In honor of the upcoming Strawberry Festival (June 25-26 at Crossroads Park), learn more about the festival’s history from the Eastside Heritage Center.

In a 1929 issue of the East Side Journal, Bellevue resident Hugh Martin described how the strawberries got from Bellevue to the Seattle markets in earlier days, between 1890 and 1900.

“The berries were carried by wagons to the lake and there loaded on to the steamer City of Latona, which was under command of Capt. Harry Cade. In the berry season, the steamer would leave the wharf at Bellevue (100th Avenue Northeast) at 4 a.m., stopping at a dock at the foot of Clyde Road (92nd Avenue Northeast), also at Medina, and arriving at Leschi Park in time for the berries to be transferred from the boat to a freighter car. The freighter car was attached to the first cable car leaving Leschi Park at 6 a.m.

“The cable cars at that time ran on a high trestle over Leschi Park to a point just beyond the dance pavilion, then turned west on a still higher trestle, running over the tops of many trees to 30 th Avenue, then down Jackson Street to Occidental Avenue. The berries were off-loaded at the corner of Jackson and Occidental, and the cable company put in a special switch there to take care of the fruit.

“Upon the arrival of the berry car there was much activity among the dozens or more drivers of the various wagons representing the commission houses (large-scale produce sellers). Each driver was anxious to get his load to the market in the shortest possible time so as to be ready for the hotel, restaurant, and grocery buyers who were always among the first persons at the market. In the early days the berries from the Bellevue district were handled largely by the commission merchant on Western Avenue.”

This information and image were provided by the Eastside Heritage Center. To learn more about Bellevue and Eastside history, contact the Eastside Heritage Center at 425-450-1049 or visitwww.EastsideHeritageCenter.org.