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Burrows-Warren photograph collection, circa 1884-1935

Overview of the Collection

Title
Burrows-Warren photograph collection
Dates
circa 1884-1935 (inclusive)
1890-1900 (bulk)
Quantity
27 photographic prints (1 box )
Collection Number
PH0141
Summary
Photographs of the Burrows and Warren families, early settlers of Bellevue, Washington, and their homesteads.
Repository
University of Washington Libraries, Special Collections
Special Collections
University of Washington Libraries
Box 352900
Seattle, WA
98195-2900
Telephone: 2065431929
Fax: 2065431931
speccoll@uw.edu
Access Restrictions

Collection is open to the public.

Request at UW

Languages
English
Sponsor
Funding for encoding this finding aid was partially provided through a grant awarded by the National Endowment for the Humanities.
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Biographical Note

In 1882, Albert Burrows (1837-1896) moved his family from Des Moines, Iowa, to Seattle, Washington, where he got a job in a sawmill. He met George Miller, who had homesteaded with his family at Beaux Arts (area of present-day Bellevue) in 1883 and was looking for other families to settle nearby in order to organize a school. As a Civil War veteran, Burrows was entitled to a homestead, and Miller led him to the 160 lakefront acre homestead at Killarney (area of present-day Bellevue), where Burrows built a cabin and later a more substantial house. Albert Burrows served in the 1894 state legislature and died of bronchitis in 1896.

His son, Albert Selden Burrows (b.1871), graduated from University of Washington and taught in area schools, including Bellevue, beginning in 1898. He became King County superintendent of schools in 1905. Burrows married the daughter of homesteader Jesse B. Warren and settled on 80 acres south of the Miller farm. His aunt (Albert Sr.'s sister), Calanthia Wyoming Burrows, had been Bellevue's first schoolteacher in 1884. Her seven pupils were the five Miller and two Burrows children. Calanthia married Charles Meyers and moved to Capitol Hill. She died in 1930.

Just to the east of the Burrows farm, Jesse B. Warren (1839-1913) purchased 25 acres at present-day 100th Avenue & NE 8th Street. Warren was born in Northern Ireland. He brought his family to Bellevue via the Dakotas in 1890 where he farmed and raised an orchard. His daughter married Albert Selden Burrows. The Warren property was to become Bellevue Square Shopping Center in 1946.

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Historical Background

The first schoolhouse in Bellevue was a cabin at Killarney ( at 108th Avenue and SE 25th Street, Bellevue) built by Albert Burrows and George Miller. The location of the school moved several times to accommodate homesteading families. With statehood in 1889, tax levies were permitted to raise funds for the construction of the schoolhouse. The initial Bellevue school board consisted of Albert Burrows, Jesse Warren, and A.H. Sheehy, who passed a construction bond for $1,500. The two-room house with bell tower stood at Main Street and 100th Avenue SE. It was fed by the Clyde Hill, Beaux Arts, Medina, and Bellevue areas. The school operated there till 1930. The building was demolished in 1969.

Ferry service between Seattle and Bellevue began in 1885 with stops at Meydenbauer Bay. In the beginning, ferries stopped when hailed by passengers on shore. A regular schedule developed with the 1892 arrival of the 78-ft. steamer C.C.Calkins .

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Content Description

The collection consists of photographs of two early Bellevue families, the Burrows and the Warrens, and images of their orchards, farms, and homes. Images also show the first permanent schoolhouse of Bellevue, the Calkins Mercer Island Hotel, early Lake Washington ferries, and other early Bellevue settlers.

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Administrative Information

Acquisition Information

Donor: Michael Burrows, April 1987.

Processing Note

Processed by Sarah Nelson, 2004.

Bibliography

McDonald, Lucile. Bellevue: Its First 100 Years (Bellevue, Wash.: Bellevue Historical Society, 2000).

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Detailed Description of the Collection

 

The following section contains a detailed listing of the materials in the collection.


2004 (Last modified: 11/27/2017)

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