Lakewood Seward Park Community Club Historical Overview

2010 year marked the 100th year of operation for the Lakewood
Seward Park Community Club.

Take a look at the Seward Park peninsula today and imagine what the
terrain across Andrews Bay looked like 120 years ago. The woods along
the west side of Lake Washington between Hudson Street on the south
and what is now the Stan Sayres Pits, and bounded by 42nd Avenue on
the west, formed a triangular piece of land called Lakewood. Guy Phinney,
a wealthy lumber mill owner, purchased and platted Lakewood in 1883. By
1903, the area was booming thanks largely to proximity to the Southern
Railway which ran through neighboring Columbia City. It wasn’t long before
the “clearings in the wilderness” were sold and pioneers from Canada,
England, Sweden, Norway, and Iceland, as well as the U.S. Midwest began
removing trees for their new homes.

Few Lakewood residents owned automobiles at the turn of the century,
and walking or traveling by cart and horse over the hill to the city,
especially at night, was less than desirable. Transportation issues spurred
the organization of an improvement club. Canadian real estate broker
named Albert George Corbett presided over the first meeting of the
male-only Lakewood Improvement Club in 1910; meanwhile Henrietta
McCloy called to order the first meeting of 30 women, the Lakewood Civic
Improvement Club. The groups met twice monthly; the women in the parlor
of the McCloy home, and the men in a chicken coop and the Lakewood
boathouse. Civic improvements included the installation of three plank
sidewalks( instead of the standard two) to accommodate young families
with baby carriages, the 48th Street overpass that crossed Genesee
Street, and the grading of Genesee Street in 1912. A major success was
the campaign to install a shuttle streetcar line for Lakewood residents —
the Genesee streetcar named the “Galloping Goose” ran on a one- track
line from Hudson along 50th to Genesee and Rainier Avenue and back
again.

Civic improvements were just one aspect of the clubs’ goals. Having a social and meeting hall to host a variety of occasions was another. To that end, the
“Lakewood Club House Company” sold $5.00 shares of stock to purchase land and building materials. With volunteer power from the Lakewood and Genesee
Boat Club members, the first clubhouse in Seattle was built in 1914 on 50th and Angeline Street. In 1929, the name of the club changed to the Lakewood
Community Club to include both the men’s and women’s groups. The mission statement “To unite all those whose homes and interests are in this vicinity and
to work together for the development and common welfare of the community” still holds today. Seward Park neighbors joined this effort in 1979, consolidating
the two neighborhoods of 6,700 residents, and the club name became the Lakewood Seward Park Community Club.

Over the past 100 years, the Club has served the welfare of its community. It has provided a meeting space for hundreds of organizations and events, including
Scouts, Little League, Food Co-Op, and Candidates Night, as well as private groups. Regular events hosted by members, such as the monthly dances, the
New Year’s Eve Ball, picnics, potlucks, bingo, bazaars, are remembered by many. In the past year, neighbors have secured the continuation of the Cub for the
next generation through a membership drive, the refurbishment of the clubhouse, and official adoption of not-for-profit 501(c)(3) status.