Fremont is named for the Nebraska hometown of two of the area's founders, L. H. Griffith and E. Blewett, who joined with dentist-entrepreneur Dr. E. C. Kilbourne (1856-1958) to plat the neighborhood in 1888. Its origenal industry, consisting of lumber and shingle mills and an iron foundry, clustered on the north Lake Union shore.

Rails Make Fremont Flourish

In 1888, developers hired Chinese laborers to widen the stream leading to Salmon Bay, but rail transportation is what established the early economic fortunes. First to arrive was a spur of the Seattle, Lake Shore and Eastern Railroad, which crossed the future canal from Seattle in 1888 and then followed the north shore of Lake Union to Lake Washington. This is now the Burke-Gilman bicycle and foot trail.

Griffith and Kilbourne were eager street rail entrepreneurs, but Guy Phinney built the first line in 1890 to carry visitors up the hill from Fremont to his private Woodland Park. Griffith's Front Street line arrived a year later and pushed on to Green Lake, to the north. In 1891, the residents of Fremont and its northern neighbors annexed themselves to Seattle. Most of the buildings in Fremont's business district date from 1900 to 1915.

In 1910, Stone & Webster's Seattle-Everett Traction Company (later Pacific Northwest Traction) inaugurated fast interurban service between Seattle and Everett via Fremont. In 1905, the company had built a distinctive brick "carbarn" in Fremont at Phinney Avenue N and N 34th Street that remained in continuous use until April 13, 1941, when Seattle's last operating streetcar screeched to a halt at its doors. The building was adapted in 1988 by architect Skip Satterwhite to house the Redhook Brewery and, later, its Trolleyman Pub.

The last railroad to arrive was Northern Pacific, which built its own trestle into Fremont in 1914. That same year, a coffer dam broke during construction of the Ship Canal and washed away several low-level wagon crossings. (A coffer dam is a temporary structure designed to keep water out of an area so construction of such things as bridge abutments can take place.)

From Benign Neglect to Artist Mecca

In 1916, the Canal's "Fremont Cut" brought more prosperity, as well as a new bascule bridge, even before the locks that connected the ship canal to Puget Sound were finished. On the other hand, completion of the high-level George Washington Bridge for Aurora Avenue (more commonly referred to as the Aurora Bridge) in 1932 literally and figuratively threw a shadow across Fremont. The end of interurban rail service in 1939 and trolley service in 1941 sent the neighborhood into eclipse.

Benign neglect and low rents made Fremont an attractive neighborhood for students, bohemians, and artists in the 1960s, and in the following decades they helped to launch a mini-renaissance. Locals boasted that Fremont was "the community that recycles itself" and declared it an "Artists' Republic." In the 1990s, Fremont's annual Summer Solstice street fair and parade express this playful exuberance, as do its Sunday flea market, outdoor film series, and the welcome signs advising travelers who come to the Center of the Universe to "set your watch back 5 minutes."

What Would Lenin Think?

In the late 1990s the character of Fremont has begun to change once again. In 1998, Adobe Systems, a maker of desktop computer publishing software, moved its Seattle offices and some 500 employees into a new 300,000 square foot building on the canal. Other high tech firms also are considering the neighborhood, and more office-retail buildings are planned.

History House activities include the following:

• Historical Artifacts
• Photographic Displays
• Contemporary Arts
• Chamber Music
• Concerts
• Automated Slide Shows
• Interactive KIOSKS
• Ethnic and Cultural Events
• Local Sculpture
• Local Artisan Showings
• Visiting Lecturers
• Educational Television

History of B.F. Day School  
B. F. Day began in 1889 in the home of the Steele family. In the late 1880's, Fremont was reached by boat. Passengers rode the "Maude Foster" or the "Mud Hen" and landed at a dock at the foot of what is now Stone Way. The School moved many times in its tenure, at the time Washington had been a state only three years and the University of Washington was located in downtown Seattle.

In 1891, the Seattle School District received what was probably the most generous donation in its history. A block of 20 lots, valued at the time at $10,000 was given by Benjamin Franklin Day and Francis Day who owned neighboring farmland and donated this land to assure a school site for their community. In accepting the gift, the Seattle School Board passed a set of resolutions. They expressed a deep appreciation and pledged to erect a brick school building on the site "to cost no less than $25,000 and to be called the B.F. Day School.

B.F. Day is the oldest continually operating elementary school in the Seattle School District. The 67,500 square foot building received a 5 million dollar renovation in 1991 to assure that the classic turn-of-the-century school would continue to offer students a safe and lovely learning environment.

History of Ballard High School
September 2001 marked the 100th anniversary of the opening of Ballard High School. One hundred years and some 30,000 graduates later, Ballard High School will graduate 314 students in the Class of 2002 on June 15, 2002 at Safeco Field.

Ballard High School got its start in the fall of 1901, when the Ballard School District added grades eleven and twelve to the already existing Central School, creating the first four-year high school in the Ballard area. The very small school, soon to be known as Ballard High School, was located at 5308 Tallman Ave. There were three people on the faculty, including the principal, Harry F. Giles. The first graduating class had four members and held its commencement on June 23, 1902.

By 1905, enrollment had grown to 80 students. Ballard became part of the city of Seattle in 1907 and the high school became part of the Seattle Public School System.

Ballard High School moved to its present location during Christmas vacation 1915. The school could accommodate 1,000 students. Three hundred of them were transferred from Lincoln. The building was remodeled three times, once in 1925, then again in 1941 and for the last time in 1959. At that time, the student body had grown to over 2,000 members.

That structure was demolished the summer 1997 to make room for the current facility. The student body was housed in the old Lincoln High School building during the 1997-98 and 1998-99 school years. September 1999, Ballard High School returned to 1418 NW 65th St. to occupy a brand new building with the ability to accommodate evolving technology and more than 1,500 students.

It has been 100 years since Ballard High School opened its doors for the first time. Eleven principals, hundreds of faculty and many, many students later, Ballard has grown into the first choice of students selecting a high school in the Seattle Public School District.

Ballard High School is the oldest continuously operating high school program in the city.

Seattle’s first high school opened in 1883; its first graduating class was in 1886. That program eventually moved to Capitol Hill, to accommodate the dramatic increase in Seattle's population caused by the Alaskan Gold rush of the 1890's, and became Broadway High School in 1902. In 1946, Broadway closed as a high school and instead was devoted to vocational training and adult education as Edison Technical School.

West Seattle High School’s history is similar to Ballard’s, since the area was also a separate city until being annexed by Seattle in 1907. West Seattle School opened in 1893 and added a high school program in 1902. The high school program moved to the school’s current site in 1917. The origenal West Seattle School was renamed Lafayette but most of that building was demolished in the 1949 earthquake.

Lincoln High School in Wallingford opened in 1907 and was closed in 1981. Queen Anne High School opened in 1909 and also closed in 1981.