NPS Form 10-900a OMB No. 1024-0018 (Rev. 8-86) United States Department of the Interior National Park Service National Register of Historic Places Continuation Sheet Section number 8 Page 1 of 28 Columbia City Historic District, King County, WA Context Statement The Columbia City Historic District was listed in the National Register of Historic Places in 1980. This updated nomination replaces the previous registration form, and includes expanded information regarding the district’s history, but does not alter the district’s boundaries. The Columbia City Historic District is eligible for listing in the National Register of Historic Places at a local level of significance, under Criterion A, as a district which embodies the patterns of development of a late 19th and early 20th century independent municipality, and commercial and residential “streetcar suburb” on the outskirts of Seattle, Washington. Community development, commerce, social history, and transportation are areas of significance which demonstrate the district’s eligibility under Criterion A. The district is also eligible under Criterion C (area of local significance: architecture) for its representative collection of commercial, residential, and mixed-use buildings that are good examples of vernacular and revival style architecture, several of which were designed by prominent regional architects between 1908 and 1928, and which, taken together, present a cohesive statement on the significance of the district’s contribution to the history of Rainier Valley and the greater Seattle area. The period of significance begins in 1891 with the first buildings constructed in the Plat of Columbia. It ends in 1937 with the end of streetcar service, the removal of streetcar tracks from the district, and the permanent conversion of Rainier Avenue to an automobile thoroughfare. Approximately 80% of the district’s buildings were constructed within the period of significance. The streetcar line which began service to Rainier Valley in 1891 played the most significant role in determining the physical development, economic development, and architectural character of Columbia City. Founded as a speculative real estate development well outside of downtown Seattle, Columbia City retains its appearance as a small town with a variety of commercial and civic buildings fronting Rainier Avenue and a collection of vernacular residential buildings on side streets and fronting the historic open space of the Columbia Green. Now over a century old, Columbia City’s commercial history includes both industrial mill developments and small-scale, independently owned shops and businesses catering to local clientele. Business owners and workers typically lived in residences on the side streets off of Rainier Avenue, and the district retains a strong pedestrian orientation. Social history in the community is characterized by ethnic and cultural diversity, and a high level of civic involvement on the part of business leaders and other local residents. The significance of the streetcar as an influence on development is ongoing, though the significance of the streetcar as a method of transportation was diminished by the increasing reliance on the automobile since the early 20th century. Architectural history in the district is primarily characterized by a variety of vernacular commercial and residential buildings, with several prominent civic and cultural buildings designed in revival styles popular in the early 20th century providing visual anchors for the district. Historical Development of Columbia City Rainier Valley and the Lake Washington shoreline were part of the traditional territory of the Duwamish people, a Southern Puget Sound Salish speaking group whose major winter villages were located to the south, in the area of the Black River in present-day Renton and Tukwila. Several locations in the vicinity of Columbia City had Indian place names, which were recorded by anthropologist T. T. Waterman in both Lushootseed (Puget Sound Salish) and English in the early 1900s. One village site, identified as an ‘old village’ called Sext3i’tclb or “place where one wades,” was located approximately five miles south of Columbia City on the shoreline of Lake Washington at a place now called Bryn Mawr. Another village site in the vicinity of Columbia City was located approximately two miles to the south west, in the Duwamish River valley. This village was called Tuqwe’Ltld or “a large open space.” It was situated on a large flat area in NPS Form 10-900a OMB No. 1024-0018 (Rev. 8-86) United States Department of the Interior National Park Service National Register of Historic Places Continuation Sheet Section number 8 Page 2 of 28 Columbia City Historic District, King County, WA a bend of the Duwamish River, where the Meadowlands Racetrack used to stand in Georgetown, the present location of the King County International Airport (Boeing Field). Closer to the location of Columbia City, there was a place known as Sqa’tsld or “choked up mouth” for the mouth of a creek emptying into Wetmore Slough which was generally blocked by snags. The creek was noted as having formerly been frequented by silver salmon. This may refer to the creek which ran in the historic period west of the old Columbia School and the Columbia Library, through Columbia Park, and into Lake Washington via Wetmore Slough, through what is now the Rainier Playfield.1 The area around Columbia City was first surveyed in September 1861, by a surveyor from the United States General Land Office who recorded a series of hand-written notes on the landscape, and created a map that served as a base-map for subsequent land claims. In the vicinity of Columbia City (Township 24 North, Range 4 East, Section 22), the surveyor noted that the timber was a mixed forest of fir, cedar, hemlock, maple, cottonwood, willow, ash, alder, and dogwood, with an under story of gooseberry, salmonberry, fern, salal, and crabapple. The surveyor also noted the presence of an established trail between Lake Washington, then called Duwamish Lake, and Seattle, which crosses Section 22 in a northwest to southeast direction.2 This was likely a trail used by Native people, and it later served as the approximate route of the streetcar line. There were at least four land claims in the vicinity of Columbia City prior to 1861, which were noted by the surveyor, including Donation claims that had been either proved up or preempted by H. Butler, Jackson (John) Harvey, Edward Walsh, and Seymour Wetmore. An additional land claims in the area had been filed by the Woodin family, who later founded the community of Woodinville.3 Access to the area was increased with construction of a military road around 1860, and a later county road, as well as steamer service on Lake Washington, and land claims in the vicinity of Columbia City increased in the 1870s. A handful of houses had been constructed in the area east of Columbia City by the late 1880s, and real estate speculation began in earnest with the platting of Maynard’s Lake Washington Addition (now called Lakewood) in 1890. In 1889, J.K. Edmiston started laying tracks in Seattle, from the west side of Railroad Avenue up Washington Street, for his Rainier Avenue Electric Railway. As pioneer historian Carey Summers explained, “The tracks ran east to what is now 14th Avenue S, and then turned southeast, along a private right of way, probably donated by settlers who hoped to profit from the railway. This right of way later became Rainier Avenue. Tracks were laid on trestles and fills because the ground was swampy.”4 The railway served the dual purpose of opening the valley to development and providing access to new sources of lumber, which was in high demand after the Great Fire that had destroyed most of Seattle’s business district earlier that year. 1 Hilbert, Vi, Jay Miller, and Zalmai Zahir. Puget Sound Geography. Federal Way, WA: Zahir Consulting Services, 2001, p. 46, 47, 96. 2 US Surveyor General, General Land Office Surveyor’s Notes (1861) and Map (1862), Township 24 North, Range 4 East, Willamette Meridian. Washington State Department of Natural Resources, Olympia, 1861. 3 Summers, Carey. Centennial History: Columbia City, Rainier Valley, 1853-1991. Seattle, Washington, 1992. p. 27. 4 Summers, Carey. Centennial History: Columbia City, Rainier Valley, 1853-1991. Seattle, Washington, 1992. p. 29. NPS Form 10-900a OMB No. 1024-0018 (Rev. 8-86) United States Department of the Interior National Park Service National Register of Historic Places Continuation Sheet Section number 8 Page 3 of 28 Columbia City Historic District, King County, WA Mr. Edmiston is a pivotal figure in Columbia City’s history, though little is known about the man beyond his role as a pioneer real estate mogul. He was the head of the Security Savings Bank in Seattle, and had come to Seattle from Walla Walla, probably in the 1880s. Edmiston may have been an in-law relative of the Woodin family who had homesteaded land in the Rainier Valley. In 1890, Edmiston, along with principal landowner Percy Rochester, and John I. Wiley began planning for a new town site at the end of the streetcar line, which they named Columbia. Accounts vary on exactly how the community of Columbia got its name, though each of the various explanations ultimately derives from efforts to honor Christopher Columbus. Pioneer historians H.H.A. Hastings and Carey Summers both indicate that it was named specifically for “Columbia, the Gem of the Ocean,” a patriotic melody composed in 1843 by Philadelphia singer David T. Shaw.5 Columbia (from “Columba,” the feminine form of Columbus) was an early name for the American colonies, first used during the French and Indian War to create a sense of solidarity among the 13 independent colonies. The name Columbia was commonly used by the time of the Revolutionary War, and after the founding of the United States of America, Columbia continued to be used as an alternate name for the country.