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Fremont and Seattle’s Ship Canal

Posted on by Valarie

Looking west in Fremont during the ship canal construction in 1912. Photo courtesy of MOHAI 83.10.69.32

Seattle’s earliest white settlers saw immediately that it would be possible to connect its freshwater lakes to the saltwater Puget Sound by means of a canal.  At a Fourth of July picnic in 1854, Thomas Mercer proposed the name of Lake Union because that body of water was in the middle between Lake Washington to the east and Puget Sound to the west.

Seattle settlers of the 1850s Thomas Mercer and David Denny took land claims at the south end of Lake Union near today’s Seattle Center.  Two single men, John Ross and William Strickler, searched out the land and in 1853-1854 they took claims at the northwest corner of Lake Union, which today is the Fremont neighborhood.  It was not until 1911-1917 that a ship canal was constructed which was large enough for industrial use.

From those earliest times in the 1850s Seattle settlers thought to build a ship canal but little did they know that it would take more than sixty years to come to fruition.  Finally in 1911 all of the needed legislation, financing and public support came together to start construction to create the Lake Washington Ship Canal. 

Continue reading “Fremont and Seattle’s Ship Canal”

The Fremont Bridge

Posted on by Valarie

Not every neighborhood has a bridge, and the Fremont Bridge has been the defining characteristic of the neighborhood since its founding in 1888.

At first there was only a stream, called The Outlet, flowing westward from Lake Union out towards Puget Sound, with a small wooden bridge to span it. Early in neighborhood history, Fremont’s boosters arranged for streetcars to come to Fremont and for this reason a more substantial trestle bridge had to be built, though it was also of wood construction.

Street railway historian Leslie Blanchard described the approach to Fremont in 1902: “then along Westlake Avenue to the foot of the old Fremont Bridge, where streetcar passengers beheld a scene bearing little resemblance to that which greets the traveler on that thoroughfare today. A rickety wooden bridge of antediluvian ancestry spanned a turbid and sluggish stream, from which small boys of the Fremont area snared salmon with bent pins fastened to broomsticks.”

The Fremont Bridge was rebuilt several times. As the stream was widened to improve access for boat traffic, the elevation of the bridge had to be increased until its span reached North 34th Street as it does today. During the ship canal construction in 1914 the bridge was washed out by a dam break. A temporary Stone Way bridge was built to use until the ship canal was finished.

Upon completion of the Lake Washington Ship Canal project, the present bascule Fremont Bridge opened to traffic on June 15, 1917. This rebuilding included capacity for auto traffic in addition to streetcar tracks. The streetcar era in Seattle ended in 1941 but today, cars, buses, pedestrians and bicycles cross over the Fremont Bridge.

The Fremont Bridge was designated as a City of Seattle Historic Landmark in 1980, as characterized by its prominence of spatial location and its easily identifiable visual feature of the neighborhood. The Bridge contributes to the distinctive identity of Fremont.

Sources:

Leslie F. Blanchard, Street Railway Era in Seattle: A Chronicle of Six Decades, 1968.

Caroline Tobin, Fremont Historic Context Statement, 2009.

$40,000 Loss from Bursting Fremont Dam.” Seattle Daily Times, March 14, 1914, pages 1, 5, and 12.

“Building permits, Carl Signor, 2944 Westlake Avenue, build two-story frame store building.”  Seattle Daily Times, August 18, 1904, page 7.

“Dam bursts on Lake Union… March 13, 1914.”  HistoryLink Essay #20222 by David B. Williams, 2016.

Fremont Bridge — National Register of Historic Places.

Seattle Municipal Archives, photo number 2787, Signor grocery building.

“Wood trestle spans canal and connects Seattle’s Fremont neighborhood with the foot of Queen Anne Hill in 1892.”  HistoryLink Essay #3309 by Priscilla Long.

“Fremont Bridge.” HistoryLink Essay #20374 by Glenn Drosendahl.  This essay gives the timeline of the series of bridges which were built at Fremont, culminating in the present bridge.

North 41st Street Pedestrian Bridge Seismic Retrofit

Posted on by Valarie

Major construction work to retrofit the North 41st Street Pedestrian Bridge across Aurora Ave North is expected to be complete by April 2025. Construction crews have reinforced the bridge’s footing, installed carbon fiber wrapping to strengthen its towers and piers, and replaced damaged concrete including nearby sidewalks and curb ramps.   

Construction workers using a lift to perform maintenance on a pedestrian bridge over a busy street. Traffic cones and barriers are in place.
The photo above shows crews working on seismic retrofit for the N 41st St Pedestrian Bridge, earlier this month (SDOT). 

Due to recent weather conditions, crews have been unable to paint the carbon fiber they installed to strengthen the bridge and finish minor restorations. Once the crews are able to complete this work, we’ll remove the traffic control measures in place. Full project completion is expected by spring 2025. 

Safety Reminders

  • Street Closure: N 41st Street is closed between Linden Ave N and Whitman Ave N until construction is complete. This closure ensures safety for everyone traveling and allows crews to work as efficiently as possible.
  • Lane and Sidewalk Closures: Sidewalks, crosswalks, and one bus lane on Aurora Ave N (either northbound or southbound depending on where work is occurring) will be temporarily closed at times to safely divert people walking, rolling, biking, and driving away from where work is occurring. Please follow all detour signs in place.  

Project Overview

Earthquakes could have a major impact on Seattle’s infrastructure. To address seismic risks to city infrastructure, the City of Seattle established a bridge seismic program to assess how vulnerable the City’s bridges were to earthquakes, and to reinforce bridges to better withstand the potential impacts of an earthquake. 

As part of the Levy to Move Seattle, 16 bridges were selected for seismic reinforcements, including the N 41st Street Pedestrian Bridge. The N 41st Street Pedestrian Bridge is an older bridge constructed in 1936 and provides a more direct connection across Aurora Avenue for the north Fremont neighborhood.  

A concrete pedestrian bridge with an art deco design spans across a multi-lane road. The bridge shows visible wear, and a low clearance sign is posted

The photo above shows the N 41st Street Pedestrian Bridge over Aurora Ave N before planned seismic retrofit improvements (Google Street view).

We’re not changing the current use and operation of the bridge. The N 41st Street Pedestrian Bridge seismic retrofit will strengthen existing bridge components and reduce the bridge’s vulnerability to earthquakes. Major construction work includes: 

  • Retrofitting the bridge’s footing.
  • Installing carbon fiber wrapping to strengthen the bridge’s towers.
  • Repairing cracks and damaged concrete.
  • Replacing bolts throughout the bridge.
  • Replacement of impacted concrete panels and curb ramps 

Fremont Public Art: The Berlin 1936 Crew Racer

Posted on by Valarie

The Data 1 office building at 744 North 34th Street was completed in 2017 and has outdoor artworks on each side of the building. At one side, underneath the Aurora Bridge, is a fragment of the Berlin Wall which tells of the triumph of the human spirit when Communism fell in 1989.

At the other corner of the Data 1 building (on the left as you look at it) is a metal sculpture of a man holding an oar, labeled Berlin 1936. This is a reference to the Olympic Games of that year, when the crew racers from the University of Washington in Seattle went to Berlin and came out of nowhere to win their race. The story of Seattle’s hardscrabble crew racers has inspired Fremont folks to nickname this metal sculpture, “Joe Rantz” for the main character in the book, The Boys in the Boat (2013).

Fremont Public Art: The Berlin Wall Fragment

Posted on by Valarie

The Berlin Wall divided East and West Germany and was torn down by its citizens on November 9, 1989, during the collapse of dictatorial rule of the Communist countries of Eastern Europe.   We remember this significant historical event at the Berlin Wall and what it represents, the freedom of self-rule.

The Berlin Wall was completely demolished at that time, and fragments were carried away as mementos. The fragment which has been installed as public art in Fremont, is located on Troll Avenue at North 34th Street, underneath the Aurora Bridge, at 744 North 34th Street.

The Fremont fragment of the Berlin Wall is twelve feet high and four feet wide.  It was originally installed in Fremont in the year 2001 close to the spot where it is now.  It was put into storage while the present building was under construction in 2016-2017, then was set up on the sidewalk.

The plaque explaining the fragment says: “This piece of the Berlin Wall arrived in Fremont in 2001 to commemorate the role of Seattle and Boeing’s C-47 in the Berlin Airlift of 1948.” The Berlin Airlift was the efforts of American, British and French cargo planes to supply the portions of the city which had been blockaded by the Soviet Union.

Fremont Public Art: The Lenin Statue

Posted on by fremont

In 1981, the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia commissioned Bulgarian sculptor Emil Venkov to create a statue that portrayed Vladimir Lenin as a bringer of revolution.  Briefly installed in Poprav, Czechoslovakia, the 16-foot bronze statue was sent to a scrapyard after the 1989 fall of Communism.

The statue in the scrapyard was discovered by Lewis Carpenter, an English teacher from Issaquah, Washington, who was teaching in Poprav and knew the artist.  Purchasing the statue with his own funds, Carpenter mortgaged his house to ship it to the USA.

But the City of Issaquah refused to display the statue of Lenin and, after Carpenter’s sudden death, it was sent to a foundry in the Fremont neighborhood of Seattle, to be melted down.

The statue of Lenin was saved again, this time by the foundry’s founder, Peter Bevis.  He convinced the Fremont Chamber of Commerce to display it until a buyer could be found. The statue was unveiled in 1995 and moved to its current location, 3526 Fremont Place North, in 1996. It remains controversial, however, its hands frequently painted red to symbolize the blood on Vladimir Lenin’s hands.  Other people admire the irony of a symbol of oppression which is now looking out over the Fremont neighborhood of Seattle where the motto is, “the freedom to be peculiar.”

Here’s more about “what was there before” Lenin:  a gas station.

Fremont Public Art: The Fremont Troll

Posted on by Kathleen

On North 36th Street, underneath the Aurora Bridge, lives the Fremont Troll.

The Norwegian folk tale about a large and ugly troll living under a bridge and the three hungry billy goats who are afraid to cross is forever immortalized in this iconic statue designed and executed by Professor of Architecture Steve Badanes and his students at the University of Washington, in response to a contest sponsored by the Fremont Arts Committee. Intended to fill up a “problem area” below the Aurora Bridge, the popular Fremont Troll was dedicated October 31, 1990 and continues to attract hundreds of visitors (and locals) with their cameras every year.

In the years before it was made into Highway 99, Aurora Avenue was an ordinary residential street.  Its last segment in Fremont is now underneath the Aurora Bridge.  In the year 2005 the City of Seattle passed an ordinance to rename this two-block segment of Aurora between North 34th to 36th Streets “Troll Avenue” to help people find the Troll artwork at the intersection of North 36th Street.

The Fremont Neighborhood in Seattle is Founded in 1888

Posted on by Valarie

Each neighborhood of Seattle proudly waves the banner of its unique name, and yet many were named in a similar way:  by real estate investors.   Fremont in Seattle was also named by real estate investors.  What made the Seattle neighborhood called Fremont stand out from others, was its good location, its jump-start after Seattle’s Great Fire of 1889, and its vigorous developers who utilized the growing streetcar system to advantage.

Continue reading “The Fremont Neighborhood in Seattle is Founded in 1888”

Harvey Funeral Home, 508 North 36th Street

Posted on by Valarie

The Harvey Funeral Home on North 36th Street, corner of Evanston Avenue, is an example of the evolution of businesses and buildings in Fremont. This site started out as a single-family home built in 1902. In early Fremont there was no zoning and as the district grew, homes were sometimes converted to commercial buildings. That is the case with this building which was expanded several times, beginning in 1928 when it opened as the Fisher-Kalfus Funeral Home. In 1955 the name became the Hoffner, Fisher & Harvey Funeral Home.

Like the Bleitz Funeral Home at the south end of the Fremont Bridge, the Harvey Funeral Home experienced a decline in business because of cultural changes in funeral preferences. The property has been sold and as of 2025 the site is slated for redevelopment. The building was presented at the Seattle Landmarks Board but it failed to win nomination for historic preservation.

Sources:

Landmarks Board nomination report, 2021.

Fremont Public Art: Troll’s Knoll Forest Lanterns

Posted on by Valarie

Dear FOTK (Friends of Troll’s Knoll) Supporters:

On Saturday, March 8th when visiting Troll’s Knoll Forest, we found that a mushroom lantern sculpture (third one as you head south) had been violently damaged. The mushroom cap was split horizontally and the cradle that supported the cap had been crushed and removed from the structure (see attached photo). The four mushroom lantern sculptures on site are a collaboration between artists Michiko Tanaka and HaiYing Wu. They were installed in 2023.

HaiYing and Michiko visited the site to survey the damage. It was determined the mushroom can be repaired but will cost in the neighborhood of $2,000. The work will consist of repairing damage, reproducing a silicone mold, cement casting and installation.

We are very honored to have this work by HaiYing Wu and Michiko Tanaka and are reaching out to the community to help fund the repair as this was not an expenditure we anticipated having.

While it is disappointing having art vandalized, our group is committed to maintaining the art and nature of the site. If you have visited the site lately you may have noticed all of the daffodils and tulips we planted are coming up. We expect even more visitors to the site next year because of 2026 FIFA World Cup. We hope you can make a donation to help with this repair and keep up the momentum at Troll’s Knoll. (Friends of Troll’s Knoll is Seattle Parks Foundation Community Partner, and a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization. Tax ID: 91-1998597).

Thank you.

Leo Griffin
President
Friends of Troll’s Knoll
fremonttrollsknoll@gmail.com

Bleitz Funeral Home, 316 Florentia Street

Posted on by Valarie

The Lake Washington Ship Canal was completed in 1917 and the former small stream flowing westward past Fremont, was widened and deepened for the passage of larger vessels. Before that time there had been a much smaller channel and a bridge, and areas on the south side of the bridge were still considered part of Fremont. The new, wide channel caused a demarcation so that today, the south side of the Fremont Bridge is considered to be in the Queen Anne neighborhood.

In 1904 an ambitious young man, Jacob Bleitz, came to Seattle to set up his funeral home business. He had attended the Chicago College of Embalming in 1900, then set up business in Wichita, Kansas, for a time.

In Seattle, Jacob Bleitz gravitated to the Fremont neighborhood where he joined the Masonic group, the Doric Lodge. He accessed his business contacts there and opened his funeral home business in Fremont in 1906. Bleitz seemed to want to keep developing for better facilities. He moved to another intersection in Fremont and then, in 1921, he built his own building on the south side of the Fremont Bridge, at Florentia Street. The Bleitz building is today very visible in its location right next to the bridge.

Changes in cultural expectations of funeral services, such as a greater emphasis on cremation, have caused a decline in the number of mortuary facilities in Seattle. After the Bleitz business closed and the building was sold, a developer applied to tear it down and build a new office building there. This plan was stopped in part, by the historic landmarking of the building in 2017, under the City of Seattle Historic Preservation Program.

The Bleitz building was then sold to another developer who was willing to work with the historic preservation program. Permission was granted to demolish a “non-contributing” structure, a drive-up, on the west side of the building as it was not original. The western side of the property was available for a new building. The new building is joined to the Bleitz by a courtyard and the property has been renamed Fremont Crossing.

Sources:

Bleitz history:  company photos in the Now and Then column of June 16, 2022.

Historic Landmark Nomination, Bleitz Funeral Home, March 1, 2017, Seattle Landmarks Board.

South of the Bridge in Fremont, blog article about the Bleitz and other developments.

B. F. Day Elementary School, 3921 Linden Avenue North in Fremont, Seattle

Posted on by Valarie

The Fremont neighborhood was opened for settlement in 1888 and its early residents were very active in organizing their community. Since Fremont was not yet within the Seattle City Limits, there was no school district oversight so some community members, such as the Goddard family, taught groups of children in homes.

The neighborhood grew rapidly. After Fremont was annexed to the City of Seattle in June 1891, the Seattle School District rented a community hall to be used for classes.

Fremont resident B.F. Day was a real estate salesman who knew that the availability of a school would attract homebuyers. Mr. & Mrs. Day donated land that they owned in the 3900 block of Linden Avenue for the site of the school. On May 2, 1892, four rooms had been completed in the new building which went on to have eight rooms. The population of Fremont grew so rapidly that by 1899 enrollment exceeded capacity. The students at B.F. Day were sent to temporary locations while another eight rooms were added to the school building. Another addition was made in 1915.

B.F. Day Elementary School is the longest continuously-operating school building in Seattle. The building was given “landmark” status in 1981 under Seattle’s Historical Preservation program. In another sense, the school building certainly does serve as a “landmark” in old photos as the roofline is visible on one of the highest elevations in the neighborhood.

Sources:

Seattle’s Pioneers of Fremont: B.F. Day. (Blog article)

People of the Ship Canal: A.J. Goddard, Businessman and Legislator (Blog article)

Fremont Historic Resources Survey – Context Statement by Caroline Tobin, January 2010.   City of Seattle Historic Preservation.

The Fremont Branch Library at 731 North 35th Street

Posted on by Valarie

The Fremont neighborhood is the site of many “firsts” in Seattle, and it was the first to have a branch library.

In the 1890s there was only one public library in Seattle, located downtown. Residents of the growing Fremont neighborhood set up a reading room with privately donated books and newspapers where anyone could come to sit and read. A Seattle Daily Times article of January 1900 told of the formation of a library committee headed by Sidney Elder, a pharmacist at Fremont Drug Company, 3401 Fremont Avenue. The committee included other businessmen and their wives, who organized a community fund drive to buy books.

The Fremont Reading Room moved several times until the community petitioned the Seattle library system to build a branch library in Fremont. Philanthropist Andrew Carnegie provided funds for the building itself. Another community fund drive and funds from the City of Seattle were used to purchase the land and add Fremont to the Seattle library system.

Architect Daniel R. Huntington received the commission to design the Fremont Branch Library building, which opened on July 27, 1921. The building’s architectural style is Mission Revival/Spanish, with red clay roof tiles, stucco walls and ornamental black ironwork on windows, railings and front gates.

In 2003 the Fremont Branch Library was “landmarked” as a significant structure worthy of historic preservation, under the City of Seattle’s Historic Preservation program.

Sources:

“Fremont Branch, Seattle Public Library.” HistoryLink Essay #3967 by David Wilma, 2002.

Fremont Drug Company in Seattle: Part One, Beginnings.” This blog article tells about an early business in Fremont and the active community members who helped organize Fremont’s reading room.

The Fremont Hotel Building, 3419 Fremont Avenue North

Posted on by Valarie

The Great Seattle Fire of June 6, 1889 made news headlines all over the USA and drew opportunity-seekers to Seattle. Skilled workers such as carpenters knew that they would have a good chance of finding employment in the rebuilding of the city. Others, including teachers, attorneys, bankers and businessmen also sought opportunities in the rebuilding of Seattle.

A young man, Charles Remsberg, came to Seattle in 1889 and settled in the newly created suburb of Fremont where he found a place as an active community member. He studied to earn a law degree and was elected Justice of the Peace in Fremont, so that ever after, he was referred to as Judge Remsberg.

Judge Remsberg became a business investor in Fremont real estate. In 1901 he built in the 3400 block on the west side of Fremont Avenue. The building had storefronts at the sidewalk level and some office spaces on the second floor, which also contained the Fremont Hotel. In June 1903 a fire started, possibly in the chimney flue of one of the businesses. The fire destroyed much of the building and Judge Remsberg determined to re-build with more fire-resistant materials. Remsberg’s next venture was as founder of a bank across the street at 3416 Fremont Ave, with business partner Samuel Dixon. The Remsberg & Dixon Bank also sold fire insurance.

In 1911 a new street, Fremont Place, was cut through on the diagonal at the corner of 35th, giving more space for traffic to and from Fremont Avenue’s approach to the Fremont Bridge. Judge Remsberg’s corner Fremont Hotel building was slightly sheared off by the creation of the street, so he commissioned architects to adapt the building to the remaining land. This created the curved facade of the Fremont Hotel building, very eye-catching at this prominent intersection. A prefabricated building material, rusticated concrete blocks, also made the building stand out from its surroundings of mostly wood-frame or brick-fronted buildings.

Today the Fremont Hotel building appeals to the eye with its curved front, unique rusticated facade and large windows into shops. In 1979 the building was nominated for historic preservation due to its “visual prominence that underscores its historical associations with long-term business and civic institutions in the Fremont District.”

Sources:

Caroline Tobin, Historical Survey and Planning Study of Fremont’s Commercial Area, Fremont Neighborhood Council, 1991.

“Destructive Fire in Fremont,” Seattle Daily Times, June 24, 1903, pages 1 and 2.

“People of the Ship Canal: Remsberg & Dixon, Fremont Businessmen.” Blog article, 2017, by Valarie.

The McKenzie Building at 3400 Fremont Avenue North

Posted on by Valarie

By 1927 Fremont was a well-established neighborhood with a busy commercial district along Fremont Avenue North and the side-streets including North 34th Street. In that year a pioneer building, Hotel Dixon, was demolished to make way for a new-era commercial building with storefronts at the sidewalk level and offices upstairs. There also is a basement which today still houses successful businesses.

The McKenzie Building at 3400 Fremont Avenue North was designed by Seattle architect John R. Nevins, a resident of the early Wedgwood neighborhood in northeast Seattle.

Today the building at 3400 Fremont Avenue North is still known as the McKenzie, with the name spelled out in decorative tile and brickwork. David McKenzie (1858-1929) was a business investor who came to Seattle in 1907 and had a varied career. Along with business interests he served as one of the three King County Councilmen, and he was director of the Westlake Public Market until 1925. In 1926 he was one of the investors in Fremont’s Queen City Bank which had been organized by Fremont businessmen including Bryant Lumber Company executives.

In the last years of his life David McKenzie’s occupation was listed as real estate investor. He may have intended to live in retirement supported by rental income from the new McKenzie Building.

A long-time tenant of the McKenzie Building was the Costas Opa Greek restaurant, which operated from 1981 to 2012. A Chase Bank branch later opened in the McKenzie Building. At this writing in February 2025 the ground floor of the McKenzie Building is vacant.