The Story of Shichiro and Shin Matsuzawa

Eastside Stories is our way of sharing Eastside history through the many events, people places and interesting bits of information that we collect at the Eastside Heritage Center. We hope you enjoy these stories and share them with friends and family.

Eastside Stories

Shichiro and Shin Matsuzawa were both Japanese citizens married in Japan. Hailing from Niigata Prefecture their first son was born there and remained in Japan all his life even though his parents would travel through Seattle to settle on the Eastside. Shichiro first made his way to the United States and arrived alone in 1906 while Shin remained in Japan with their child until they could afford for her to follow her husband later. They would live separate for at least two years as the events of their lives kept them from being reunited.

Although being lucky enough to have studied at Aoyama Gakuin University in Tokyo like most Japanese immigrants to our region Shichiro found work on farms. His first job on the Eastside was at a Snoqualmie dairy farm where he was injured by a bull soon after arrival. His second son, Joe, recounted the story of his father’s injury during an oral history interview with Densho. It seems Shichiro was knocked down by the bull while working with the farm’s cattle and his chest stepped on, crushing several ribs and badly injuring Shichiro. He avoided being trampled and managed to escape by grabbing the bull by the ring in its nose and pulling it off himself.

Sources in the Eastside Heritage Center archive say Shichiro contracted tuberculosis at this time, probably from the nature of this injury which would have weakened his lungs. Seeking better medical attention, he decided to return to Japan. Unfortunately, at the same time Shin was already traveling to Seattle to be reunited with her husband. When she arrived and could not find him, she sought work and strove to learn English. Finding employment as a housemaid in Yarrow Point, Shin also enrolled in night school. Working very hard she learned to read and write in English and prepared for when her husband Shichiro would eventually return.

Shin and Shichiro were reunited in Seattle in 1908 while their first son once again remained in Japan. After about two years apart they could finally begin to build a life here in America. Settling near where Shin already worked in Yarrow Point their second son, Joe, was born in 1913. The Matsuzawa family are a part of the first (Issei) and second (Nisei) generation of Japanese-Americans who helped to clear the land on the Eastside and farmed there until World War II led to the mass incarceration of people of Japanese descent, including the Matsuzawas.

This photo shows Schichiro & Shin Matsuzawa and was taken in 1908 when the couple was reunited in Seattle.

Resources

Eastside Heritage Center Archives

http://ddr.densho.org/interviews/ddr-densho-1000-23-1/

https://ddr.densho.org/media/ddr-densho-1000/ddr-densho-1000-23-transcript-a0c507f300.htm

Eastside Stories: The Bellevue Fire Department

Eastside Stories is our way of sharing Eastside history through the many events, people places and interesting bits of information that we collect at the Eastside Heritage Center. We hope you enjoy these stories and share them with friends and family.

Article by Barb Williams

From small beginnings, the Bellevue Fire Department has grown over time to become  internationally recognized for its innovation and quality of service. Before Bellevue became an incorporated City (1953), it was part of unincorporated King County. Area residents were on their own to put out fires. However, as more people moved to the Eastside, there was a greater need for better fire protection. A group of volunteers provided an informal fire department that began in the 1920s. In 1941 a group of businessmen borrowed a fire truck from the county and parked it in the backyard of one of the volunteers. Calls for help came into the Medina switchboard operators, who relayed calls to the volunteers. “The first man at the truck rang the old school bell and wrote the address on the bulletin board. Men clambered on the truck. The fourth man operated the gauges and water pressure. They were off. More men raced after the truck in their cars and helped put out the fire.” (1) From this volunteer force, King County Fire District No.14 (KCFD 14) was created in Bellevue on July 27,1942 with the approval of Bellevue, Medina, Enatai and Wilburton residents.  A meeting was held at Henry Schierman’s Barber Shop on August 25,1942. Ten charter firefighter members attended. They elected George W. Sheets, a dry cleaner owner, as Fire Chief. The calls came into his service, he sounded the alarm, gathered the firefighters and off they went. In 1946, the alarm was moved to Bill Crooker’s grocery store. The group rented a building for a fire station in Old Bellevue behind Eastside Glass and Paint Company. They installed an air raid siren purchased from the Lake Washington Shipyard and bought a 1935 fire truck with pump from the U.S. Forest Service. Their primary function was to put out fires such as the outside wall fire at the Minish residence caused by an overheated stove. Or Ruth M. Bancroft’s fire in 1947 that started at Killarney Circle when she was clearing and burning Scotch-Broom on her lot.  “Never before or since have I been so glad to see men, Men, MEN!” She was speaking of the volunteer firefighters of the KCFD 14. 

Photo (above): Bellevue Fire Department photo of (Left to Right) Bill Crooker, ?, Len Schaal, Frank Gass (Fire Chief)

Over the years, the volunteers were integrated with paid staff. In 1947, Frank Gass was elected to be the new Volunteer Fire Chief and later became the first paid member of the KCFD 14. By 1964 there were 14 full-time paid firefighters who worked Monday-Friday (8am-4pm) and 83 volunteer firefighters. (Volunteers were phased out in 1980.)

The KCFD 14 was growing and evolved into its own city unit when the Bellevue Fire Department (BFD) was formed at midnight on January 1, 1965. Captain Leo Wenner managed 14 firefighters. Jeanette Woldseth Washington State’s first career female firefighter in 1977 later became BFD’s first female fire captain. The department became known for its creativity; it developed innovative programs such as fire prevention, training, and the establishment of Medic 1(1972), Eastside Hazardous Materials Consortium (1984) and the “Light Force Company”(1994) in which an engine and a ladder truck work in tandem.  In 1998 BFD received Accredited Agency status from the Commission on Fire Accreditation International becoming the eighth fire department in the world to receive this status. The increase in high-rise buildings required appropriate training and equipment. Medical emergencies out-numbered all others which prompted the department to have trained medics and equipment on many trucks. A City of Bellevue 2018 website report shows 78% of 20,000+ incidents were medical in nature. By 2019, the Bellevue Fire Department consisted of: 253 employees, including 9 chief officers, 167 firefighters - EMT, 37 firefighters - paramedics, 40 civilian employees, 9 fire stations and multiple vehicles. At this time the Bellevue Fire Department served the following communities; Bellevue, Medina, Clyde Hill, Beaux Arts, The Three Points communities, Newcastle, support to Mercer Island and medical units to Issaquah and North Bend.

Skillfully, members of the Bellevue Fire Department saved our home from burning in 1984. The Department deserves our respect, praise and thanks for their service to our Eastside communities over time. 

Photo (above): This photo shows a crowd or citizens with fire fighters and fire truck. Taken May 1965 during and Open House celebrating the first Bellevue City Fire Department this was snapped on Main Street and shows Leo Wenner (Bellevue’s first Fire Chief in white hat) riding on the fire truck Segraves purchased in 1961.

Sources:

1)   City of Bellevue website:  Bellevue Fire Department 2019 Annual Report

2)   Book: Bellevue Fire Department, 50th Anniversary   1965 - 2015

3)   Pamphlet:  50 Years  Bellevue Fire   1965 - 2015: A Guide to Our History  1942-2015

4)   Article by Ruth M. Bancroft “Lack of fire protection ignites volunteer spirit”, Bellevue  American, Thursday, March 11, 1976  page D2, footnote (1)

5)   Article  Eastside Heritage Corner, “The formative years of the Bellevue Fire Department”,  Bellevue Reporter,  April 8, 2016

6)  Article by Allison Deangelis “Laurie Lamp becomes Bellevue Fire’s third female captain”,  Bellevue Reporter,  May 13, 2016

7)  Article by David Wilma “Bellevue Emergency and Police Services” 

8)  Fire Report:  Bellevue Volunteer Fire Department  12-3-50

9)  Meeting Report:  Charter Members of Bellevue Volunteer Fire Department  August 25, 1942

A History of Snoqualmie Pass Part 1: Crossing the Northern Cascades Before Roads

Eastside Stories is our way of sharing Eastside history through the many events, people places and interesting bits of information that we collect at the Eastside Heritage Center. We hope you enjoy these stories and share them with friends and family.

Eastside Stories

To the east of Lake Washington lay the Cascade mountains, a range of peaks which reaches over 700 miles from Northern California to Canada. This stretch of rugged topography posed a formidable barrier to those traveling on foot to the Pacific before the creation of a road. Both creating a barrier and a life-source, water flows down from multiple rivers and lakes in the Cascades, increasing as snow melts in the summer. This water flows all the way to Lake Washington via winding rivers, creeks, and other bodies of water throughout King County.

Water is the reason the geography that we know today exists. Glaciers and the water flows associated with them have helped to form much of Washington State’s geography. In the Pleistocene (about 20,000 years ago), the Cordilleran Ice Sheet reached its’ farthest extent, covering much of Canada and the United States. 14,000 to 11,000 years ago it began to recede. As it moved north past the Canadian border, the Cordilleran Ice Sheet created many mountain valleys including the route we call Snoqualmie Pass today.

Human activity is recorded along this route as early as 6,000 years ago and indigenous groups lived in the area long before this, during the time of the glaciers. Native Americans used the route on foot for thousands of years and taught it to European explorers and trappers who came to Washington State in the 18th and 19th century. Indigenous groups from both sides of the Cascade Range traveled back and forth to trade game, plants, and other goods, a practice that continued for some tribes until the 1940s or later when military action in the middle of the state interrupted traditional hunting and foraging as well as routes of travel. 

The arrival of the horse in the 1740s encouraged this kind of trade, allowing groups like the Snoqualmie who occupied the Cascades to trade with those from the interior plains. Past encampments of indigenous groups have been found by archaeologists near food sources including berry patches and rivers where fish were readily available. By the 1840s and 50s, when a formal road was being discussed, Native Americans had already been influenced by European colonizers and goods which transformed styles of dress and economic patterns. Early Europeans also introduced smallpox, reducing the population greatly during early excursions to the region.

In the first half of the 1800s several European visitors to the region recorded being guided by indigenous populations through Snoqualmie Pass and on other routes. Although today hundreds of people pass through the Cascades in an hour or less, until the project to build a road was formally undertaken by state and federal government only about a dozen people passed through each year. Although many thought it safest to travel by water, the effects of war and Manifest Destiny on the region led to the desire for a quicker route for people to travel from east to west.

Resources

Eastside Heritage Center Archives

http://glaciers.us/jhbretz.html

“Snoqualmie Pass: From Indian Trail to Interstate” by Yvonne Prater

Cold War Defense on the Eastside: Redmond, Washington and the Nike Missile Project

Eastside Stories is our way of sharing Eastside history through the many events, people places and interesting bits of information that we collect at the Eastside Heritage Center. We hope you enjoy these stories and share them with friends and family.

After the discovery of the atomic bomb during World War II, Washington state became a major site of nuclear production and defense. From fabricating uranium cores which fuel atomic production to the 12 bases established to protect us from a Russian nuclear attack, Washington is at the heart of the Cold War legacy. Hanford Site produced the uranium cores that were used in the bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki during the summer of 1945. This site in the middle of the state, still houses a large amount of nuclear waste from this time period, although the last reactor was shut down back in 1987.

Here on the Eastside we have a different kind of legacy around the Cold War in our communities. Starting after Russians smuggled plans for the creation of their own bomb from the USA and had their first successful test in 1949, America started thinking about atomic defense. Fear of a nuclear holocaust became a huge concern of the public and perhaps fueled the creation and expansion of the Nike Missile Project. This led to bases in the Kenmore/Bothell area, Issaquah, and Redmond.

Named for the goddess of victory in Greek mythology, this project involved the creation of several high-speed missiles that would be able to stop aircraft and perhaps even warheads still in flight. It also created a need for several strategically placed bases which would be able to launch missiles. One of these bases was built in Redmond. Known as Nike Missile Base S-13 and S-14, the Redmond site consisted of a fire control area located two miles up a hill from the launcher in the valley below. The site was said to be located on 95th off Avondale by locals at the time of operation, but some articles say residents knew little about what went on there during its seventeen years of operation from 1957-1974.

Photo from the Sammamish Valley News shows missiles readying for launch (only a test) at the Redmond facility.

This base was a double launch site which meant it had twice the missiles of similar bases. Although originally run by the US army the base passed into National Guard hands officially in 1958. It was operated during its entire existence on a 24-hour, 365 days a year basis. Still, it seems soldiers stationed there were not overly burdened by the work.

Winning repeatedly in contests of skill around tracking and launching missiles, showing they had time to practice, they also enjoyed a fair amount of recreation. In September 2006 Bill Sunde, who was stationed at the base from 1962-64, recounted to the Redmond Recorder how being stationed at the base was the best unit he’d ever been assigned to. It seems much of the soldier’s time there was spent in leisure as he recollected multiple recreational activities as perks of the job including ping-pong, tennis, basketball, volleyball, speedboats, rowboats, fishing equipment, and water skiing.

After being decommissioned in 1974 the National Guard continued to have a base nearby at the control site on 95th Avenue NE and 172nd. The property, consisting of two sites with a collective acreage of about 40, passed into the hands of the Lake Washington School District. Although there was talk of it becoming a park as early as 1987, for many years the site was dilapidated and covered in graffiti as the base sat and rotted. One report of a visitor during this time said someone had spray painted the words “Abandon All Hope Ye Who Enter Here,” the famous inscription over the gates of hell in Dante’s Inferno, over a door. It is a far cry from the words reported by William Schuize, the Seattle Post-Intelligencer Aviation Editor in 1960 as being over the door, “Coles Imperamus” meaning “We Rule the Skies”.

Like all missile defense sites involved in the Nike Project, the Redmond Nike Missile Base never launched a missile defensively. Still by the time the project was conceptualized in 1952 the military was already developing an improved version. The Nike Ajax Missile was replaced by the Nike Hercules and the Nike Hercules was replaced by the Nike Zeus starting in 1960. Across America, sites were dedicated to the development of nuclear warheads, production of nuclear supplies, and storage of/defense against nuclear attack. Today, we see much of this as a fear-based response to the potential of a nuclear holocaust in which military-fueled economies thrived.

Resources

https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/nike-nuclear-missile-site-s1314

http://warbirdsnews.com/warbird-articles/abandoned-nike-missile-bases-united-states.html

https://www.historylink.org/File/9711

http://choosewashingtonstate.com/research-resources/about-washington/brief-state-history/

2020 HAIKU CONTEST

Pre-war Bellevue was home to approximately 55 Japanese American families.  During World War II, these families were incarcerated away from the Bellevue area and their farms and businesses forced to close.  To celebrate the region’s Japanese heritage, Eastside Heritage Center has been holding a Haiku contest for elementary students and the winners have been recognized at the Strawberry Festival or the Downtown Park 4th of July celebration.  However, this year, without major events, Eastside Heritage Center will be using the EHC website, Facebook, and possibly a display case at the Bellevue Regional Library (still to be determined) to showcase our winners.

CONTEST DETAILS

Topic: Write a Haiku about Strawberry Shortcake

A Haiku is a classical Japanese poetry form. The standard Haiku format is a triplet of lines containing five, seven, and five syllables per respective line.  Sample:

Ladybugs are red,

And have black spots on their wings.

Experts at flying.

Criteria: Winning submissions will show originality, creativity, clarity of expression, good spelling, grammar and syntax.

Prizes:                   1st Place - $25                  2nd Place - $15                 3rd Place - $10

Submissions must include the author’s name, age, address, telephone number and school. These are needed for notification.

Submit entries to: education@eastsideheritagecenter.org  or mail to Eastside Heritage Center, P.O. Box 40535, Bellevue, WA 98015. Submissions will not be returned and will become the property of Eastside Heritage Center.

Submission Deadline: Friday, June 5, 2020

Notification to Winners: Tuesday, June 12, 2020

Questions? Call 425-450-1049 or email education@eastsideheritagecenter.org