- In 1925, when the timberland holdings of the Puget Mill Company were sold to an eastern lumber company, the Blue Ridge community in Seattle’s northwest corner became a possibility. William E. Boeing (1881-1956), lumberman, mining entrepreneur, and airplane builder, bought up most of the company’s land overlooking Puget Sound north of the city limits to Richmond Beach. Soon the Douglas fir and cedar stands would be sacrificed for the development of the exclusive communities of Innis Arden and Blue Ridge. Today (2001), 450 homes sit on a 200-acre cul-de-sac that abuts Carkeek Park, whose western facing slopes offer spectacular views of the Puget Sound area. This acreage, bounded on the east by 12th Avenue NW and on the south by NW 100th and NW 105th streets, constitutes the upscale, covenanted community of Blue Ridge.
- Seattle — Thumbnail History (historylink.org)
Seattle is the largest city in Washington state and its economic capital. Settled in 1851, its deep harbor and acquisition of Puget Sound’s first steam-powered sawmill quickly established it as a center of trade and industry. It gained the Territorial University (now University of Washington) in 1861, but was snubbed by the Northern Pacific Railroad in 1874 when it picked Tacoma as its western terminus. Despite this, the town prospered thanks to independent railroad development fueled by local coal deposits…