Exhibits
The History House gives "every neighborhood a place to tell their story." The museum spotlights one to two geographical regions of the city each year. Residents of those neighborhoods are encouraged to tell "YOUR story YOUR way" as a contribution to the exhibit.
Unlike traditional exhibits put together by curators, the History House lets residents define their neighborhood's history and evolution. [4]
History House representatives are available to help guide community members through the process of telling that story. The museum also provides a participant's packet that includes ideas, information and possible resources to be used when creating their display.
May 2009 Exhibits
Exhibits include pictorial histories of the Fremont, Wallingford, Georgetown, Madison Park, Queen Anne and Ballard neighborhoods.
The museum is also featuring the histories of the Woodland Park Zoo, the Great Northern Railway, and the B. F. Day Elementary School.
A special exhibit, created in collaboration with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, presents a step-by-step pictorial history of the construction of the Hiram M. Chittenden Locks in Ballard.
Past exhibits
34 Unique Museums of King County (2007): an exhibit designed to introduce visitors to 34 unique King County museums. [5]
Late for the Interurban (2008): The History House organized a celebration of local legend J.P. Patches with the unveiling of a new statue honoring J.P and his girlfriend Gertrude in Seattle's Fremont neighborhood. The bronze statue is called "Late for the Interurban" by sculptor Kevin Pettelle and features J.P. Patches (Chris Wedes) and Gertrude (Bob Newman). The statue is located in Solstice Plaza (N 34th Street just east of the Fremont Bridge). [6]
Strength and Stamina: Women of the Seattle Fire Department (2009): "The story of the courage, hard work, and perseverance it took for women to enter the all-male world of firefighting in Seattle." There is a companion online exhibit on the Seattle Municipal Archives website. [7]
Seattle High School Senior Project
All Washington state high school students are required complete a senior project as a requirement for graduation. The project generally involves creating and completing some sort of project, usually related to the community.
In 2001, the History House created a pilot program that involves researching, verifying and creating a display that reflects an aspect of the history of a Seattle neighborhood.
Students have completed projects that have shed light on the Native American experience, covered the settlement of neighborhoods by pioneers, economic and social development of neighborhoods and specific neighborhood contributions to the larger Seattle community.
Some projects have been put on permanent display in banks, fire houses, libraries and high schools.
Lake Union is a freshwater lake located entirely within the city limits of Seattle, Washington, United States. It is a major part of the Lake Washington Ship Canal, which carries fresh water from the much larger Lake Washington on the east to Puget Sound on the west. The easternmost point of the lake is the Ship Canal Bridge, which carries Interstate 5 over the eastern arm of the lake and separates Lake Union from Portage Bay. Lake Union is the namesake of the neighborhoods located on three of its shores: Eastlake, Westlake and South Lake Union. Notable destinations on the lake include Lake Union Park, the Museum of History & Industry (MOHAI), and the Center for Wooden Boats on the southern shore and Gas Works Park on the northern shore.
Fremont is a neighborhood in Seattle, Washington, United States. Originally a separate city, it was annexed to Seattle in 1891. It is named after Fremont, Nebraska, the hometown of two of its founders: Luther H. Griffith and Edward Blewett.
Ballard is a neighborhood in the northwestern area of Seattle, Washington, United States. Formerly an independent city, the City of Seattle's official boundaries define it as bounded to the north by Crown Hill, to the east by Greenwood, Phinney Ridge and Fremont, to the south by the Lake Washington Ship Canal, and to the west by Puget Sound's Shilshole Bay. Other neighborhood or district boundaries existed in the past; these are recognized by various Seattle City Departments, commercial or social organizations, and other Federal, State, and local government agencies.
Union Bay is a body of water located in Seattle, Washington. Part of Lake Washington, it is bounded by the Laurelhurst neighborhood to the north and the Montlake and Madison Park neighborhoods to the south. The Evergreen Point Floating Bridge, which carries State Route 520, crosses over a portion of the bay.
The Museum of History & Industry (MOHAI) is a history museum in the South Lake Union neighborhood of Seattle, Washington, United States. It is the largest private heritage organization in Washington state, maintaining a collection of nearly four million artifacts, photographs, and archival materials primarily focusing on Seattle and the greater Puget Sound region. A portion of this collection is on display in the museum's galleries at the historic Naval Reserve Armory in Lake Union Park.
The Burke Museum of Natural History and Culture is a natural history museum in Seattle, Washington, in the United States. Established in 1899 as the Washington State Museum, it traces its origins to a high school naturalist club formed in 1879. The museum is the oldest in Washington state and boasts a collection of more than 16 million artifacts, including the world's largest collection of spread bird wings. Located on the campus of the University of Washington, the Burke Museum is the official state museum of Washington.
The Burke–Gilman Trail is a rail trail in King County, Washington. The 27-mile (43 km) multi-use recreational trail is part of the King County Regional Trail System and occupies an abandoned Seattle, Lake Shore and Eastern Railway (SLS&E) corridor.
Wallingford is a neighborhood in north central Seattle, lying on a hill above the north shore of Lake Union about four miles from the downtown core. The neighborhood developed quickly during the early 20th century after the establishment of the University of Washington to the east. With trolley tracks laid through the neighborhood as early as 1907, Wallingford is a classic streetcar suburb, typified by its many 1920s era box houses and bungalows. Commercial development is primarily concentrated along North 45th Street where a number of iconic structures stand including the neon "WALLINGFORD" sign, the Wallingford Center, and the original Dick's Drive-In. With its central location, numerous public amenities, including the world-renowned Gas Works Park, and views of both the Olympic and Cascade mountains, Wallingford has long been home to many middle and upper-class families. While Wallingford is mostly residential in nature, the neighborhood's southern edge, along Lake Union, has historically been an industrial and commercial business strip. In recent years, numerous office buildings have been developed as an extension of the burgeoning business center in neighboring Fremont. In 2014 Brooks Sports moved its headquarters from Bothell to a new six-story office building at the southwestern edge of Wallingford.
Julius Pierpont "J. P." Patches was a clown and the main character on The J. P. Patches Show, an Emmy Award-winning local children's television show on Seattle station KIRO-TV, produced from 1958 to 1981. J.P. Patches was played by show creator and Seattle children's entertainer Chris Wedes. When the show ended in 1981, The J. P. Patches Show was one of the longest-running locally produced children's television programs in the United States.
The Central Area, commonly called the Central District or The CD, is a mostly residential district in Seattle located east of downtown and First Hill ; west of Madrona, Leschi and Mt. Baker; south of Capitol Hill, and north of Rainier Valley. Historically, the Central District has been one of Seattle's most racially and ethnically diverse neighborhoods, and was once the center of Seattle's black community and a major hub of African-American businesses.
A P-Patch is a parcel of property used for gardening; the term is specific to Seattle, Washington. The "P" originally stood for "Picardo", after the family who owned Picardo Farm in Seattle's Wedgwood neighborhood, part of which became the original P-Patch.
Rainier Beach is a set of neighborhoods in Seattle, Washington that are mostly residential. Also called Atlantic City, Rainier Beach can include Dunlap, Pritchard Island, and Rainier View neighborhoods.
Waiting for the Interurban, also known as People Waiting for the Interurban, is a 1978 cast aluminum sculpture collection in the Fremont neighborhood of Seattle. It is located on the southeast corner of N. 34th Street and Fremont Avenue N., just east of the northern end of the Fremont Bridge. It consists of six people and a dog waiting for public transportation — specifically, the Seattle-Everett Interurban. While the interurban railway ran through Fremont from 1910 until 1939, it stopped on Fremont Avenue rather than N. 34th Street, which the statue faces.
The Pennsylvania Trolley Museum is a museum in Washington, Pennsylvania, dedicated to the operation and preservation of streetcars and trolleys. The museum primarily contains historic trolleys from Pennsylvania, but its collection includes examples from nearby Toledo, New Orleans, and even an open-sided car from Brazil. Many have been painstakingly restored to operating condition. Other unique cars either awaiting restoration or that are incompatible with the 5' 2-1/2" Pennsylvania trolley gauge track are on display in a massive trolley display building. Notable examples of static display include a J.G. Brill “Brilliner” car, locomotives, and a horse car from the early days of Pittsburgh’s public transit systems.
The Statue of Lenin is a 16 ft (5 m) bronze statue of Russian communist revolutionary Vladimir Lenin in the Fremont neighborhood of Seattle, Washington, United States. It was created by Bulgarian-born Slovak sculptor Emil Venkov and initially put on display in the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic in 1988, the year before the Velvet Revolution. After the dissolution of the Soviet Union, a wave of de-Leninization brought about the fall of many monuments in the former Soviet sphere. In 1993, the statue was bought by an American who had found it lying in a scrapyard. He brought it home with him to Washington State but died before he could carry out his plans to formally display it.
The Interurban Trail are a pair of trails in Washington. The interurban Trail North is a bicycle route running from Downtown Seattle through Shoreline and to the Snohomish County, Washington line. The Interurban Trail South is a rail trail in King and Pierce counties.
The Interurban Trail is a rail trail in Snohomish County, Washington. It is a hard-surfaced, non-motorized trail located on the Pacific Northwest Traction right-of-way, a route used until 1939 by the Interurban Railroad between Seattle and Bellingham. The trail in Snohomish County runs over 16 miles (26 km).
Clark County Museum is located in Henderson, Nevada and is owned and operated by Clark County. The museum includes the Anna Roberts Parks Exhibit Hall and Heritage Street which contains eight historic buildings from the county.
Richard Sternoff Beyer was an American sculptor from Pateros, Washington. Between 1968 and 2006, Beyer made over 90 sculptures.
Hayward Area Historical Society(HAHS) is a nonprofit organization dedicated to documenting the history of the city of Hayward, California and adjacent communities. These areas include San Lorenzo, Ashland, Cherryland, Castro Valley, Fairview, the former communities of Russell City, Mount Eden, Schafer Park, and other parts of unincorporated Alameda County. The society was founded in 1956. Their museum in Downtown Hayward closed in 2012. Their new facility opened nearby in 2014.
