Category: History

Jeannette Williams served 20 years on the City Council (1969-1989) until she was defeated in 1989 by Cheryl Chow. She passed away in 2008. On January 20, 2005, I had returned home and checked my voicemail to hear an obviously elderly woman’s message “I read your letter to the editor and I want to help. My name…

(Featured image – Looking South on 9th Ave SW from near SW Trenton St in 1932.) I had heard for years that there had been a rail line that had cut through the Duwamish Greenbelt but had not seen information on it. From 1912 until 1931, there was an electric streetcar line that connected Seattle…

(Featured image – Oxbow Bridge Feb 24, 1916 Seattle Municipal Archives) In 1953, a new 1st Ave S. bridge was being planned. This would replace an Oxbow swing bridge built in 1911 to replace a wood bridge built in the 1890’s. In conjunction with the bridge, there was a desire to build freeways into what…

Much of Riverview is the result of sand and gravel operations. Our hill used to be a little higher than it is, in some places. Beyond harvesting the sand and gravel, the plans were to level off land that could have neighborhoods built on it. The Whitlock Woods property had been owned by Klinker Sand…

In Fall 2000, a small group of neighbors were encouraged by the City of Seattle to plan bicycle paths in the neighborhood. They formed the Riverview Trail Improvement Project, rTrip. Their plan was a route that started from the south end of the Riverview Playfield, traveled north through the greenbelt, the SSC campus and down…

For an eleven-year-old boy, the fun is using a metal detector to find old railroad spikes. For his father, it’s discovering the railroad grade he can feel with his feet and see as an opening in the woods. For me (Judy Bentley), it’s the history. We went looking for all three on a sunny winter…

Formerly known as “The Soundway property”, a growing number of us are calling this section of the Duwamish Greenbelt the “Whitlock Woods” to honor Nancy Whitlock, the retiring Director and founder of Nature Consortium. Without Nancy’s efforts, there would undoubtedly be homes built on this property today. I will use Whitlock Woods below, instead of Soundway,…