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Published in The Seattle Times online on Dec. 5, 2024
and in Pacific NW Magazine of the printed Times on Dec. 8, 2024

New Magnolia history project is fired up, ready to go — online

By Clay Eals

What defines a neighborhood, making it a place to call home? You might list grocery stores, restaurants, other businesses, a police precinct, a set of schools and worship spots, a park or two, a hub of transit stops … what else?

Ah, a fire station. It might not seem an active or flashy component, but when we need one, we’re grateful it’s there.

Strange as it may seem, Seattle’s expansive blufftop district of Magnolia, which the city annexed in 1891, didn’t have its own fire station until 1934. Until then, the largely rural peninsula was served by a 1908 station to the east, in valley-based Interbay.

Magnolia’s slow growth accelerated with the 1930 completion of the Garfield Street Bridge (dubbed the Magnolia Bridge 30 years later), so it made sense for the city to establish Fire Station No. 41 in Magnolia’s commercial center, which locals proudly call the Village.

A product of the Great Depression, No. 41 took shape with the aid of federal programs providing jobs nationwide for the unemployed, channeled here through the Washington State Emergency Relief Program. Workers broke ground for the station in July 1934 along 34th Avenue West.

Its design reflected the era’s Streamline Moderne branch of Art Deco architecture. Its long horizontal lines, aerodynamic curves and nautical elements survive today and were recognized when the building became a formal city landmark in 2005. (Its attention-getting neighbor just north, the Magnolia Theatre, opened in 1948 and operated for 30 years before yielding to what is now Chase Bank.)

These details and myriad more are shared in a new project of what also could be labeled a defining neighborhood feature — the Magnolia Historical Society.

The project, “Magnolia: More Memories & Milestones,” is a sequel to the organization’s three previous coffee-table history books, except it is wholly online to save money and allow for unlimited images and the ongoing opportunity to make additions and modifications. It features eight detailed articles on subjects ranging from a giant pumpkin patch to the late Magnolian Ruth Prins (of KING-TV’s long-running “Wunda Wunda” show for preschoolers), all assembled by volunteers.

The story about Fire Station No. 41, written by series sparkplug Monica Wooton, includes a profile of Bonnie Beers, who grew up in Interbay and moved to Magnolia after becoming Seattle’s first woman firefighter in 1981. She retired in 2008 and lives in Edmonds. A former student athlete, Beers says she thought she “could do anything.”

So, apparently, does the historical society. Its October launch drew 40-plus attendees. Seeking new stories, writers and editors, the online project seems ablaze with energy.

WEB EXTRAS

Big thanks to Monica Wooton and Bonnie Beers for their invaluable help with this installment!

To see Clay Eals‘ 360-degree video of the “Now” prospect and compare it with the “Then” photos, and to hear this column read aloud by Clay, check out our Seattle Now & Then 360 version of the column.

Below, you also will find a video interview of Bonnie Beers and 7 historical clips from The Seattle Times and Seattle Post-Intelligencer online archive (available via Seattle Public Library), Newspapers.com and Washington Digital Newspapers, that were helpful in the preparation of this column.

Also, to see a recent Seattle Times story on Magnolia resident Greg Shaw‘s giant pumpkin patch, the subject of one of the new online articles in “Magnolia: More Memories & Milestones,” visit here.

Finally, to view the organization’s new website, order history books in print on via Kindle and view the latest (online) book, visit the Magnolia Historical Society website. For questions, to suggest new stories, contribute photos and memorability, write or volunteer, email info@magnoliahistoricalsociety.org.