Wildwood Station — Rainier Avenue Historic Shelter

Wildwood Station — Rainier Avenue Historic Shelter. Standing at the Crossroads of Seattle's Transit Past and Present. A Trolley Stop along the Seattle and Rainier Valley Railway , Wildwood Station dates back to Washington State's early yeans when the first privately owned electric trolley rail service carried passenger streetcars and freight trains along Rainier Avenue from Settle to Renton. In 1889, J. K. Edmiston (a principal landholder) ventured in the railway business to attract buyers to his platted lots in the small town of Columbia (what's known today as Columbia City). The Rainier Avenue Electric Railway began operating in 1890, from Seattle's waterfront, up Washington to Jackson Street, and south along Rainier Avenue to Columbia. Streetcar stops dotted nearly every block in Rainier Valley., In 1891, service was added to Rainier Beach and Taylor's Mill, one of the major sawmills on Lake Washington, and the line was renamed the Seattle and Rainier Beach Railway. In 1893, it extended five miles to Renton along Lake Washington to the mouth of the Black River, a tributary of the Duwamish River that was the outlet of Lake Washington until the lake was lowered and the Black River largely dried up with the opening of the Ship Canal in 1916. In 1896, the completed line, the Seattle, Renton and Southern Railway ran 12 miles, making it the longest electric rail route in the state, and one of the longest in the world at that time., In 1912, the line went bankrupt and the name changed again under new ownership and management to the Seattle and Rainier Valley Railway. Disputes over fare increases, transfer issues between rail lines and an inflated valuation plagued the railway. Increased automobile usage and less timber freight on the line reduced revenue. An unresolved issue of who was responsible for paving the road between the rail tracks and motorist lawsuits contributed to council revoking the railway's 1934 application for renewal. Rainier Avenue rail transportation ended on January 1, 1937 and municipal bus service began the very next day., Wildwood Lane Historic Bus Shelter , Once surrounded by the massive trees of primeval old-growth forest, Wildwood Lane's transit stop on Rainier Avenue between S Austin and S Holden streets hosts a passenger shelter as it did over 120 years ago. Real estate developer S. L. Bowman owned 40 acres near the Seattle and Rainier Beach Railway line between Othello and Kenyon streets, as recorded in 1893. His plat map, recorded as "Wildwood” with the King County auditor's office in 1903, shows an unnamed 18' wide and 330' long pedestrian walkway from Rainier Avenue to the County Road (now Seward Park Avenue). Bowman deeded and dedicated this path for parkway purposes. A walkway still exists today, about 6' wide with adjacent homes dating to 1903, 1904 and 1908. Don Sherwood remarks in the Seattle Parks History files that in 1907, the Parks Board owned the walkway called "Wildwood Lane," which was brick paved and lined with planted trees. In 1954, the Parks Department transferred its ownership to the Engineering Department (today's Seattle Department of Transportation)., Although the construction date of the Wildwood Station brick bus shelter is unknown, it likely occurred in the late 1910s or early 1920s, based on the construction dates of similarly-styled homes located along Wildwood Lane. Photographs of an earlier passenger shelter, a gazebo type wooden structure with a thatched roof and "Wildwood” lettering, date to 1900 and 1915. The earlier gazebo shelter connected to a wood planked walkway that led streetcar passengers up the lane toward Lake Washington. Lots were already developed along the County Road (Seward Park Avenue) where Wildwood Lane ends, suggesting that the gazebo shelter was built earlier than 1900. Just north of the walkway was Jurgen Matthiesen's large tract of waterfront property, where his family's homes, an orchard, and later the Twin Firs Hotel, an elegant lake-front resort, were all located. The circa 1896 Seattle, Renton and Southern Railway promotional brochure highlighted Wildwood Station as the Twin Firs Hotel stop. Philanthropist Caroline Rosenberg Kline Galland's 10 acre residence, adjacent to Matthiesen's was across from Wildwood Lane. At the time of Mrs. Galland's death in 1907, she bequeathed her property to become a Jewish home for the aged. Streetcar passengers walking east at the crest of Wildwood Lane were known to have lived in the Pritchard Beach neighborhood., The historic shelter you see today still serves as a waiting area for passengers riding King County Metro Transit electric trolley buses, serving the Wildwood Lane (now Holden Street) bus stop. This stop has served transit since the closure of the Seattle and Rainier Valley Railway on January 1, 1937., Captions , (Top, left) Wildwood Station thatched roof passenger shelter, circa 1900. Photo credit: #093.001.349, Rainier Valley Historical Society , (Top, right) Seattle and Rainier Beach Electric Railway streetcar schedule, 1893 and Seattle and Rainier Valley Railway streetcar token, circa 1920. Photo credit: #093.001.349 and #093.003.031, Rainier Valley Historical Society , (Bottom) Seattle, Renton and Southern Railway streetcar #106, Renton Express, circa 1910. Photo credit: #093.001.214, Rainier Valley Historical Society, Text prepared by Karen O'Brien, Rainier Valley Historical Society and the Seattle Department of Transportation, May 2014