Fremont History Articles
A House and an Auto Shop at 4031 Stone Way
In the 1930s Stone Way still had private homes but was increasingly mixed with light industrial buildings, gas stations and auto shops. Willam Berry of 4031 Stone Way combined two categories: his family residence and his place of employment.
William Berry had been born in Illinois and came to Seattle as an eighteen-year-old in 1903, hoping to find employment in what he had heard were Seattle’s good economic conditions. William was on the early,
A House and a Barber at 3521 Stone Way
In the 1930s in Seattle there were fewer zoning restrictions, so there were streets which had some businesses mixed in with private homes. The 1938 photo collection of King County showed this house at 3521 Stone Way with a barber shop sign in front of the house. There was a gas station next door at 3525 Stone Way. In the 1930s Stone Way began this transition to all-commercial structures so that there are no houses on Stone Way now.
The 3401 Stone Way Gas Station
Cars began to appear in Seattle in the early 1900s but it wasn’t until the 1920s that cars became affordable and the numbers of them increased. Companies such as the Golden Rule Bakery in Fremont, acquired fleets of vehicles to use for deliveries. The rise in car use in Seattle naturally caused an increase in gas stations along arterial streets like Stone Way.
In the 1930s the gas station at 3401 Stone Way,
John B. Agen’s Addition in Fremont
In the years 1937 to 1940, King County, Washington, undertook a project to photograph every existing building. As photographers fanned out to neighborhoods, sometimes local children wanted to get in the picture, as in this photo of a house at 4115 Midvale Avenue North in the Fremont neighborhood.
We may speculate that the younger boy in the photo is three-year-old Ronald Cettie, the child of the house in the background, 4115 Midvale Ave N.
The Washington Mantel Company
Beginning in the 1920s, Stone Way in Fremont was lined with many construction-related companies. There were suppliers of brick & tile, carpentry, cement work, electricians, painting, plaster & stucco, and flooring contractors.
In 1925 with co-investors, Frank Ostermeyer opened the Washington Mantel Company at 3425 Stone Way. The designation of “mantels” (the shelf above a fireplace) was not inclusive of every kind of work the company did. Over the years the company also dealt in brick,
The Golden Rule Bakery
The Golden Rule Bakery was a major employer in Fremont from 1920 to 1964. It started with one production plant at 4450 Fremont Avenue and expanded into a second building at 3665 Stone Way where the company could park its one hundred delivery vehicles. Stone Way Electric occupied the building at 3665 Stone Way from 1974 to 2000. Both of the Golden Rule buildings have been demolished.
The Golden Rule Bakery was founded by an Irish immigrant,
Sidney Elder’s Orchard Addition
The notation of “S.S. Elder’s Orchard Addition” on property photos indicates that the building is in a two-block area along North 42nd Street between Woodland Park Avenue to Stone Way. One of the buildings, on the southwest corner of 42nd & Stone Way, is the original Coast Carton Company at 4133 Stone Way.
Mr. Elder arrived just after the Great Seattle Fire of June 6, 1889, and he first lived on Jackson Street near the G.O.
Coast Carton Company, 4133 Stone Way
In the past twenty years we have seen a complete transformation of Stone Way from a light-industrial area to an avenue of modern apartment buildings. There are still a few old buildings. Coast Carton Company at 4133 Stone Way, was built as a box factory in 1912 and the building now has retail storefronts.
In 1906 James L. Norie of Pennsylvania traveled with his father-in-law, Joseph Kaye, to explore the timber resources of the State of Washington.
The Ross and Fremont Post Offices
Some Seattle-area neighborhoods, like Bothell, were named for early settlers. With the arrival of the Seattle, Lake Shore & Eastern Railroad in 1887, a railway station could give its name to the neighborhood.
Just north of Seattle’s Queen Anne hill, the Ross family had land claims on both sides of a stream called The Outlet, which flowed from Lake Union westward out to Puget Sound. The Ross family gave permission for the new railroad to come across their property and the railroad planners named a station in their honor.
A Tribute to Judie
We all need encouragers in our lives, someone to talk with, work with and pray with! Judie Clarridge, who died on June 27, 2025, was an encourager of many, and an enormous influence in the Fremont neighborhood of Seattle.
Judie’s Christian faith-based life led her to serve in many aspects of the Fremont community, where she used her influence for good. Judie was an active member of Fremont Baptist Church and of local organizations including the Fremont Neighborhood Council,
Plats of Fremont
One of the ways to trace neighborhood history is by its land use, including plats of land laid out with streets and house lots. This map of the Fremont neighborhood in Seattle is marked with plats and their names.
The founding of Fremont in 1888 was in the area closest to the ship canal, although at that time it was only a small stream called The Outlet. The plat, which was named Denny &
The Fremont Neighborhood in Seattle is Founded in 1888
Each neighborhood of Seattle proudly waves the banner of its unique name, and yet many were named in a similar way: by real estate investors. Fremont in Seattle was also named by real estate investors. What made the Seattle neighborhood called Fremont stand out from others, was its good location, its jump-start after Seattle’s Great Fire of 1889, and its vigorous developers who utilized the growing streetcar system to advantage.
