Redmond Historical SocietyOld Redmond Schoolhouse Community Center

16600 NE 80th Street—Room 106, Redmond, Washington 98052

This book is dedicated to Redmond’s greatest historian: Bob Bailie 1919 – 2004Herein abbreviated SVN, Bob’s Sammamish Valley News has forever documented the road we’ve traveled.

So much history, so little time! We regret that this book can only be a sampling of our community’srich, lively history. Every category within these pages presented painful choices for inclusion, atrifling price for our wealth of Society members whose generosity of spirit makes such a publicationpossible. Our mission is to discover, recover, preserve, share and celebrate Redmond’s history.Memoria simper: If we don’t know where we’ve been, we can’t know where we are.

With special thanks to…Project Manager Miguel Llanos; Dan Aznoff for participating in many facets of this project with enthusiasm;Dale A. Martin for donating the full range of his photographic talents; KayShoudy for her organizational skills, good judgment, and warm scanner;Margaret Evers Wiese for her superior, indefatigable proofreading. And toall the history buffs, too many to name, who helped create this book ofimages.

Funding for this publication provided byBrad Best

City of RedmondKing County Cultural Development Authority

Redmond Historical Society

First Printing: 2004©

Printed in Bellevue, Washington by 411 PrintersGraphic Design by Angie Wean of Redmond, Washington

Redmond Reflectionsfrom cowchips to microchips

Compiled and Editedby

Naomi Hardy

“I’m worried, too,” Chuck Bowser tellshis cousin John Balmer. “It’s only1950, and we gotta wait another

49 years for the Redmond HistoricalSociety to be founded so we can join.

What are we going to do till then?”

Frances McEvers collection

phot

o by

Mig

uel L

lano

s

“Indian Houses,” woodcutby Richard BennettHelen Bennett Johnston collection

Intr

oduc

tion

Business and Family Have Come Together

Redmond has always had a specialblend of vitality and a spirit that unites usas a community of dedicated citizens. Thisvitality can be traced from City Hall toevery resident living in the greater Redmond area.

“Redmond Reflections: From Cowchips to Microchips” is an excel-lent example of Redmond citizens working together. This book, whichcelebrates the City’s 90th anniversary of incorporation, was made pos-sible by a group of dedicated individuals who share a love of historyand the drive to preserve our local heritage. The publication was cre-

ated by the Redmond Historical Society and compiled thanks to hundreds of volunteerhours from its members and friends of the Society.

In comparison to other “old timers,” I am a relative newcomer to this community. Myfirst introduction to Redmond took place in 1955 when I purchased a little brick building atthe corner of Leary Way and Cleveland Street that had been home to the original RedmondState Bank. The building was built in 1911 by banker Fred Roberts and insurance agentFrank Shinstrom.

Today, as we approach the end of our first century as members of the Redmond com-munity, we can only speculate on what future editions of this book would look like. Let usall hope and pray that our beloved city becomes an even more prosperous, peaceful placefor coming generations.

In the early 1960s, the Greater Redmond Chamber of Commerce adopted a phrasethat has become an appropriate expression of our sentimentfor the City, and for members of its business community.“Redmond: Where Business and Pleasure Go Together.” Howright they were. For me, Redmond has truly become a placewhere business and family have come together in beautifulharmony.

Brad Best

The Best family, from left: Joan,Florence, Karen, David, Brad,

Gregory.

1911 1938

1956 2004

Win

fred

Wal

lace

, pho

togr

aphe

r

Mig

uel L

lano

Brad Best Collection

Brad Best Collection

Washington State Archives

first people

Helen Bennett Johnston collection“Indian Women,” woodcut by Richard Bennett

Life in early Redmond would have been impos-sible without help from the Indians. They wouldtrade a large salmon for a brass button. A little redflannel material would secure potatoes, berries,clams or venison. Indian neighbors showed thesettlers how to preserve and prepare fruit withoutsugar or any cooking process. They taught themto cook food very slowly and thoroughly over aperiod of days in the Indian manner. They taughtthem how to make moccasins and leather leggingsfor use in the cold winter, and when the pioneers’children became ill, it was the tribal healer ormedicine man who knew how to brew the specialherbs to bring the fever down and ease the pain.The Indians of this area were very religious. Theirgraves had small shelters built above them tokeep off the rain, and they were decorated. —Joan Appleby, librarian

Dwenar Forgue and son, 1917Katherine Barker Forgue collection

Dwenar Forgue, 79, amember of the SnoqualmieIndian tribe, said thepeople’s numbers havedwindled to about 340members. Except for EdDavis of Fall City, a bishopof the Indian ShakerChurch, Forgue believesshe’s the next oldest mem-ber. Now a widow, Mrs.Forgue was married in1916 at the age of 18. Atthat time she lived in

Monohon, a logging community near Redmond whereshe was born and grew up. Muckleshoot Indians alsoresided along the east shores of Lake Sammamish. Allof her ten children attended Redmond schools. She said,“I have 37 grandchildren and 27 great grandchildren.They’re all good to me.” Mrs. Forgue’s grandmother,Mary Louie, was a well-known local figure in the earlydays. Before passing away at the age of 125, Mary Louiewas a familiar sight in the Northwest as she walkedcountless miles. All alone, she’d walk to Renton,Issaquah (then Squak), Seattle, even over the moun-tains to Yakima to pick hops. In fact, in 1889, she hadwalked to Seattle from Carnation and arrived just intime to see the great fire. “I took care of her in her lateryears of life,” Mrs. Forgue said of her grandmother. “Shehad two sons, Charlie and Johnnie Louie who was myfather. My stepfather, the late Jerry Kanim of Carna-tion, was the chief of our tribe. The last time we had agreat powwow was in 1933. It was held in the oldFillmore logging camp cookhouse at Monohon.” Mrs.Forgue is herself a princess. An easy-going, affable lady,Mrs. Forgue spends much of her time sewing, crochet-ing, watching television, and taking care of her plants.Life’s been kind to her, she said, as she glanced at pho-tographs on the mantle of the many descendants she’sleft to follow in her footsteps. Hopefully, there’ll beenough to carry on the name and spirit of the tribe.—Oscar Roloff, 1978

phot

o by

Pat

sy B

arke

r Hal

l

Katherine BarkerForgue

Chief Jerry Kanim and hiswife, Jennie Horn Kanim

Katherine Barker Forgue collection

Katherine Barker Forgue collectionJennie Horn Louie

Nelson Kanim

Mary Louie was known by manyEastsiders accustomed to seeing herwalking with a cane far and wideacross the countryside. In 1910, sheposed here for a photographer on the

porch of the Monohon store on Lake Sammamish.With her are storekeeper Mr. Valentine, right, andGuy Baty wearing a hat.

Katherine Barker Forgue collection

Katherine Barker Forgue collection

Evelyn and Jennie Kanim, 1922

Jerry and Kate Borst

Hammersbergcollection

earl

y fa

mili

es They came for the free land. They werehardworking and brave. They gambledon their own resourcefulness, and they

won. Like all Western pioneers,Redmond’s first white settlers faced

daily challenges and deprivations, butthey were inventive and used help whenit was available. In the spring of 1871

when Warren Perrigo and LukeMcRedmond staked their claims at thenorth end of Lake Sammamish, theywere the first white men to live in the

green valley that escorted theSammamish River northward from itssource at the lake. But the two settlerswere not alone. Their neighbors were

the Native Americans who had hunted and camped along the river and the lakeshore for at least7,000 years, and they welcomed the newcomers. For the next few decades, the Indians helped theMcRedmonds and the Perrigos and others who soon followed to clear their land of virgin trees, so

that permanent homes could be built and fields plowed.

Captain Luke McRedmond

Daryl Martin collectionGeorge Benjamin Martin

Jim Graham,brother of Marie LouieKatherine Barker Forgue collection

Seated in the middle of this family gathering are Williamand Matilda Perrigo, surrounded by their 11 children. Thetwo young twins in the bottom left of this photo are Williamand Maude. Seated on the bench, from left are June, Wells,William, Matilda and Robert. Thomas is the lad standingbetween his seated parents. Standing in the back row,from left are Mable, Arlington, Marv, Nellie and Marian.

William and Matilda Perrigo family, 1903

Warren Wentworth PerrigoPerrigo family collection

Perrigo family collection

Christian and Asa Robstad were photographedwith their children, Soren, Anna, Harry and Albert.

Kristine Underhill collectionElizabeth and Adam Tosh

Terri Gordon collection

Gene and Cheryl Magnuson collectionAxel and Doris Kjallin

The Charles A. Isackson family of Happy Valleyin 1910, are seen here in a photograph originallybelonging to Edna Sikes. From left, front row areAgnes, Ellen, Lena, Baby Edna, Mother Anna,Edward, Annie. Top row: Henry, Father Charles,Edith, Gust.

Gene and Cheryl Magnuson collection

Johnnie Louie, father of DwenarForgue and Kelly Louie

Katherine Barker Forgue collection

Four generations, from left are AnnaRobstad Olsen, Besta England Stensland,Anna England Robstad, Myrtle Olsen Adler.

Terri Gordon collection

Carl John Carlson 1851-1936Kristianson Carlson collection

Christian StenslandTerri Gordon collection

OlafGustavKjallin

Gene and CherylMagnuson collection

Soderstrom and Gust Soderstrom were early settlers in HappyValley. They had four children: Freda, Nancy, Irene and Harold.All four of their children attended and graduated from Redmondschools.

Henrietta SoderstromN. Gust Soderstrom

Judy

Lan

g co

llect

ion

J.B.

Caw

thon

, pho

togr

aphe

r

Conrad and AnnaRobstad Olsen arepictured with sonCarl, daughterMyrtle, c.1906

Terri Gordon collection

Frances McEvers collectionSally “Granny” Hutcheson, 1861-1945

Marge Mann collectionCharles Mann Robert, Esther, Little Esther and Harry Cotterill, 1915

Margaret Evers Wiese collection

Liz Carlson Coward collectionBack row, from left are Albert Olson, Art Johnson, JuliusCarlson, Olof Olson, Bill Johnson. Front row are Sig Johnson,Agnes Johnson, Anna Johnson, Ned Carlson, Ed Johnson.

Woodrow Reed collectionReed Family Portrait, 1926Seated, from left are Addie Bell Burkhart Reed,Woodrow Allison Reed, Herman Sales Reed. Stand-ing, from left are William Sales Reed, Ruth Reed, LeoBurkhart Reed, Genevieve Reed, Gail Francis Reed.

Irene Reil Kinney collection

Fred and LucyReil’s children are

seen in thisphotograph,

c.1921: Standingare Fred Jr. and

Willis. Seated arebaby Walter, Ethel

and Charley.

Agnes Johnson, 1910

Liz Carlson Coward collection

David Bark collectionLeo Schaller was am early logger and dairyman at Inglewood, and later,a service station and store owner on East Lake Sammamish. Parkway.

Perrigo family collectionA few of the original group attending the first pioneerpicnic in June of 1936 at Mark and Mable Johnson’shome, from left in front are Mrs. Charles Brown, CharlesBrown, June Perrigo Snyder, Nellie Perrigo Morris, MablePerrigo Johnson, Julia Tosh. Second row are MarkJohnson, Marie Scott, Gus Snyder, Clara Brown Struhm,Dorothy Voorhees Martin, Elsie Perry, Harry Martin,Lahna Hunsacker Snell, Dave Perry.

Frances McEvers collection

The surviving Hutcheson siblings in 1950, fromleft are Ernest, Ada, Marge, Lena, John. Thesebrothers and sisters were five of the eight childrenall born to Sally and Charles Hutcheson between1886 and 1903.

Gene and Cheryl Magnuson collectionKjallin family, c.1919Woman on far right is Emma Forsburg Kjallin. Sitting next to her areAxel Kjallin and Jeanette Kjallin Carlson (two of Emma’s children) andher husband, Olaf Gustav Anderson Kjallin, with dark beard. Sitting invery center of photo with buttons on her skirt is Hedvig Kjallin Hosea.One of Hedvig’s sisters sits next to her. Other Kjallin daughterspresent, but unidentified are Frieda, Agnes and Dagmar, who is prob-ably standing above Emma. Emma’s sister and father, GrandpaKjallin, with white beard, are sitting third and fourth from left.

Hammersberg collection

Redmond photographer Winfred Wallace tookthis photograph of the Louis Hammersbergchildren at Monohon, c.1911. From left are Vi,Cliff, Fred, Harold and sister Vernie in back.

This is the oldest known photograph of a picnic in ourarea, and is labeled in the Perrigo family collection as “TheFirst Redmond Picnic.” William Perrigo is the gentlemanhugging a tree in the center of the picture. As at all Perrigogatherings, fiends and neighbors were undoubtedly in-cluded among family members.

Perrigo family collection

Liz Carlson Coward collection

The Johnsonfamily of HappyValley, from leftare Art, Ed, Bill,Jerry, Sig, Nina,Melfie, Gertie.

ne of Redmond’s first lumbering activities was a mill andlogging operation known as Elliot, McCann and Donnellythat operated at the head of the Sammamish Slough in1887, the same year Tom Jose and his sons logged in thearea. Compared to water transportation, the railroads were afaster method of transporting logs and lumber, but althoughthe Seattle, Lake Shore and Eastern Railway came to

logg

ing

O

Gene and Cheryl Magnuson collectionAlbert Magnuson in Happy Valley, 1940

phot

o by

Dal

e M

artin

Mill ownerDel Stephens, 1982

East Side Journal, 1918

Perrigo family collectionPole logging with horses, c.1905

Liz Carlson Coward collectionEast Side Journal, 1918

Loggers pose atWeber’s Mill. Theman in the middle ofgroup, wearing whiteshirt and cap, is EdJohnson. Note thetwo fellows on theroof wearing boxinggloves.

Irene Reil Kinney collection

Redmond in 1887, it would be nearly two decades before logging andmilling began in earnest in the immediate area. Mills at Bothell,Monohon and Preston dominated the 1890s along the railroad right-of-way, and Redmond didn’t come alive to the sounds of loggersyelling “timber” and steam whistles telling their story, until a fewyears later. Then, John and William Campbell came to Redmond. Thebrothers were nephews of Captain William Renton, the city ofRenton’s namesake. They settled in Adelaide and Campton wherethey started the Paradise Lake Logging Railroad and Mill Company in1900, Campbell Lumber Company in 1905, and the Campbell Mill

Company in 1907. Soon, loggers such as William J. Trimble and brothers Olaf and Gunnar Johnsonwere providing logs for the hungry mills, and in the next wave of new mills were the AvondaleShingle and Lumber Company mill in 1908, and J. T. Peterson’s Redmond Lumber Company mill in1909. Private and public railroads were important in logging operations, but once indispensableoxen and horses were soon replaced by motor trucks when they became available. Locally, CharlesIsackson and Olsen-Johnson both used trucks; Redmond Logging Company (which later became B& B Logging, then Brown & Brown) used both railroad and trucks; Siler Logging Company used therailroad; Anderson Brothers used trucks, as did B & J Logging. Asthe 1920s faded, Redmond’s nearby forests were severely dimin-ished from decades of successful logging. The Great Depressionbegan on Black Tuesday in October 1929. A whole series of millfires and closures occurred. These three unrelated factors endedthe heydays of mills and logging in the Redmond area. In the

1930s, a scattering of new mills opened, including the Arthur Johnson Shingle mill in1932, the Dant & Russell mill in 1935, and the Isackson mill in 1936. Most activities in the1940s were limited to log and pole hauling by men like Chuck Reil, son of former MayorFred Reil, and Avondale pioneer Conrad Olsen. There were also some smaller mills, likethose of Dell Stephens in the Overlake area, and Adile Lampaert, who milled lumber neededfor his ranching in what is today the parking lot of Redmond Center om Redmond Way.Many logging companies used Redmond as their home base in the 1950s, including AndyForcier, Earl Gertje, Jim Miller, Gisle & Robstad, C. T. Cross, Marcum & Baker, Moe Broth-ers, C. E. Pierce, Seth Williamson, W. H. Rub, Alvin E. Johnson, and the Redmond Truck-ing Company. Logging was the first economic boom in Redmond, and its glory days werecolorful with taverns, hotels, theaters and eateries that catered to loggers’ Saturday pay-days. Today, we see century-old pilings rising from the surfaceof Lake Sammamish, and the remnants of corduroy roads overwhich oxen struggled to pull giant virgin logs. As we drivedown Education Hill on 166th Avenue NE, we are on WilliamPerrigo’s skid road on which he skidded the logs from theforest that covered his homestead. Today, there is only onelumber mill remaining in our area: the Isackson mill in HappyValley, owned and operated on a limited basis by DuaneIsackson. But while the great saws are silent now, at the coreof our heritage we yet possess the logging legacy of hard andhonest work, common sense and resourcefulness, cooperationand teamwork, and an enduring appreciation of the land.–– Eric Erickson, Issaquah

This 1903 photograph was taken three miles northeastof Redmond. The engine is a machine known as asteam donkey, and was used for skidding logs longdistances.. Future Mayor Fred Reil stands at the farright, a skid road in the background.

This crew of loggers cleared some of the land on William Perrigo’s propertywhich then encompassed all of Education Hill. The two women in the photoare Mable and Nellie Perrigo who cooked for the loggers.

Perrigo family collection

Irene Reil Kinney collection

These early loggers provide a human scalefor the great trees they felled. This crew isseen on Novelty Hill Road, at Bear Creek in1903. Hayes Huffman is the first manstanding at left.

Inga Christianson Carlson collectionWorking horses, c.1910

Win

fred

Wal

lace

, pho

togr

aphe

r

Tony Emmanuel collection

Dar

ius

Kin

sey,

phot

ogra

pher

Weber’s Mill on Weber’s Point, c.1916

Terri Gordon collectionConrad Olsen’s logging crew

In 1936, Henry Isackson, left above,founded the Isackson Sawmill on Redmond-Fall City Highway and 224th Avenue NE,which he operated until his death in 1981.Today, his son Duane Isackson still oper-ates the mill, the last one in the Redmondarea. In this photograph taken by OscarRoloff, Henry and an unidentified friendexamine a tree that grew up through thewagon wheels of a logging wagon aban-doned by Carl J. Larson, c.1917.

HappyValleyloggersworkedwith asteamengine, c.1909. From left are JohnHutcheson, Sig Johnson, Eric P. Johnson.

Liz Carlson Coward collection

East Side Journal, 1933The Cottage Lake LumberCompany was located onCleveland Street in thebuilding Gossard Lumbersubsequently occupied.

Cit

y H

all

1913 Walther Hotel1913 - 1915 Eagles Hall1915 - 1927 Bill Brown’s Building1927 - 1931 Allen Drugs1931 - 1933 Grand Central Hotel1933 - 1944 Nokomis Clubhouse1944 - 1950 Fred Reil’s building1950 - Feb. 1970 First City HallFeb. 1970 - Present Second City HallIn progress Third City Hall

Redmond City Hall Sites

The Walther Hotel burned to the ground onMarch 13, 1910 and the downtown fire wascaptured by Redmond photographer WinfredWallace. The hotel was rebuilt within the year,and in 1913 it was the first meeting place ofthe new Redmond Town Council.

The location isn’tknown of the EaglesHall from 1913 to1915 when the TownCouncil met there.

The Town Council met in theupper floor of Bill Brown’sbuilding, located on the south-east corner of Leary and Cleve-land Streets. Consequently, thetwo-story brick structure wasoften called the Town HallBuilding. Wedding receptions,funeral services and popularSaturday night dances weresome of the other uses of theupper floor at that time.

SVN

Washington State Archives

The Redmond Town Council held its meetings in this building from 1927 to 1933,when P.W. Allen operated Allen Drugs there. The building was built in 1912, on thesouthwest corner of Cleveland and Gilman. This photograph was taken in 1939. Bythat time, the Great Depression had closed his drugstore, but Allen still owned thebuilding, as well as the real estate office building next to it and the historic BrownBuilding next to that.

From 1933 to 1934,the Nokomis club-house served asRedmond’s Town Hallfor Town Council andother public meetings.Built in 1933, theclubhouse is now theRedmond Chamber ofCommerce building.

In 1929, the Grand Central Hotel on LearyWay was the only hotel in town and was agathering spot for many public functionsincluding Town Council meetings. In the early1930s, the entire Town Council was arrestedduring a meeting there — and taken to jail inSeattle for illegal gambling. Fred and MaryHeiser Walther built the hotel in 1910 toreplace their Walther Hotel, which burneddown earlier that year on Gilman Avenue. In1912, German immigrants Henry and AnnaRolfs Evers bought the hotel, which catered to

workingmen such as loggers, mill workers, and crews who came towork for rancher Adile Lampaert at slaughtering time. Henry andAnna Evers eventually closed the hotel in the 1930s but continued tolive there. Henry died in 1938, and Anna lived there alone until theearly 1940s. The hotel building was sold, the guestrooms were closed,and siding was installed to cover the upper windows. The restaurant,known as the Redmond Hotel Café, became a local institution andremained open with various owners until 2002. The little boy in thisphoto, c.1917, was my father, Robert William Evers. —Margaret Evers Wiese

Now

Hotel Café on Leary Way

phot

o by

Mig

uel L

lano

s, 20

03

Margaret Evers Wiese collection

Then

Judge Fred Reil owned this littlebuilding that served as Redmond’s defacto Town Hall for many years. In1950, when the new Town Hall/firestation/police station was completed,Judge Reil’s office was moved toAnderson Park and used for a publicrestroom, a purpose it continues tofulfill today in the park. The old TownHall, seen here in 1950, is undoubt-edly our most “historic” publicrestroom.

Betty Gaudy collectionMayor Fred Reil had been the Town Clerkfor 12 years when the first Town Hall wasbuilt, and he hauled all the government’spaperwork to the new site in a wheelbar-row. At that time, he was Redmond’s onlyfull-time employee. This snapshot of aDerby parade entry was taken five yearslater.

Then

Roy Lampaert collectionHereford cattle on Adile Lampaert’s ranch graze in their homepasture, c.1945. The trees in the background to the north ofthe ranch mark the site of today’s City Hall, on NE 85th Street.

Redmond Parks collectionRedmond City Hall, 1978

SVN

, 197

1

Now

Mulvanny G2,architects