Alexander House:
Bed and breakfast 'flagship' needs a move

This article appeared in the Issaquah Press, July 9, 1986

Issaquah Press Photo
Members of the Issaquah Historical Society hope to make the historic Alexander farm house the flagship structure in a city heritage village.

The Issaquah Historical Society has a house it wants to convert into “the flagship structure of a bed and breakfast heritage village,” said Greg Spranger, society chairman. The problem is, however, it has to be moved about three miles closer to Issaquah or face destruction.

The land where the Alexander house now rests is slated for housing development. The developer has given the society until mid-August to move it or lose it. Spranger said the move could cost between $5,000 and $10,000.

Spranger learned of the house about a year ago when he was contacted by the State Office of Historic Preservation. “They told us the house was slated for destruction and to check it out,” he said.

The contractor said the site wouldn’t be ready for development for about a year, Spranger said. “So we waited for the year to be up and then the developer got back in contact with us and said we could take it,” he said.

Spranger is negotiating to temporarily site the house on land just north of I-90. “We’re negotiating on a temporary site that is close to the area we would like to eventually use for the heritage village,” he said.

Other attractions the society would like to see incorporated on the village site include a working blacksmith shop and an operational replica of the Issaquah Independent newspaper, Spranger said.

Spranger also hopes to have a working steam train line, that would run from Issaquah to Woodinville, service the village.

The Alexander house was built in 1902 by Thomas Alexander and his wife Clairie (McKiver) when they moved to the area from Winnipeg, Canada. At the time, the Alexanders also developed lakeshore property calling it Alexander Beach, a site that was cleared earlier this year for development.

The Alexander house is a two story, pioneer style, wood-frame structure with clapboard siding.

At one time the home was used for a bed and breakfast or hunting lodge. There is a barn and hired-hand quarters behind the main house.

“Let’s not see happen to Alexander house what happened to the Tibbetts house,” Spranger warned. The Tibbetts homestead was torn down last year. It was home to one of the area’s founding fathers, Col. George Tibbetts.

This Article © 1986 Issaquah Press

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