Redmond Recorder December, 2002 Page 1

Redmond
“History is
happening in
Redmond!”
December, 2002
Vol. IV, Number 12

In This Issue&
Recorder
Redmond Historical Society
RHS Calendar . . . . . . . . . Visit our web site at
Old Redmond Schoolhouse Commu- nity Center Send us an e–mail at
1 www.redmondhistory.org redmondhistory@msn.com
16600 NE 80th St., Room 106, Redmond, WA 98052
Mail, Miscellany. . . . . . . .
2
Heritage Happenings. . . . 3
2003 Calendar Features Historic Redmond Area Barns
Memory Lane. . . . . . . . . .
4
Volunteers . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
Members, Notices. . . . . . . 6

RHS Board of Directors

meets Tuesday, January 7th
5:00–7:00 p.m.

Next general meeting:

January 11th at 2:00 p.m.
Cotterill Auditorium
Old Redmond Schoolhouse
Community Center

Please come early to visit.

We must leave the audito-
rium promptly at 3:30 p.m.
All RHS meetings are open
to the public—please come

at ORSCC, Room 106

If you want to receive this A Message from our President

newsletter by mail, please
contact us by post, e–mail or
phone as shown at top of
page.
If you have an article, news
item or other item to submit,
please send it to:
Margy Rockenbeck, Editor
Redmond Recorder
P. O. Box 2108
Redmond, WA 98073–2108
or send e–mail to
OmaRoc@msn.com
Still looking for a unique holiday gift that also helps preserve Redmond's history? If so, the Society's
limited edition calendars of 25 historic barns are still available but going fast. Sketches by Dorisjean
Colvin, watercolors by Russ Goetschius and Rong Xu Long, and a 1900 photograph of a barn
where Friendly Village is today are among the high quality reproductions that will look spectacular
framed after use as a calendar.
Each calendar is $15 (tax included, shipping is $2 extra) and proceeds go to fund Society research
and events. Contact the Society at 425 885–2919, and leave a message if it's not during office hours
(Mon.–Thur. 1–4 pm). Or write us via email at redmondhistory@msn.com. If you have a business and
would like to buy multiple copies to give to customers we can arrange that as well.
Thanks for your support and have a great holiday full of history! Miguel Llanos
Our mission: To discover, recover, preserve, share and celebrate Redmond history
Redmond Recorder December, 2002
The following letter was sent to Naomi Hardy in response to
two Help Your Historian items from the past two issues, in
care of the editor. We think you’ll agree it’s of general inter-
est to our members, and on behalf of the Society we thank
Yvonne Johnson Conway for the letter and the wonderful
packet of historical information that accompanied it, which
can now be seen at our office:
Dear RHS: Re: Redmond City Council Members:
My Mother, Margaruite (corrected spelling) Johnson was
one of the twelve women to serve on the council. I doubt
many people would recognize her name unless you include
her nickname, Perky. Reading Mama’s name in your list sent
me to my memory album and I have enclosed some items you
might find interesting.
Side note, I gave many items to the Marymoor Park Museum
when Mama passed away 14 years ago. They made a play
about “The Pioneer women of Redmond” and I was so proud
when Mama was chosen as one subject for that play.
We lived on 166th, AKA Education Hill, Poverty Hill or Star-
vation Heights. My parents, Tac and Perky Johnson punched
the first road up that hill and lived in a tent while they built
their home. They dug a well for water. It was sixty feet deep
and dug all by hand!
My Mother was a lady but she could do anything. Just to
name a few, she drove a semi truck hauling hop poles. She
hunted deer, elk and moose and was a crack shot. She rode
horses and could handle a team of horses. She raised a gar-
den and canned everything. She worked as a grocery clerk at
Harry’s Market. She was the head bookkeeper for Doctor
Way’s office and Art’s Food Centers headquartered in Juanita.
She organized Scrub the Hub participants for the town of
Redmond for the 1962 World’s Fair.
Imagine my horror when my Mother was represented in the
play as a toothless person dressed in ragged clothes and an old
red hunting hat who called my brother and me “the chillens”
in a god–awful southern drawl! So much for history!
Other Information: In the last Recorder there was a request
History–related Websites to check out (all web addresses begin with http://):
Redmond Historical Society at www.redmondhistory.org
Issaquah Historical Society at www.issaquahhistory.org
Lake Sammamish Living at www.lakesamm.com/ and www.lakesamm.com/events/
HistoryLink, the website of History Ink (a 501–c–3 corp.), at www.HistoryLink.org
and finally, try this one for some fun: Go to kokogiak.com/projects/seawft/reveal 2.html. Drag the slider from
left to right and you can compare two panorama photos of the entire Seattle waterfront from 1907 and 2002
Page 2
for information about the location of a former cafe where a
gas station now sits at the “Y” going to Issaquah and Happy
Valley. I sent the gas station owner the following information.
A lady known as Addie ran that restaurant. Before that, she
ran the Hotel Cafe in downtown Redmond and before that
she ran a small restaurant called Addie Bon which was across
the street from the Hotel Cafe towards the railroad tracks.
Everybody knew Addie. She was a good cook and not afraid
to tell it like it was!
Sincerely, Yvonne Johnson Conway
P.S. I really enjoy the Redmond Recorder.
P.S. from your Editor: We’re glad you enjoy our newsletter,
Yvonne. Fellow RHS members, next time you’re in the office
you must really take a look at the materials Yvonne sent us.
The story of how the Johnsons managed to dig their well
Correction
Last month we reversed the first and last names of a former
Redmond City Councilman, whose correct name was Reed
Warren. Our thanks to careful reader Jerry Torrell for point-
ing out this error.
Pondering the March of Progress
News of Abraham Lincoln’s November 6 election reached
King County on about November 23, 1860, according to a
recent HistoryLink email. (We don’t know if the election
results were brought by Pony Express or not. The Pony Ex-
press of the old west lasted only 19 months, from April 1860
to October 1861.) This seems to compare favorably with the
time it took to bring the final results of King County’s 2002
election results to King County.
We welcome your letters, announcements of class and
family reunions and other Redmond–history–related
events, queries of a historical nature, old photographs,
clippings and original articles about Redmond area his-
tory. All submissions are subject to editing for space re-
quirements and style. Handwritten is fine. Please call the
editor with any questions at 425–882–8844.
Redmond Recorder December, 2002
Society Acts to Support Eastside Heritage Center
The following letter was sent via email on behalf of the Soci-
ety to members of the King County Council, with a copy to
King County Executive Ron Sims, on October 30, 2001. We
will keep our readers apprised of the responses to this letter
in future issues of the Recorder:
Dear County Council: Representing 250 dues–paying mem-
bers, our board was shocked to learn that the county is forcing
the Eastside Heritage Center to vacate Clise Mansion in
Marymoor Park by the end of the year.
We understand the county’s budget problems, but have to
conclude that someone made a poor decision in sending out
that order. Not only does it show a lack of respect for commu-
nity and heritage, it’s also a financial mistake because it jeop-
ardizes priceless treasures.
We can’t imagine that council members and the county execu-
tive knew about this order and approved it. In any case, we
will be keeping our members—as well as our nearly 600 news-
letter readers—abreast of developments and would appreci-
ate a response via email to these specific questions:
1) Who approved the order? If council did, who voted for/
against the order?
2) Was public input (including Heritage Center staff) heard
before the decision was made, and if not, why not?
3) How could one expect such a move in under three months,
given that thousands of fragile artifacts are involved and the
public knowledge that the Eastside Heritage Center does not
have funds for such a move?
The Eastside Heritage Center doesn’t think it can do it, and
we trust their judgment. As a result, we ask the council to
rescind the order and provide the Eastside Heritage Cen-
ter with a two–year period to move the museum and its
treasures to a new building off of county property. Sincerely,
This New Year's Eve, as we celebrate
our friendly city's 90th birthday,
December 31, 1912,
another celebration will be held in the home of
Roy and Grace Lampaert,
who were married December 31, 1932––
70 years ago.
Best wishes to the Lampaerts
from your friends in the
Morse/Lampaert Barns, c. 1935 – 1955, located at site of present–day Redmond Shopping Center
Page 3
Help Your Historian
I need to know the location of the cattle loading pens in
Redmond in 1926. I was told once they were down by T &
D Feeds on the tracks but there may have been more than
one loading yard. On the other side of the fence a family was
living by the name of George Whitehall. They were renting
the property from someone. I would appreciate it if some-
one could tell me the exact location of the loading yards in
Redmond at that time. Please contact Tom Hitzroth, 11925
106th Ave NE, Kirkland, WA 98034; Phone: (425) 823–
King County Grants and Workshops Scheduled
Application deadlines for the King County grant programs
that will be administered by the Cultural Development Au-
thority of King County in 2003 have been scheduled as fol-
lows:
Feb. 3 Special Projects (Arts & Heritage)
Feb. 3 Community Arts
Mar. 3 Landmarks Stabilization
May 5 Cultural Education (Arts & Heritage)
Sept. 15 Cultural Facilities (Arts & Heritage)
Nov. 3 Sustained Support (Arts & Heritage)
Drop–In Workshops are scheduled every Thursday from noon
to 1 p.m. in the 2nd floor conference room of the Office of
Cultural Resources, Cultural Development Authority of King
County headquarters, Suite 200 Smith Tower, 506 Second
Avenue, Seattle WA. There will be no drop–in workshops on
November 28, December 26 and January 2nd. For informa-
tion, contact Doreen Mitchum at (206) 296–7579, 1–800–
325–6165 or doreen.mitchum@metrokc.gov
A Heritage–Specific Special Projects Grant Program Work-
shop will be held Tuesday, January 7, 2003 from 2 to 3:30
p.m. at the Puget Sound Regional Branch State Archives,
Bellevue Community College, 3000 Landerholm Circle SE,
Photograph courtesy of Roy
Redmond Recorder December, 2002
Tosh/Cook Barn c. 1890 – 1984 West Lake
Sammamish
Is there someone on your holiday gift list who would love to
receive a Historic Barns of the Redmond Area 2003 Calen-
dar? They make great gifts, and proceeds benefit RHS.
Notes from Naomi Hardy’s conversation with
Arlyn Bjerke Vallene, recorded February, 2001
Arlyn’s grandfather, Gabriel Rosford, told his daughters that
the first time he went to Issaquah, he saw a man hanging from
a tree for stealing. . . .[Gabriel] went to Alaska for six months
looking for work, and when he came home, his daughters
didn’t recognize him. . . .Arlyn’s mother, Hilda Rosford met
her husband, Ole Bjerke, the same way her sister Stella
Rosford met her husband—in a Seattle dance hall.
Rosford Barn, c. 1906–86 Located at site of today’s Colony Apartments
Photograph by Stella Ness Walcker
Page 4
Historic Redmond Barns
2003 Calendars
On sale now!
Historic barns in and around the Redmond area
are the subject of these beautiful, limited edi-
tion calendars for the coming new year. Paint-
ings, photographs and sketches created by
Redmond–linked artists are pictures you’ll want
to frame. Twenty–five barns are included, and
only 1,000 of these keepsake calendars will be
printed, each copy numbered in pencil. These
historical calendars are matchless gifts. The
price is $15, including sales tax.
Get yours now! Contact project director Terri
Gordon at 206–517–0395 or stirdly@aol.com.
Or contact the Redmond Historical Society of-
fice in the Old Redmond Schoolhouse: Mon-
days–Thursdays 1–4 pm, 425–885–2919.
Thoughts on our Immigrant Heritage
"What wretched refuse? The 20 million–odd immigrants
who arrived [in America] between 1870 and 1910 were not
the wretched refuse of anybody's shores. They were an
extraordinary, enterprising, and self–sufficient folk who
knew exactly what they were doing, and doing it quite on
their own, thank you very much."
–––Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan, 1986
"Americans professed to be shocked when many of the
Cubans who came here in the Mariel boat lift asked in 1980
to be returned to Cuba. Yet the fact is that immigrants have
always returned home in great numbers. Historians estimate
that of the twenty million immigrants who came to the
United States between 1820 and 1900, about five million
returned to their place of origin."
–––Richard Shenkman, 1988
The phrase “melting pot” wasn't coined until 1908. It didn't
make it into Webster's dictionary until 1934. Whether
Americans in the eighteenth century should have thought of
themselves as essentially one people is a matter of opinion.
While English customs and values seemed preponderant,
demographic statistics suggest other cultures may have had a
strong influence on the country as well. In 1790 three out of
five Americans were not of English origin; two out of five
didn't even come from English–speaking backgrounds."
–––Arthur Mann, 1979
Redmond Recorder December, 2002
A heap of historic thanks to all of these great people for donating their
Angie Aries Lang and Maggie Woodham Jordan for set-
ting up tables, chairs, drinks, and name badges for the No-
vember meeting.
Julie & Phil Roe for the treats at the November meeting—
Phil’s wonderful cookies were from his aunt’s recipe.
Fran Walthall, Doris Schaible, and Margaret Evers Wiese
for handling the calendar sales at the meeting.
Mildred Tanner Andrews for speaking and book signing.
The Trading Post in Totem Lake for purchasing some calen-
dars to sell at the store.
Cheryl Grinna who came all the way from Wisconsin to pick
up her calendar.
Larry Hoger for nursing our office computer back to health.
Judy Lang for lecturing at the Outdoor & Environmental
School about the history of the Lower Sammamish Valley,
and for representing us in creating a Redmond parade float, as
envisioned by Beverly Galpin of Redmond National Bank.
Marge Mann for giving us an antique folding saw, cycle and
At the September general meeting, Rose Weiss gave a great testimonial about the joys of volunteering for the RHS.
Thank you Rose! So don't be shy—if you would like to be a volunteer for the Redmond Historical Society
call Judy Lang at 425–823–3551 or the office at 425–885–2919. We are a fun bunch to work with!
Greetings from the Editor
As 2002 comes to a close, I’m looking back on this past year’s
issues of our little newsletter and am grateful for all of the help
I’ve received in putting it together. It’s really a team effort,
and I very much appreciate all the articles, photos and fillers
from the regular members of that team, Naomi Hardy, Miguel
Llanos, Margaret Evers Wiese, Doris Schaible and Judy
Lang, and from all of you who have sent letters and other
items from time to time.
If you have sent an article or a given me a suggestion for one
that you have not yet seen in the newsletter, chances are that
I’m saving it for a seasonal article in next year’s newsletter, or
that I’m waiting to develop some more information before
going to print, or I may not have had room for it and had to
postpone it for that reason alone. Next year we’ll publish nine
issues only, one per meeting.
I want to encourage any reader who has an idea for an item in
the newsletter to give me a call or write me a note or send me
an email at my addresses on page 1. If you have an idea for
an article or a regular feature and could provide some help in
making it happen, that would be great!
Best Wishes to you and yours in the year ahead from your
Page 5
old potato gunny sack.
Helen Kirsch of QFC Corporation for commissioning the
Lampaert Ranch display in their Redmond Center store's fire-
place café area.
King County for restorative maintenance on our historic Red
Brick Road.
Former Redmond Planning Director Kay Shoudy for heading
up the book celebrating our city's being 90 years old. Book's
working title: "Cowchips."
The City of Redmond’s Dianna Broadie and Laurie Peckol
for keeping our Board of Directors informed of Planning is-
sues relevant to historic preservation.
Bruce Kenyon for old Derby parade photo.
Terri Gordon for producing our beautiful Historic Redmond
Barns calendar.
All those who donated items for display in our office. If you
know the name of someone whom we’ve neglected to thank,
please let us know.
To all members of the Redmond Historical
Society and other readers of our newsletter:
We Need Your Help
Have you purchased your “Historic Barns of
the Redmond Area” 2003 calendar? Or do
you have a friend who might like to buy one?
We would like you to pass this message to your
friends. We still have quite a few in stock and
we would like to have a complete sell out. If
you are unable get to the office, you can order
by leaving a message on our answering machine,
425–885–2919, call Judy Lang @ 425–823–
3551 or Terri Gordon @ 425–990–8415.
We would love to hear from you!
Redmond Recorder December, 2002 Page 6
47 Attended meeting on November 9, 2002
Mildred Tanner Andrews, Roy Buckley, Richard Cole, Sharon Daly, Tony Emmanuel, Lauretta Erickson, Evelyn King Gilbert,
Millie Goetschius, Russell Goetschius, Audrey R. Gorlick, Charlotte Everson Hahnlen, Jerry Hardy, Naomi Hardy, Chris Himes,
Tom Hitzroth, JoAnn Ingersoll, Amanda Johnston, Maggie Jordan, Angela Aries Lang, Fay Littlefield, Norma Leicester, Miguel
Llanos, Cheryl Magnuson, Georgeann Malowney, Marge Mann, Daryl Martin, Elma McCormick, Mary Montgomery, Robin
Perrigo Norton, Margy Rockenbeck, Julie Roe, Phil Roe, Anne Salmi, Doris Schaible, Claudia Martin Scott, Phyllis Stoneback,
Beryl Standley, Jerry Torell, Judy Gilbert Turner, Kristine Underhill, Hellen Usibelli, Arlyn Bjerke Vallene, Fran Walthall, Norma

Now that our calendar is a huge success we are beginning work on

our 2004 calendar: Historic Farm Houses of the Redmond Area.
We need your old photographs, paintings, sketches, etc. If you
have a tip or know about any old farm houses in the Redmond area The Redmond Historical Society
please let us know! Call Terri Gordon at 206–517–0395 meets nine times per year
on the second Saturday of each month, except for July,
August and December. Next meeting
Several thoughtful folks have brought us their back issues of our
January 11, 2003
newsletters, and it’s turned out to be a great thing. Newer mem-
Cotterill Auditorium
bers really enjoy picking up issues they’ve missed. We do know
Old Redmond Schoolhouse Community Center
that many members save every copy they receive, but if you’re not
16600 NE 80th Street in Redmond
one of those, we’d welcome your back issues which can be dropped
2:00–3:30 p.m.
off at our office anytime, even after hours by dropping them
Because we will only have half an hour
after the meeting to vacate the room,
please come as early as 1:00 p.m. to visit .
HOLIDAY OFFICE HOURS

Our office will be closed Dec. 23rd through Jan.

5th. Our regular office hours for 2003, Monday RHS Corresponding Secretary Margaret Evers Wiese asks
through Thursday from 1 pm until 4 pm, will begin your help on behalf of the society: If your mailing address,
Jan. 6th. Stop by and visit us! e–mail address or phone number has changed, please notify

Levels of Membership Make checks payable to:

Join the (Check 1 only) Redmond Historical
Society
q Student ............................................... $ 5.00
Redmond q Individual ......................................... $ 20.00 Mail To:
Historical q Family .............................................. $ 35.00
q Supporter ...................................... $ 250.00
Redmond Historical
Society
Society q Lifetime ..................................... $ 1,000.00
All Contributions are Tax Deductible
Attn: Membership
ORSCC, Room 106

Name(s) Birth Date(s) (MM/DD/YYYY)

Address City _______________________ State_____ Zip

_________________

E–Mail Address Phone

Please print the name of each person included in this membership (including women’s maiden names) exactly as you would like them to appear on