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Category: Fremont People

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.

Hotel Dixon at 3400 Fremont Avenue North

Posted on by Valarie

Walter A. Shorey was one of the enterprising young men who came to Seattle to get in on its opportunities for growth. He arrived just in time for the opening of a new neighborhood, Fremont, in 1888. Shorey obtained a prime site at the main intersection of North 34th Street & Fremont Avenue, to build a large hotel/boarding house. Fremont’s founders had planned ahead to establish resources for the community, so they had already set up a lumber mill which provided jobs and materials to build houses. A boarding house was needed for temporary residents or single men like the sawmill workers.

After about ten years Walter Shorey sold the hotel to Samuel Dixon, another early Fremont businessman. Shorey continued to live in the area and listed himself as a real estate agent. Perhaps Shorey sold the boarding house business because he’d had to slow down due to poor health, as he died in 1903.

In the 1901 photo shown here, people on the veranda of Hotel Dixon are standing with their bicycles. The reason for this might be because hotel proprietor Samuel Dixon also owned a bicycle shop, right across the street. During his years as a businessman in Fremont, Dixon juggled several enterprises, including insurance, banking and real estate developments.

Hotel Dixon stood on this site, northeast corner of 34th & Fremont Avenue North, until 1927 when it was replaced by the McKenzie Building.

The J.P. Dean Building at 3508 Fremont Avenue North

Posted on by fremont

The J.P. Dean Building at 3508 Fremont Avenue North was named for Mr. Joseph P. Dean, the original building owner. Mr. Dean was a millwright who lived at 1554 NW 50th Street. He worked at the Fremont sawmill in the 1890s but later moved to Ballard and worked at the Seattle Cedar Lumber Manufacturing Company. He was promoted from millwright to foreman to master mechanic during his career at Seattle Cedar Lumber. His handsome Queen Anne style 1902 house still stands prominently at the NE corner of 17th NW & NW 50th in Ballard.

The J.P. Dean Building was constructed in 1912 by Alex Carter, an English immigrant who lived in Fremont at 3611 2nd Ave NW. He specialized in house moving, but he may have had additional skills. The building permit was issued on March 5, 1912. The cost to build the two-story building was estimated at $8,000. The building has a rusticated cast stone façade similar to that of the Fremont Hotel. Numerous permits were issued to allow alteration of the building for various tenants in 1914, 1917, early-mid 1920s, and again in the 1950s and 1960s.

The J.P. Dean building has been in Linden family ownership since the early 1930s when Andy Linden bought the building as an investment. He was born in Sweden and came to the United States in 1901. He was listed in the 1910 census as a cabinetmaker, living at 317 E. Thomas Street. He operated Linden Furniture store from 1912 to 1948, when he retired. The furniture store was located close to the Fremont Bridge until the early 1920s and then moved to 940 N. 34th Street, close to the intersection of Stone Way.

At the time of the 1938 property survey photos, the Fremont Confectionery appeared to be the only tenant at storefront level in the 3508 building. Other storefronts were vacant during that 1930s time of economic depression. Fremont was economically impacted not only by the Great Depression, but also by the opening of the Aurora Bridge in 1932, which created a bypass and caused a decline in shopping in Fremont.

Mr. Klieros, proprietor of Fremont Confectionery, was born in Turkey. He came to the United States in 1914 and was a partner in a restaurant. He operated the Fremont Confectionery Company for 33 years. He lived at 722 N. 36th Street and later at 714 N. 46th Street. He was a member of St. Demetrios Greek Orthodox Church.

Today the storefronts along the 3500 block of Fremont Avenue are interesting and add to the nurture of local merchants in the Fremont business district.

Sources: Al Linden; Polk Seattle Directories; City of Seattle permit records; Historical Survey and Planning Study of Fremont’s Commercial Area, Carol Tobin, 1991; Theodore Klieros Obituary,10/24/1958 Seattle Times; Andy Linden Obituary, 10/4/1953 Seattle P.I.;U.S. Census, 1910, 1920, 1930, 1940; Seattle Department of Neighborhoods website, Database of Historic Properties.

The McMullen Fuel Company

Posted on by Valarie

In 1889 J. S. McMullen, age 55, pulled up stakes and went out West.  He had spent most of his life in Michigan but perhaps he was enticed to start a new life by word of the rich natural resources of the Seattle area.  McMullen brought his wife and four adult children, and the family became business leaders in the Fremont neighborhood.

Continue reading “The McMullen Fuel Company”

Charles Ottoson’s Artistic Iron Work Shop, 3909 Aurora Avenue North in Fremont

Posted on by Valarie

Charles Nils Ottoson was born in Sweden in 1894. He trained as a blacksmith, which meant doing many kinds of metalwork. In 1919 Ottoson came to the USA and went out to Hollywood, California, where he had been told that there were wealthy people who would pay for custom ironwork such as gates, window grills, and railings. Smaller items he could make included fireplace screens, weathervanes and candelabra. Ottoson developed a clientele of doing custom Spanish-style black iron detailing on the mansions of movie stars. Then the economic crash called the Great Depression hit in 1929, and work dried up.

Ottoson came to Seattle and was able to find work again where he had his own shop at 3909 Aurora Avenue North. Described as an “artistic ironworker,” Ottoson produced custom works in wrought iron but also brass, bronze, copper and aluminum. In addition to taking custom orders, Ottoson would also make small items such as candlesticks which he might sell on a retail basis.

Today Ottoson’s shop building still stands at 3909 Aurora Avenue North, occupied by Vallantine Motor Works, a motorcycle service and repair shop.

Sources:

Genealogical search on Washington Digital Archives and on Ancestry.com

Newspaper articles: “Blacksmith Real Man of Distinction,” Seattle Post Intelligencer, 5 January 1960, page 5. “Last of the Red-Hot Iron Artists,” Seattle Daily Times 27 April 1969, page 221, Times photos by Roy Scully.

Photos: Seattle Engineering Department photo of 1955 accessed on Seattle Municipal Archives; contemporary photo from the website of the company, Vallantine Motor Works, which currently occupies the building.

Ross School in Fremont

Posted on by Valarie

Ross Park on Third Ave NW at NW 43rd Street is the former site of Ross School.  It was named for the family who were the earliest settlers in the western part of Fremont.  

The John Ross family took land in homestead claims on both sides of what is now the ship canal, including the present site of Seattle Pacific University.  Up until the ship canal was created in 1911-1917, there was a stream flowing westward toward Puget Sound. When the Ross family moved to a new house on the north side of the creek, they cooperated with neighbors to build a school for the community’s children at the site of what is now Ross Park.

The school population grew larger until a new building was needed. The building pictured here, was an eight-room schoolhouse which opened in 1903.  The school closed in 1940 and children were then sent to West Woodland Elementary.

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”

Charles H. Baker: Land Investor in the Fremont Neighborhood of Seattle

Posted on by Valarie

The Fremont neighborhood has a lively history which parallels the story of the City of Seattle’s growth and development.  Just as in the beginnings of Seattle in what is now downtown, the earliest white settlers of Fremont were attracted by the availability of natural resources, most importantly water and timber.

Located just to the northwest of Lake Union, Fremont was on the banks of a stream which at first was called The Outlet, flowing westward through today’s Ballard and then out to Puget Sound.  The Outlet was also called Ross Creek and it was used to float logs to mill.  Eventually the creek became part of the route of today’s Lake Washington Ship Canal.

Charles H. Baker came to Seattle in 1887 as a single man determined to make his fortune and establish himself so that he could get married.  He worked as a surveyor for Seattle’s homegrown railroad corporation, the Seattle, Lake Shore & Eastern.

The survey work brought Charles Baker into contact with Seattle’s movers and shakers including Judge Thomas Burke, Edward C. Kilbourne and William D. Wood, and Baker’s name is seen on land investments with these men, including plats in Fremont and plats in the Wedgwood neighborhood in northeast Seattle.

Charles Baker lived in Seattle for about fifteen years.  During his time in Seattle his land investments failed partly because of the economic depression which began in the year 1893.  Another reason why his investments failed was because they were in lands which were slow to develop, such as today’s Wedgwood neighborhood, which was too far from downtown Seattle to be convenient.

In the 1890s Charles Baker built the power plant at Snoqualmie Falls, only to lose ownership of it because of legal issues when his father died.  In 1904 Baker gave up on Seattle and moved to Florida.  Even though the power plant which Baker built continues to supply electricity to Seattle today, few people are aware that it was Charles Baker who made this essential contribution to Seattle.

One of Charles Baker’s early investments (1888) was a plat of land at a high point in western Fremont at N. 43rd Street, which he named Palatine Hill.  The name came from Baker’s home in a suburb of Chicago, Illinois.

In later years the streets in the plat had to be renamed for clarity, but the name Palatine Avenue was used for the former Adams Court (on the far right on the plat map.)  On the left side of the plat map, Crawford shows the boundary with the Crawford family property, which became 3rd Ave NW.

One avenue formerly called Peck was later renamed Baker Ave NW between 2nd Ave NW (Harmon) and 3rd Ave NW (Crawford.)  Chicago Street is now 1st Ave NW.  What was designated as Palatine on the original plat map, is now called NW 43rd Street.  Some of these street name changes reflect Seattle’s 1895 ordinance to reorganize the street naming system.  It was required that north-south routes be called avenues, and east-west was called a street.  That is why plats earlier than the 1895 ordinance, like Baker’s 188 Palatine Hill plat map, have had name changes.  Plats filed from 1895 onward, had to conform to the street system and have unique names for their streets, not re-using common names such as Broadway.

Waldo B. Staples and the Canal Marina

Posted on by Valarie

When the Lake Washington Ship Canal was constructed in 1911-1917, people hoped that the canal would benefit Seattle’s business environment.  It was difficult to foresee, however, all that might happen, and what would be the actual impact of the canal work.  In the Fremont neighborhood of Seattle, Waldo B. Staples found that the new, deeper and wider canal caused problems at first, but then unexpectedly the canal created a new means of livelihood for him.

Continue reading “Waldo B. Staples and the Canal Marina”