Part I:
In the 1920s, Alderwood Manor, about 15 miles north of Seattle, was a patch of land of tree stumps, logged by various companies looking to take advantage of the untouched timber in the Puget Sound region, and not much else. That decade, the Puget Mill Company began selling tracts of land to people looking to start a new life out west. The big industry that Puget Mill Company promoted for the newcomers? Chicken-raising. Alderwood Manor became the nationwide leader in the chicken and the egg industries, shipping their products all across the country.
By the late 1920s and the 1930s, Alderwood Manor was becoming populated, but was still pretty vacant. Transportation to nearby cities was spotty. The Seattle-Everett Interurban ran through Alderwood Manor, giving residents easier access to Seattle to the south and Everett to the north. Roads, though, were dirt and full of holes, and cars were still a luxury and something the neighbors gathered around to wonder at. Even though the town was growing and transportation technology was advancing, Alderwood Manor was still a semi-isolated town in the woods up north.
Part II:
The University of Washington was founded in 1861. Originally in what is now downtown Seattle, the campus was moved to its current location between Lake Washington and Lake Union in 1895. For decades, the UW was the college in western Washington. From the 1910s to the 1940s the campus significantly expanded, adding buildings, a quad, and the impressive Suzzallo Library. By the 1930s and 1940s, the college was well-established and included many schools of study and highly-respected professors. In 1946, the UW's medical school opened, and is now one of the top-ranked medical schools and facilities in the country.
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Even if you don't know me, if you've read this blog you might have guessed that I'm a purple-and-gold UW fanatic. I'm mesmerized by pretty much everything related to the University of Washington. Thus, when I found a copy of Three-Quarters of a Century at Washington, a 1941 book that includes a list of all UW alumni up to that point, listed both alphabetically and by city, I rushed to buy it.
If you've read this blog you know that I volunteer at a local historical group, in part transcribing oral histories. You can guess now that those histories come from the Alderwood Manor area, that little chicken-farming region north of Seattle in the early 20th century. I'm always a little flabbergasted when I transcribe the interviews to hear who went to the University of Washington. Their interviews go from "We had no roads. We had no car. We walked on dirt paths/roads. We had the Interurban for a while" to "I went to the University of Washington" ... 15 miles away, without decent roads or transportation? That amazes me. At least one interviewee has said that s/he carpooled with a nearby resident who either attended or worked at the UW. *Two* people from this little tree-stump place, both having the Seattle campus as their daily destination!
So imagine how my worlds collided when I flipped through Three-Quarters of a Century at Washington and saw "Alderwood Manor" listed as one of the cities of alumni. Of course, then, I had to read all of the names of Alderwood Manor residents, mentally ticking off the names I recognized, giving double-stars to the ones whose oral histories I'd transcribed. It made me feel like I've carried on the tradition of UW alumni in the area, even though I graduated long after those particular Alderwood Manor residents. It also made me feel proud to (sort of) know those local alumni of my school. They have good taste in academics :)
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And then, flipping through the Y section of the alphabetical index, I stumbled across column after column of Japanese names, like Yamamoto. I knew the Seattle area had a lot of Japanese residents back then, and the UW had a lot of Japanese students. But I happened to think of what year that book was published--1941. And I couldn't help but think, "You poor people. You don't even know what's about to happen to you." It was a very sad thought.
