Wedgwood, Seattle, Washington

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Wedgwood

Wedgwood was the first Seattle neighborhood where considerable numbers of large trees were preserved when the neighborhood was built.

Wedgwood is a middle class residential neighborhood of northeast Seattle, Washington, with a modest commercial strip. Wedgwood is located about two miles (3 km) north, and slightly east, of the University of Washington; it is about six miles (10 km) northeast of Downtown. The neighborhood is further typical of Seattle neighborhoods in having more than one name and having different, overlapping, but well-documented definitions of the neighborhood.

The misspelling Wedgewood is not uncommon—it is used by at least five businesses and even appears in the unofficial City Clerk's Neighborhood Map Atlas^[1]—but the origin and spelling of the name are clear: the neighborhood was named after the English bone china-maker Wedgwood, the favorite of the wife of Albert ("Al") Balch (1903–1976), the developer who named the neighborhood. Balch was also the founder of adjoining View Ridge.^[2]

[edit] History

The area has been inhabited since the end of the last glacial period (c. 8,000 B.C.E.—10,000 years ago). The Dkh^w'Duw'Absh, "the People of the Inside", and the xachua'bsh or hah-choo-AHBSH, "People of a Large Lake" or "Lake People", today the Duwamish tribe, Native Americans of the Lushootseed (Skagit-Nisqually) Coast Salish hunted and traveled through what is now Wedgwood.^[3] The Wedgwood Rock, a glacial erratic boulder 19 ft (5.8 m) tall by 75 ft (23 m) circumference (5.8 m by 23 m) became the intersection of a number of trails through dense, old growth forest that covered what is now Seattle. The neighborhood has adopted Big Rock after it was protected from housing development in 1941.^[2]

The land that formed the original core of Wedgwood, east of 35th Avenue NE between 80th and 85th Streets, was at one time a heavily wooded ginseng farm. Charles E. Thorpe had cleared a portion of his 40 acre tract north of the Seattle city limits of the time, building a log cabin from the wood of his own trees. By the 1920s, 35th Avenue NE was becoming a thoroughfare with homes and businesses (the first store opened in 1922), the electric (1923), water (1926), and sewer grids had been extended to the area, and it was becoming too urban for Thorpe's tastes. The Jesuit institution Seattle University paid Thorpe $65,000 for the property, planning to build a new campus there and move north from First Hill. Thorpe left Seattle, never to return.^{[4] [5]}

One month later came the Stock Market Crash of 1929. The Great Depression put the Jesuits plans for the new campus on hold. Thorpe's cabin became St. Ignatius Parish; the congregation grew through the Depression years, although it was served at that time only by visiting priests. By 1940, the Jesuits had decided not to relocate Seattle University, and sold Thorpe's 40 acres to Albert Balch at a loss, for only $22,500, barely a third of what they had paid for the land in 1929.^[4]

A Catholic presence remains in the neighborhood: the parish of St. Ignatius became Our Lady of the Lake at its present location on 35th Avenue at 89th Street NE (c. 1961).^[6]

When Balch obtained the land from the Jesuits, it was still "completely undeveloped, heavily treed, and with only one structure," Thorpe's log cabin that had become a parish church. ^[7]

Major development of the neighborhood began during World War II with defense worker housing; initial development was largely by Balch and his partner Maury Seitzer.^[8] At the time, the area was north of Seattle city limits (Seattle ended at NE 65th Street).^[9] Balch and Seitzer built 500 homes on 40 acres (160,000 m², 16 hectares), constituting the center of today's Wedgwood neighborhood. The houses, each of which originally sold for $5,000 ($65,900 in 2005 dollars),^[8] currently (as of 2005, 2006) all go for upwards of $300,000 ($22,800 in 1941 dollars); many (albeit with updating and often with further improvements and extensions) go for as much s $450,000.^{[citation needed]}

The large P-Patch Community Garden near the west edge of the neighborhood, and the adjoining University Prep School and Temple Beth Am (Reform synagogue) are on land that remained a working farm as late as 1965. Wedgwood has Seattle's oldest and largest P-Patch (mid-1960s); as of 2005, there are now 52 others. The "P" originally stood for "Picardo", the family that farmed the land (1922-1965).^[10]

Just south of the old Picardo Farm is Dahl Playfield. Like the P-Patch, it is former peat bog land, once known as the Ravenna Swamp. In the 1940s houses stood on part of what is now the playfield; at that time, Picardo Farm was the site contemplated for a park. However, after sewer lines were built along 25th Avenue NE in the late 1940s, houses began sinking in the peat; the city bought them out and turned the land into the "80th Street Playfield". In 1952, the bog caught fire: portions subsided as much as 5 feet (1.6 m), and the park was temporarily closed. Over the next few years, an estimated 75,000 cubic yards (57,000 cubic meters) of peat was replaced by fill dirt, and the park reopened. In 1955, the park was renamed after a former Park Board director, Waldo J. Dahl. In September 1992, the Wedgwood Community Council officially "adopted" the park.^[11]

The Wedgewood [sic] Estates apartment complex on NE 75th Street between 37th and 39th avenues NE was purchased by the Seattle Housing Authority in 2001 in an effort to preserve a supply of moderately priced housing in this part of Seattle. ^[12]

[edit] Business

Mr. & Mrs. Nick Jacklin opened the first store in what is now Wedgwood in 1922, before either electricity or city water reached the neighborhood. The building still survives as the garage of a house in the 7500 block of 35th Avenue NE.^[5] That same block was later (1949–1974) home of McGillivray's Variety and Gift Store, whose remarkable range of wares ranged from penny candy, children's clothing and hundreds of different children's birthday cards to "fine collector dolls… in a better selection than… even… the downtown Frederick & Nelson's" and "sequins in every color manufactured".^[13]

Half a mile (0.7km) north, McVicar's Hardware Store (1946–1986) in the space in the 8500 block of 35th Avenue NE that is now dance studio All That Dance) opened shortly after World War II. The shortage of consumer goods right after the war meant that some of their early stock was manufactured on-site from war surplus. Adapting their business to whatever people in the neighborhood wanted to buy, as Wedgwood residents began putting in lawns and gardens, McVicar's sold them the requisite supplies; they sold specialty foods and rented out skis; they were also, for a decade, the only hardware store in the state licensed to sell beer and wine. They ran do-it-yourself clinics on everything from tools to gourmet cooking; in 1954, they were mentioned in a Time magazine article on the do-it-yourself trend.^[14][15]

Today, there is a shopping district along 35th Avenue NE, with concentrations of stores at NE 75th Street and NE 85th Street, including a supermarket at each of these corners; a lesser concentration near NE 95th Street includes the Fiddler's Inn bar, a live music venue, one of relatively few this far from the center of the city. Near that intersection, a gas station, veterinary office and east-coast style hunan Chinese restaurant and bar reside. The Wedgwood Broiler is a quintessential '50s American style neighborhood restaurant and bar. And while 35th NE doesn't rise to the level of having "street life", it does have a good smattering of businesses, including numerous banks, a U.S. Post Office,^[16] coffee shops, restaurants, several popular bars, a dance school, a dry cleaner, the Seattle branch of the Audubon Society,^[17] miscellaneous medical offices, and a variety of retail stores, mostly independent.

On NE 68th Street, just south of what the city unofficially defines to be Wedgwood proper is the Seattle Public Library North East Branch,^[18] the largest neighborhood branch and the second-busiest public library, second only to the Seattle Central Library. At NE 70th Street is the Grateful Bread Cafe, a bakery-coffeehouse that sometimes hosts live music and community events; and Seattle-based Top Pot Doughnuts.

[edit] Community

[edit] Community organizations

In 1946, Wedgwood residents formed Wedgwood Community Club, which lasted for several decades, but eventually petered out. In the 1980s this vacuum was filled by the current Wedgwood Community Council.^[19]

The [Musicians Emeritus Symphony Orchestra (MESO)]^[20], Wedgwood's non-profit community orchestra, currently rehearses and performs in the Wedgwood neighborhood. Four times a concert season, MESO performs at the University Prep Academy.

[edit] Education

Wedgwood, as defined by the unofficial city map, includes the public Wedgwood Elementary School (Kindergarten–5th grade)^[21], Seattle Jewish Community School^[22], Roman Catholic Our Lady of the Lake Parish School, K-8.^[23] and University Prep, 6–12.^[24] Of these, perhaps the most notable are University Prep, one of Seattle's leading secular preparatory schools, and the Seattle Jewish Community School, which attempts to bridge the various streams of Judaism, Orthodox, Conservative, Reform, etc. in a single elementary school. The public Eckstein Middle School, 6th grade–8th grade,^[25] is immediately south of the Concordia Lutheran School (a Christian K-8 school) across NE 75th Street.^[26]

[edit] Religion

Wedgwood and the adjoining View Ridge and Bryant neighborhoods constitute one of the three centers of Seattle's Jewish community, along with Seward Park and the suburb of Mercer Island; besides the Jewish Community School, Wedgwood has a Reform synagogue and a branch of the Stroum Jewish Community Center (the main part being on Mercer Island); a Conservative synagogue, Beth Shalom, and two Orthodox synagogues (one of them associated with Chabad Lubavitch) are in walking distance, though outside of the city's unofficial boundary for the neighborhood. Nonetheless, Jews constitute less than 10% of the neighborhood's population.^{[citation needed]}

Also in Wedgwood are the Messiah Lutheran Church (Missouri Synod) on 35th Avenue at 70th Street, Wedgwood Presbyterian church[5] at 80th Street (which also hosts a Korean Presbyterian congregation), Roman Catholic Our Lady of the Lake with the parish school at 89th (see Community, just above), and Wedgwood Community Church[6] on 30th Avenue at 82nd Street. At the corner of 35th Avenue NE and NE 68th is the University Unitarian Church[7], a Modernist structure designed by Paul Hayden Kirk.

Wedgwood also hosts a congregation of Mars Hill Church, a multi-campus church with several locations across western Washington. The Wedgwood Campus ^[27] meets in a renovated Baptist church originally built in 1952 at 35th Ave NE and NE 95th. Official services began in October 2007.

[edit] Geography

Like all Seattle neighborhoods, Wedgwood has no official or universally agreed-upon borders. The unofficial City Clerk's Neighborhood Map Atlas shows its boundaries as

• bounded on the north by NE 95th Street
• bounded on the east by 45th Avenue NE
• bounded on the south by NE 75th Street
• bounded on the west by a route coming north from NE 75th Street along 25th Avenue NE, then jogging due west along NE 85th Street and snaking up Lake City Way NE to NE 95th Street.

However, NE 75th Street presents no discernable break in the business strip along 35th Avenue NE, which continues south to NE 65th Street; many of the businesses, churches, etc. in these ten blocks identify themselves as being in Wedgwood; some even have "Wedgwood" in their names. If these unofficial borders are accepted, then the landmark Wedgwood Rock, a large 19-foot (5.8 m)-tall boulder at the corner of 28th Avenue NE and NE 72nd Street, lies in the adjoining Ravenna neighborhood.^[1]

Several other well-documented interpretations exist. Among them, "Seattle Neighborhoods" of HistoryLink.org Encyclopedia of Washington State History does not define boundaries for Wedgwood, other than as adjacent to surrounding neighborhoods. Their map suggests Wedgwood is between 25th and 45th avenues, and 75th Street may divide from View Ridge neighborhood.^[28]

The "Neighbors" project (1996–2000) of the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, currently updated as the "Webtowns" section of the on-line P-I, defines Wedgwood a little differently. While they say the boundaries are, north to south, NE 95th and 75th streets, west to east 25th and approximately 45th Avenues NE, "Neighbors" defines Wedgwood primarily in terms of a series of businesses and other public spaces on 35th Avenue NE, extending as far south as NE 68th Street: from south to north, the Northeast Library (NE 68th), Rod and Judy Neldam's Grateful Bread bakery (NE 70th), the post office at NE 77th, the Wedgwood Broiler (NE 83rd), Matthew's Red Apple Market (NE 85th, since overtaken by supermarket chain QFC), and finally the Fiddler's Inn Pub (NE 94th), built in 1934, a former dive that was fixed up in the early 1990s. They describe Wedgwood as having more in common with Ballard than with Capitol Hill (which is to say, not particularly hip or trendy), and say that downtown Wedgwood along 35th Avenue NE has a look and feel of a small town main street, for better and worse, as it struggles like Main Streets across the country in the age of malls and Internet shopping.

"Neighbors" Wedgwood has always been a middle-class neighborhood, trending toward upper middle, by home sales suggesting a more young family area as the initial Baby Boomer generations become retirees. Until 2001, Wedgwood even had a full-service bicycle shop, which made way for a dance studio. All That Dance is now among Seattle's large dance studios with more than 1,000 students—mostly children, a testament to the changes in the area.^[29] Wedgwood has long had an active neighborhood council, one of the most active in Seattle, effectively lobbying in and for the neighborhood, as well as working with the unusually numerous schools in the area (see Community, below).^[30]

The contemporary "Webtowns" section has merged Wedgwood and View Ridge with Sand Point and two popular waterfront parks, Sand Point-Magnuson and Matthews Beach Park. "Webtowns" Wedgwood is located between Sand Point Way and a small business district on 35th Avenue NE around NE 75th Street. The neighborhood is described as less expensive, though with respect to Seattle housing prices, the comparison is relative to places with expansive views in tonier adjacent neighborhoods like View Ridge and Sand Point, or high demand like the University District. The dynamic Jewish community with three synagogues in Wedgwood is noted (see Community, below).^[31]

National standards long adopted by the Seattle Department of Transportation define minor arterials, in part, as generally along neighborhood boundaries: NE 65th, 75th, and 95th streets, and 35th Avenue.^[32] There is also a reasonable argument to be made that the northern boundary of Wedgwood is NE 100th Street as this street coincides with the northern limit of the 98115 ZIP Code.

[edit] See also

• Thornton Creek (Wedgwood is in the watershed)
• Daylighting (streams)

[edit] Note and references

[edit] Bibliography

• "About the Seattle City Clerk's On-line Information Services". Information Services. Seattle City Clerk's Office (Revised 2006-04-30). Retrieved on 2006-05-21.
  See heading, "Note about limitations of these data".
  Accessed December 2004, re-accessed 15 July 2006, so the site has been this way at least 18 months.
• Bunn, Valarie. "[no title]", Wedgwood Echo, July 2005, volume 20, issue IV, p. p. 4. Retrieved on 2006-07-15. 
• Bunn, Valarie. "Thorpe", Wedgwood Heritage Project, Wedgwood Community News, April/May 1995. Retrieved on 2006-07-15. 
• "Concordia Lutheran School". School Guide > Private schools. The Seattle Times (September 2004 updated; 2002). Retrieved on 2006-07-15.
• Dailey, Tom (n.d.). "Duwamish-Seattle". "Coast Salish Villages of Puget Sound". Retrieved on 2006-04-21.
  Page links to Village Descriptions Duwamish-Seattle section.
  Dailey referenced "Puget Sound Geography" by T. T. Waterman. Washington DC: National Anthropological Archives, mss. [n.d.] [ref. 2];
  Duwamish et al vs. United States of America, F-275. Washington DC: US Court of Claims, 1927. [ref. 5];
  "Indian Lake Washington" by David Buerge in the Seattle Weekly, 1-7 August 1984 [ref. 8];
  "Seattle Before Seattle" by David Buerge in the Seattle Weekly, 17-23 December 1980. [ref. 9];
  The Puyallup-Nisqually by Marian W. Smith. New York: Columbia University Press, 1940. [ref. 10].
  Recommended start is "Coast Salish Villages of Puget Sound"
• "Eckstein Middle School". School Guide > Public schools. The Seattle Times (September 2004 updated; 2002). Retrieved on 2006-07-15.
• Lorenzini, Sarah. ""Kids can exercise their bodies and minds this summer: Many North End studios are offering healthier activities for youths"", North Seattle Herald-Outlook, 2005-07-13. Retrieved on 2006-08-23. 
• "Northeast". Seattle Neighborhoods. HistoryLink.org. Retrieved on 2006-07-21.
• "Northeast Branch". Seattle Public Library. Retrieved on 2006-07-15.
• "Our Lady of The Lake Parish School". School Guide > Private schools. The Seattle Times (September 2004 updated; 2002). Retrieved on 2006-07-15.
• "P-Patch Community Gardens: Picardo Farm". Home > Garden Locations > Picardo Farm. Seattle Department of Neighborhoods (c. 1994). Retrieved on 2006-07-15.
• "Parish History". About Us. Our Lady of the Lake Parish. Retrieved on 2006-07-15.
  Includes photo of the 1961 dedication of the current church.
• "Post Office Details". Locator. USPS. Retrieved on 2006-07-15.
  for Wedgwood post office
• Sahr, Robert (25 May 2006, minor corrections to revision 12 April 2006). "Inflation Conversion Factors for Dollars 1665 to Estimated 2016". Oregon State University. Retrieved on 2006-07-21.
  Revised to reflect final 2005 CPI data and early 2006 inflation estimates from the OMB and CBO
  Basic tables for 2005 were revised January 18, 2006, using final 2005 CPI, released that day by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Most graphs in the price levels and the US economy section were revised January 23, 2006, to reflect final 2005 CPI.
  The summary Excel file was revised March 10 and updated April 12, 2006, using the inflation estimates for 2006 and later years published by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) and the Congressional Budget Office (CBO).
  Tables for all other-year conversion factors were revised April 12, 2006, and minor corrections made May 25, 2006.
  Original data from John J. McCusker and the Bureau of Labor Statistics, "original data for conversion factors 1665 to estimated 2016 (pdf format)" [8], with an explanation of the conversion.
  Firefox users can access items by downloading the “ieview” extension from Firefox. Then right-click and select “open link target in IE” when opening a link.
• "Seattle Audubon Society". Volunteer Solutions. United Way of King County. Retrieved on 2006-07-15.
• "Seattle Housing Authority Letter on Wedgewood Estates". Wedgwood Community Council (2001-06-04). Retrieved on 2006-07-15.
• "Seattle Jewish Community School". School Guide > Private schools. The Seattle Times (September 2004 updated; 2002). Retrieved on 2006-07-15.
• Shenk, Carol; Pollack, Laurie; Dornfeld, Ernie; Frantilla, Anne; and Neman, Chris (2002-06-26, maps .jpg c. 2002-06-15). "About neighborhood maps". Seattle City Clerk's Office Neighborhood Map Atlas. Office of the Seattle City Clerk, Information Services. Retrieved on 2006-04-21.
  Sources for this atlas and the neighborhood names used in it include a 1980 neighborhood map produced by the Department of Community Development (relocated to the Department of Neighborhoods [9] and other agencies), Seattle Public Library indexes, a 1984-1986 Neighborhood Profiles feature series in the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, numerous parks, land use and transportation planning studies, and records in the Seattle Municipal Archives [10].
  See also the "Neighbors" project of the Seattle Post-Intelligencer and "Webtowns" of the on-line P-I.
  See also Seattle neighborhoods#Informal districts.
• "University Preparatory Academy". School Guide > Private schools. The Seattle Times (September 2004 updated; 2002). Retrieved on 2006-07-15.
• "University Preparatory Academy". UniversityPrep.org. Retrieved on 2006-07-15.
• "Wedgwood". Seattle City Clerk's Neighborhood Map Atlas. Office of the Seattle City Clerk (n.d., map .jpg dated 2002-06-17). Retrieved on 2006-04-21.
  Maps "NN-1030S", "NN-1040S".jpg 17 June 2002.
• "Wedgwood Elementary". School Guide > Public schools. The Seattle Times (September 2004 updated; 2002). Retrieved on 2006-07-15.
• "Wedgwood Elementary School". WedgwoodSchool.org. Retrieved on 2006-07-15.
• "Wedgwood & View Ridge". Seattle Neighborhoods. HistoryLink.org. Retrieved on 2006-07-21.
• Wilma, David (2001-07-24). "Seattle Neighborhoods: Wedgwood -- Thumbnail History". Historylink.org Essay 3462. Retrieved on 2006-04-21.
  Among other things, this gives a good account of the last farming in the neighborhood, of the initial development, and of the Wedgwood Rock; it also gives an extensive set of print references:
  • Don Sherwood, "Dahl P.F.", in "Interpretive Essays of the Histories of Seattle's Parks and Playfields," Handwritten bound manuscript dated 1977, Seattle Room, Seattle Public Library
  • Don Sherwood, "Davis Park," Ibid.;
  • Don Sherwood, "Wedgwood Square," Ibid.
    Mark Higgins, "A Little Slice Of Life That Suits Neighbors Just Fine", Seattle Post-Intelligencer, January 31, 1998, "Neighbors" project;
  • "Wedgwood Rock Being Investigated By City", Lake City Star, July 15, 1970;
  • Clipping, "Million Dollar Project Calls For 500 Homes", The Seattle Daily Times, July 6, 1941, p. 8, Local History File, Northeast Branch, Seattle Public Library;
  • Clipping, "Work Starts In Wedgwood Area," ibid., July 14, 1941, Local History File, Northeast Branch, Seattle Public Library;
  • O. Casey Corr, "A Fine Development", The Seattle Times July 22, 1990, G-1;
  • Charles R. Cross, "To 'e' Or Not To 'e'", Seattle, August 1993, pp. 25-27.
• Wurzer, Maygan, Director[11] (2004-06-30). "Facilities". All That Dance. Retrieved on 2006-08-23.

[edit] Further reading

• Wedgwood Community Council
• "Wedgwood News archive". NortheastSeattle.com. Retrieved on 2006-07-15.