down the Pacific Northwest coast
- Woodway - From Its Beginning (townofwoodway.com)
Mr. David Whitcomb, Sr. planned the development of Woodway Park as a place for homes in a wooded country setting. In 1912 Mr. Whitcomb purchased the land between Richmond Beach and Edmonds, consisting of 320 acres stretching about a mile along Puget Sound and extending about a half-mile east. He added fractional lots along the tidelands and uplands, bringing the total to 400 acres. At the time of the purchase there was one structure, known as the Brown Owl Tavern, which is now a private residence on the west side of Woodway Park Road just north of the Deer Creek Bridge.
- Woodway residents vote to incorporate on February 18, 1958. (historylink.org)
On February 18, 1958, voters in the small, upscale community of Woodway in Snohomish County go to a private home to vote on incorporating as a fourth-class town. The measure passes with 99 in favor and 83 opposed. The vote is a response to concerns that the growing town of Edmonds is likely to envelope both Woodway and the nearby Esperance neighborhood into its boundaries. To gain the required population, Woodway’s boundaries include several nearby neighborhoods and parts of adjacent Standard Oil and Union Oil properties for a total of 405 persons. (Some portions of these are later withdrawn.) On this day, Woodway citizens unanimously choose Seattle accountant Chesley M. Cook (1905-1977) to be the first mayor and Irma Jean Canon (1920-2009) to be treasurer. Of six city council candidates, five are elected: Dr. Edward Stoddard DeMarsh (1911-1998), Herbert H. Randlett, Leslie C. Streeter, Norlin Wolfe (1909-1998), and Harold L. Worthington (1901-1994). Mayor-elect Cook announces that the first council meeting will be held soon. Council meetings will be held in private homes until 1963, when a city hall is built. A new town hall will be built on the same site in 2013.
