Our modern day Sammamish began creating roots for our community approximately 163 years ago with the 1855 Point Elliott Treaty In the Washington Territory. East Coast residents made their treks toward the unexplored and uncharted West Coast, lured by the Gold Rush in California (1948-1855) and the Federal Homestead Act of 1862 (signed into law by Abraham Lincoln on May 20, 1862). The Homestead Acts were several laws in the United States by which an applicant could acquire ownership of government land or the public domain, typically called a "homestead." In all, more than 270 million acres of public land, or nearly 10% of the total area of the U.S., was given away free to 1.6 million homesteaders; most of the homesteads were west of the Mississippi. Families made the covered wagon arduous journey via the Oregon Trail. Those settling in California and Oregon extended their migration to enter our present Washington State. Claimants (adult heads of families) were required to "improve" the plot by building a dwelling and cultivating the land, most often comprised of 160 acres of surveyed public land. After five years on the land, the original filer was entitled to the property, free and clear, except for a small registration fee. Title could also be acquired after only a six-month residency and minor improvements, provided the claimant paid the government $1.25 per acre. After the Civil War, soldiers could deduct the time they had served from the residency requirements. Of some 500 million acres dispersed by the General Land Office between 1862 and 1904, only 80 million acres went to homesteaders because few laborers and farmers could afford to build a farm or acquire necessary tools, seed and livestock.

Native American tribal communities populating the Washington Territory included Chinook, Duwamish, Muckleshoot, Sammamish, Skokomish, Snohomish, Snoqualmie, Stillaguamish, Suquamish, Tulalip, Walla Walla, and Yakima. Seasonal tribal residents worked in the hops fields, logging, and coal mines. During the hop field harvesting, they were here. Most tribal residents then walked back to their other communities as far away as Yakima. Yes, they walked back!

Rumored consideration on naming the city at the time of incorporation on August 31, 1999, had included Sahalee, Inglewood, Pine Lake, Timberline, Monohon, and Heaven (a proposition quickly withdrawn).

The name Sammamish is derived from "samma" meaning "the sound of the blue crane" and "mish", meaning "river." Another source says its name is derived from the Native American words "samena" meaning "hunter", and "mish" meaning "people."

Lake Sammamish was originally named Squak Lake. Sammamish itself has been formerly named Adelaide, Gilman, Inglewood, Issaquah, Monohon, and Pine Lake.

Several years ago, local Arts Commissioner Claradell Shedd proposed to the Sammamish City Council that a project be entertained to "artistically wrap" local traffic signal utility boxes. Two members considered the idea premature and untimely, so the prospect of the project was shelved, but not forgotten. When other local jurisdictions began artistically wrapping their respective utility boxes, the Sammamish City Council requested that the Sammamish Arts Commission, specifically Claradell Shedd, revisit the project and produce representative samples.

Sammamish residents of over 32 years, the Shedds observed historic remnants of the Sammamish past were being demolished at an unbridled pace. Claradell Shedd pondered, "Why not utilize the location of the Sammamish utility boxes to artistically portray what had historically occurred at that precise physical Sammamish location?" With this goal propelling the pursuit, many hours of visits to research archival files, photos, and conversations with long-time Sammamish residents or their descendants have combined to amass material from which one could selectively and technologically transfer those memories onto exclusive DuPont TW 360c/TW 360hd protectant, chemical resistant Tedlar film embracing our local Sammamish traffic signal utility boxes.
The first installation is located at the corner of East Lake Sammamish Parkway NE and Louis Thompson Road (Louis Tahalthkut from U.S. Department of Labor Bureau of Land Management records dated June 8, 1888). Images include

  (1) Mary Whullah Grahm Louie, the local Snoqualmie Tribal Medicine Woman, who, various texts indicate, often pulled her canoe up to that approximate location.
  (2) James Zackuse, his wife, Amelia Brown Zackuse, and son, Lolota (Snoqualmie).
  (3) Edward and Louisa Johnny Davis family with daughters Elizabeth and Hazel (Snoqualmie).
  (4) Kelly Louis Louie and James Louie, grandsons of Mary Whullah Grahm Louie (Snoqualmie).
  (5) Davis residence (U.S. Dept of Interior Bureau of Land Management records indicate George Davis, February 7, 1893)
  (6) Kroll Street Base Map on which I've typed in locations for George Davis Creek, Zackuse Creek, Ebright Creek, and Pine Lake Creek. On each map, you will find indicated "You are here".
  (7) Top of box (which is not easily viewed because of the height): Kroll 1958 Township map showing parcel ownership

Technically, the process I employ is:
  (a) Photograph each elevation; i.e., north, south, east, west
  (b) Measure the utility boxes up to ¼" precision to include vents, police doors, popouts, etc.
  (c) Exhaustively research "What happened here or who lived here?"
  (d) Pursue images of those events/individuals. All images must be at least 600 dpi to achieve maximum clarity and precision.
  (e) Utilizing Photoshop, Illustrator, and other software packages, I restore those very often damaged images and "fit" them into the elevation desired. (I had already sat at the intersection and determined what would be the desirable image to observe for the northbound, southbound traffic, etc. Obviously, the selection for stoplight pausing would be for pictorial images, and the text would be confined to an elevation where one would be walking.)
  (f) Submit all proposed elevations to the contractor who transfers my research, design, and layout to the final film product.
  (g) The printed final film product is installed by very artistically professional installers. (Walk up to one of the locations and observe the incredible precision of the installation.)

Summarizing, the project is requiring:
  (1) Being a caring and involved Sammamish resident
  (2) Being a member of the Sammamish Heritage Society
  (3) Creating a Sammamish Heritage Tree on ancestry.com as a tool to locate historic records of Sammamish residents and former residents. (I have established over 4,400 individual profile pages in this search.)
  (4) Being a graphic artist. After retiring, I re-entered the "go back to school" environment, obtaining my credentials in website design with graphic design emphasis (I have 40 nonprofit websites; grade school, junior high, high school, college, quilting, etc.)
  (5) Being a Sammamish Arts Commissioner. I am dedicating hundreds of hours in this focus to share the historic depth of our wonderful City.

After each installation is completed, I am generating QR codes to incorporate GPS or sounds, this QR code being affixed to a box at each location. Pedestrians utilizing the qr code reader app on their cell phones can scan the QR code with the resultant hyperlink taking one to an appropriate specific online page on the Sammamish Heritage Society's website or youtube for sounds. One can then access a much more detailed history of that specific location. There are affixed QR codes for "a rooster crowing, chickens clucking, trains whistling, etc." I am incorporating images using my drones which can illustrate a "current vista" next to that of the same location in the 1800's. I will utilize augmented reality technology on the wraps for additional images. My intent/goal is to create through these traffic signal wraps a historic walking and driving tour of Sammamish. The proposed plan includes eleven (11) Sammamish geographic locations encompassing twenty-three (23) different boxes.

As already requested, the local schools will be offered "field trips" to supplement student exposure to the heritage of our community. Citizens who have access to historic photos of this area are encouraged to share those images with me for consideration of additional planned installations. The plan is to publish a separate informative and descriptive article on each individual installation. A Powerpoint presentation is being created for future local presentations. A youtube will eventually be posted which will contain specifics on all eleven installed locations.

"In the end, our society will be defined not only by what we create, but by what we refuse to destroy." John Sawhill

Claradell Shedd
Sammamish, WA
[email protected]

Our modern day Sammamish began creating roots for our community approximately 163 years ago with the 1855 Point Elliott Treaty In the Washington Territory. East Coast residents made their treks toward the unexplored and uncharted West Coast, lured by the Gold Rush in California (1948-1855) and the Federal Homestead Act of 1862 (signed into law by Abraham Lincoln on May 20, 1862). The Homestead Acts were several laws in the United States by which an applicant could acquire ownership of government land or the public domain, typically called a "homestead." In all, more than 270 million acres of public land, or nearly 10% of the total area of the U.S., was given away free to 1.6 million homesteaders; most of the homesteads were west of the Mississippi. Families made the covered wagon arduous journey via the Oregon Trail. Those settling in California and Oregon extended their migration to enter our present Washington State. Claimants (adult heads of families) were required to "improve" the plot by building a dwelling and cultivating the land, most often comprised of 160 acres of surveyed public land. After five years on the land, the original filer was entitled to the property, free and clear, except for a small registration fee. Title could also be acquired after only a six-month residency and minor improvements, provided the claimant paid the government $1.25 per acre. After the Civil War, soldiers could deduct the time they had served from the residency requirements. Of some 500 million acres dispersed by the General Land Office between 1862 and 1904, only 80 million acres went to homesteaders because few laborers and farmers could afford to build a farm or acquire necessary tools, seed and livestock.

Native American tribal communities populating the Washington Territory included Chinook, Duwamish, Muckleshoot, Sammamish, Skokomish, Snohomish, Snoqualmie, Stillaguamish, Suquamish, Tulalip, Walla Walla, and Yakima. Seasonal tribal residents worked in the hops fields, logging, and coal mines. During the hop field harvesting, they were here. Most tribal residents then walked back to their other communities as far away as Yakima. Yes, they walked back!
Rumored consideration on naming the city at the time of incorporation on August 31, 1999, had included Sahalee, Inglewood, Pine Lake, Timberline, Monohon, and Heaven (a proposition quickly withdrawn).

Lake Sammamish was originally named Squak Lake. Sammamish itself has been formerly named Adelaide, Gilman, Inglewood, Issaquah, Monohon, and Pine Lake.

In the series of the first four (4) wraps, the second traffic signal utility box wrap is located at the corner of 228th NE and Inglewood Hill Road (NE 8th Street).
Images include:

• West exposure: Inglewood Grammar School, circa 1890's identifying teacher Anna Clark. Text: "Probably built in early 1890's. Documents indicate it was operating as a school from 1895 until 1920. It was located on the SE corner of this intersection where the 76 Service Station now resides. It was a traditional one-room school, with cloakroom and porch in the new building (around 1900). One teacher taught first through eighth grades, and the students were seated according to their grade.
"


• South exposure: Inglewood Grammar School from top to bottom: 1890's, 1902, 1960's, 1970's. Text: "After 1920: Became a community center. 1930: Floyd and Ruby Eddy lived in the house for 4-5 years. Late 1930's: Converted to a chicken coop. 1970's: Some Sammamish residents recall the schoolhouse.
"


• East exposure: Top: Story of Teacher Anna Clark's Christmas Cactus with qr bar code linking back to story of the Clark homestead built across the street close to the existing McDonald's. "Sources: Lucille McDonald, Kathryn Martin, Lily Mae Anderson interview of Teacher Anna Clark Fortescue, Marymoor Museum, Redmond, WA, March 15, 1978. 2018: Research and Design by Claradell Shedd, Sammamish Arts Commissioner. Images from Faye Sween, the Issaquah History Museum, the Sammamish Heritage Society, Claradell Shedd"
  Bottom: Ledger page from King County School District 150 Archived expenditures for year ending June 30, 1910 (teacher Anna Clark's salary shown as $60./month).
  QR code linking to children in a one-room schoolhouse singing "School Days."
  
  
• North exposure: Kroll 1912 Township Map: Sections 33, 34. Indicates location of Inglewood Grammar School and residence of Clark Family (Teacher Anna Clark) plus "You are here."
  
  
• Top: Kroll 1912 Township Map: Sections 33, 34. Tops are covered because satellite maps can enlarge geographic areas to read details of signage. After an installation is completed, I will be incorporating drone photos of the tops of the units which should be a higher quality than one can achieve with an enlarged satellite image.

Text from Story of Teacher Anna Clark's Christmas Cactus:
"In 1906, Anna Clark's parents purchased 80 acres several blocks west of the present 228th and Inglewood Hill Road intersection. For about $600, her father built a two-story seven-room house with its customary outhouse. The Clarks used a well for drinking, cooking, and bathing. In 1908, Anna Clark graduated from Seattle High School (renamed Broadway High School). Anna's first teaching assignment was at the Inglewood Grammar School, a short walking distance from her parents' house. Anna Clark's students were aware that her sentimental favorite plant was her Christmas cactus being nurtured there at the school. A young student named Freddie Dodd had performed admirably, and Miss Clark wanted to acknowledge his commendable performance. What could she give him which would be significantly representative of her appreciation? Miss Clark approached her favorite plant, removed a tendril, and presented it to Freddie. Inglewood farmers were chicken and egg producers, and Freddie Dodd's family home and chicken coops were located where we now view the Metropolitan Market. Over the years, the cactus flourished under the care of Freddie and his mother, Bertha Dodd. During the 1970's, neighbors from across the street, Donovan and Helen Albrecht, befriended the Dodd family. Helen Albrecht's green thumb beckoned for a sliver of "Miss Clark's" Christmas cactus. Advance to present day 2018: Pictured above is the late Helen Albrecht's sliver of Miss Clark's treasured plant. Recently Donovan Albrecht asked a Sammamish resident, "Would you like a start from the cactus?" Excitedly "Absolutely!" was the response. Starts from this cactus are being cultivated on a kitchen window sill. Anna Clark Fortescue's granddaughter has been located in Tennessee. She will be gifted with a start from her late grandmother's original cactus. The Clark farmhouse, pictured above, has been moved at last twice, once in the late 1970's and in the 1990's, about a block further west and has been continuously occupied. The present homeowners of the Clark farmhouse will also become the recipients of a start from Anna Clark's Christmas cactus 110+ years later! What could be more appropriate than to return Anna Clark's original Christmas cactus to her house in Inglewood/Sammamish?"

Continuing with the fourth in a series of four…. (another seven locations comprised of thirteen more boxes proposed for 2019).

This installation contains a lengthy history lesson. Minnie Burney Baker taught at Pine Lake Elementary around 1904. After Minnie had married Earl Tucker Baker and was thereby forced to resign her teacher's credentials as a result of her marriage, Minnie and Earl lived in the historic Baker House which was moved on two occasions to eventually be located on the premises of the common area of the Homeowners Association of the present " The Laurels" off of SE24th Street between Pine Lake and Beaver Lake. In 2018, the Association demolished the Baker House. Earl and Minnie Baker had one son, Edward Baker, born 1910. Earl, Minnie, and their son Ed moved to Sammamish so that Ed would be able to access special education services from the Issaquah School District. The family moved to Sammamish after the Seattle School District refused to serve their son, and Ed became one of the first special education students to go through the Issaquah District.

When I was designing the wraps for the two boxes at this location, I included a captivating photo of Minnie Burney Baker with their infant son, Edward. In researching Edward's various activities while he lived in Sammamish, I came across his obituary. In his obituary, I noted that Edward was fascinated and heavily engaged in building projects with Legos. The obituary said that for the last ten years of his life, he celebrated his birthday by traveling to Legoland in Southern California.

My personal involvement with the Sammamish Arts Commission's annual "Build It Sammamish/Lego Event" took me back to 2013 when I remembered taking numerous photos of that event and its participants. I vividly recalled an elderly man who was involved and very focused in working with the Lego building units. I retrieved my archived 2013 Arts Commission photographs and there at that January 26, 2013 event was Edward Baker! Edward Burney Baker died two months later, April 10, 2013, at the age of 103.

In the series of the first four (4) wraps, the fourth traffic signal utility box wrap is located at the corner of 228th Avenue SE and SE24th Street (near the entrance to Pine Lake Park). Images include:

Larger "P" cabinet:


• Northwest exposure: (photos approximately 1930's to present)
  top: Pine Lake
  center: Pine Lake
  bottom: Local residents on the roof of the Pine Lake Grocery Store; circa 1960



• Southwest exposure:
  (1) Pine Lake School (1895-1940's)
  (2) Lists Pine Lake School teachers from various years (1895-1923).
  (3) Discovery School; built 1991



• Southeast exposure:
  1912 Kroll Township Map (two sides) "You are here" showing location
  " Top of "P" cabinet: Continuation of 1912 Kroll Township Map

Tall Skyline Box:


• North exposure: Large photo, circa 1910, of Minnie Burney Baker (1885-1977) with son Edward (1910-2013)
  
• Northwest exposure: (1-3) Three versions of Baker House; top/1920, next down; 2012; next down 2018 (4) Bakers farming; circa 1925; (5) Bakers farming; circa 1925


• East exposure:
  (1) Text explaining requirements/qualifications of teachers; (2) teachers' contract, circa 1923; (3) Attendance record, circa
  1890; (4) Grade (report card entries) and school district subjects; 1895; students Leo and Agnes Goebel, circa 1900; Inventory of Movable Property (alarm clock, broom, etc.) circa 1922


• Southeast exposure:
  (1-2) King County Assessor's Maps; 1956 and 1946; (3) Three photos of Pine Lake waterfront; circa 1966; (4) Pine Lake School children; circa 1913; (5) District Library Record; circa 1920-1922; (6) Minnie Burney Baker's 1904 Teacher's Certificate


• Top of Skyline cabinet: 10 Loggers; Pine Lake/Settum and Jones Shake Mill; 1909-1911

Stop by this location and engage an app included on most smart phones, that of a qr code reader. Using that reader, just scan the externally affixed qr codes at this location to connect with youtube files to hear the horses neigh, logging sounds, the kids singing "School Days", etc..