In the September 2019 issue of Kirkland Lifestyle magazine I told the story of Bob and Betty Lightfeldt, who were perhaps Kirkland’s most entrepreneurial couple during the 1960’s and ’70s. The Lightfeldts owned several buildings in downtown Kirkland and in Juanita and created many well-known retails stores, including Betty’s Pants and Tops, Kid’s Stuff, PX […]
I had a lot of fun writing The Possibilities Are Endless for the May 2019 issue of Kirkland Lifestyle magazine. This article recounted why and how Kirkland came to be in the late 1880s. Can you imagine if Kirkland had actually become the “Pittsburgh of the Pacific” with a steel mill puffing away at the […]
Kent helped me resurrect another one of the articles I wrote for the sadly-defunct Kirkland Views blog. Check out the story of the M. V. Kehloken to learn more about its ties to Kirkland history. Enjoy!
In the April 2019 issue of Kirkland Lifestyle magazine I recounted the heartbreaking story of the Clark family, which was decimated by diphtheria in 1882. The toughness of families who lived in frontier Kirkland is legendary but thankfully not usually as tragic as what befell Martin and Eliza. Kirkland Homesteader Fought to Save Her Children […]
The Northern Pacific Railway Historical Association (NPRHA) was a gold mine of information over the years that we researched the history behind what became the Cross-Kirkland Corridor (CKC). It shares the Pacific Northwest Railroad Archive (PNRA) in Burien with other railroad historical associations. The NPRHA has extensive photo and document collections and boasts a membership […]
The publishers of Kirkland Lifestyle magazine are interested in the history of Kirkland, which is great to see. Loita Hawkinson, President of Kirkland Heritage Society, and I have been writing short articles on popular historical topics. My first one was published in the March 2019 issue and was a bit broader than Kirkland. Lake Washington […]
The logo for this site was pretty much an afterthought—in our lengthy planning stages both Kent and I, as historians (and not terribly graphics-savvy guys!), were pretty much monocularly-focused on content and presentation. As we got closer to making the site live, we decided to get some expert help, so we brought in talented young […]
