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Month: November 2025

South of the Bridge: Then and Now

Posted on by Valarie

When the ship canal was completed in 1917, it created a change in the definition of the boundaries of the Fremont neighborhood. There had been a Fremont Bridge (over a small stream) before the ship canal and “Fremont” had included the area on the south side. The area as far south as Florentia Street, now on the south side of the bridge, was part of a plat called Denny & Hoyt’s which defined the original Fremont. But once the wide channel of the ship canal was created, the south side came to be defined as Queen Anne area.

In those early years after creation of the ship canal, the areas along its banks were quite industrial & commercial. One of the early businesses was Bleitz Funeral Home, a very visible building which still stands today on the south side of the Fremont Bridge. The Bleitz building, which is historically landmarked, and an addition on its west side have been renamed Fremont Crossing, an office complex.

Next to Bleitz an early business was Canal Iron Works, defined as a blacksmith shop. A blacksmith might do any kind of welding, including fabrication or repair of metal tools. In the booming housing industry in the 1920s, the shop might have made stair railings and fireplace screens for home use.

From the 1920s to 1940s Canal Iron Works was owned by Eric Hager, a Swedish immigrant. When the Hager family’s two sons got jobs at the Navy Ship Yard at Bremerton, the entire family moved to Kitsap County. The next owner of the shop, Danish immigrant Carl V. Torp, renamed it Ornamental Iron Works, as shown in this 1958 photo.

In 1990 a new building, Ponti Seafood Grill, was built on the old ironworks site. This popular restaurant was built with patios and overlooks to the interesting boat traffic on the ship canal. The restaurant closed in 2016 when the owners retired, having received an offer from the Queen Anne Elks Club to buy the building.

Sources:

Bleitz Funeral Home at 316 Florentia Street, now an office building called Fremont Crossing.

Ponti Seafood Grill info.

The founding of Fremont in 1888: the original land area was from Florentia Street on the south, up to North 39th Street, called the Denny & Hoyt plat.

Photo: our thanks to Christine Cameron who shared this photo of the iron shop then-and-now. Mr. & Mrs. Torp were her “foster great-grandparents” because the Torps took in the Jensen children who had been orphaned.

Stone Way in the 1930s: the 3500 Block

Posted on by Valarie

In the past twenty years Stone Way has been transformed from semi-industrial and construction-industry use such as electrical and plumbing companies, to a gleaming row of apartments and office buildings. Today the 35 Stone Office Building has replaced the old-time businesses in the 3500 block.

In the 1930s Fremont & Wallingford were already inside of the Seattle City Limits, and homes had electricity, but there was still use of coal, hay and kindling for woodstoves or fireplaces. Some people kept chickens, too, and horse-drawn road-grading equipment was still in use. The Stoneway Hay & Grain Company at 3500 Stone Way, continued operating into the 1950s.

Immigration had slowed in the 1930s and now there were more first-generation American businessmen in Fremont. Rasmus Rasmussen of Stoneway Hay & Grain had been born in Iowa of parents who immigrated from Denmark. August J. Kirchner, owner of the neighboring business at 3504 Stone Way, had been born in St. Louis, Missouri, of parents who had immigrated from Germany in the 1880s. Kirchner’s business on Stone Way was called Chief Rug & Mattress Company.

At the north end of the 3500 block of Stone Way in the 1930s was Eastern Fuel Company, Socrates A. Geftax, President. Mr. Geftax had changed the spelling of his name from Geftakis, perhaps for ease of pronunciation. He was an immigrant from Meropy, Greece who came to Seattle in 1929 and spent the rest of his life here. Mr. Geftax had two co-investors at the fuel yard but he lived on-site himself.

By the 1950s this block of Stone Way had one-story office buildings — no more hay, grain, or mattresses. The present tall building at 3500 Stone Way, completed in 2024, represents the third era in the evolution of this block.

A brick at Troll’s Knoll

Posted on by Valarie

The Friends of Troll’s Knoll is a community group dedicated to preserving and maintaining the green space around the Fremont Troll on North 36th Street, under the Aurora Bridge. The Troll’s Knoll includes a garden area and in recent digging, this paver brick was unearthed. The name stamped on the paver, Denny-Renton, was a company which closed in 1927 and was in what is now part of the Cedar River watershed.

In December 2025 members of the Denny family, the original family who had the brick company, came to Troll’s Knoll for a ceremony to receive back the brick. Photos and story here.