The western part of Fremont, west of 3rd Ave NW, once had its own railroad stop called Ross.
John & Mary Jane Ross were homestead land claimants in the 1850s and lived along the stream which much later (1917) became the ship canal. After John Ross died in 1886, Mary Jane began to sell some of their land holdings for income to support herself and her children. In 1888 real estate investors bought some of the Ross property between 3rd to 6th Avenues NW and platted it into residential lots. The area was thinly populated, however, until the early 1900s.
There had been a wood-frame Ross School building on NW 43rd Street at 3rd Ave NW (present site of Ross Park). In 1903 a new, eight-room Ross School was built, and this may have attracted families with children to come and live in the area. In the early 1900s many more houses began to be built nearby.
On NW 42nd Street, just one block south of Ross School, several small cottage-type houses were built with at least three appearing to be on the same plan as the house at 411 NW 42nd Street. This house was completed in 1902 and lived in by Scandinavian immigrants Pontus B. Nelson (from Sweden) and his wife Inga (from Norway). Mr. Nelson worked as a plasterer in the house-building industry and may have been involved in building his own house and the others in the same plan, 403 and 321 NW 42nd Street. The Nelsons lived in their house, 411 NW 42nd Street, until 1955.
The house at 411 NW 42nd Street is attractive with its wide hipped roof and the repeating shape of dormer “wings” at the front and at both sides. The dormer windows serve to bring additional light into the house. The central brick chimney shows that at first, the house was heated by a wood or coal stove. Electricity was not brought into private homes in Seattle until 1905, and houses built before then are almost always characterized by the central chimney seen here.
The original double-hung wood windows with ornate leaded glass in the upper sash are in place. The cutaway porch on the front corner of the house attracts the eye with its tapering columns painted to match the white frame of the front door and the windows. The house at 411 NW 42nd Street and similar houses at 403 and 321 tell the story of early 1900s residents who worked at house construction, the railroad and other industries in Fremont such as the lumber mill.
Sources:
City of Seattle Historic Sites Index.
Genealogical sources including the census and Find A Grave.
Newspaper death notice of Pontus B. Nelson, Seattle Daily Times, September 8, 1960, page 41.
Tax Assessment Roll of 1905 of the Ross Addition (showing ownership of lots).