We are kicking off Max R.
Jensen / Bellevue week here at VS.org with a trip across Lake Washington to the “enterprising young city” to our east. Pretty interesting photo here, showing downtown Bellevue in the very early days as trees still dominated large parcels of land.
Stayed tuned for next time when Bellevue grows up and out. Click fo the high res version.
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| Bellevue, Washington. This enterprising young city has beautiful modern homes and large shopping centers and is connected with Seattle via the Lake Washington Floating Bridge. Ektachrome by Max R. Jensen. |
A good point of reference is the large sequoia tree on the corner of 106th and NE 8th. Here’s a shot of the same tree from the 1980s:
http://content.lib.washington.edu/cdm4/item_viewer.php?CISOROOT=/imlseastside&CISOPTR=421&DMSCALE=75&DMWIDTH=802&DMHEIGHT=664.15625&DMX=0&DMY=0&DMMODE=viewer&DMTEXT=&REC=14&DMTHUMB=0&DMROTATE=0
And here it is today:
http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=bellevue,+wa&sll=37.0625,-95.677068&sspn=56.59387,69.697266&ie=UTF8&hq=&hnear=Bellevue,+King,+Washington&ll=47.617475,-122.199155&spn=0,359.995883&t=h&z=19&iwloc=lyrftr:h,0x54906c8f324ba5ff:0x8a8836836ff6e4eb,47.617493,-122.199876&lci=transit&layer=c&cbll=47.617475,-122.19903&panoid=QEEDaWKDoIQ4zhn5O6YnNQ&cbp=12,299.2,,0,-19.45
Wow, whether you loved him or otherwise, you can really get a sense of K. Freeman’s “if-you-build-it-they-will-come” foresight looking at this photo. Bel Square really is quite an ambitious enterprise plunked down amid all that forest and farmland. The story of that Madrona tree in the center is mythic. On HistoricAerials.com you can peel back the layers of history from the air until this lone tree is standing in a farmer’s meadow; that’s 1936, I believe, which means this photo is later. Thanks for this ancient glimpse of my hometown, Jess!
I’m having trouble orienting myself here. Are we looking at (what is now) Bellevue Square in the foreground, meaning the intersection left of center is 8th and Bellevue Way?
I think so, but I’m having trouble deciding what’s north… I’m thinking it’s to the left and we’re looking east, but…Nothing really feels right (which just goes to show how much Bellevue has changed)
Actually, that lake might be Lake Bellevue, which would definitely make this facing east.
That was my tentative guess as well, based partly on the tree shadows. I’m looking out my office window right now (a 20-story tower, shorter than the luxury high-rise condos across the street), and it looks 100% different today.
I’m chatting with a native and his coworker who thinks they have it down to 63 or 64, hoping they come and share the details (as I suggested they do).
I’m a native. The mid-60s time frame sounds about right although the photo might be earlier than that (early 60s). I-405 through Bellevue opened in the late 60s and I remember Bellevue seeming a little more developed at that time than is reflected in this photo. I grew up in Everett and we used to drive 405 when it first opened, to look at houses in the brand new developments of Kingsgate and around Eastgate. You should have seen I-405 back then – pretty much completely empty. And between Bothell and Bellevue you could imagine you were in wilderness. All forests as I remember it.
Note the photo caption: “is connected with Seattle via the Lake Washington Floating Bridge.” The photo must have been taken before the second floating bridge (SR520) was built in 1963.
Also, the store in the foreground looks like it’s Frederick Nelson (later the Bon, now Macy’s).
Historic Aerials has a 1964 aerial view of Bellevue. That site doesn’t load very well on my computer (here at work, ahem!), but if someone else could check it, we could narrow it down that way.
I was wondering if it said F&N, but couldn’t tell for sure. It looks like it might be the building that now holds J.C. Penney (which would confirm the above guesses).
King County Snapshots has some more photos to help you orient yourself
You can see the big parking lot by Frederick and Nelson
http://content.lib.washington.edu/u?/imlseastside,440
I’m going with the guess that is the current Macy “home” department.
I was looking around at King County Snapshots for more about Nordstrom Best since I can’t see that building here – that wasn’t built until 1967
According to Bellevue Square’s Wikipedia page: “In 1992, with the bankruptcy and closure of Frederick & Nelson and collapse of a deal to lease part of the vacated space to Saks Fifth Avenue, the center used the opportunity to reconfigure the vacant anchor as mall shop space.” So the F&N building is now directly west of center court and Macy’s where the low rise buildings are to the east along Bellevue Way. The Wiki page has an aerial view from a few years back that shows the roof of the old F&N building clearly if you need help getting oriented.
Definitely Frederick’s there. After it closed in 1992 the store was gutted and converted into mall shops, save for the basement, which became the Bon Home Store. If you go outside on the pedestrian bridge next to the former Zoopa’s-F.A.O. Schwarz stores, you’ll see the original building.
Also, in the photo it looks like the site of the original Nordstrom Best store is under construction. That store opened in 1958, dating this photo before that.
Yes, this photo is facing east, and based on the lack of the Albertsons (now Cost Plus) store in the photo which opened in 1959 (more info on that here,) this picture would have to be sometime before then. I’d guess that would put this sometime around the mid Fifties, but I don’t think I can pin it down any closer than that without more info. The most likely way to date this would be to determine when the construction you see in Bellevue Square took place.
Also, the Safeway across from Bellevue Square was opened in 1963, and is not present in the picture (in its place is an old Bartell Drugs store that the new Safeway/Bartell Drugs replaced, that got demolished around the time the Safeway opened.)
This seems to be the closest image (1964) on HistoricAerials to the one in the photo. You can see quite a few changes between the time of the picture and then.
Oops, looks like Nordstrom opened in 1958, but the bigger building in 1966, so mid 60′s seems correct!
Comparing this image to the one posted by Jana (1961), you can see that the Belle Lanes bowling alley (building with curved roof) on 106th , south of NE 8th, is not built yet. It was converted to a Barnes & Noble in 1992.
Belle Lanes was built in 1957 according to property records.
Just beyond the top left corner of Fredrick and Nelson’s you can see the big madrona tree that stood in front of Clark’s Crabapple Restaurant.
http://content.lib.washington.edu/cdm-desmo/item_viewer.php?CISOROOT=/imlseastside&CISOPTR=748&CISOBOX=1&REC=7
You are looking east-north-east in this picture. The center of the picture is the Ditty Building with Kingen’s drive in just to the left. That corner is NE 8th and Bellevue way, now Lincoln Center. Two blocks east on 8th is the congregational church which is still there. If the picture went a little further south on Bellevue way I could nail the date, Macdonald’s came around 1963. I am going to guess late fifties or very early sixties. My cousin graduated Bellevue high in 58 and went to work for F&N soon after.
Since my earlier attempt at a comment seems to be stuck in moderation limbo(presumably due to links) here are a couple of things I’ve observed:
This photo is facing east, and based on the lack of the Albertsons (now Cost Plus) store in the photo which was constructed in 1959 and opened sometime in October of that year, this picture would have to be sometime before then. I’d guess that would put this sometime around the mid Fifties, but I don’t think I can pin it down any closer than that without more info. The most likely way to date this would be to determine when the construction you see in Bellevue Square took place. The old Bellevue Safeway (which isn’t here) was opened in 1963. An earlier Bartell Drugs store that was replaced by the new one next door to the Safeway when it opened (the smaller building on the right side of the photo with the arched roof, if the info I’ve found is correct) is present though.
This particular Bellevue aerial photograph appears to be from the mid to late 1950′s, or at least earlier than 1961. There is no evidence of the Midlakes Interchange or NE 8th overpass at what is now Interstate 405, which was completed in 1961 according to WSDOT Biennial Reports.
Lake Bellevue, I have never been there and I have lived in Kirkland most of my life, and now reside in Issaquah. Was it drained. I can’t find any information on Lake Bellevue online.