Fall City as crossroads
The Yellowstone Trail was one of the earliest transcontinental highways, going from Plymouth Rock, Massachusetts to Seattle, Washington. After crossing the country, it came over Snoqualmie Pass and through the Valley, to cross the Snoqualmie River at Fall City. The Fall City to Seattle connection went down River Street and to Redmond, then Kirkland to the ferry across Lake Washington. The completion of this highway may have added impetus to the upgrade of the Fall City bridge to the first concrete bridge. An interesting website has recently been created on early highways through the Snoqualmie Valley… see www.sunset-hwy.com/ytseattle.htm. The creator, Curt Cunningham, has included several photos from our collection, showing early Fall City businesses that travelers would have seen.
By 1925, the more used route from Fall City to Seattle was changed to go through Preston to Issaquah, then south around Lake Washington to Seattle. This alternate route was named Sunset Highway.
In this c1920 photo of Fall City, the end of the Snoqualmie River Bridge is seen on the right. Traffic coming over the bridge turned right to stay on the Yellowstone Trail, or continued straight ahead for the Sunset Highway approach to Seattle. This is a wonderful glimpse of River Street, before most of the original buildings were lost due to the widening of the road. And in the distance, standing in contrast to the early wooden buildings, is the new three-story Brick School.
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