The city that once was acclaimed throughout the nation as “The Pittsburgh of the
West” was starting over. The town had survived the Crash of 1893, the demise of
Peter Kirk’s steel mill venture, and years of hardship that brought very little
to the east side of Lake Washington. But over time, Kirkland began to rebound
and grow into her own as a gateway into and out of Seattle.
Because Lake Washington separated Kirkland from Seattle, boat building became
essential. The Curtis family, who had lived on the east side since the 1870s led
the way and by 1900 they had a thriving business, not only in the construction
of vessels, but in their operation. In fact, the Curtis’ along with Captain John
Anderson were some of the first ferrymen to operate on Lake Washington. Captain
Anderson operated the wooden ferry Leschi, that made her first run on Lake
Washington on December 27, 1913. Lecshi was the first boat to carry automobiles
and operated as a passenger service between the eastside and Madison Park until
1950.
As the boat traffic slowly increased so did the east side and a change began to
take place. People were now able to work in Seattle while living in a rural
community. Though many of the homesteaders in this early “suburbia” had small
farms, it was not uncommon for a clerk or businessman in those times to work and
stay in Seattle during the week and then come home to tend livestock and farms
on the weekend. Some of the residents were able to live solely off the land
without any day job in the big city and wealthier residents were afforded summer
homes with a pastoral setting less than an hour away from their busy world of
daily work life.
With its growth, Kirkland officially became one of the earliest cities on the
east side in 1888 and finally established its incorporation as a town in 1905
with a population of 400. The primary concern of the new City Council was the
improvement of roads and the Lake Washington shoreline especially with
Kirkland’s two new successful industries – wool milling and shipbuilding.
The first woolen mill in the state of Washington was established in Kirkland in
1892. It produced wool products for the Alaska Gold Rush prospectors and for the
U.S. Military during World War I. Kirkland’s ship building industry began on the
Lake Washington waterfront with the construction of ferries. For over twenty
years, most of the boats on Lake Washington were either built or repaired in
Kirkland.
In 1910 developers Burke and Farrar bought the remainder of the land owned by
the Kirkland Land and Development Company (the last vestige of Peter Kirk and
Leigh S.J. Hunt). They realized the benefits that Kirkland had to offer and
provided them to every worker and housewife at an affordable price. The fact
that the town had already been platted, had viable industries and efficient
transportation was beneficial to their efforts. The new bungalows and
craftsman-style homes of the era reflected the arts and crafts movement
throughout the U.S., mostly concentrated in what is now the Norkirk
neighborhood.
Kirkland was now not just a jumble of houses over on the rural east side, it was
a bustling town with ferryboats that took residents to work and a solid
community that people called home. It was the hub along the eastern shores of
the lake with the main ferry terminus located in the heart of the city’s
downtown.
Businesses started appearing near the ferry dock to take advantage of the
business that came from the continuously running ferry operations from the
city’s dock (what is now Marina Park) to Seattle 18 hours a day. The center of
town was no longer the buildings that Peter Kirk had built to supplement his
business, but those that catered to the commuter and residents alike.
In 1917 the opening of the ship canal also opened Lake Washington to ocean-going
vessels and by 1940, Houghton’s Lake Washington Shipyard was building warships
for the U.S. Navy; more than 25 were built during World War II on what is now
Carillon Point. And thousands of the shipyard’s workers commuted by ferry from
Seattle. That same year, as road modernization took place, the opening of the
Lake Washington floating bridge foretold the end to the usage of the lake
ferries as the primary mode of transportation; they officially stopped running
10 years later.
Today, Kirkland has evolved from its lively past to a solid community of over
45,000 people and notably the only city in the region with a waterfront
downtown. From its roots in steel, wool milling and ship building, Kirkland has
developed into a vibrant locale with an abundance of lakeshore trails, beaches,
parks, shopping, restaurants, and events, embodying the vision that Peter Kirk
once had for the little town that could along the eastern shores of Lake
Washington.
History of Kirkland information provided courtesy of Alan J. Stein and the
Kirkland Heritage Society.
