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Built in 1909 at a cost of $1500, this building was owned by Dan Mahoney. Emma McDonald purchased the building in March of 1922. By 1937, the building was a two-family dwelling. Later, additional plumbing fixtures were added to convert the building into an inexpensive boarding house. By 1938, William J. Zesbaugh and Ivan M. Palmaw lived in the building. William Zesbaugh resided previously in 1711 Twelfth Avenue South and worked as a cook. In 1942, building owner Helen Schwab converted the building to function as a boarding and rooming house with one-sex-only as roomers. Harry H. and Martha Falck purchased the building in May of 1951 for $18,000. By 1955 through 1968, the building was known as the Beacon Apartments with seven occupied units. Mitsuo Yamamura bought the residence in March of 1962 for $19,000. T. Moriguchi, Dennia, Kiyokara and Ronald Yamamoto jointly purchased the building in June of 1969 for $32,240.
Beacon Hill is a long north-south tending ridge located southeast of downtown Seattle and stands 350 feet at its highest point. The hill’s steep topography deterred substantial Euro-American settlement through the early 1880s. Then, development of the area was stimulated by the introduction of streetcar lines in the 1890s, its proximity to Seattle’s main industrial area to the west, and the regrading of the hill’s north end in the early 1900s.
Originally acquired by the City in 1898, Jefferson Park was integrated into Seattle’s Olmsted system of parks, and the Olmsted Brothers prepared a plan for the park in 1912. The first public golf course west of the Mississippi opened at Jefferson Park in 1915. Jefferson Park has exerted a profound positive influence on the development of the Beacon Hill neighborhood.
Because of its proximity to the International District, Japanese and Chinese families moved to Beacon Hill starting in the 1920s. World War I and II stimulated a surge in housing development associated with wartime industry. The construction of Interstate 5 in the 1960s and Interstate 90 in the 1980s sliced through the neighborhoods and contributed to Beacon Hill’s relative isolation. Today, Beacon Hill is an ethnically diverse working class community, which has a mixed Asian, Chicano, African American, and Caucasian population.
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