History of Shoreline Washington

Historylink.org has an interesting article on the history of Shoreline (with old photos). Here is an exerpt followed by a link to the original article.

An early resident in the Shoreline community around the turn of the century was Judge James Ronald. Ronald purchased five acres of land for $100 from a friend who owed him money. Working on the weekends, he cleared his tract and planted cherry and apple trees. Improving the land came naturally to him, he claimed, having been raised in the Deep South.

Judge Ronald was a friend of Fred Sander, the man who built the Interurban. Ronald gave right-of-way through his property for Sander's rail line and offered to build a small station house if he could name it. Sander agreed, and after the station was built, Ronald gave him a sign reading "Evanor," named for Ronald’s daughters, Eva and Norma.

Shortly thereafter, Judge Ronald was riding the train. He got off at his station and was shocked to see that its name had been changed to Ronald. Not wanting to see his name in a public place, he confronted Sander. Sander informed Ronald that he'd promised to name the station "Evanor" but not to keep the name.

Said Sander, "This is my railway and I change names of stations when I please. I have changed it to Ronald and if you don’t like that name you can stay away and not see it!" The name further ingrained itself into the community a few years later when Ronald donated land for a school building. The name of the building? Ronald School, now home to the Shoreline Historical Museum.

Link to Shoreline history at Historylink.org

Photo: Cut out of Judge Ronald (left) at Shoreline Historical Museum

Shoreline Historical Museum is in trouble: being evicted by Shoreline Schools

(photo is part of a display at the Museum)

The Shoreline Historical Museum is in trouble. It looks like Shoreline Schools is evicting the Museum from the old Ronald School. Here is some information about the Museum followed by links to more information about the impending closure.

Important Dates in the history of the Shoreline Historical Museum

1976 - the Shoreline School District Board of Directors affirmed that not all learning happens in a classroom and as a bicentennial project, they and community members and leaders established the Shoreline Historical Museum.

1989 - the importance of the Museum to the community was reaffirmed by the School District Board when they deeded the building to the Shoreline Historical Museum organization for use by the community.

2000 - the Museum completes its accessibility project, installing an elevator to make sure all students and citizens can use the Museum.

2008 - After 20 years of planning and restoration work, the Museum’s Ronald School building becomes a Landmark.

Educational Activities

◊ Led by trained docents on curriculum-based tours, over 25,000 Shoreline elementary children have visited the Museum, learning valuable lessons in community responsibility and pride.

◊ The Museum has assisted teachers in providing real-life experiences that enhance and support the curriculum. With the help of Shoreline district teachers and grants, the Museum’s tours have been revamped numerous times over the years to meet teachers’ changing goals for their classes.

◊ The Museum’s Passport Program aids school children and other young visitors in exploring the exhibits, learning about community history and the historic Ronald School. Each child’s completed passport is theirs to keep.

◊ A specially devised tour program has served over 100 special education students who visit the Museum. This program also serves adults who have graduated from Shoreline Schools who participate in other community programs designed to assist them.

◊ The Museum’s education programming has served over 300 individual high school students who have availed themselves of the Museum’s Community Service/Student Museum Assistant Program. This supervised program invites Students from both Shorewood and Shorecrest high schools to earn community service credits by volunteering at the Museum.

◊ Students have contributed over 25,000 volunteer hours to the community through the Museum’s program, and at the same time have found within themselves the spirit of participation and giving back within their own community.

◊ The Museum also takes under its wing high school students who have been ordered by the court system to perform community service. We are one of the few institutions willing to give children in trouble a chance to regain their footing and their personal pride.

◊ Assistance is available for students doing social studies projects, such as History Day projects and theme papers. There’s something for every student at the Museum.

◊ Hands-on activities for young people, run by high school volunteers, teaches children about self sufficiency and community history.

◊ Three floors of exhibits focused on community history

◊ A large public research archive utilized by students and other researchers

◊ 10,000 visitors every year

◊ Over 1,000 regular members and donors

Funding

◊ Members, donors and public funds from the State of Washington and King county have helped the Museum with $1.5 million dollars worth of capital projects in the last 16 years, including an elevator that enables special education students and other disabled citizens to participate in Museum tours and educational programs.

◊ Over $2 million more dollars of community donations and grants have paid for educational programming, exhibits and operations.

◊ A contract for services from the city of Shoreline for full time Museum services.

◊ Sustained support and Special Projects from 4Culture, King County’s heritage grants arm.

◊ Adult volunteers contribute over 5,000 hours per year to Museum operations, exhibits and programs.

The Ronald School building is an integral part of the Museum organization and the Museum’s programming. With our nearly 100 year old building, we are able to demonstrate to both students and adults that history is real - not just an abstract concept. With our building, we are able to illuminate the history of a community that has a school district that has long cared about giving all of its people a sense of belonging and rootedness in the traditions of education, sharing those ideals in a very real way with everyone through its gift to the community, the Museum, which provides lifelong learning for everyone. The Shoreline Historical Museum is more than a collection of artifacts.

(The Shoreline Historical Museum Board of Trustees)

Read the Letter to Members, Donors and Friends

Read the Petition to the Shoreline School District Board of Directors

Read all posts about Shoreline Historical Museum

Link to Shoreline Historical Museum

Please post your thoughts to the "comment" section!

Memories of Shoreline: Innis Arden

I copied the following text from the Innis Arden website (which indicates that they got it from the book "Shoreline Memories"). There are several more personal memories of Innis Arden on the Innis Arden website. Click the link below to read them and to see some interesting photos that show how Innis Arden area of Shoreline has changed over the years.

INNIS ARDEN (by C. A. Taylor)

Innis Arden was put on the market in October 1940. The Boeing Company bought the land from the Puget Mill Co (Pope and Talbot). The land had been logged off and was just plain stump land. Boeing cleared the land, laid out the streets and then plotted the first addition. The highest priced lots in October 1940 were $1,750.00 and some as low as $1,000, according to location. Hugh Russel was the sales agent on the ground. I asked Mr. Russel where they got the name "Innis Arden." He told me that it was named after Mrs. Boeing's girlhood home in Connecticut. The first homes built in Innis Arden were near the entrance at Innis Arden Drive and Richmond Beach Road. (click here to read more)

From Shoreline Memories by the Shoreline Historical Society, 1975

"Shoreline Memories" (vols I & II) compiles oral histories of Shoreline WA. It is available for purchase at the Shoreline Historical Museum.

Link to Innis Arden website (more history in words and photos)

Historic building in Richmond Beach: The Crawford Store (1922)

This building is located at 2411 NW 195th Place in Shoreline. The top photo (from HistoryLink.org) is from 1937. The bottom photo (which I took) is from 2009.

Here's what HistoryLink has to say about this building:

The Crawford Store is the last intact retail building in the historic Richmond Beach business district. John Holloway, an early resident of Richmond Beach, built the two story structure in 1922. The building, with a large covered front porch, faces the road that once led to the railroad depot. Langford and Eva Crawford were the first in a long line of shopkeepers who operated the store and lived in the apartment upstairs.

Link to HistoryLink.org (see a photo of the Crawford Store from 1957)

As Shoreline changes, what have we lost?What do you miss?

I was thinking about all the changes Shoreline is going through (and has gone through over the past few years) and all the places that are gone now. While it is true that we've seen a lot of improvements to the City, what have we lost? Cascades Bingo, the bakery outlet on 15th just north of 145th, the stamp collecting shop on Aurora, the little QFC across the street from Fred Meyer (you may recall it even had a tiny little post office inside!), GT's Sports Bar, and on and on.

As we watch Shoreline grow and change, is there anything you particularly miss? What have we lost? Please post your thoughts to the comment section below.

A bit of Shoreline history: North City & North City Lounge

Some info from the "Historic Sites" map of North King County:

The third oldest business district in Shoreline, North City was named in a 1940s contest held by business owners to give a defined name to their area. The district sprung up along the "main drag" of 15th NE in the late 1920s in response to the many homes being built in neighboring areas such as Lago Vista and Monte Vista. 

The North City Lounge at 176th was constructed in 1928 as a store and gas station.

Is a historic Shoreline road hitting a dead end?

The end of the road

Heading north it connects with Aurora.

A piece of Shoreline history meets a dead end.

A couple weeks ago I posted some information about the history of Ronald Pl. N. - specifically the curvy piece of red brick road between Aurora Rents and Top Food. When I wrote that post I didn't realize that there's actually another piece of that road on the other side of 175th, running from the back of Walgreen's parking lot out to Highway 99. As you can see in the photos above, it's pretty much been rendered useless.

Someone commented on the original post with dire warnings about the future of the road, saying that it's at risk, but leaving no details. So I wrote an email to the City of Shoreline asking about it. Here's the deal (as far as I can tell): the curvy piece of Ronald Pl. N. that currently connects Highway 99 and 175th is indeed going to go away, while the piece that runs alongside the Interurban Trail (that's the piece that dead-ends at the Walgreens parking lot) may be incorporated into 'Interurban Park'.

Here's a quote from the email: "The backbone of the Interurban Park is Ronald Place. There will be a public process to aid plan development. How the red brick road is highlighted as part of the park will be determined through plan development." Click here to read the entire email.

What do you think? What would you like to see happen with Ronald Pl. N.? Do you think it's important to preserve it? Post your thoughts to the comment section below (you don't need to log in or have an account to leave a comment).

Link to: earlier post about Ronald Pl. N.

They used to burn ships at Richmond Beach

This is the sign up on the bluff at Richmond Beach park.

It gives historical information about the park and the names of the mountain peaks of the Olympic mountains that you can see on the horizon across the water.

Detail of the sign showing an "old boat burning at Richmond Beach"

My North King County Historic Sites Tour Map says this about Richmond Beach Saltwater Park: " From the early 1920s until the 1950s, salvage companies hauled wooden ships to the sand pit beach and burned them to obtain the scrap metal. Picnicking crowds gathered to watch the fires, which were announced in the newspapers. The site became a park in 1958. Scrap metal from the fires can still be found on the beach."

And this, according to the sign up on the bluff at Richmond Beach park "...old ships that were no longer being used for shipping were brought down to Richmond Beach and burned. The newspapers gave notice when this was going to occur on certain nights. It was quite a show and well attended." (as recollected by Helen Cox Oltman)

Scrap metal from the ship fires?

Part of the sign on the bluff

The beach

View from the bluff

Do you remember when they used to burn ships off of (what is now) Richmond Beach Park? If so, please leave your recollections in the comment section or email me. We'd love for you to share your story!

Link to: All posts about Richmond Beach

Ronald Pl. N., History under your feet (or tires)

Have you ever noticed the little curvy piece of road that connects Highway 99 with N. 175th St? It's more or less between Aurora Rents and TOP Food and Drug, just east of the intersection of Highway 99 and N 175th. Well, a brochure I got at the Shoreline Historical Museum has this to say about that:

"The last remaining exposed piece of the North Trunk Road curves in an arch across 175th, connecting with Aurora Ave. N. (Highway 99) on both ends. The original road was brick-paved in 1913. The road was straightened and widened in 1928, in preparation for the new national highway, and paved shortly thereafter. The remaining curve was left in place, a reminder that Judge Ronald dug that section of the road with his own hands."

Wow! Judge Ronald must have been exceedingly industrious. No wonder so many things around here are named after him (including this blog, since it's named after Ronald Bog, which is also named after Judge Ronald).

According to the Shoreline Historical Museum's website: "The Ronald School (which is where the museum is housed), established in 1906, was named after Judge James T. Ronald, a prominent area attorney, Mayor of Seattle in 1892 and 1893, and King County Superior Court Judge from 1909 to 1949. Many places in Shoreline came to be named after him, such as: Ronald Methodist Church, Ronald Voting Precinct, Ronald Place (the brick road), Ronald Sewer District, Ronald Bog, Ronald Station, Ronald Neighborhood, and Ronald Room at the Shoreline Center."

By the way, I think that brochure must have been printed before the Walgreen's was put in, because Ronald Pl. N. no longer seems to connect to Highway 99 on both ends. It seems to be just that one little bit that's left now.








Link to: more information about Ronald Pl. N.

Antique radios on display in Shoreline

There's a room at the Shoreline Historical Museum filled with antique radios and memorabilia, thanks to the Puget Sound Antique Radio Association. There's also one of those big old floor-model radios playing War of the Worlds (at least, that's what it was playing last weekend when I went there).

These three photos show just a little bit of what's on display. There's quite a bit more to see. It's pretty cool exhibit, if you find that sort of thing interesting. And hey, it's free!

More info about the exhibit at the Shoreline Historical Museum website.

Link to the Puget Sound Antique Radio Association.