RHS Newsletter 02 2004

History is Happening in Redmond!

The Redmond Recorder 1

A trolley whose time has come?

Photo courtesy of Karen Dennis The Issaquah Trolley Project acquired this trolley from San Francisco. Might one like it be in Redmond's future?

The track’s there and so is some traction to get it going. We’re talking about the idea – supported by many business leaders – to use the rail line between Redmond and Woodinville for a tourist trolley and someday possibly commuter service.

Join us Feb. 14 at 10:30am when two key conductors of Issaquah’s successful trolley project explain the possibilities for heritage preservation and the political/logistical obstacles involved.

Barbara Justice and Craig Thorpe, Issaquah Historical Society members, will show photos of their work so far. John Resha, a new Redmond councilman and transportation expert, will join us as well.

We’re not talking Amtrak or cargo, but a trolley that shuttles tourists and locals on weekends between Redmond Town Center and Woodinville’s wineries/brewery. The trolley could include narrated trips and displays showcasing our heritage. Weekdays could eventually see commuter use.

The City has been in talks to acquire the section of tracks, which Burlington Northern/Santa Fe now uses only rarely. Initial ideas include using the right-of-way for walking, biking and even mass transit. Rail advocates say there’s no reason why a trolley couldn’ t be incorporated as well.

The Redmond Recorder February 2004 Vol. 6, No. 2 Redmond Historical Society

Our mission: To discover, recover, preserve, share and celebrate Redmond’s history 16600 NE 80th St, Room 106, Redmond, WA, 98052 425-885-2919 www.redmondhistory.org [email protected] Office hours: Mondays-Thursdays, 1-4pm

President’s corner

The first meeting of 2004 and what a great meeting. Sixty-nine friendly faces filled the room. We had four “ first timers” that we wish to welcome and hope that they visit us again: Janet Wolfheim, Betty Newman, Susie Emmanuel and Ed Murphy.

Lt. Jim Taylor , newly retired from the Redmond Police, entertained us with stories from his 33 years of service. Some of us held our breath in hopes that our names weren’ t mentioned. Luckily enough no one was named.

Another highlight was when Mayor Ives displayed the first of 10 “historic” street signs to be installed in Redmond, a product from last year’s 90th birthday events. “L ampaert Lane,” honoring the Lampaert family who lived and farmed the property that is now Redmond Shopping Center, will be the first sign placed.

Special thanks to Marge and Roy Hanson for setting up chairs, Angie Lang for collecting names for the book drawing and all the rest of you who helped.

The office will be open for visitors after each general meeting. Stop by to see “history happening in Redmond.” Come share your stories with us at our next general meeting, Feb. 14th at 10:30 a.m. ��

Feb. 14 meeting 10:30am-12pm Old Redmond Schoolhouse Community Center Room 104



Redmondiscing… In words and in the drawing below, Russ Goetschuss shares a lighter side of school when he taught at the old Redmond Junior High.

We moved to the new school on the hill in 1958. My Junior High art classroom was in the front of the school to the right of the flagpole. Boyd Kinney, our long-time janitor, raised the flag every morning. On the way into the building it was inspiring to see the Stars and Stripes fluttering in the breeze.

One morning while the school was in session, Boyd was looking up at the flag. I saw him from my window and wondered what was going on. The wind had flipped the top of the flag off the pull-up lanyard and attached it to the pull-down side.

As the drawing shows, the school flag was upside down and at about half mast. Everyone knows this means HELP, S.O.S., ALL IS NOT WELL. Now, the flag could not be hauled down because it was attached to both sides of the lanyard. By now the principal, Vernon Leatha, is outside trying to find the answer to the problem. The flag is showing a distress signal to the world! Just then, a higher power – a Puget Sound Energy truck – drove by with a cherry picker on board. The crew saw the problem and came into the school grounds. In no time the errant flag was properly attached, the truck was on its way and the day and the school were saved. Thank you Puget Sound!

------------------------------------------------------------- Shir ley (Armstrong) Driskill writes:

I enjoy reading about Redmond. I moved there from Ballard when I was 11 with my family: my Dad, George Armstrong, my Mom, Annamae Armstrong, my sister, Barbara Armstrong and myself. We had a house on Will Grove Rd. and moved away in 1948 or 1949. My Mom married Steve Nichols near that time & they had 2 boys and a girl. The middle or second boy was killed in Ellensburg, but Steve Nichols Jr. lives in Woodinville. Pauline Nichols … works for the post office in Redmond. I have pictures taken at the Redmond school, 1944, 1945 and 1946. The school pictures are of me in the 4th, 5th, & 6th grades. … My sister Barbara, who lives in Coolidge, Ariz., … has a lot of our history while in Redmond. Shirley can be reached at: P.O. Box 1316, Newport, WA, 99156-1316

----------------------------------------------------------- Barry McCorkle, now in Alaska, writes: I left Redmond in 1949, after the earthquake but not because of it. The population was 530 at that time. Back in those days many of us earned money by shagging golf balls off the first tee along the R.R. tracks at the Redmond Golf Club. (There was) fishing on Bear Creek from the fish rack down to the mouth at the Slough. Of course you people know all that stuff but it's nice to reminisce.

2004 Meetings All @ 10:30 am Second Saturday of the month Feb. 14 June 12 March 13 Sept. 11 Apr il 10 Oct. 9 May 8 Nov. 13 _________________________

2004 Board Judy Lang, President Naomi Hardy, VP Miguel L lanos, VP Teresa Becker, Treasurer Margaret Wiese, Corresponding Secretary Beryl Standley, Recording Secretary Directors Roy Buckley Terr i Gordon Tom Hitzroth Larry Hoger Amo Marr Dor is Schaible Veronica Smirnov

Volunteers Needed Videos, oral histories Transfer videotapes to CDs; taping oral interviews. Call Judy Lang at 425 823-3551. Office staff Greet visitors, help with small tasks as regular or substitute. Call Judy Lang at 425 823-3551.

Memberships If you haven’ t joined or renewed yet, please use the form on the last page to do so. Memberships and donations are tax deductible!!



ETC.

Cemetery Update The Society will be lobbying to improve the maintenance of the Redmond Community Cemetery. Board member Amo Marr will chair the effort and needs help. Contact her at 425 868-4094 for details.

Homes Archive Board member Terr i Gordon is compiling photos of local homes for our Society. Her last project was our great 2003 barns calendar, and we’ ll see what comes of this new collection.

If you have a photo or sketch of an interesting house (including farmhouses and cabins, etc.) in the Redmond area, either still existing or not, Terri might like to scan it for our archive. Photos with or without people in foreground are great. Call Terri at 425 241-5944, or leave voice mail at 206 517-0395, or email her at [email protected]

Need a Speaker? Board member Tom Hitzroth is available to share Redmond’s history with groups. Contact him at [email protected] or at 425 823-2981 for details. Lt. Jim Taylor Video clips from the hilarious presentation last month by retiring police Lt. Jim Taylor are online at www.redmondhistory.org

I t’s official: Lampaer t Lane first histor ic City street sign

Photo courtesy of Ilya Smirnov

Roy Lampaert, Mayor Rosemarie Ives and Roy’s daughter Mar ilyn L ampaert Moesch show off the brass street sign presented at the January membership meeting – the first of 10 the City and Society are working on. Now the south end of 161st, Lampaert Lane was a private north-south road on Adile Lampaert’s 190-acre cattle ranch. It ran north from Cleveland to where NE 85th Street crosses it today and was fenced in on both sides to keep cattle from the road. The lane accessed a large red barn, which sat where today’s downtown Edge Skate Park is. Future signs will be: Adair Street, Campton Road, Conrad Olson Road, Grass Lawn Road, Homestead Drive, Perrigo Road, Railroad Avenue, Tosh Road and York Road.

Free house to a good home

Anyone shopping for an 80-year-old young house? Society board member Terri Gordon is willing to part with this one at 16641 NE 79th St, between the YWCA apartments and Frankies restaurant. The only catch: The house needs to be moved off the property. Contact Terri at 425 241-5944, or leave voice mail at 206 517-0395, or email her at [email protected].



Thank yous! A heap of histor ical thanks to these great people for donating treasures, expertise, time and energy to suppor t our mission!

Mayor Rosemar ie Ives for seeing to it that a beautiful design was chosen for the historic street signs, beginning with Lampaert Lane.

Cather ine and Walter Wittel -- who donated $100, matched by Microsoft for another $100 -- after Judy Lang returned Catherine’s wallet, which Judy had found on the Sammamish River Trail.

Amanda Johnston for her help with photos and her role as the genealogy expert at the Redmond Library.

Tom Hitzroth for presenting an overview of our history to the Daughters of the American Revolution.

Judy Lang for another great annual volunteer luncheon she produced for our devoted office staff.

Linda Hussey for the 1981 Chamber of Commerce plaque presented to her father, Frank Yoshitake, who had owned the Sunset Gardens nursery on Avondale Road, for his important contributions to Redmond’s business and cultural community.

Former Mayor Chr is Himes for her generous financial donation.

Lillian Gar land for donating postcards of the Marymoor windmill for use by the Society.

Ted and Barbara Swan for photos of Frances and Rex Swan, City Treasurer 1936-1973, and for the Air Force Ground Observer’s card that was issued to Frances during WWII.

Tony Emmanuel for taking photos of Avondale pumpkin fields and the Inglewood Gas Station demolition.

Ed Weiss for a rail photo from Redmond in the 1980s.

Were you at our Jan. 10 meeting? These folks were:

Alexander, Margo Marr Becker, Teresa Cisneros, Nancy Couch, John Coward, Liz Carlson Elduen, Violet Cook Emmanuel, Susie* Emmanuel, Tony Foreman, Diane Foreman, Jan Garland, Lillian Goetschius, Millie Goetschius, Russ Gordon, Terri Gorlick, Audrey R. Hammersberg, Clara McSparran Hammersberg, Jerry Hahnlen, Charlotte Everson Haines, Steve Hanson, Marge Hanson, Roy Hardy, Naomi Himes, Chris Hitzroth, Tom Hoger, Larry Hussey, Linda Ingersoll, Jo Ann Ives, Rosemarie Jovag, Pat Weiss Joyce, Barbara Lampaert, Roy Lang, Angela Aries Lang, Judy Aries Leicester, Norma Llanos, Miguel Magnuson, Cheryl Malowney, Georgeann Mann, Marge Marrs, Carl L. Marrs, Pat Martin, Daryl Martin, Ward McCormick, Elma McCormick, Nancy Mellquest, Gerry Radtke Moesch, Marilyn Montgomery, Mary Munoz, Alexa Murphy, Ed* Newman, Betty* Potter, Dale Potter, Jo Ann Roe, Julie Roe, Phil Rosenbach, Patsy Cook Schaible, Doris Smirnov, Ilya Smirnov, Veronica Smith, Elsie* Standley, Beryl Sween, Faye Taylor, Lt. Jim* Thayer, Boyka Dincov Torell, Jerry Underhill, Kris Weiss, Rose Weil-Piechenick, Shlomit Wiese, Margaret Evers Wolfheim, Janet*

*First-time visitor

Bellingham newspapers

Who do they belong to? Patsy Cook Rosenbach is trying to return the 1959 clippings lent to Wendy Erickson at the Redmond School Reunion last September. If they are yours please call our office at 425 885-2919 to see about picking them up.

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Amo Marr, who joined our Society board last month. Activities: member of the Nokomis women’s service club; Derby Days planner for Society and now coordinator of campaign to improve Redmond cemetery. Amo was in Redmond’s first Girl Scout troop along with Betty Buckley Anderson. Family ties: Born Clare Chapin, her family moved to a home on Redmond’s stretch of Red Brick Road in 1927 where Amo still lives. She graduated from Redmond High in 1943 and soon after married William Marr .



History Mystery Photos

For seven years, Tom Hitzroth has been researching a local mystery: Who murdered Letitia Whitehall? Letitia, just 14 at the time, was last seen alive in downtown Kirkland at 5:35 p.m. on Oct. 30, 1926. Her body was found two weeks later in the Sammamish River just west of the Kenmore bridge. In Jan. 1927, a Kirkland dentist was charged with the murder but was acquitted three months later. From Sept. 1923 to April 1926, the Whitehalls lived in the Redmond area on Union Hill and then in downtown Redmond near the Lampaert’s cattle loading docks along the railroad tracks. Among the Redmond families who knew Letitia’s family were the Sundholms and the Sigels. If you have any memories of this crime, or recall information/opinions expressed by others of that era, please contact Tom at [email protected] or call him at 425 823-2981 or 820-9984 after 6 p.m.

History Mystery solved Violet Elduen was the first to identify the boy sitting next to Glenn Lampaert, left, in last month’s mystery photo. Glenn is on the running board of his father’s automobile with his childhood buddy, Ernest Bechtol. Everyone called Ernest “Little Beck” because he had the same name as his father, who owned Bechtol Drugs. Violet attended Redmond Elementary with Little Beck, who died in fifth grade from rheumatic fever. Little Beck’s sister, Jane Bechtol Argo, also identified her brother. Jane graduated from Redmond High in 1936, and lives in Mill Creek today. Roy Lampaert adds that the driver is his father, Adile. A woman seen in the back seat is possibly Adile’s wife, Rachel.

Show and tell Last month we asked readers what building this chimney is part of. The answer: The A Custom Stitch store on Leary across from Edwardian Antiques. The chimney backs off the small residence between the store and the alley. Anyone know of the original owner/use? Property tax records show it originally had nine rooms. Let Naomi Hardy know if you know at [email protected] or 425 883-3866.

Photos courtesy of Tom Hitzroth Letitia, her brothers, sister and mother are in photo at right and at left, along with a Mr. and Mrs. Willmer. Both photos were taken in the Redmond area, but exactly where?



In Memor iam Frank Victor , a charter member of the Redmond Historical Society, passed away in December at the age oof 100. His contributions included giving us our first map, a 1895 U.S. Geological Survey of the Sammamish Valley.

--------------------------------------- Cor rection Violet Elduen corrected our caption on the funeral procession photo in November’s issue. It’s Eva Bastian, not Eve, and she was Frank McKay’s daughter. Minnie Batley McKay was Frank’s wife.

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90th Par ty Ends City staff and Society volunteers did a great job celebrating our 90th

year as a city, but as of Dec. 31, 2003, we’re 91. 100 here we come!

Join the Redmond Histor ical Society Please pay 2004 dues ASAP!!

And help discover, recover, preserve, share and celebrate Redmond’s history!

Levels of Membership (Check 1 only)

� Trailblazer (Student)............... $ 5.00

� Pioneer (Individual) ............. $ 20.00

� Homesteader (Family) ......... $ 35.00

� Entrepreneur (Supporter) ... $ 200.00

� Corporate (Business) ......... $ 250.00

� History Maker (Lifetime) $ 1,000.00

All Contributions are Tax Deductible

Please make checks payable to: Redmond Historical Society

Mail To: Redmond Historical Society Attn: Membership ORSCC, Room 106 16600 NE 80th Street Redmond, WA 98052

Name__________________________________________________ Phone ______________________ (Please print your name exactly as you would like it to appear on your name tag for general meetings.) Address _____________________________________________ City _______________________ St ________ Zip _________________ E-Mail Address ________________________________________ Birth Date (MM/DD/YYYY) __________________________________ If Family Membership, other names to be included: _______________________________________________________________________ If you would like a short, one-liner on your name tag (e.g. Charter Member, or Pioneers Since 1903), enter it below:

Newsletters via e-mail and off our Web site More than 600 people receive our free monthly newsletter, but success has its price: It’s getting very expensive for the City, which mails out hardcopies in exchange for Society research time. As a result, we’ re asking everyone with Internet access to receive it either via e-mail or our Web site at www.redmondhistory.org Our staff has called folks who don’t receive the newsletter electronically and for whom we have an e-mail address. If you received a call but didn’ t want to switch, please reconsider. If you try it and it doesn’t work on your end, you can always go back to U.S. Mail. If you have Internet access and haven’t been called by our staff it’s because we don’t know you have e-mail. In this case, please send us an e-mail message at [email protected] stating that you’ ll try out the new system. By the way, our electronic newsletter has some clear advantages: 1) The photos are much sharper, and newer ones are in color. 2) You can save the digital version on your computer. 3) Digital versions can easily be searched by keyword.

Documents

RHS Newsletter 02 2004