Medina

By Michael Luis

Medina has long been recognized as the home to wealthy and influential members of Seattle's elite. Industry captains such as Clapp, Blethan, Gates, and Bezos have built estates along Medina's waterfront. Meanwhile, a diverse group of families with a variety of backgrounds have settled the uplands, creating a close-knit community. Farmers, including many of Japanese heritage, first settled the area in the late 1800s. Upon the arrival of the car ferry service to Seattle in 1913, Medina gradually evolved into a commuter suburb for the working class and wealthy alike. In 1940, the first Lake Washington floating bridge ushered in a new era, and with incorporation in 1955 and the opening of the Evergreen Point Bridge in 1963, Medina completed its transformation to a largely residential area. Despite its marvelous growth, Medina has successfully maintained its charm. A new generation of families arrived in the 1990s, filling classrooms and parks, and renewing Medina's original identity: close to the big city, but a world apart.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Arcadia Publishing
• Release date: Sep 18, 2012
• ISBN: 9781439639221

Michael Luis

Michael Luis, a third-generation Medina resident, is a public affairs and communications consultant. He is active with the Eastside Heritage Center, which serves as a steward of history for communities in East King County.

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encouragement.

INTRODUCTION

"Seattle’s Nearest and Most Beautiful Suburb." This tag appeared above Medina’s column of weekly gossip in the Lake Washington Reflector in 1928. The publisher, W. E. LeHuquet, was never shy about boosting the Eastside, but on this point he perhaps did not exaggerate. Medina has always been a gateway to the Eastside, first as a ferry stop and later as the touchdown point for a major bridge, and it retains a lovely natural and built environment.

The story of Medina is one of gradual, graceful growth. For the first half of its life, Medina was a rural community of small farmers and orchardists with a growing number of adventurous commuters and businessmen in their waterfront estates. By the middle of the 20th century, Medina got caught up in the great suburban housing boom, but because it was already heavily settled there was little room for vast subdivisions. Instead the open spaces filled up at a more manageable pace.

Medina has maintained a distinct identity throughout its history. It had its name from the earliest days and the geography of the Three Points area provided a natural set of boundaries that defined the community and made a logical border when it came time for incorporation. With iconic buildings remaining and a school with a 100-year history, Medina has the tools to retain its sense of place.

In the mid-1800s, when Seattle itself was still sparsely populated, adventurous souls began to explore Lake Washington, hiking over the ridges to the east of town or paddling up the Black River from the south. One by one, settlers staked out claims on the eastern shore, and by 1890 Isaac Bechtel and his sons had logged off most of Medina. Berry farms and orchards sprang up throughout the newly cleared area, serving the rapidly growing population of Seattle.

Medina’s first permanent settler is thought to have been Thomas Dabney, a businessman from Seattle who, in 1886, claimed the land along the shore from what is now the foot of Eighth Street around the end of Dabney Point to the south. He established the first ferry dock, Dabney’s Landing, at the foot of Eighth Street and in 1890 successfully petitioned the county for a road connecting that dock with the uplands. Fifteen other landowners joined that road petition, showing that by 1890 Medina was no longer the wilderness.

That same year, Samuel Belote, who became a prominent community leader, settled in Medina with his wife, Flora. She is given credit for the name Medina. After naming the ferry landing after himself, Thomas Dabney tried to name the community Flordeline. The ladies of the community—all three of them—thought they could do better. Flora Belote, Ruby Burke, and Eliza Geicker each suggested a name. The committee decided on Medina, the name of the holy city of Islam, which was Flora’s contribution.

The first steamer to provide regular passenger service on Lake Washington was the side-wheeler Kirkland, which began operating in 1889. Other vessels, such as the C. C. Calkins, the Vixen, the Winnefred, and the Elfin plied their trade on the lake with a combination of fixed routes and flag stops. Because the steamers were all privately owned and competed fiercely, an additional passenger, spotted waving a flag from their dock, was always welcome. In addition to Dabney’s Landing, passengers could catch a ferry at Clyde (now Clyde Beach), Eastland, at the foot of Eighty-fourth Avenue, and at the head of Fairweather Bay. Ferry docks were later built on both sides of Evergreen Point, one at the site of the current Lake Lane dock and another, dubbed Rom-No-More on the west side of the point.

By the turn of the century, Medina and surrounding areas had grown enough to have a schoolhouse and a few dozen permanent residents. By 1908, there were enough households to support a store and the Medina Grocery opened on the corner where it stands today. Telephone service arrived a few years later along with construction of the telephone exchange building, which now serves as the post office. When the area had enough cars, it needed a service station, and the Vollmer family opened one on the corner of Eighty-fourth Avenue and Twelfth Street, where Medina residents have been getting gas and service ever since.

The first major change to Medina came with the arrival of car ferry service in 1913. The Port of Seattle decided to get into the ferry business on the lake and commissioned a steel-hulled ferry, the Leschi, that could take cars from Seattle to Meydenbauer Bay, by way of Medina. Ferry service moved from Dabney’s Landing down the shore to a new dock next to the current city hall. This required a new road and the constant headache of maintaining a boardwalk to allow passengers to walk up the hill out of the mud.

By 1919, a private operator, Capt. John Anderson, had taken over the Leschi. He began to notice that cars from Bellevue were bypassing the Meydenbauer dock and driving to Medina to shave a few minutes off their commute. Much to the consternation of Bellevue residents, Anderson stopped running to Meydenbauer entirely, making Medina the main terminal for the central Eastside.

The ferries not only brought Medina residents to and from Seattle, they also allowed Seattleites to take excursions to the Eastside. The early lake steamers often made more money taking groups on moonlight cruises than they did ferrying passengers, and visitors from the big city continued to come to Medina for picnics,