italian immigrant community, York Station, at Rainier and South Walden Streets, Southeast Station, at Andover and Rainier, and Columbia. A stop at McClellan Street at the planned community of Mt. Baker Park was added, as well as a stop at Genesee and Rainier to serve the residents of Lakewood, bordering Lake Washington just east of Columbia.
Financial problems and changes of ownership plagued the electric trolley line throughout its short life. By 1907, it had changed ownership twice and had undergone three name changes, becoming the Seattle, Renton and Southern Railway. The tumultuous relationship between the ownership of the line, its riders and the city ended in the city council denying the company’s request for renewal of its franchise in 1934. In February 1936, the Seattle City Council ordered that service by the Rainier Valley Lines be suspended by the end of 1936 and that the tracks be removed as quickly as possible. The firm was the North Rainier Valley’s largest employer, and its demise, on top of the Great Depression, hurt the economy of the area. However, there were two days of celebration, including a parade from 6th and Dearborn south to Rainier Beach and back to Columbia City, to celebrate the paving over of the center strip of Rainier Avenue in June, 1937.
In September 1912, on the date of the opening of Franklin High School, there were four elementary schools in the survey area. Listed from north to south, the elementary schools were Colman, Beacon Hill, York (renamed John Muir in 1921) and Hawthorne. All of these schools were built as a direct result of trolley lines making the North Rainier Valley and Beacon Hill accessible for residential development, and all of the schools were located close to trolley stops.
In 1876, King County School District #18 was formed, covering the North Rainier Valley. This district merged with the Seattle School District in 1907 when the city annexed the North Rainier Valley. Prior to annexation, the district, also called the Columbia District, was six miles long along the streetcar line and one mile wide on either side of the track.
York School was the earliest in the North Rainier Valley section of the survey area. The York Subdivision, platted in 1903 by George M. and Martha Taggart, was one of the early communities along the North Rainier Valley electric trolley line. The Taggart’s donated the land for the school. When it opened in 1903, the school was known as Wetmore School, named for the Wetmore family, early settlers whose home was in the area. York Road, an early county road running from First Hill to the North Rainier Valley prior to the existence of Rainier Avenue, adjoined the school site and is probably the reason the small community became known as York. A new, nine-room brick school designed by architect Edgar Blair and located at Thirty-Third Avenue South and South Horton Street was opened in 1910 and named York School. In 1921, the school was renamed John Muir, after the Scottish born naturalist. An addition designed by Floyd A. Naramore was constructed in 1924 to add a lunchroom/auditorium and nine classrooms. The original building and the addition were demolished in 1989 to make room for a new wing which was designed by Streeter/Dermanis and Associates and which opened in 1991.
The Mount Baker neighborhood comprises two north-south tending ridges located southeast of downtown Seattle along Lake Washington. Initial development of the area occurred relatively late, post-1900, following the construction of the Rainier Avenue Electric Street Railway in the 1890s. York Station on Rainier Avenue and the Dose Addition were developed earlier than the Mount Baker Park Addition, platted in 1907 by the Hunter Tract Improvement Company. The Mount Baker Park Addition represents the core of the neighborhood and is its primary character-defining feature. Mount Baker Park is one of Seattle’s earliest planned residential communities that successfully integrated the natural environment and a relatively exclusive residential neighborhood in its layout of lots, streets, boulevards, and parks. The houses, primarily built between 1905 and 1929, reflect a variety of eclectic and Northwest-based architectural styles, and include designs by many prominent local architects.
Other important influences were the streetcar connection with downtown Seattle, the integration of local parks and boulevards into the Olmsted system, the construction of Franklin High School in 1912, and the building of the Mount Baker tunnel and Lacey V. Murrow Floating Bridge to Mercer Island in 1940. Today this middle-to-upper income neighborhood remains predominantly residential, is home to an ethnically diverse population, and retains much of its planned character.
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| Appearance |
| Built in 1901, this vertically-emphasized, Vernacular, single-family dwelling stands on a rectangular lot. The building is oriented to Rainier Avenue South on a flat lot elevated above street level. This 576 square foot, two-story house with a partial basement features an overall rectangular plan, measuring approximately 46’ by 24’, with an 8’ deep corner porch. A concrete block foundation supports the wood frame, clapboard-clad superstructure. Asphalt composition roofing covers the front gable roof. A one-story addition added prior to 1937 extends from the rear facade. Decoratively cut bargeboards highlight the gable ends. The roof features minimal eave overhangs with boxed soffits. Wood 1:1 double hung windows punctuate the building. Windows feature decorative painted wood casings. A corner porch wraps around the front and side of the building. Wood columns support a nearly flat roof with a railing between the columns. An internal ridgeline-located brick chimney services the building. |
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| Status: |
Yes - Inventory |
| Classication: |
Building |
District Status: |
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| Cladding(s): |
Wood - Clapboard |
Foundation(s): |
Unknown |
| Roof Type(s): |
Gable |
Roof Material(s): |
Asphalt/Composition |
| Building Type: |
Domestic - Single Family |
Plan: |
L-Shape |
| Structural System: |
Balloon Frame/Platform Frame |
No. of Stories: |
two |
| Unit Theme(s): |
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| Integrity |
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Changes to Plan: |
Slight |
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Changes to Windows: |
Intact |
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Changes to Original Cladding: |
Intact |
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| Major Bibliographic References |
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City of Seattle DCLU Microfilm Records.
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King County Property Record Card (c. 1938-1972), Washington State Archives.
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Polk's Seattle Directories, 1890-1996.
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City of Seattle. Survey of City-Owned Historic Resources. Prepared by Cathy Wickwire, Seattle, 2001. Forms for Ravenna Park structures.
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Historic Seattle Preservation and Development Authority. "Mount Baker: An Inventory of Buildings and Urban Design Resources."
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Mount Baker Community Club. Flowers We All Love Best in Mount Baker Park, (reprint of 1915 ed.)
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Tobin, Caroline. (2004) "Mount Baker Historic Context Statement."
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Tobin, Caroline. (2004) "North Rainier Valley Historic Context Statement."
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Blanchard, Leslie. Trolley Days in Seattle. Trans-Anglo Books, Los Angeles, 90053, May 1965.
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Centennial History, Columbia City, Rainier Valley, 1853-1991. Pioneers of Columbia City, 1992. Carey Summers, contributing author.
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Thompson, Nile and Marr, Carolyn J. Building for Learning, Seattle Public School Histories, 1862-2000. Seattle School District No. 1, 2002.
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Calkins, Kenneth L. The Name on the Schoolhouse. Washington State Retired Teachers Association, 1991.
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The Rainier Valley Citizen Annual, December 25, 1915. Facsimile Reproduction, the Shorey Bookstore, 110 Union Street, Seattle, Washington, 98101, 1979.
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