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Woodinville Library
History of Woodinville
The City of Woodinville:
A History in Logging, Farming and Commerce
by Carol Ann Edwards, Publisher, Woodinville Weekly
(Originally published in a supplement to the March 29,1993 issue of the Woodinville Weekly. Posted by permission of the Woodinville Weekly.
©1993 Woodinville Weekly.)
When schoolchildren call the Woodinville Weekly looking for sources of information on the history of Woodinville, there are a few books such as "Squak Slough" and "Slough of Memories" we can recommend, and a few oldtimers to whom we can refer them for personal stories.
We give them the address of the Woodinville Historical Society and the new Woodinville Library, and send them out to see the limited number of standing structures that reflect Woodinville's past.
Despite the limited historical resources available, Woodinville, like most communities, has a rich, vibrant and living history.
The community elders tell stories of their pioneering relatives enduring hardships, carving a life out of the virgin forests, hand-building homes and barns, trading goods and services, organizing schools, churches and social services. They tell of the romances and marriages and, sadly, the tragedies and losses.
The people who settled here came from different cultures and developed a variety
of talents to sustain their life in the area. They provided the components that
form the basis for our community today. The following is only a small window
on that history.
The Area
The geological origins of Woodinville, nestled in a valley with surrounding rolling hills and numerous rivers, lakes and ponds are well-documented from early times.
The Sammamish Valley and low hills in Woodinville were created by ancient glaciers. What we see today was created 14,000 years ago by the retreating Vashon Glacier. Melting of the 3,000 feet of glacial ice and repeated floodings carved out the small lakes, ponds and rivers that we see today. The continual lowland flooding built up the topsoil in the Sammamish Valley. The upland soils are composed of glacial till which is a mixture of gravel, sand and clay left by the retreating glaciers.
The land became heavily forested, primarily with cedar, spruce and fir. Wildlife was abundant.
The first people to settle in the area were Indians. Although based primarily
near Lake Sammamish, they traveled and lived along the Sammamish River, which
they called Squak Slough. It was a meandering, 30-mile-long waterway between
Lake Sammamish and Lake Washington. Heavily forested to its banks, the river
was a challenge to navigate.
The Woodins
The first recorded history of settlements in Woodinville begins in 1871 when Susan and Ira Woodin, a pioneering couple who had homesteaded in the Columbia City area of Seattle, loaded their worldly possessions into a covered wagon and hauled them over the McGilvra road to Lauralshade on Lake Washington. There they transferred their goods onto a scow and, towing it behind their rowboat, rowed across Lake Washington and entered the Sammamish River. Passing a few settlements in Bothell, they settled upstream on the western bank of the river (near the present day Chausee Lumber) and built a cabin.
Susan Woodin was the first white woman in the area. She acquired a few cows, churned butter and began selling it in Seattle. She had to row from Woodinville to Madison Park and walk three miles to downtown Seattle to deliver the butter. Then, after staying overnight in Seattle, make the trip back with provisions bought with the proceeds from the butter sales.
The Woodins had two daughters, Helen and Mary, and one son, Frank.
Other pioneering families moved to the area to log its forests, establish homesteads and farm, and soon a small community developed. The homes and businesses were concentrated on the western side of the river where Woodinville Mercantile still stands. Plats were drawn up and for two blocks up the hill from Riverside Drive, houses were built.
Woodinville was chosen as the community name to recognize Ira and Susan Woodin and their contribution to the area. The community is named on an 1887 Washington Territory map, recently reprinted by the Washington Department of Natural Resources.
When a Post Office was granted for the town it was located in the Woodin home for nine years, and Susan Campbell Woodin was the first postmistress.
The Woodin home also served as the first school in 1878 when School District Number 23 was established, as well as the first nursing station and first Sunday school.
In 1881, Charles Dunlap became the first hired teacher. He was paid $25 a month, and room and board cost him $2.50 a week. His first pupils in the Woodin parlor ranged in age from five to 14: They were Emma McRedman, Robert Peterson, John Calkins, Jake and Mark Jacobsen, two Dunlap girls and Helen and Mary Woodin.
Schools
In l883, a one-room log cabin was built to school the local children. W. Jacobsen donated one acre of land, and in 1902 a new Woodinville School was built with two rooms and an attic. In 1908 that school burned, and between 1908 and 1909 a four-room brick school was built at the site on NE 175th where it still stands today. Other schools, such as Cottage Lake and Derby, were built in the outlying areas.
But by the '30s severe economic problems faced the districts. In 1931 Woodinville and Cottage Lake school districts merged and Woodinville District #213 was formed.
In 1933, Woodinville built a new eight-room schoolhouse to replace the four-room structure. And, after officials received WPA assistance, the building was remodeled in 1936. In 1948, four new rooms were added to the structure.
In February of 1959, with rapid growth and strained finances, Bothell and Woodinville districts were merged to form the Northshore School District #417.
The school district added the C.O. Sorenson School facility for special needs students behind the old Woodinville school and opened its doors in 1974.
Today, the two-story brick Woodinville School building, with part of the 1908 original school wall still standing on the southwest comer, is the new home of the City of Woodinville and the Woodinville Chamber of Commerce.
Hollywood Schoolhouse
The Hollywood Schoolhouse was built in 1912 and is now listed on the State
Register of Historic Sites. The original Derby School wood structure burned,
and with tax monies from wealthy farms, it was rebuilt. The building was used
only until 1917, and then sat idle for several years until it was purchased
by the Sammamish Valley Grange. It was later sold to a private party, has had
successive commercial use owners and is now owned by the McAuliffe family, who
have filled the rooms with historic photos and antiques and made the facility
available for private and community events.
East of the River
The Woodinville Memorial Park cemetery on NE 175th was originally part of the Woodin family homestead. The Woodins donated the one-acre for the park, and many of Woodinville's pioneers, including Ira Woodin himself, are buried there. One corner on the west side is known as Potter's Field, where paupers and unknown persons are buried.
The first church in Woodinville was located across from the cemetery and faced east. The white, steepled structure was built in the 1880s for the cost of $1,000 on property donated by the Oriental Trading Company, which was operating a large dairy farm.
Johann Koch's Blacksmith Shop was located across the street from the cemetery. His anvil can still be seen on his gravestone at the cemetery.
There was also a locker storage, grocery store and slaughterhouse.
Carlberg Home
The home of the late Elmer Carlberg, a lifetime member of the Woodinville community, has been a familiar sight along the west side of the valley. The home, with its colorful turrets, reflects some of early Woodinville. It was built in 1888 by Elmer's father, John August Carlberg, and it was remodeled in 1904.
Elmer died a bachelor, leaving the house to a Woodinville resident. It was
briefly named to the King County Register of Historic Places, but the costs
to restore the now decayed old home were prohibitive. In 1992, the resident
received permission to tear the building down, and now it will no longer be
a visible part of our history.
A Crossroads
Always a crossroads, the Sammamish River connected Woodinville with other areas. People who first used the river landings became well known: the Woodins Jaderholms, Neilsons, Jacobsens, Petersons, Andersons and others. A wooden bridge was built in 1889 across the river in Woodinville.
The river was wider and deeper and had a more meandering course then. Riverboat traffic was prevalent for years along the Sammamish. The Mud Hen in 1876 was the first steamboat in service.
Early roads were built between Woodinville and Bothell, Juanita, Snohomish, Duvall, Hollywood and points east. Horse drawn stage lines ran on the roads.
When cars and trucks came to the area and used the heavily rutted roads, teams of horses were necessary to pull stranded vehicles out. It took travelers many long hours or even days to go between the communities at times. A brick road was constructed from Hollywood, through Woodinville to Bothell.
In 1885, the Seattle Lakeshore and Eastern Railway was incorporated and the Northern Pacific rail line was put in around the north end of Lake Washington, connecting Seattle with North Bend. The tracks reached Woodinville in 1877 and the Gilman (Issaquah) coal mines in 1888.
With easier access to the area, more people came to settle.
The countryside changed from dense forests to acreage tracts as it was logged. Stump farms were common and even today, the stumps of giant cedars that were cut high to send uniform-sized logs to market can still be seen in Woodinville neighborhoods.
With rapid access to markets by rail, the dairy farms and vegetable farms that dotted the countryside thrived.
In 1911, the Hiram M. Chittenden locks were built in Seattle, lowering Lake Washington and the Sammamish River nine feet.
River traffic stopped at Bothell Landing and the automobile became more popular. The Army Corps of Engineers later straightened the course of the river to stop the recurrent flooding of the Sammamish Slough.
Over the years the river acquired new uses. The Seattle Outboard Association sponsored boat races once a year, followed by the Lake Sammamish Water Ski Club waterski races.
From the late 1800s to the 1950s, Woodinville continued to grow as a logging and farming community, but remained very rural despite its business and residential core. Many people lived on large tracts of land.
With the construction of the I-405 freeway in the 1960s, Woodinville became even more accessible to markets.
Commercial and residential developers found a whole new market and construction became a viable business. New industries that benefited from rail and trucking moved to the area.
Logging and Commerce
In the late 1800s and early 1900s, families were moving into the area, clearing the land, logging, and establishing farms. In May of 1883 Mary Woodin married a logging contractor, Thomas Sanders, who had homesteaded near Bear Creek.
Sanders
and Ira Woodin formed a partnership and opened a general store in Woodinville,
and Sanders later took over as postmaster. Sanders formed another partnership
in 1891 with Charles Verd and entered the lumber business as Bryant Lumber and
Shingle Company.
With the Sammamish River, the nearby Snohomish River and later the rail as a means of moving logs to market, whole forests of virgin trees were being cleared, and millions of board feet were floating downriver to the lumber mills and shingle mills that had sprung up in the valley and throughout the area. Oxen, teams of horses, donkey engines, skidders, winches, crosscut saws, long poles and the logging camps became an important part of life in Woodinville.
Today, lumber is still a big business here, with numerous companies dealing with wood products located in Woodinville.
Businesses supporting the growing needs of families and the farming and lumber industries soon developed. In the late 1800s, and for many years afterward, the Woodinville commercial district was concentrated on the west side of the river.
Anders Hansen built three waterworks that furnished water to the American Hotel, Teegarden's Blacksmith Shop, the Railroad Station and the Rainier Saloon. The saloon was built about 1890 adjacent to Woodin's store.
In 1892 the Smith Meat Market went up next to Harry Teegarden's smithy. The Machias Lumber company was also built. The Forrester's Lodge was built in 1894 on lands donated by Anders Hansen.
Harry Teegarden married Clara Jacobsen, who was one of the first schoolteachers in Woodinville. Clara opened a grocery store and operated it until she got tuberculosis. John DeYoung bought Clara's store.
A
fire burned out the hotel, blacksmith shop and meat market. This was rebuilt
as the Woodinville Mercantile Company. On one end was Teegarden's Blacksmith
Shop, the post office was in the center, then came the mercantile and a hay
and feed store. Across the street was John DeYoung's old store.
John DeYoung's sons and daughter all became active in the community. Lowell DeYoung began his feed mill in 1946, providing feed for farm animals and the poultry industry. In 1958 a fire destroyed the mill, but DeYoung rebuilt and operated the mill until it sold in 1984 to the Ralston Purina Company. It operates today as Ferndale Grain.
Both on the east and west side of the river, homes from the early years are
being used for retail and professional businesses.
Stimson Manor
The Stimson Manor, located on the grounds of what is now Chateau Ste. Michelle, was built by the wealthy lumber baron Fred Stimson between 1909 and 1911 as a vacation home. The nearby railroad sidings were used to bring large groups of people from downtown Seattle to the country for weekends. The wealthy Seattle lumberman had a prize dairy herd, greenhouses which produced flowers for his wife's retail shop on Second Avenue in Seattle, lighted tennis courts, and many other innovative amenities for a home at that time.
The house sold and became a "speakeasy" during Prohibition. In the early 1950s it was purchased by the MacBride family of Seattle, who owned it until U.S. Tobacco purchased it in 1974 for the construction of the winery. The house and grounds are listed on the National Register of Historic Sites.
Mabel's Tavern
The Homestead Grocery was built on the corner of NE 145th and 148th NE by the
Petersons. It was later sold and became a tavern, which it remains today.
Fire District
In 1915, with the arrival of the horseless carriage, more pioneers moved to settle Woodinville's open land. The only fire equipment that was available was a 500-gallon pumper operated by Leo McComb, the North County Fire Marshal who was stationed in Redmond.
By 1947, the community had grown and three public-spirited Woodinville area citizens decided it was time to take advantage of a law passed in 1937 that allowed communities to form a fire district. Fred Luzzani, Claude Hinman and Robert Ardeneaux dug deep into their pockets and came up with $500 to purchase a 1941 Ford pumper from Kenmore.
Luzzani was an old-time pioneer who had the local grocery store at the summit of the Woodinville-Duvall Road near Lake Leota. Since he was the volunteer fire chief, the fire truck was always parked near him so it would be handy.
Even after the King County Commission approved the incorporation of the fire district on July 7, 1948, the district still had no money so the volunteers held bake sales and dances to raise money. Donations and volunteer labor kept gasoline in the fire truck.
The department has evolved from those early days to a professional fire and life safety provider, with an annual budget of $3.4 million and 50 paid and 40 part-paid volunteer staff.
In March of 1993, the voters of the new City of Woodinville overwhelmingly supported annexation of the city into the fire district.
Water District
The Woodinville Water District was formed in 1959. Its three original commissioners were Melvern E. Johnson, Grover C. Gaier and Keith M. Parks.
Because they didn't have a formal meeting place, the commissioners initially met in their homes.
They started with a customer base of only 4,000 and their comprehensive plan in 1974 predicted growth to 22,000 customers by 1990.
Today it is one of the largest area water districts, serving 33,000 customers
and having a $13.4 million a year budget.
Medical/Dental
The very first medical care available in Woodinville was a nursing station located in the Woodin home. It provided basic first aid and care for the early pioneer families.
Then in 1914, Dr. George W. Davis opened the first hospital serving this community. It was located in Kirkland. In 1932 he moved to a new 10-bed hospital at 220 Kirkland Avenue and then in 1952, that building was expanded to replace the original 10 beds and provide a total of 27 beds.
Ms. Anne B. Davis Webster sold the hospital building to a non-profit corporation in 1958.
By 1965 it became obvious that this hospital could not be brought into conformance with the licensing standards of the State of Washington. Furthermore, it was realized any new hospital should be designed for a larger area than just Kirkland and not be identified as "Kirkland's" hospital. So on Nov. 7, 1967, the voters approved the formation of King County Public Hospital District No. 2 and at the same time elected the first Board of Commissioners.
Thirty-five acres of land were purchased near the triangle formed by Bothell, Redmond and Kirkland, at a cost of $6,500 an acre.
Evergreen Hospital opened its doors to the community March 9,1972. Since that time, it has grown to keep pace with the population of the Eastside, and the campus now features an acute care hospital with a state-of-the-art maternity center, a hospice to care for terminally ill patients, a head injury treatment program, 800 stall parking garage and an outpatient diagnostic center which will open early in 1994.
Since the 1960's many doctors and dentists have established their practices
in downtown Woodinville and several, with practices in Woodinville, joined together
to open The Woodinville Medical Center in March of 1992.
Rodeo Grounds
Woodinville
was, surprisingly, well-known at one time for its rodeo grounds, built by Ace
Sanderlin at the corner of 140th NE and NE 175th. Cowboys came from all over
the country to compete. When the rodeo closed down the land remained vacant
until the 1960's when the grounds were used for motorcycle races, and later
a bark and soil business. The intersection was the best corner in town for selling
goats, chickens and rabbits until the 1980's. Today it is the site of the BP
service station and Woodinville Towne Center.
Gold Creek
In the 1950's William G. Tyrrell's, owner of a successful Seattle dog food business, built Gold Creek Park. Tyrrell purchased property on the hillside and built the Gold Creek trout farm to pursue his interest in fish food pellets for trout farmers.
A short time later he purchased Loy Requilman's truck garden farm in the valley to expand his business. The swampy area was made into a small lake and then the swimming pool was built, roofed and heated.
Tyrrell added a restaurant for trout fishermen, tennis court, roofed picnic areas, shuffleboard, lawns, baseball fields, and a putting green.
Loving children and with recreational uses in mind, Tyrrell built a chalet type lodge overlooking the park and later gave it to the county.
The park continued to grow as Tyrrell put in a stable, an arena, a working model of a gristmill and mill wheel powered by the creek. He created a private channel and locks for a 37-foot model steamboat, the Good Ship Lollipop, to carry up to 6O passengers from the gristmill, through the waters of Peppermint River, past Gumdrop Island to Tyrrell's Landing at Fort Bixby. The Gold Creek Ice Dome was 1500 square feet of surface.
When purchased in the late '60s by Gold Creek Associates, the focus began to change with such memorable events as a rock concert featuring Paul Revere and the Raiders.
In 1976, the property changed hands again, this time purchased by Bill Dahl, who restructured the property into what is now the Gold Creek Tennis and Sports Club.
Social Services
Early social services were provided by individuals in the community and by the local churches. The first social service agency to be formed in Woodinville was the MultiService Center. Founded in 1971, during the "Boeing Bust," it began by offering job training and placement services.
Woodinville resident Chuck Eberhart started the agency when he found himself among the unemployed, after a career in aerospace and a brief time with the Model Cities Program in Seattle.
By August of 1971, the agency had a structured board of directors and plans to offer a range of services to unemployed area residents and their families. These services included public assistance, food stamps, health and employment services. The board decided to open the center in Woodinville rather than Bothell because it would serve Duvall and the Snoqualmie Valley in addition to Northshore.
It temporarily occupied office space in the rear of the Woodgate Shopping Center, then moved across the street to the old Woodinville Annex, which now houses the City Hall and Chamber of Commerce.
In 1978 the agency moved into a new building constructed in Bothell. Its administration remained there until moving into quarters in the Family Resource Center in Redmond in 1992. However, it continues to operate the Bothell location as one of its centers.
The first funding for the agency was a $53,000 grant from the Seattle-King County Economic Opportunity Board.
From those simple, local roots, the agency has grown into The Multiservice Centers of North and East King County, with a $13 million annual budget, five centers and two housing programs, a shelter for homeless families in Kenmore and a transitional housing project in Redmond.
Today, the community benefits from a wide range of social service agencies
including the Northshore Senior Center, Eastside Mental Health, Northshore Youth
and Family Services, Community Health Center, Campfire, the YMCA and many others.
Growth
For many years, Woodinville remained agricultural and very rural. From the'50s to the'70s, people began to move out to the area in larger numbers. They came from Seattle and other locations in search of horse ranches, quiet and a rural and bucolic lifestyle.
In the 1960s and 1970s, developers discovered that they could build up whole neighborhoods with homes on horse acres and sell them successfully. Ads appeared in faraway places about moving to Woodinville with its close proximity to Seattle, Bellevue and Everett. Woodinville as a suburban community began to evolve. Remarkable growth was seen in the l980's and the word gridlock took on new meaning as roads became very congested.
Today the area is seen as an extremely desirable place to locate, and its growth continues.
While providing a solid base for the community's prosperity, growth continues
to offer challenges of control and management to its residents and its officials.
The Woodinville Weekly
In 1976, when The Woodinville Weekly first began publication, Woodinville citizens were considering incorporation.
The first edition of the paper was composed on a typewriter and printed on a tabletop press in a Wellington Hills garage. Volunteers staffed the paper for several years.
The paper's first downtown office was in the basement of a house on the corner of NE 175th and 135th NE. The house is now demolished underneath the parking lot of First Interstate Bank. The paper's staff moved the chicken coop off the property and still has it.
The Woodinville Weekly moved again in 1978 into the old house, now vacant, across from Molbak's. With only wood heat and a leaking roof, the paper grew in staff and circulation under difficult circumstances.
After a later move to the Woodgate Shopping Center and then to the present
quarters built on the former site of the Bassett family home and their Basset
dog raising business, the Woodinville Weekly has continued to grow with the
community, chronicling its evolution into a city and beyond.
Retail
As late as the mid-'70s, the only shopping center in town was the Woodgate, with fewer buildings than today and a gas station out in front. Woodinville Pharmacy, the only drugstore in town, was located in the center, as was the famous Henning's Woodgate Inn, which featured live bands and dancing.
The Sandwich Shanty opened in the late'70s, as did Run'n Sport, which did a thriving business with shirts that asked: "Where in the hell is Woodinville?"
The only place in 1976 to buy groceries in town was at Ken's Foodland at the comer of NE 175th and the Woodinville-Snohomish Road, and later Prairie Market, one of the first "warehouse" type supermarkets. Peoples Bank (now U.S. Bank), Molbak's, DeYoung's Farm and Garden Center, Woodinville Motor Parts (across from the Woodinville Cemetery), Woodinville Hardware (currently Woodinville Home Furnishings), Goodtime Charley's (now the site of Burger King), and Bates and Kelly's dental building rounded out the shopping areas.
Clem Himmelspach and Ed Heck built the next shopping center - the Woodinville Mall in the early '80s.
The Morrison farm fields were dozed and the site became The Woodinville Plaza.
Changes in the downtown core accelerated in the mid to late '80s. The Woodinville Towne Center was constructed on the site of the old rodeo grounds. Woodinville Center went in across from Woodinville Plaza. 175th Street Station took its place across from the Woodgate Mall. Fast food restaurants, dry cleaners and video stores signaled Woodinville's entry into contemporary times.
This year another mall will open on the Woodinville-Snohomish Road, as Woodinville
continues its retail growth.
Lifestyle
Doing business in the '60s and '70s in Woodinville involved slowing down for chickens and geese crossing the roads or herding cows and horses that escaped from neighboring farms and strayed onto the two-lane NE 175th, or were found visiting Top of the Hill businesses off the Woodinville-Duvall Road where the White Stallion is now located.
The first stop light in Woodinville was installed in October of 1969 at 140th NE and the Woodinville-Duvall Road. Many Woodinville residents remember running that light.
Today Woodinville citizens still live in a rural community, sharing the ground
with deer, bear, raccoons, owls, possums, coyotes and other wildlife prevalent
in yards and local fields.
Controversy
Goodtime Charley's was a topless bar that opened in 1973, owned by Charley Puzzo. The City of Seattle had outlawed such places, but King County government had not. The bar was the subject of some controversy but was open until 1985.
Rare Pleasure, the subject of major opposition, opened in December of 1977 in an old building at the northwest corner of NE 175th and 131st NE. The blinking sign in purple said, "We really move our tail for you!" It was the next day that the townsfolk went up in arms.
The owner of the controversial and apparently shady establishment was Craig Cole. He asked to speak at a Woodinville Chamber of Commerce meeting held at the old Woodgate Inn. The meeting was packed with members of the chamber, television crews, radio stations and print media, including The Woodinville Weekly.
The media covered his speech, in which he stated: "I run a nice, quiet business. We are only a dance studio." The local folk knew better, and with police agents covering the place with 24-hour surveillance from the hardware store across the street, and some political maneuvering with environment and fire safety regulations, the "dance studio" was out of business in a short time.
There are still a few Woodinville "dance students" around with more information.
Tumbleweeds, a drug paraphernalia and heavy metal record shop on the site of the present Woodinville Plaza, was a source of anxiety for many parents and civic leaders until it closed down.
Commercial
The commercial districts of Woodinville developed first in the downtown area and then on the hillside north of town and along the old Woodinville-Redmond Road.
Large companies moved from Seattle when the SR522 and 1-405 freeways opened
up transportation corridors. Woodinville's commercial development continues
to remain healthy.
Post Office
Susan Campbell Woodin was the first postmaster for Woodinville. The post office was originally located in Woodin's store. It later moved to the Woodinville Mercantile, which was constructed after a fire that destroyed a number of downtown businesses. The Post Office was in the center of the Mercantile.
It later was located at the site now occupied by the Armadillo Restaurant,
and moved to its current location on the Woodinville-Snohomish Road in 1983.
Chamber of Commerce
The Woodinville Chamber of Commerce was formed in the 1960's by business and professionals in the community. It has served as the Woodinville community voice to King County government ever since. Since there was no formal government except the King County Council until this time, many community needs were addressed through the chamber and its lobbying power. For many years the chamber has spearheaded service projects, contributed to welfare of the citizens through programming and events, been a source of information for new businesses and residents, and served as a network for local businesspeople.
Today, the chamber operates with a full time manager, staff and an office adjacent
to City Hall.
Service Groups
The Woodinville Lions Club has the longest history of service in the community. The Kiwanis, Business and Professional Women's Club and Rotary started in the 80's and early 90's. These groups quickly established themselves as leaders in the development of Woodinville. All of the service groups have demonstrated a commitment to the community's families in need through donated funds to social service agencies, contributing monies raised through some creative fund raising ventures.
The Mt View Improvement Club was built as the first community center. It was
later donated to the Woodinville Lions Club for use as its facility.
To name just a few
Every town has its memorable people. Of all the early pioneers the one who left the most community-minded and active descendants was the late John DeYoung. DeYoung came to Woodinville in 1925 and bought Teegarden's store. He expanded his business holdings and founded the Lowell DeYoung Company of Woodinville specializing in feed and fuel. He retired in 1963 and his son, Lowell, now operates the business. His descendants continue to play an active role in Woodinville and granddaughter, Lucy, is Woodinville's first mayor.
There have been many other people who have shaped and influenced the development of Woodinville.
In 1976, leaders in Woodinville that would shape its history were visible and vocal.
Egon and Laina Molbak continue to be active forces for positive change in the community and that tradition of community service has been passed on to the next generation.
The late Ray Freeman, a Woodinville pioneer, led the Woodinville incorporation movement. A Democrat, Ray felt that King County government was irresponsible in its dealings with Woodinville and proposed forming Cascade County.
He and Hugo Engel, who is also deceased, led the ill-fated movement. Freeman was a walking encyclopedia of the area's history and passed much of this on to the Woodinville Historical Society before his death.
Engel, who ran the real estate business that is still located in the A-Frame house at the comer of Woodinville-Duvall Road and Avondale Road and now owned by his son, Randy, was always active in community issues ranging from Cascade County and initial Woodinville incorporation efforts to his run for the Woodinville Water District against Clarence Grening. His daughter-in-law Marsha Engel is one of the charter members of the Woodinville City Council.
There are many families in Woodinville that have made significant contributions
to the community. As the community grows, the leadership becomes more widespread
with the emerging leaders of the new city.
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Last Updated:
June 27, 2007