From The Archives - April 2025

 A landmark of our neighborhood is the ever present UW Medical.  Before that known as Northwest Hospital.  Before that woods with a serpentine dirt track.  Before that dinosaurs.

In the 1960s my mom was a candy striper (volunteer),  my dad moonlighted in the admin office, and, not to be outdone, my brother worked in the morgue.  A few years before Northwest the woods was an extension of my backyard, a place to trap small critters and ride bikes.

I found the following gem in our HLCC archives.  Seattle Star newspaper, dated September 1946.  A local woman living at 115th and Meridian files a petition to King County crying foul on property infringement and development.   One hundred three Haller Lake neighbors sign on to the protest.  I would have signed on, too.  The County wanted to put in an air field on the undeveloped site where UW Medical stands today.  Imagine. At the time the county was looking  at ten suitable areas in Seattle including Carkeek Park.

I called my small plane flyer friend and asked if the site was big enough for the time.  His answer:  yes.

Randy Harkness