This house has had many occupants, A.P. Burrows, founder of Issaquah’s first newspaper, The Issaquah Independent, built it for his family sometime between 1900 and 1912. Soon after its completion, a Mr. DeChesne, a high school French teacher, his sister and mother rented it from Burrows.

Two years later, Mr. and Mrs. Albin Ek took occupancy. Ek ran a confectionery store in Issaquah until he volunteered for service in World War I. After he left, Mrs. Ek lived alone until 1917 when Ray Schneider, a former druggist from Iowa, took over the place, with his wife, Lena, while he worked for the First National Bank of Issaquah.

The Burrows house was later occupied by a lumberman, Jay King, and then by Mr. and Mrs. Louis Podkranic.  Mr. Podkranic’s sister-in-law, Rose Sellers, and her husband, Daniel Ralph, donated the home to Gilman Village.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Lawrence and Lulu Smart owned this house from 1914, the year he built it, until the family fell on hard times during the Depression. Lawrence worked at the local milk canning plant, then called Alpine Creamery, now Darigold.

In 1916, when Lulu got sick the couple moved in with parents on the Anderson Farm where Lake Sammamish State Park is now located. The Smart house was then rented to Leonard and Mary Miles, who ran the Red and White Grocery on Sunset Way.

Later, the Smarts returned to the house only to leave again in 1927 when Lawrence inherited a farm in Fall City. The house was rented out until lost in foreclosure.

In 1933, the new owner was Hugo Johnson, a mechanic for the Issaquah school buses.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Lars Arndt Wold, his wife, Henrietta, and children Mary, Andrew, Ludwig and Sena, made their home here in 1908. The house (called “The Wold” in the community) is the only building in Gilman Village which remains in its original location. Except for the deck entrance, the exterior remains unchanged. The large handmade railings with the graceful curves were saved from the home’s interior.

The Wold family was part of this corner of Issaquah for most of the century. The Wold daughters were active in the community. Sena was bookkeeper at the Standard Oil Bulk Plant and was known for raising police dogs. Mary was trained as both a teacher and a nurse. She served as a Red Cross nurse during World War I, in Siberia.

One of the outstanding features of the home is its 70-year-old garden which remains intact in Gilman Village. The stonework pools done by “Uncle Carl”, the unusual plants such as cucumber leaf magnolia, atlas blue cedar, and Japanese red maples as well as the apple orchard all remain just as the Wolds enjoyed them.

See Also:  Wold Family History (Issaquah Press Article)
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sometimes saving a tree has played as important a part in developing Gilman Village as saving a building. A case in point is the tower-like building between the Wold Barn and Granary. To avoid cutting down the venerable oak tree located there, the Baylis Architects designed a structure reminiscent of the hop sheds which were a part of the agricultural history of the valley.