The
Woodins were the first family to settle in the Woodinville
community when they homesteaded 160 acres along the banks
of the Squak Slough. Later renamed the Sammamish River,
the slough served as the highway for the early pioneers
since there were no roads. During the early years,
lumber mills and logging were the main employers.
Woodinville's mills included the Machias and Saginaw
Sawmilles and the Woodinville Shingle Mill.
The commununity of Woodinville did not develop until
the Seattle-Lake Shore & Eastern Railway arrived in
1888. The early business district evolved around the railroad
depot located where the railroad split at Woodinville.
For the first time, stores, saloons, roads and bridges
were built.
As the land was cleared and the valley flooding tamed
with the lowering of Lake Washington in 1916, produce
and dairy farming extended across the Sammamish Valley.
Much of the produce was processed at the DeYoung Produce
Packeing Shed and shipped by railroad to the East Coast
as well as to Seattle. This later became the Lowell DeYoung
Feed Mill, which continued to operate until the 1980s.
Early dairy farms included Jess Brown's Millview Dairy
and Fred Stimson's Hollywood Farms which is the current
site of Chateau St. Michelle Winery.
Woodinville's first post office, school and Sunday School
were held in the home of Susan and Ira Woodin. As Woodinville
grew, the Calkins family donated land for a one-room school
which was built in 1892. Today, the land is the current
site of the Carol Edwards Center/Old Woodinville School
(NE 175th Street/133rd Avene NE). This building was replaced
by a two-room schoolhouse in 1906 which burned from a
chimney fire two years later.
In 1909, the first brick school east of Lake Washington
was built on the site. It was enlarged by the Work Project
Administration in 1935 and expanded to its current
size in 1948. In the 1960s, the school ceased to be a
regular elementary and was called the Woodinville Annex
to house an overflow of students. From 1993 to 2001, the
building served as Woodinville City Hall.
The Woodinville Heritage Society was established in 1975
to acquire, preserve and perpetuate the artifacts and
history of the greater Woodinville area as well as educate
and distribute historical information to the community
and to those interested in our history.
For more information, visit www.WoodinvilleHeritage.org
or write WHS, P.O. Box 216, Woodinville, Washington 98072.
Content and photos provided by Woodinville Heritage
Society (2007)
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