(This article was originally published in the 1999 Summer Edition of "Issaquah Living", a quarterly publication of the Issaquah Press. Used by permission. Eric Erickson is a  past-president of the Historical Society).

To help commemorate our 100th year of publishing, the Press asked Issaquah native Eric Erickson, a member of the Issaquah Historical society with extensive studies in the local sawmill and logging industries, to take us through the past 100 years. This is the second installment of his historical account, and it focuses on our Native American heritage and other aspects not covered in his first piece published in the Winter Edition of Issaquah Living.

The Native American heritage of the area is memorialized by the many names given to the local area topography. These include Lake Sammamish, Issaquah, Issaquah creek, and both Squak Mountain and Squak Valley.

The Smithsonian Institution Bureau of American Enthnology's Handbook of American Indians, printed by the Washington (D.C.) Government Printing Office in 1910, listed two native American pronunciations, Sam-ab-mish and Sam-ah-mish for the Native American division of the Salish living on Lake Samamish and Lake Dwamish (now Lakes Sammamish and Washington) during the years government records reported about them, 1852 through 1910.

The handbook indicates there were 101 living on the two lakes in 1854, but makes no mention how many remained in 1910. The handbook further reports that 225 Snoqualmu (Snoqualmie) occupied the upper reaches of the river of the same name in 1857, but by 1910 most of the remnants were now on the Tulalip Reservation.

Many of these Native Americans worked on the hop farms in the Squak Valley and at Fall City.  Descendants of them still live in the area.

Lake Sammamish formerly was known as Squak Lake, and Issaquah Creek was named Squak Creek. The East Fork was called Mill Creek, after the sawmill which was located on the north bank of the creek where it joins Issaquah Creek.

At the turn of the century, five new businesses and/or organizations came to Issaquah. They included the Masonic Lodge, Snoqualmie Falls Power Company, Bank of Issaquah, Sunset Telephone Company and The Issaquah Independent (now The Issaquah Press).  These all came shortly after the changing of the town's name from Gilman to Issaquah in 1899.

"Operator, Operator"

In August 1900,  the Sunset Telephone Company brought a system to Issaquah that consisted of two phones. Phone service was expanded within the town with all calls being placed through a central switchboard operator. Service was expanded into the country by farmer’s telephone companies. 

These companies installed their own poles with glass insulators attached and smooth galvanized wire fastened to the insulators to transmit voice signals. Phones in the homes were wall mounted with a crank which was used to ring who you want to call using a system of long and short cranks. 

All of these phones companies later were acquired by the Pacific Telephone and Telegraph Company, which became Pacific Northwest Bell, part of the Bell System, and is now U.S. West.  (Note:  In 2000, U.S. West was acquired by Qwest)

Lodging Abounds

In the first decade of the 20th century, Issaquah was a town of many hotels. They included the Bellevue, Central, Grand Central, Davis, Moore, Pacific (also known as Trigg’s), Royal (also known as Hanson’s) and Stockholm. Of these, only the Grand Central building remains today.

Of course, in a growing Western boom town, almost as many liquor and cigar stores sprang up as hotels. Operators of these establishments included Archie Adair, L. Becker, G. Clark, Isaac Cooper, H. Holden, and B. Mullarkey.

Music was a major form of entertainment before radios and television, and musical instruction was available from several Issaquah women, including Miss L. Levingstone, Miss B. Marsh, Mrs. E. E. Pickering, and Mrs. W. E. Vaughn

Rural Free Delivery Mail service was established on June 1, 1915 (RFD Route No. 1). RFD Route No. 2 was added in 1953 and, by 1960, they covered a combined total of 101 miles and provided service to 887 mail boxes.

Indoor Plumbing

In 1918, the Gilman Water Company provided service to 278 customers in Issaquah through a system of 7½ miles of mostly wood water pipe.  The water came from a spring near what is now the east end of Sunset Way as it approaches Interstate 90. The company’s income for the year was $3,288.41, or $ 11.82 per customer for a year's service.

The two water company employees, the water foreman who earned $420 for the year and the combination superintendent/secretary/treasurer, who earned $600 for the year, consumed about one-third of the operating revenue. The company showed a net profit of $1,068 for the year after taxes, postage and other expenses were paid.

The automobile, having arrived earlier in the century, brought the need for better streets in Issaquah. Gravel, dirt and the related mud and dust finally caused the town’s two main streets, Front Street and Mill Street (now Sunset) to be paved with concrete in 1925.

Although the exact date of the first automobile's arrival in town is unknown, an early photograph shows a buggy powered by an engine under the floor and a tiller handle for steering. It was reported that the car came in a crate on the railroad and was assembled after arrival.

Old City Park

A circa 1926-27 photograph of the Park Inn, located at the entrance to City Park (acquired by the town in 1921) has a sign over a dirt road leading to the park. The sign reads: "Issaquah City Park - Free Campground." City Park now is a shadow of its former self. Newport Way now cuts the park in half, with Gibson Hall on the west side and the Fish Hatchery and its new salmon viewing tanks on the east side.

In 1939 Messrs. Kiebert and Martin operated the Park Inn Texaco Service Station. They were sort of the forerunners of the current Texaco Star Marts in that they sold sandwiches and beverages. The station was located at what is now Newport Way at the south edge of West Sunset. They also had about a half-dozen rental cabins along what is now the west side of Newport Way, south of Sunset.

The Green Gym, etc.

In 1945 the Fulton Construction Company completed construction of the new gymnasium south of the 1931 Issaquah High School building. It was later known as the old green gym, referring to its exterior color. Seats in the gym folded up against the east and west walls when not in use by spectators. 

The Issaquah Auto Freight Company provided daily service to Seattle, Preston, Fall City, North Bend and Snoqualmie.

The promise was that the 1950s would be known as the decade of television. Little did they know that the decade of television would extend to a half-century and beyond. Will the 1990’s be known as the decade of computers?

New Street Names

In December 1960, the Issaquah City Council passed Ordinance No. 752, which changed the names of most of Issaquah’s streets.  The ordinance renamed Mill Street to Sunset Way, and named east-west streets south of Sunset in honor of pioneer families (Andrews, Bush, Clark, Darst, etc.) and those north of Sunset after trees (Alder, Birch, etc.)  North-south streets received numbers and were later renumbered and received compass directions N, N.W., etc. at a later date.

With the exception of Front Street, Crescent Drive and Maple Lane, which retained their former names, many other road and street names have been lost in history. These include roads such as the Jack King Road (now Northwest Dogwood), and the James Bush Road (Old road No. 66 west from State Route 900, south of Newport Way and no longer in existence).

On the current vacant lot where the new library is to be built on the northwest corner of Front and Sunset, a gas station was built in 1925. The station was remodeled in 1938 and, by 1940, it was owned by the General Petroleum Company with an assessed value of $420. By 1971, the assessed value had gone up to $16,300. 

 For comparison, the old 1930 Town Hall that was just demolished to make way for the new police and jail complex was assessed at $5,160 in 1940 and $12,000 in 1971. My grandfather's farm, where the current Foothills Baptist Church is located in the 10100 block of Issaquah-Hobart Road, was assessed at $1,240 in 1940 and $25,000 in 1970.

Little did most people know in the 1970’s when the great Boeing depression hit the area, that homes in the city would be selling for hundred’s of thousands of dollars a mere 20 years later.

As the town has grown to a city expanding from a few hundred people to close to 10,000 and from a few square blocks to square miles, we're all left to wonder:  What will the next century bring?