Bellevue: How It All Started

William Meydenbauer and Aaron Mercer arrived in 1869 as the first homesteaders in the place we now know as Bellevue. Soon the word was out about this great area they had found on the eastside of Lake Washington and other homesteaders began to arrive. Still more settlers followed giving the area a saw mill and multiple shingle mills. Many homesteaders soon took advantage of the natural adaptability of the land toward growing berries of all sorts. Bellevue soon became the berry-growing center of King County. All of this growth provided the commerce which led to the establishment of an inland port.

Mathew Sharp, Bellevue’s first postmaster, was from Bellevue, Indiana. Since Bellevue means “beautiful view” in French, Sharp, being partial to the name, along with the sweeping views of his new home, decided another Bellevue was just fine with him.

Starting in the 1890s, wealthy families from Seattle began buying up farmland and converting it into sprawling estates. The Lake Washington shoreline along what is now called Medina, became known as the Gold Coast. Many would say that even today that name still holds true. New money has purchased the original estates and in some cases, even combined several; thus creating new estates that would cause the original owners to be absolutely dropped jawed. Tour boats now ply the eastern shore of Lake Washington, the guides pointing out, to tourists and the curious, the estates of Bellevue’s rich and famous.

Prior to 1940, passenger and auto ferries were the only direct means of travel between Bellevue and Seattle. The opening in 1940 of the first floating bridge to span Lake Washington, almost instantly sounded the death knell of the ferry business. After the bridge opened, the face of Bellevue began to change from a farming community to a bustling, commuting, bedroom suburb of Seattle.

From this beginning as a farm/bedroom community, Bellevue has grown into its own as a place to live and work. Bellevue’s thriving business sector now draws people from Seattle and the surrounding region.

Come to Bellevue and enjoy the museums, performing arts, concerts and festivals. Come to shop and browse, come to enjoy the day in one of Bellevue’s wonderful parks. Come one, come all and just enjoy the “beautiful view”.