A crossroads then and now

By JOHN IWASAKI
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER REPORTER

The modern city grew from the Alderwood Manor area, founded in 1917 near the spot where 196th Street and Interstate 5 converge today.

A half century before Lynnwood was incorporated in 1959, Alderwood Manor was logged off by Puget Mill Co. To divest itself of its stump-filled property, the company conceived a plan to divide the land into five-acre poultry farms, dubbed "ranchettes."

Puget Mill even established a 30-acre demonstration farm to show potential land-buyers, lured from across the nation by an intense public relations campaign, how to make a living as chicken farmers.

"Actually, they told them they could be very rich, but that's another story," says Marie Little, a founder of the Alderwood Manor Heritage Association.

The Interurban Trolley, which ran from Seattle to Everett, stopped at the demonstration farm, allowing gentlemen farmers to check on their businesses. But the completion of Highway 99 in 1927 sprouted a business community to the west of Alderwood Manor. That, followed by the Depression, eventually led to the demise of the ranchettes.

The water tower and superintendent's cottage from the old demonstration farm are among the structures that would be moved to the city's proposed historical park. Several park sites are being considered.

The park also would hold Car 55, which once rolled along the Interurban route and was an inspiration for the Lynnwood Trolley Day held last August.

"We have a wonderful heritage," says Becky Janecke, one of the festival's organizers. "People are beginning to realize that Lynnwood is more than a shopping mall and used-car dealers."