Timeline

1800sThe area along Squak Slough (today known as the Sammamish River) was inhabited by the Simump Tribe.  The word Squak was a term used by local Native Americans that meant swampy area.
1862National Homestead Act signed by Abraham Lincoln.  This act stimulated homesteading of 160 acres per family for more than just timber claims.
Sept 1871Ira and Susan Woodin homesteaded 160 acres along Squak Slough and became the first permanent white settlers in the region.
1874Emanuel Neilsen and Gustav Jacobsen, who were brothers that emigrated from Norway to America in 1870, each homesteaded 160 acres south of the Woodin’s homestead.
Ca. 1874Mary B. Neilsen, age 16, married Eric Jaderholm, and jointly homesteaded 160 acres next to her father’s homestead and just south of the Woodins.  This became the first business district.
1875The Calkins came from Kentucky and homesteaded 160 acres in the valley floor east of the Neilson’s homestead.
1876The first steamboat to be put into use on Squak Slough was the Mud Hen.  The side wheeler made only one trip up the meandering slough because her wheels became entangled in the reeds and grasses.  It is believed the Mud Hen remained on Squak Lake and provided freight and passenger service there.
1878Seattle Brewing & Malt Co., which became Rainier Brewery, starts brewing beer in Georgetown.
1885The Seattle-Lake Shore & Eastern Railway was formed because the Northern Pacific Railway initially terminated its line in Tacoma rather than in Seattle.
1887The Seattle-Lake Shore & Eastern Railway reached Woodinville and forever changed the way the valley developed.
1888Woodin-Sanders Store was built on pilings next to the railroad platform and operated until 1898.
1889On April 4, 1889 the Woodins deeded one acre for a cemetery in Woodinville.  Two small girls, Regine Hammer and her sister, died of diphtheria and were the first recorded burials here in 1888.
1889Anderson-Kennedy Rainier Saloon was built on pilings near the railroad platform and owned by the Seattle Brewing and Malt Company.  The saloon ceased operating as a saloon on August 15, 1912, when the County Commissioners did not renew their license based on the strength of a Citizen Petition.
1889American House was built by Joe Redberg and operated as a saloon and hotel.  It burned down in the mid 1890s.
1889The Stringtown Bridge over Squak Slough connected Woodinville and Bothell.  The bridge was built by Emanuel Neilsen using an ox powered pile driver he designed.
1889“The Great Fire” of Seattle occurred on June 6th as the result of an overheated glue pot in a cabinet shop.
1889Washington granted statehood.  Woodinville citizen Mary B. Neilsen Jaderholm was the first person granted citizenship in the State of Washington.
1890Mary B. Neilsen Jaderholm platted the Town of Woodinville, which was not incorporated until 1993 – more than 100 years later.
1890(Teagarden’s) Mercantile Store was built and initially operated by Milt Russell.  The store was sold to Clara and Sarah Jacobsen, which sold groceries, fabric, feed, etc.  It also included a blacksmith shop operated by Harry Teegarden, who married Clara in 1914.
ca. 1890A one-room log schoolhouse was built near Cottage lake in the center of a logging community.
1892First “permanent” schoolhouse in Woodinville had just one room and was located at the intersection of 131st Avenue NE and NE 175th Street on land donated by the Calkins.  Four schools were built on this site between 1892 and 1934.
1892A one-room schoolhouse was built at Derby (later renamed Hollywood by Fred Stimson).
1892The Grace School was built.
ca. 1893A  permanent railroad depot was built at Woodinville.
1894The Forester’s Lodge was built on land donated by Andrew Hansen.  The upper floor was used for community activities and served as a local court room when required.  The first floor housed the Ruelle’s Brothers Company also known as the Woodinville Trading Company.  It eventually disbanded as the need was no longer there for an organization to help widows & children of deceased loggers.
1895Emanuel Neilsen’s General Merchandise Store opened on Front Street (became the site of the Woodinville Mercantile Company in 1927).
1895The Paradise Lake Cemetery was established.
1897Klondike Gold Rush begins – several prominent Woodinville residents ventured north.  These included Ira & Frank Woodin and several Calkins.
1898Snoqualmie Falls underground hydroelectric power plant #1 was constructed.  It was the first major hydroelectric plant in Washington.
1899Mount Rainier National Park was established.
ca. 1900Grace Mercantile Company was located next to the train depot in the community of Grace.
1900Ground broken for New York’s subway system.  On October 24, 1904, the first of New York’s subway lines went into operation.
1903Machias Sawmill was built on Squak Slough by Charley Niemeyer and Colonel Miller.  Later the Machias Sawmill was obtained by Jesse Brown and operated until 1926.
1904“The Belt Line” of the Northern Pacific Railway from Black River Jct (Renton) to Woodinville was completed.
1905The “Little” White Methodist Church was built at the corner of 131st Ave NE and NE 175th Street.
1906The Woodinville Lumber Company located in Grace was established by Jesse Brown.
1907Dodd’s Adjustable School Desk Factory was built.  Mr. Dodd, a school teacher and principal, started the factory but soon went bankrupt.  The factory was sold at auction on May 15, 1909 to the Ruelle brothers.
1907The two-room Woodin School burned in the fall of 1907.  For two years (1908 and 1909), the empty Dodd Adjustable School Desk Factory was used as a school.  The school was replaced by the first brick schoolhouse on the eastside of Lake Washington.
1908On August 18 at 5:00 PM, a passenger locomotive train that was running about two hours late crashed head-on into a freight locomotive at Woodinville.
1908The Superior Brick, Tile & Pottery Company was built by George Shaw and operated until ca1930.
1909Seattle hosts the Alaska-Yukon-Pacific Exposition which opened on June 1st.
1910The first brick schoolhouse on the eastside of Lake Washington opened in Woodinville.
1909-10Electrical power and telephone systems arrived in Woodinville.
1910Women in Washington State win the right to vote on November 8th.
1910Hollywood (dairy) Farm was built by the wealthy Seattle lumberman Frederick S. Stimson.  Mrs. Stimson had several large greenhouses and sold flowers all over the world.  Today the Chateau Ste. Michelle Winery occupies this site.
1912The Derby School built of wood was replaced by a brick schoolhouse paid for by Mr. Stimson and renamed Hollywood School.  It closed in 1920 for lack of students.
1912Squak Slough was straightened and dredged between Redmond and NE 145th Street at a cost of $60,000 paid for by the valley farmers.  The valley still flooded at times.
1913Hollywood Poultry Farm was founded by Mr. Mort Atkinson on forty acres of timber land owned by Fred Stimson.  By 1930, the farm was brooding approximately 30,000 chicks per year that were shipped worldwide.
1915Prohibition of alcohol in Washington State took effect on December 31st and ended December 5th, 1933.  (National Prohibition extended from 1922 to 1933)
1916Lake Washington was lowered nine feet to install the Ballard Locks.  This made Squak Slough difficult to navigate.
1916The first Boeing built airplane, the B&W, made its maiden flight from Lake Union on June 15th.
1917Lake Washington Ship Canal opens on July 4th.
1924Federal law granted U.S. citizenship to all American Indians on June 2nd.
1929The stock market crashes on “Black Tuesday” October 29th.
1931John and Ellen DeYoung, who moved to Woodinville in 1925, had a ten-room Dutch Colonial home built which today is the home of the Woodinville Heritage Museum.
1940Lake Washington Floating Bridge is dedicated on July 2nd.
1944The Lowell DeYoung Feed Mill Company was established.
1947The Summit Fire District located next to Lake Leota was established.  Fred Luzzani remodeled his barn to accommodate a fire truck, which was purchased from King County at public auction for $500 on June 2, 1947.
1949Seattle-Tacoma International Airport is dedicated on July 9th.  Woodinville resident Gene Mack delivered one of the first loads of concrete on August 4, 1943.
1953Saginaw Sawmill was built on the Sammamish River at Woodinville.
1960sPortions of the old Seattle-Lake Shore & Eastern railway were abandoned which was acquired by the City of Seattle.  Today, the Burke-Gilman (named after the founders of the SLS&E Railway) and Sammamish River Trails extend ~27 miles between Ballard and Redmond.
1963-64Sammamish River (formerly Squak Slough) flood control project was completed.  The river was straightened, widened and deepened to protect adjacent farm lands from spring flooding.
1971Starbucks Coffee opens first store in Pike Place.
1974First stoplight was installed in Woodinville.
1978First All Fools’ Day Parade held in Woodinville.
1980At 8:32am on Sunday May 18th, 1980, Mount St Helens erupts, sending a cloud of ash nearly 40,000 feet into the air.  More than 200 square miles of forest was blown over or left dead and standing.
1993City of Woodinville was incorporated March 31, 1993, 103 years after the Town of Woodinville was initially platted by Mary B. Neilsen Jaderholm in 1890.
Sign Up for Our Newsletter

Museum Hours

Summer

(Memorial Day to Labor Day)
Every Sunday 1-4 pm

Winter

(Labor Day to Memorial Day)
First Sunday of the month 1-4 pm