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7424 East Greenlake Way: A Seattle Reminiscence by Dorothea Nordstrand

This reminiscence of a beloved childhood house in Seattle's Green Lake neighborhood of the 1920s was written by Dorothea Nordstrand (1916-2011), who has lived in the vicinity for much of her life. In ...

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A 12-year-old's Pandemic Journey

On January 21, 2020, a man from Snohomish County, a recent visitor to Wuhan, China, tested positive for a deadly new virus, the first confirmed case of COVID-19 in the United States. Five weeks later,...

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A Coal Miner's Story: Mike Babcanik's Week Trapped Underground (1914)

This is an account of a coal mine accident that occurred on February 16, 1914, in the Cannon coal mine, near Franklin, about two miles southeast of Black Diamond, located in east King County. Coal min...

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A Letter Written by Annie Hall from a 1900 Railroad Trip from Spokane to Athena, Oregon

This people's history, contributed by Richard Hall, consists of an eight-page letter written by his great grandmother, Annie Hall (1869-1921) in late November 1900. She boarded a Spokane-bound Norther...

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A Proud Day by Vern Nordstrand

This is the story of a proud day in the life of Boeing mechanic (later Superintendent of Tooling) Vern Nordstrand (1918-2009). Nordstrand lived in the Green Lake neighborhood of Seattle with his wife,...

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A second-hand account of one family's triumph over poverty, war, and the Great Depression by Gary Graupner

Gary Graupner grew up in the 1950s and 1960s, but tales of the hardships that his close family endured as they struggled with poverty, disease, war, and the Great Depression were passed down to him in...

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A soldier en route to the Korean War in September 1951 writes about his stopover in Seattle.

The words below are from a diary kept by Roswell K. Doughty, a U.S. Army reserve officer about to fight in the war in Korea. Doughty writes vividly about leaving his wife, El, and three children in Ne...

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Abortion Law: Marilyn Ward recalls the campaign to reform it in Washington.

Marilyn Ward (1929-2012), a volunteer lobbyist for a wide range of liberal social issues in the 1960s and 1970s, was an early member of the Citizens' Abortion Study Group, later renamed Washington Cit...

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Abortion Reform: Lee Minto, Director of Planned Parenthood from 1967 to 1993, recalls its history

Lee Minto (b. 1927), executive director of Planned Parenthood of Seattle-King County from 1967 until her retirement in 1993, played a key role in the campaign for Referendum 20, which legalized aborti...

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Aerial Tram on Mount Rainier: Twenty Years of Debate

Beginning in the 1930s, Northwest skiers attempted to get a permanent ski lift built on Mount Rainier to make it the center of Washington skiing, efforts that were resisted by the National Park Servic...

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Alaskan Way Viaduct: Interview with Dan Evans

This is an interview with Governor Daniel J. Evans (b. 1925) concerning Seattle's Alaskan Way Viaduct. The interview was conducted in January 2012 by Dominic Black.

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Alaskan Way Viaduct: Interview with Mike Fleming

This is an interview with Mike Fleming concerning Seattle's Alaskan Way Viaduct. Mike Fleming was born in Seattle in 1941 and grew up in Yesler Terrace. He worked in banking for many years and has had...

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Alaskan Way Viaduct: Interview with Mike Peringer

This interview with Mike Peringer concerning Seattle's Alaskan Way Viaduct was conducted under the Western Avenue exit of the viaduct in January 2012 by Dominic Black.. Peringer was a reporter present...

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Alaskan Way Viaduct: Interview with Ron Paananen

This is an interview with Alaskan Way Viaduct Program Manager Ron Paananen. Paananen oversaw the viaduct replacement project for six years, from 2005 through 2011. The interview was conducted in Janua...

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All Shook Up: Elvis Rocks Sicks' Stadium

In this People's History, HistoryLink staff historian Cassandra Tate (b. 1945) recalls a memorable encounter with Elvis Presley at Sicks' Seattle Stadium in Rainier Valley, on Labor Day weekend, 1957.

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Allentown Covered Bridge

Kent resident Michael C. Atkins submitted this retrospective on the Allentown Covered Bridge (built 1903, burned down 1956), which spanned the Union Pacific rail line. The bridge was replaced by the C...

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Almonjuela, Dorothy: Growing Up Squamish

Dorothy Almonjuela (b. 1918) was born on an Indian reserve in North Vancouver, Canada. A Squamish Indian, she moved to Bainbridge Island in 1942. This account includes memories of her life on the rese...

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American Civil Liberties Union of Washington

Founded in New York in 1920, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) soon reached into every state in the nation. Its first recorded case in Washington came in 1925, when ACLU members interceded on ...

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Anacortes High School Sea Hawks: the "Original Seahawks"

This history of the "Original Seahawks," the Anacortes High School Sea Hawks, who adopted the nickname in 1925, 50 years before Seattle's NFL franchise was named the Seahawks, was inspired by a resear...

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Ancient Order of Hibernians, 1890-2000

Irish organizations appeared in Washington after 1880. The Ancient Order of Hibernians was established in 1890, and it was one of the largest Irish nationalistic organizations. The Irish Rebellion of ...

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and/or -- enough structure and enough openness

Anne Focke wrote this piece about and/or, an artist space in Seattle that she helped found and then directed during its ten-year lifespan, 1974-1984. This essay is an excerpt from the chapbook "A Prag...

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Anne W.: the Career of a Tugboat

For more than 50 years, the tugboat Anne W. worked Northwest waters, much of the time hauling barges from a gravel pit in Steilacoom to the shores of Lake Union in Seattle. Before being retired from s...

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Arthur Denny: Pioneer Recollections

Seattle Pioneer Arthur Denny (1822-1899) wrote an autobiographical sketch in November 1890. It was printed verbatim in William Prosser's 1903 book, Puget Sound Country and is here reproduced in full.

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Auburn: A Reminiscence of Childhood by Joseph Koch

Joseph Koch (1920-2000) was a longtime resident of Auburn, a small town located in south King County only a few miles from the Pierce County border. From the time of his retirement in 1962, Joe was on...

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