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Kirkland Tidbits
A man named Peter Kirk is the namesake of Kirkland, Washington. Kirkland is situated east of Seattle, on the north easternmost shore of Lake Washington. Initially, Mr. Kirk envisioned establishing a booming steel town, as he was a steel industrialist. However, the dreams of Mr. Kirk never materialized. However, Kirkland has become a flourishing suburban community by the 2000's with a population of nearly 50,000 residents.
The first white pioneers to settle in the region were the MacGregor and Popham families. They built their homesteads next to the lake, south of what is currently known as downtown Kirkland. It wasn't long before the DeMott, Church, and French families settled just north of them. Others, including the Forbes family, who were located further north, started to clear the land around what is currently known as Juanita Bay.
These groups of people had formed settlements by the 1880's. The settlement to the south was named Houghton, in honor of a Boston woman who donated the Bell for the Congregational Church. The settlement to the north was first named Hubbard, but was soon changed to Juanita, a name that was selected by a Mrs. Terry, a pioneer woman from Seattle. The land between Houghton and Juanita remained mostly underdeveloped, although there were a few homesteads. That all changed when a man named Peter Kirk arrived in the area.
Mr. Kirk owned a steel mill in his native Workington, England. Although, in England the production of steel wasn't as prosperous as he would have liked, he arrived in this country in order to locate a more suitable environment. Mr. Kirk saw an opportunity as the development of the Puget Sound area was just beginning. Many natural resources used in smelting steel, such as limestone, iron, and coal were abundant. In addition, railroad systems were being constructed throughout the region.
Mr. Kirk made some solid friendships with local businessmen when he arrived Seattle. Two of these businessmen included a man named Leigh Hunt, who was the publisher of the Seattle Post-Intelligence and another man named Arthur Denny, who was a pioneer from Seattle and had an interest in possible iron mines close to Snoqualmie Pass. Mr. Hunt, Mr. Kirk and some other men established the Moss Bay Iron and Steel Works in 1888.
It was Mr. Hunt who purchased numerous acres of land for the project because Mr. Kirk wasn't an American citizen. They platted out the new settlement and constructed homes for the workers. The names of the streets that they selected were decidedly British, such as Regency, Oxford, and Piccadilly. They undertook plans for businesses including a hotel, and a bank. In order to provide the materials for the building of the structures, they constructed a brickworks.
However, not everything worked out as planned. The Seattle, Lake Shore and Eastern Railroad declined to bring a railroad line down to the waterline, primarily for political reasons. The railroad had just been purchased by the Northern Pacific Railroad, which was based out of Tacoma. Seattle and Tacoma were directly in competition with each other as the primary seaport on Puget Sound. A railroad line to Kirkland was simply not in the best interest of the railroad, although it would have been good for Seattle.
Mr. Kirk changed his plans, and construction of the mill started near the closest railroad line, which was located two miles east of Lake Washington, close to what is currently known as Lake Kirkland on Rose Hill. The city center was redesigned in order to provide easy access to the mill an water was piped to the location.
The problems didn't end there. Mr. Kirk's mill in England was closed for a year after falling on hard times. In anticipation of the work to come. Many of the workers located in Kirkland came from England. Land speculators began gouging prospective buyers. Also during this time, ore deposits close to Snoqualmie Pass were not being found.
Mr. Kirk moved ahead in Kirkland after selling many of his investments and stock in England. He constructed one of the most elegant homes in the region and relocated his entire family to his namesake community. As he purchased additional land, Mr. Hunt went deeply into debt.
In 1893, a nationwide financial collapse prevented the hope of ever making the steel mill venture successful. Investors began backing out, which left Kirkland with row upon row of empty houses and a partially built steel mill. In spite of this, Mr. Kirk never gave up hope. He held onto the majority of his land holdings and over the years slowly parceled them out. Sometime later, Mr. Kirk retired and relocated north to the San Juan Islands, where, in 1916, he passed away.
In the meantime, Kirkland continued to grow. A woolen mill was constructed on Moss Bay, which did good business with gold prospectors during the Alaska Gold Rush. Later it provided products for the military during WW I.
One important industry was shipbuilding. The Lake Washington ship canal opened in 1916, which provided a waterway between Puget Sound and Kirkland. The early vessels that were repaired and constructed in Kirkland were primarily ferries. However, by WW II the Lake Washington Shipyard was constructing naval warships.
The year 1905 brought the incorporation of Kirkland, which became a popular bedroom community for urban commuters. Kirkland's ferry landing was the most popular on the lake, and provided access to and from Seattle in a little more than 30 minutes. Many of early residents of Kirkland were gentleman farmers, people who worked at office jobs in the city, while keeping berry vines and chickens back home.
in 1940.
Just south of Bellevue, the Lake Washington floating bridge opened just south of Bellevue. Over 20 years later, ferry traffic would end on Lake Washington. Along with Redmond and Bellevue, Kirkland became known as the eastside of Seattle by 1960, when a second floating bridge was constructed. This was a suburban community primarily made up of commuters and middle-class families.
The residents of Houghton voted to merge with Kirkland in 1968. Kirkland annexed most of Juanita as well as the community of Rose Hillin 1988. The community of Kirkland celebrated the centennial of its incorporation in 2005. This was during a time of increased development and population growth. Over a century after Peter Kirk envisioned a vital community on the eastern shores of Lake Washington, his dream has come to pass.
