by Kirby Lindsay, posted 29 August 2014
Once upon a time, before 1891 when the growing city of Seattle annexed the town of Fremont, a road named Aurora Avenue (after Aurora, Illinois,) ran south from the Woodland Park recreation grounds, built by Guy Phinney, down to the swampy northwest shore of Lake Union.
The wood mill that sat on this shore, first Fremont Milling, then Bryant and finally Burke, used the lake as a transport route and storage of the logs, with the timber laying in the water until it came time to turn it into lumber.
Eventually, in 1930, Aurora expanded and was cut through Woodland Park. It formed part of U.S. Highway 99 – a highway that connected Canada and Mexico. However, the final piece of Hwy 99 would be a 2,945 foot bridge, designed by the engineering firm of Jacobs & Ober. The steel, cantilever structure, named the George Washington Memorial Bridge, stands an estimated 164 feet at its height, with its northern end emerging from one of Fremont’s hills, leaving a few blocks of the original road beneath it to continue down the hill, while the bridge soars off over our community.
The Influence Of Art
Since the bridge was built in 1931 (and dedicated in February 1932,) the road held its original name – causing confusion for emergency responders and, likely, a few pizza delivery persons. Finally, in 2005, the Seattle City Council approved a name change and then-Mayor Greg Nickels dedicated this three block stretch as Troll Avenue North.
The namesake, The Fremont Troll (created by Steve Badanes, Ross Whitehead, Will Martin, and Donna Walter,) came to rest at the apex of the road with the Aurora Bridge in 1990. The Fremont Arts Council commissioned the piece for an empty bit of land often filled with debris – both material and human. The 18-foot sculpture became a popular destination, and has influenced development around it.
In 2015, the City of Seattle Department of Parks & Recreation will begin building The Troll’s Knoll Park, based on a plan developed by neighbors of the Troll. The park will encompass large swaths of land on either side of the sculpture and include plantings, p-patches, recreation areas and more art.
One block south of the sculpture, along Troll Ave, three two-dimensional metal goats have come to visit – thanks to the developer of the townhomes at 909 N 35th St. The artist of the Billy Goats Gruff, and their donor, remain unidentified, but their existence pays obvious tribute to the hulking ferro-concrete giant up the street.
The Legacy Of Ewing Street
One more block down Troll Ave is North 34th Street, known for one-block west, since June 2013, as J.P. Patches Place. The honorary name memorializes a local legend – a television clown – also the subject of a sculpture, at 837 N 34th St, named ‘Late For The Interurban,’ created by Kevin Pettelle, and dedicated in August 2008.
However, the whole length of North 34th Street, has had two other names. The original developer of Fremont gave our streets Greek names such as Jupiter, Juno and Hector. In 1888, when the area was re-platted, the street was christened Ewing Street, after an early settler, and kept that name until possibly the 1920s.
Whatever its name, at its start, Ewing Street didn’t have the presence that N 34th carries with it today. The street began, in the west, at the ‘outlet’ or ‘slough’, a drifting creek, and ended at the shores of Lake Union, in the east. The street also lay anywhere from 8 – 20 feet lower than N 34th does now.
In 1911, a massive canal digging project began connecting Puget Sound and Lake Washington. This would transform a small creek into a formally sited canal, held in place between concrete retaining walls. The Ship Canal also meant construction of four bridges, including the Fremont Bridge in 1917.
The Fremont Bridge is the lowest of four bridges, but it still stands taller than the original township of Fremont. This meant that many streets (and buildings) around the area were raised to meet the new structure. Bryant Mill remained at the original level, but Ewing Street was raised, using a lot of (not-always-clean) fill dirt. A concrete wall was built along the sidewalks to keep people (and some vehicles) from falling into the mill yard. Now called ‘The Fremont Wall’, this concrete barrier has been largely removed as Quadrant Corporation built the office park on the site of the former mills. A portion does remain, sitting along the south side of N 34th St east of Troll Ave (and a segment is on display in the History House sculpture garden alongside a portion of The Berlin Wall.)
With construction of the Quadrant Lake Union Center, in the late 1980s, a ramp was also built that extended Troll Ave one more block down to the office park, and allows traffic (vehicle, cycle and foot) to return to the shore for the first time since 1917.
A Setback
Unlike Patches Place, Troll Avenue officially names the street although the change didn’t result in any address changes. Buildings along this road have long carried addresses using its cross streets. One reason might be rules governing state bridges – like the George Washington Memorial – that restrict building permanent structures beneath it.
While it is subtle, look closely while walking Troll Avenue and notice that no substantial structures stand within the drip line of the bridge. Most of the houses, townhomes and condominium buildings have yards planted on this land. The commercial building at 900 N 34th St has parking on the land, and History House, at 790 N 34th, has a covered courtyard.
The covered courtyard was created by previous tenant Fremont Electric, which used this area for repairing their trucks. With rain spray and random litter occasionally flying off the Aurora Bridge (a safe supposedly once fell off a truck driving on the bridge and fell to the ground beneath the bridge, thankfully injuring no one,) the folks at Fremont Electric built a canopy over the repair area. Today, History House uses the covered courtyard as a Sculpture Garden and community gathering space.
The setbacks have prevented tragedy. On November 27, 1998, METRO bus driver Mark McLaughlin drove his southbound, 60-foot, articulated bus off the east side of the Aurora Bridge. McLaughlin had just been fatally shot by Silas Cool, and potentially saved dozens of lives with his final act. The bus fell only 50 feet (rather than 164) from the bridge deck into a yard beside a two story apartment building (now condominiums) at 909 N 36th St. The plunging bus took off the porch of the building and ultimately landed, upright, in the side yard. Only one of the 35 passengers – besides the shooter – died from the crash.
A Short But Special History
Troll Avenue may be only three blocks long, today, but it is bookended by a fierce looking Troll to the north and a hard-working waterfront to the south. Along it’s length, in addition to stories and structures, also stand the pillars of the Aurora Bridge.
These cruciform pillars have been described as ‘the Cathedral of Fremont’ and ‘the Hall of Giants’ by many. Looking down through them to the water from the Troll can give a sense of peace. Looking up them, to the sculpture, gives the glaring eye and hooked claw of the Troll a grandeur and frame worth seeing.
Next time you find yourself strolling the Center of the Universe, take a moment to witness for yourself the marks history has left on Troll Ave.
Related Articles
- A Historic Glance At The Fremont Waterfront
- by Kirby Lindsay, July 29, 2013
- All I Know (so far…) About The Fremont Troll
- by Kirby Lindsay, April 2007 on Fremont.com
- Meet The McKenzie Building
- by Kirby Lindsay, July 7, 2010
- A Fremont History, From 1988
- by Kirby Lindsay, December 23, 2013
©2014 Kirby Lindsay. This column is protected by intellectual property laws, including U.S. copyright laws. Reproduction, adaptation or distribution without permission is prohibited.