It’s hard to tell today, but much of Fremont, Wallingford and nearby neighborhoods were developed because of streetcars. Historylink says:
In 1891, Seattle annexed most of the area north of Lake Union and its outlet to Salmon Bay, an area that included Green Lake. Shortly thereafter, an electric trolley running from Lake Union at Fremont to Green Lake spurred the development of the “interlaken” area, most of which developed into the area known as Wallingford.
Over the next two decades tracks were laid for streetcars to travel routes across the North End, as well as to downtown. This map of streetcar routes is from 1933, less than a decade before the streetcars were discontinued:
The full Seattle streetcar map is on Flickr and the Seattle Times has a concise timeline of Seattle’s streetcars.
Want to know more? In Fremont Thursday you can learn about the area’s streetcar history on a walking tour presented by the Fremont Historical Society that will end in western Wallingford.
Fremont Streetcar History Tour
Thursday July 22
7:00 PM – 8:30 PM
In front of the old Car Barn
34th & Phinney Ave NIt is a guided walking tour along N. 34th and north on Woodland Park Ave N. to N. 40th. Along the way we will tell you about the history of the streetcars in Fremont, why Fremont held a place of importance in Seattle’s history as a streetcar suburb, and about early residences and shops along the streetcar route.