The Story of Kenmore

The City logo of Kenmore, WA

All along the lake, east of Seattle, are mighty hills and muggy swamps, but there was one place in the far north, right where the lake ended, where the hills turned in to a plain. This spot had plentiful timber, and since it was the termination of the lake, and also flat, the first roads built eastward and northward ran through it. Further up the Sammamish River, which runs through it, was a great floodplain, but here, at this one place, the floods did not occur. Instead were great strands of timber, 20 feet in diameter and 300 feet in to the air.

A young McMaster from Kenmore, Ontario came to Seattle in 1889. A month after he got there, the city had burned down, and his future looked bleak. Kenmore, Ontario was in turn named for the Scottish village of Kenmore, on the Loch Tay in the highlands, by a McLaren who came there long before, from Kenmore, Scotland, and always had the Highlands in his blood. McMaster was not willing to throw in the towel, and heard tell of the great virgin timbers of the lakes northern shore, and knew of the roads that crossed there and the flat plains. He also knew of a river that, with the taming of the floodplains, was now deep enough for steamboats, and a canal they were building from the lake to the sea.

Not much later, he started a Shingle Mill at this point on the lake. There were many sawmills around, but shingle mills were less common, and greatly in demand as the population grew. He also built a great log boom, that both helped feed his shingle mill when demand was high, and helped feed sawmills on the lake when demand was low. Though the entire logging operation was abandoned in 1920, the growing community of Kenmore, named by McMaster for his former home, preserved the boom, maintaining it as a fishing and swimming dock for the good of all.

The community also took an abandoned barn, and in 1952, made it in to their first library. They built a school, and roadhouses, and restaurants, and expanded the road. They built parks, great ones that are still around, and preserved a beautiful old Mission style Seminary as part of St. Edwards Park. The road they maintained and expanded is now 522 Highway, a "State Route" that is a major eastward path in to Seattle. The road north, however, now runs further West, though the older road is maintained for local traffic as 527. St. Edwards Park is now a State Park.

In 1946, a swamp in Kenmore, unused for anything for many years, attracted the attention of three high school friends united after World War II. Jack Mines, Reg Collins, and Bob Monroe built a hangar in the swamp, and purchased a single plane, an Aeronca Model K. Over the years, service would increase in both volume and respect, and today, Kenmore Air is one of the largest seaplane operators in the world, and they are still based out of Kenmore, WA. The managerie of planes, dozens upon dozens of them, on the lot by the road is one of the richest sights you'll ever see.

In 1978, a science-based naturopathy university named Bastyr built itself in Kenmores southern outskirts. The university was started as extensive new legislation at both the state and federal levels had made times for natural medicine turbulent. With the National College of Naturopathic Medicines departure to Portland, Washington state legislators were threatening to suspend all licensing of naturopathic professionals as no college any longer existed in the state. A series of determined NCNM graduates understood that a school firmly built on scientific principles would not only save licensure in Washington, but grow respect for naturopathy nationwide. In the words of Dr. Mitchell, one of its founding fathers, "It was built on the best visions of what a really high-quality naturopathic institution could be." Far from being a stereotype, Bastyr sought full accredation and a scientific basis, and in my personal experience, also created one of the most helpful and down-to-earth professional climates I have ever found anywhere.

For many years they fared well with no city government, growing in population, wealth and serviceability, though they were recognized by the post office as an address, but in 1990, a bill by the Washington Legislature known as the "Growth Management Act" created development committees. These development committees told Kenmore that they would either start a city government, annex in to a neighbor, or let the county decide. The GMA also created a massive bureaucracy for the rezoning of land that leaves abandoned malls unused for decades and creates a major shortage of land for the kind of manufacturing and industry that any state but Washington would love to have. The GMA even, according to a farmer from Stanwood I spoke to, forces paperwork to be filed and consultation with bureaucracy to be made before any field larger then 10 acres can be tilled or planted. By 1998, against the will of its citizens, Kenmore was a "city," though it had been the size, stature and utility of a city for many years.

Despite the fact that Kenmore was built by individuals doing their thing and giving, voluntarily, to the communty, the State had to slip their greedy hands in to it. They forced Kenmore to do the "right thing" and waste tax dollars that never needed to be spent hiring people who never needed to be hired. And all in the interest of "Growth Management."

Sources: (In order of usage)

The public displays at Log Boom Park, Kenmore, WA

Kenmore Air Harbor Inc., "history"

Bastyr University, "At A Glance: Founding of Bastyr University"

Reagan Dunn, son of former Congresswoman Jennifer Dunn (R-8, till 2006), with regards to Totem Lake Mall and other underdeveloped or abandoned commercial properties. (GMA)

A farmer from Stanwood, WA with approximately 100 acres of vegetable growing land (GMA)

Image: Public Domain, official logo of city of Kenmore, click here for link.

National Hunting Parks

Source of the Carbon River, public domain, US Government

The Evergreen State already has substantial parkland, but the one thing we do not have is a hunting park. Though Washingtonians can hunt in open land that is unowned or owned by lumber companies and conditionally open use, the state has not preserved land for sportsmen in a strong way.

An environmental group there is currently trying to protect the Carbon River, but right now I doubt voters in any state are much interested in spending on parks and recreation, and especially not one that already has so much of it. A spokesman of their group said they would try to get funds from the Stimulus bill, but if for some reason they don't, their next best hope is to offer Washington something it doesn't currently have - a different kind of park and one that will help preserve a national tradition.

See, in Medieval Europe, peasants were not allowed to hunt wildlife, sometimes (in the case of France) even if it was eating their crops. When the Irish, Germans and other groups that came to this land in poverty took their land claims, they not only could hunt, but it became an important part of their life. The word "buck" is used for dollar because early Americans would often trade buckskins instead of using the rare gold bullion that England forced, with mercantilism, back to its own borders.

Go to a Western lodge off a rural highway, even today, the ultimate symbol of land ownership for the common, frontier man, and at the end of the great timber floored hall, prominently over the fire place, the head of a deer or elk, and many other preserved animals like Cougars, Owls and Hawks. You may also be served venison, and use a deerskin as a blanket.

The Carbon River controversy centers on development along WA-165 of the Tacoma metropolitan area. This makes the park both very accessible to city slickers who normally don't hunt, and very in danger of development. "Developing" it as a reserve for hunters and their prey would nearly guarantee its preservation, and be very political tenable as it is something both locked and loaded Republicans like me and greenminded Liberals can agree on. Similar parks can be established in other states, near cities, to give the common man a real chance to engage in this great tradition.

Trash Trash Trash

Image courtesy Nick of Canberra (Wikipedia username dsfrg.msc)

I was walking down 68th Street from Alki Beach in Seattle, when I saw the most trash next to a sidewalk I'd ever witnessed. Coffee lids, napkins, beer bottles, various varieties of broken glass, very used straws, food and slightly decomposed food containers, all lined the street and in some cases were underneath the tires of cars. The worse part is that a public trash can was available, slightly under a block away.

So you literers out there, tell me, why must you deposit trash? Why must you leave your mark on every neighborhood like a little doggy? Why do your legs seem unable to carry you an extra 50 feet to that nearest trashcan? Is there any kind of service, like little kids on bicycles with a big trash bin on their front, that we could provide you with to make fulfilling the law slightly easier? Do you just plain hate the city? If so, are there any buildings, services or roads we could remove to make you hate the city less?

If so, please call the city police immediately, notify them you are a literer interested in changing the city, give them your address, your phone number, precisely when & where you littered last, and, just to prove it, the name of a few people who were with you and they'll handle the rest. Trust me, this kind of stuff makes their day!

Classic American Cities - Seattle

Downtown Seattle from Gasworks Park (Mine,public domain). Above: Pioneer Square, 1917, C.F. Todd

I grew up just across Lake Washington from the mighty metropolis of Puget Sound. This city, renowned for it's coffee, it's hippies, and it's software and businesspeople, has a complex personality at once laid back and pretentious, hot-headed and calm, Western and modern, rebellious and traditional, and both outspoken and quiet.

Courtesy of National Parks Service. Public domain.

The downtown area of Seattle was originally a tideflat with islands. In the center of the above picture is a triangle of three streets, known as the Denny Triangle. That triangle was an island that the first part of downtown Seattle was built off of. Today, you have to walk several blocks to the water and the docks. Garbage and landfills were used to fill the tideflats, depositing additional land off of the triangle for more city to be built. In addition, Seattle, in 1907, destroyed a hill and deposited the dirt that was contained in it across the lowpoints. Denny Regrade:

Public Domain. Courtesy of Wikimedia

The hotel in the background still stands, known as the Josephinum, at 1902 Second Avenue. To this day, the attitude of being able to shift mountains and proudly, perhaps even foolishly, see no obstacle is a major part of Seattle's character.

The University of Washington has been a part of Seattle since 1861. It's original campus was on University Street in Downtown, although it is now located near the Montlake Cut about 5 miles Northeast. The University, according to William Spiedel in his book "Sons of the Profits," was fonded off of leasing a land-grant contianing nearly the entirety of the Lake Washington shoreline. The land was leased out for building of industrial facilities too large for a homestead, and lead to the development of Seattle's Eastside off of industry (of which almost none remains today, except at the North and South ends, Kenmore and Renton.)

Ballard is a Scandinavian ethnic neighborhood to the Northwest of downtown.

Ballard from the air, Walter Siegmund. Gnu License 1.2

To this day, the Ballard high school mascot is the Vikings, and many Ballardians are commercial fishermen. The area has a very different social ambience to it, a feeling more down to earth then the rest of Seattle, very welcoming, and very humble. The scandinavian immigrants are part of why Western Washington is different from any other Western State, and you will find them throughout the state, but make sure, when you are in Seattle, to take a trip to Ballard, the epicenter of it. And don't be surprised when you hear hymns in Norwegian at church.

One of the many fine Scandinavian traditions carried over to Seattle is celebrating Midsummers Day, also known as the summer solstice. In Fremont, a traditionally hippyish neighborhood near Ballard, they have a nude bicycle race every summer solstice.

Seattle does have a tradition of Seattle Nice, and Washington State being partially Scandinavian and partially Scots-Irish, it can be considered roughly a mix of Minnesota and Colorado. The very happy side to their nature is they do tend to be welcoming and open. The dark side to their character is they have a tendency to expect people to be perfect and emotionless. And their "nice" does not cover you when you say extremely stupid things, or what they pereceive as such - nor does it prevent them from trash talking. They do have a sense of honor, however - witness people working in Seattle and you will see some of the most dilligent and motivated workers you have ever seen. And despite their tendency to trash talk, both aggresively and passive aggresively, they And they can be very free-spirited and entrepreneurial, though some of that is now disappearing.

Seattle is, unfortunately, effeminizing right now as every shop and business has decided that if they paint the walls pastel, create a painting of a wineglass somewhere and sell tacky merchandise they will make more money. Add to this some recklessly bad transportation policy (like charging $6 to get in to the city from the Eastern Suburbs, and wasting billions on a rail system expected to carry 20,000 passengers) and it comes down to this: If you want to Seattle, hurry, it may not be there tomorrow.

They will learn eventually, though. :(