Heritage Park digs into Lynnwood’s roots

Nearly 90 years ago, there was no major shopping center northwest of 196th Street and Interstate 5 in Lynnwood. For that matter, there was no I-5 or even a “Lynnwood.”

But there were 7,000 acres of logged land being sold off by the Puget Mill Co. as 5-acre chicken “ranchettes” to gentleman farmers who commuted to their day jobs in Seattle via the Interurban railway. There was The Main Store on North Trunk Road (now 196th Street SW), where storekeeper L.E. Moffat averaged $1,000 in sales each week. And there was a growing community known as Alderwood Manor.

A look back at that time and place can be had by visiting Lynnwood’s Heritage Park. Located just off I-5 at 19921 Poplar Way, the park is home to historic buildings that played a major role in the area’s past as well as organizations that are working to keep history alive.

“Alderwood was a community. There was a real spirit here,” said Cheri Ryan, president of the Alderwood Manor Heritage Association, which is based in the Alderwood Manor Heritage Cottage at Heritage Park.

The cottage was built in 1917 and served as the home of the superintendent of the Alderwood Manor Demonstration Farm, a 33-acre poultry farm developed by Puget Mill to market its chicken ranch concept, Ryan said.

Formerly located at the 196th Street interchange, the cottage was bought by the association “bit by bit” and relocated to the city-owned park, which was developed in 2003 and opened to the public in 2004.

Besides being a rich piece of history itself, the Heritage Cottage is home to association exhibits. Now on display through February is “The Halls of Alderwood Grade School,” an homage to an educational institution that served the area’s children for decades, beginning in 1920 until it was closed for administrative use in the early 1960s.

“My dad and seven of his siblings went there; at least 10 of my cousins went there,” said Ryan of the school.

The exhibit includes nearly a hundred photos as well as firsthand accounts from the school’s alumni. Another room in the cottage has been re-created into a schoolroom, complete with vintage desks, chalkboard and teaching implements.

“We’ve had a lot of people coming in to try and look for themselves (in the photos),” Ryan said.

Visitors to the Heritage Cottage also will find a painting by Northwest artist Bernie Webber depicting the Demonstration Farm, with its water tower, and a 1927 Nash parked out front.

That 1927 Nash is significant, said Marie Little, a founding member of the Alderwood Manor Heritage Association and a commissioner on the Lynnwood Historic Commission.

“The first paving of Highway 99 happened in 1927,” she said.

The development of Highway 99 coupled with more people buying cars and the coming of the Great Depression may have marked the beginning of the end for the Interurban, whose electric cars left Seattle hourly on their way to Everett. In 1939, the Seattle-Everett Interurban ended its 29-year run.

But that storied run can be experienced again, at least vicariously, through the exhibits at Heritage Park, where Car 55 is on display outside, while inside the historic Wickers Building (formerly The Main Store), the story of the Interurban is on display, courtesy of the Snohomish County Museum.

Photos from the early 1900s document that transportation wonder that included stops in north Seattle, Alderwood Manor and other locales before its final destination, Colby and Pacific avenues in Everett.

Other artifacts from Alderwood Manor’s past can be seen throughout the 89-year-old Wickers Building, which also houses the Snohomish County Tourism Bureau’s South Snohomish County Visitor Information Center. Plans to add museum space on the building’s second floor are under way, with the city and the Alderwood Manor Heritage Association partnering on the project.

Even more of the area’s history can be found inside Humble House, the original residence on the Heritage Park site. Built in 1919 as a two-room house and expanded over the years to include two bedrooms, a dining room, a basement and a fireplace, the building is now home to the Sno-Isle Genealogical Society and its research library, which has more than 3,000 genealogy-related books on its shelves.

“We have all the old Edmonds newspapers from 1907,” librarian Carole Thul said. “We’re starting a project of trying to trace Native Americans in the Northwest who are under the Tulalip umbrella.”

Also, the genealogical society has been collecting obituaries from local newspapers since its founding in 1986, Thul said, and volunteers are on hand to lend a hand for people interested in beginning a genealogical search.

“Anyone can come in at any time and get help or just look around,” she said.

For those who do, a can’t-miss item to admire is the quilt prominently displayed in Humble House’s main room.

Created by genealogical society member Margaret Robe Summit, the quilt depicting Snohomish and Island counties is site specific. A swath of fabric with cars pictured on it shows I-5 snaking north to south along the quilt map. A picture of a hat is just where one would expect to find Hat Island, and fabric with the likeness of a Native American lets the quilt’s admirers know where Tulalip is located.

“It took three years to put together, but it’s just really, really great,” Thul said.

Besides working to expand museum space in the Wickers Building, future plans for Heritage Park include renovation of the Demonstration Farm water tower, which is situated just behind Humble House, as well as a demonstration garden to be created by the Snohomish County Master Gardeners, Ryan said.