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Redmond Tidbits
Redmond, Washington is located in a rich basin that was created by ancient glaciers, which covered much of the area at one time. Thousands of years prior to the first fur trappers arrived in the dense forests of the region, the fertile bottomland of the4 Sammamish Valley offered food and shelter for the Native Indians who welcomed the earliest pioneers of largely European descent. There was abundant salmon in the Sammamish River, as well as in the Squak Slough. In fact they were so abundant that men had to rake the fish from the water. Therefore, before the settlement was named Redmond, it first came to be known as Salmonberg.
The first white setters to stake a claim for land on the north end of lake Sammamish in 1871 was the namesake of this early settlement, named Captain Luke McRedmond and another man named Warren Wentworth Perrigo. The greatest challenge for these early homesteaders' was to clear the towering trees that had such a large girth that the equipment that was available was inadequate. This challenge resulted in the first economic boom in Redmond, although the immediate solution was a technique of felling the giants by first burning their trunks above the root. During the 1890'S Loggers arrived in the valley by the droves and a man named John Peterson constructed the first sawmill just east of Lake Sammamish in 1890 close to Issaquah. In 1905, the Campbell Mill was constructed at Campton, which was soon followed by other prosperous shingle and lumber operations whose considerable payrolls created a demand for services and products.
In the early years of thick forests and few roads in Redmond, steamboats were the only transportation that was practical. These flat-bottomed boats transported passengers and goods by chugging up and down the Sammamish River and crisscrossing the lake that feeds it, until the Chittenden Locks opened, which lowered local waterways and lakes by nine feet in 1916. The year prior to Washington becoming a state, in 1888, the Seattle Lake Shore and Eastern Railway arrived in the this wilderness settlement, and the marketability of the timber in Redmond was ensured with its arrival.
Redmond was a flourishing community of restaurants, movie theaters, dance halls, hotels, and saloons at the peak of the logging industry. In 1908, the first brick building was constructed in the community named the Redmond Trading Company. It wasn't long before other brick buildings were constructed that included The Redmond State Bank in 1911, whose largest depositors were the lumber mills, the Brown Building, the Old Redmond Schoolhouse, and Bill Brown's Garage. However, much the same as other Western communities at that time, the majority of these buildings were wooden and, as the result of the lack of a public water system, when ablaze, were particularly vulnerable to total devastation. The fact is that disastrous fires were repeatedly the primary impetus in 1912, for the stable community of some 300 residents to become a fourth-class town in 1912. Becoming incorporated permitted Redmond to tax its flourishing saloons and finance a modern public water system.
The first mayor of the community was a man named Frederick Reil. Redmond bloomed during his term as mayor. Automobiles were often seen on the old Main Street, currently known as Leary Way and several new buildings were constructed downtown. In 1916, the state of Washington adopted probation, four years ahead of the rest of the country. This resulted in numerous liquor still in the woods surrounding Redmond as well as bootlegging operations within the community.
During the 1920's the local timber industry faded rapidly as aggressive logging destroyed virgin forests. The mainstay of the economy in Redmond became agriculture. Farmers struggled to remove massive stumps in the valleys and On the hills and that had once been home to bobcats, bear, and deer. Dynamite was often used to remove these stumps. They planted profitable farms and staked acres of berries, built structures for their mink and chickens, and fenced their property for dairy cattle.
As the result of the Great Depression, many young adults sought employment elsewhere during this time period and the population of Redmond grew little. However, there was a positive side during this period, which was the community spirit that resulted in the Redmond Bike Derby. In 1939. this fundraiser was started in order to purchase athletic equipment for the school and Christmas decorations for the community. This is the oldest, continuous bike race in the country and later became an annual festival in Redmond, known as Derby Days.
he growth in Redmond has been facilitated by the natural progression of dependable transportation and better roads from the early days of horse-drawn stages and steamboats. By 1940 the population of Redmond had increased to 503 people and the first Lake Washington floating bridge opened. Gradually, a slow, steady increase of residents re4sulted. In 1963, there was vigorous residential growth as the result of the completion of the Evergreen Point floating bridge, which was much the same as the logging boom of the 1880's that created a demand for local services and goods.
During the 1960's the high-tech industrial growth in Redmond started out slowly. By the early 2000's the population of Redmond had increased to 45,256 people. The first high-tech company to relocate here in 1961, was included United Control. The company manufactured aircraft electronics and was subsequently sold to Sunstrand, then to Allied Signal, and then to Honeywell Corporation. In 1968, the Rocket Research Company began operations in Redmond, and is currently known as Aerojet Rocketdyne and manufactures Mars missions by NASA. In 1982, Nintendo of America relocated its corporate offices to Redmond, and in 1986, Microsoft arrived in the area. These corporate giants along with smaller tech companies, those corporate giants brought an influx of workers, and their families from other countries, which made Redmond a much more diverse community than it was only a few decades earlier.
