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Sammamish Tidbits
Sammamish, Washington is located approximately 14 air miles east of Seattle on King County, on a broad plateau. The region was mostly uninhabited by humans until the 1870's. The first permanent pioneer was a man named Martin Monohon, who arrived on the Sammamish Plateau in 1877. During the next 100 years, the area was nothing more than lake resorts, chicken farms, dairy farms and woodlands. It wasn't until the 1960's, that the development started edging and accelerated in the final decades of the 1900's, which transformed the wonderful countryside into a rather wealthy suburb of Seattle suburb. The year 1999 brought the incorporation of Sammamish as city, and has recently been recognized twice by Money magazine as one of the best small communities in the United States of America to live in. The land area of Sammamish is 18.2 square miles and the population of the city is 45,870 people, according to the 2010 U.S. Census.
Sammamish is bordered by Lake Sammamish on its west, and it and the surrounding plateau are home to numerous of small lakes. The driving distance to Seattle is about 21 miles, although Sammamish is only 14 air miles from Seattle, since it is necessary to loop around Lake Sammamish in order to get to the city.
The early history of the land that makes up Sammamish was forested with cedar and Douglas fir trees. Members of the Snoqualmie Indian Tribe hunted on the plateau, although the primary tribal villages and grounds were located farther east. However, there was a small Snoqualmie settlement with maybe a few dozen residents at the foot of Inglewood Hill close to Lake Sammamish in the late 1800's, and early 1900's. In the early 1900's, many of these Native Indians left the area. The few that remained gradually came together into the community of Inglewood, which informally gathered what is currently known as the northern half of Sammamish.
The first permanent pioneer on the plateau is considered to be Martin Monohon. In 1877, this adventurous, strong, outdoorsman, Mr. Monohon resided on the plateau. He constructed a log house east of what is currently known as the intersection of East Lake Sammamish Parkway and Southeast 24th Way, on 160 acres that is currently known as the Brookemont subdivision as well as the northernmost part of the Rockmeadow Farm subdivision. Mr. Monohon maintained a ferry landing on a lake that was appropriately named Monohon's Landing in the 1880's, which was located close to what is currently known as Southeast 32nd Street. Mr. Monohon drafted a petition in 1887 to construct one of the first roads up onto the plateau, which was officially named Martin Monohon Road, although it also came to be known as Monohon Hill Road. A portion of this road is currently known as Southeast 24th Way. Monohon Hill, which is currently known as Waverly Hills, was named after Monohon as well as the community of Monohon.
In 1889, the incentive for the establishment of the community arrived in the form of the Seattle, Lake Shore and Eastern Railroad Company completed a track next to the eastern shore of Lake Sammamish. The Donnelly Mill relocated to Monohon from the community of Donnelly on the southwestern shore, and a new company was established to run it. This new company was named the Allen and Nelson Mill Company, and the mill, which started operating in Monohon in 1889, became the anchor for the community for the next 36 years.
Three men named C.S. LaForge, John E, Bratnober, and C.P. Bratnober purchased the company in 1906. John Bratnober, who was the preeminent player in the timber industry on the plateau for most of the first half of the 1099's, expanded the operations of the mill, and as a result, the community of Monohon grew along with it. The population of this new community was 300 people by 1911, and had a 20 room hotel, a railroad depot, and its own water system.
However, this all came to a spectacular end in 1925, when almost all of the community burned down in a fire that was caused by a carelessly tossed away cigarette butt that landed in a pile of sawdust. Although the mill was rebuilt and carried on until 1980, the community never came back.
Inglewood, which is located just north of Monohon, was an informal community that stretched north next to the lake from what is currently known as Southeast 8th Street past Weber Point on the northeastern shore of the lake, and east to at least 244th Avenue Northeast. A relatively small but diverse and flourishing community was established there from 1890 through 1910.
In early Inglewood, there were many schoolchildren, and there was a school for them there. The Inglewood Grammar School was constructed during the first half of the 1890's and was in operation until 1920. It was located on the southeastern corner of 228th Avenue Northeast and Northeast 8th Street. BY 1900, the schoolhouse had been replaced by a more substantial structure, although it originally had been a simple log building. This school was the conventional one-room schoolhouse that had a porch and a cloakroom in the newer building. The students were seated in rows in accordance with their grades and one teacher taught students from first through eighth grades. The building survived for over 50 years finally collapsing from neglect during the middle 1970's.
