Snow Day

In the course of years with the Queen Anne Historical Society I have been fortunate enough to work with many residents of Queen Anne Hill who also serve(d) on the board. Most of them, however, did not attend Queen Anne High School.

Some who lived on the Hill were students at the Lakeside School, but most are latter-­‐day Queen Anne dwellers, having begun their lives in far-­‐ flung places away from Seattle. This has made for a richer growth in knowledge of the Hill and its homes, families and industries. We are all learning it together. So here is a small part of growing up on the Hill.

In the winter of 1950 Seattle was visited by a blizzard. I remember this well, as it was the time we built our best snowman in our yard next to the stairs at Third Avenue North between Aloha and Ward Streets. The snow was heavy—back then we brought in snow from the third falling and ate it with a little syrup poured over it. We had a fire in the fireplace and plenty of food to eat. Books to read, others to color and our small sled on which to ride down the slope to Aloha made winter a great time. How many of our members had to wear leggings when they went outdoors back then? It made for slow going in the snow, but it kept us upright most of the time. I do remember several adults slipping on the ice under the snow cover and was glad I was small. The only drawback was that eventually we would have to go back to school! But that was all right since I had Margaret Coughlin as my first grade teacher, an older woman who wore a nearly floor-­‐ length black taffeta which crinkled as she walked. That was at the Warren Avenue School, later a victim to the city’s progress, as it was torn down to make room for the 1962 Seattle World’s Fair.

I note this as I watch with some glee as new condos, apartments and campuses are built surrounding the site of that fair, now the Seattle Center, thus in a way replacing all the structures which were removed between 1959 and 1962.