Have you ever wondered what Peter Kirk’s steel mill on Rose Hill (near Costco) would have looked like had it actually been completed and begun production of steel railroad rails? Matt and Kent were part of an interdisciplinary research team that undertook an extensive investigation of Peter Kirk’s ambitious effort to establish a steel manufacturing […]
On Monday, June 3 a group of development professionals, City employees, and history enthusiasts gathered on the Cross-Kirkland Corridor to unveil three markers that correspond to historic locations on the former Lake Washington Belt Line, the Northern Pacific rail line that ran through Kirkland from 1905 until its conversion to a trail c. 2014. This […]
We were honored to be part of Feliks Banel’s exploration of the history of rail travel on the Eastside, as a prelude to the opening of Sound Transit’s East Link light rail Starter Line on April 27. It was fun to talk about what passenger service looked like here over 100 years ago. We were […]
Thanks to the time and talents of Noel Sherrard, the Firloch page of the Lake Washington Belt Line feature now has an animated map that shows the evolution of industries, spurs, and streets over the life of the line. We hope this helps you visualize the changes over time. (The image below is static. Go […]
Matt and I haven’t added substantial content to the Lake Washington Belt Line feature in quite some time but we have continually been on the lookout for new sources to extend the story. Fellow historian Sheldon Perry came through in a big way recently with a scan of a Burlington Northern SPINS document from 1978 […]
Thanks once again to the talents of Ryan Zimbelman, the Par-Mac Industrial Park page of the Lake Washington Belt Line feature now has an animated map that shows the evolution of industries and spurs over the life of the line. We hope this helps you visualize the changes over time. (The image below is static. […]
One of the most-beloved and longest-lasting businesses described in the Lake Washington Belt Line in Kirkland feature is Quality Feed Mills (later Globe Feed Co.). Loita Hawkinson, President of the Kirkland Heritage Society, recently discovered an oral interview transcript with Manya Lawson, the matriarch of the family and the business, conducted on May 7, 1974 […]
Our Lake Washington Belt Line feature lifts up the history of the many businesses served by the railroad in Kirkland beginning in 1905. A few have a special place in Kirkland history and in the hearts of long-time residents — and one of those is surely Seattle Door Co., aka SeDorCo. We are very grateful […]
Thanks to the talents of Ryan Zimbelman, the Piccadilly area page of the Lake Washington Belt Line feature now has an animated map that shows the evolution of side tracks over the life of the line. We hope this helps you visualize the changes over time and the relationships between the various tracks.
On the one hand, SC&T has very little to do with Kirkland history, and this post is simply a shameless plug for “Seattle’s First Railroad”, a multi-year research project in which Matt and I are involved. Part of what has made this project so compelling is the people who are on the team with us: […]
