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The Early History of Our City

The early history of the town that would be known as Kirkland began in the late 1860’s. The first settlers built their homesteads in what is now the area called Houghton. Native Americans had campsites around this land for centuries. Juanita Bay was a favored campsite because of the plentiful potatoes which grew wild there. Yarrow Bay was another Indian encampment.
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The Popham family and the McGregors were the first to settle this new land. Over time, more homesteaders made their claims. The French family arrived in 1877 on acreage near the Pophams. Harry French Sr. and his son Harry Jr. spent the summer clearing the land and building cabins.

The two early families moved out by the end of the 1870’s and part of their property was sold to the Curtis family. Members of this family would later help build the East Side shipbuilding industry. Many more people moved into the area which built up the industry on the shore of the lake.

The Fish family built a home north of the Curtis family. Their Lake House became a place for travelers to stay before or after crossing the lake. By 1880, canoes were a common means of travel across the water. The first ferry was called the Squak, and it helped to open the travel to and from the East Side of Lake Washington.

This new lush country was full of possibilities for the new population. Shake mills, boat-building, farming and other forest and water industries sprung up from the new communities on the lake. By the 1870’s, Seattle was a thriving logging town. Tacoma was soon to become the main port on the sound.

Peter Kirk was an established steel-mill owner in Workington, England. In 1886, Kirk ventured to America to seek out a new and better location. He heard about the coal mines, iron deposits, and the new communities on the shores of Lake Washington. Train lines were being built in the Pacific Northwest, and he thought this new area would be perfect for a steel mill.
In June of 1888, Kirk and Hunt announced their plans. Within a month they had incorporated the Kirkland Land and Improvement Company. Work started and five-thousand acres were bought north of what is now downtown Kirkland. Streets were laid out, and homes were built for the workers needed to run the mill. Plans were in the works for a bank, a hotel and other businesses.

The bay by downtown was named Moss Bay, after Kirk’s home in England. Street names were very British; Piccadilly, Oxford, Regency, etc. You can see these original names on street signs in the City. All was moving forward, but as Kirk was preparing to build the mill in 1893, there were difficulties. The railroad refused to bring a rail line down to Moss Bay. For his steel mill to work, Kirk needed his mill to be built along the lake. Without a rail line, this couldn’t happen. Money was getting scarce and the two partners went into debt. The site of the mill was moved to the top of Rose Hill near Forbes Lake.

Kirk was determined to see his dream come true. He built one of the finest homes in Kirkland on Waverly Way, and his wife and family moved here from England. Many of his workers from back home also moved to Kirkland.

Work continued at the mill, but its location had many problems. Water had to be piped to the site. The city center was moved and office buildings were built at what’s now Market Street & Seventh Avenue, to provide access to the mill. Rail lines were still not built near the ore deposits in the mountains. Finally, a nationwide financial collapse ended all hope. Without the money, no rail line would be built, no mill constructed, and no workers hired.

Although his steel mill had failed, Peter Kirk never gave up on his namesake town. Still hoping that all was not lost, he held on to most of his land holdings only to sell them off to a couple of shrewd Seattle businessmen in 1910. He later retired to the San Juan Islands where in 1916, he died in his sleep.

After all of the hubbub, life in Kirkland quickly reverted back to what it had been before; a collection of houses, farms and shingle mills. The difference was.... it had now become a town.

After the end of Kirk’s steel venture, Kirkland took a long time to get back on her feet. Several people who had bought land were stuck with useless property. In 1897, the Yukon Gold Rush gave Seattle a much-needed boost, but very little money trickled down to Kirkland, except through the Woolen Mill. Most of the people accepted their lot. Many of them had lost money investing in the steel mill. However slowly but surely, Kirkland started growing again, as a gateway into and out of Seattle.
The Importance Of Ferries To Kirkland
Since Lake Washington separated Kirkland from Seattle, boat-building became essential. The Curtis family, who had lived on the Eastside since the 1870’s led the way. By 1900, they had a good business building and operating boats and ferries. You could say the Curtis family business was one of the first transportation services on the lake.

The increase in ferry traffic slowly brought about change to Kirkland. It let people work in Seattle and live in the new city. Many of these early commuters had small farms. It was common for a clerk or trader in Seattle to come home and feed the chickens or tend the berry vines.
Burke and Farrar Era
Kirkland incorporated into a town in 1905. Early settlers like the French and Curtis families helped this along. In 1910, two men Burke and Farrar bought up the rest of the land owned by the Kirkland Land and Development Company owned by Peter Kirk.
They realized what the budding town had to offer. They provided lots for homes to the average person at affordable prices. At last Kirkland was a town with ferryboats that took people to work, and a good place to raise a family.

During the 1910/20’s, Kirkland was seen to be the hub of the East Side. Ferry landings dotted the lake, but the main activity was in downtown Kirkland. Then after the locks were opened and Lake Washington was lowered about 9 feet in 1917, businesses started popping up near the ferry dock. The center of town was no longer the buildings which Peter Kirk had built to support his mill, but those businesses which helped the commuter and residents.

Kirkland grew by leaps and bounds, with new churches, banks, stores and schools.

No longer was the town isolated on the shores of the lake. It now had regular stage service to Redmond and Bellevue

During the World War II years, the Lake Washington Shipyards became a major boat source for the war effort.

Just as Redmond and Bellevue grew and prospered, the small lakeside village once populated by native Indians, grew into the city of Kirkland we know today. In the end, Peter Kirk would have been very proud of the little town on the lake named after him.