About Us

A brief history of the Southwest Seattle Historical Society

Elliott Couden, ca. 1980s

The Southwest Seattle Historical Society was founded in 1984 by West Seattle resident and White Center real estate broker Elliott Couden. Founding members chose to dedicate this organization to historic preservation, heritage education, and community service for the Duwamish peninsula, including West Seattle and White Center.

In 1983, South Seattle Community College was forming a lay advisory board for the humanities under a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities. Joan Mraz, a humanities and art instructor at the college who chaired the advisory board, was seeking a person representing the history of the area to sit on the board. Dottie Harper, a local community activist from Burien, recommended Couden, who was trying to form a local historical society. Couden was invited to sit on the board, and there he shared his vision.

The founding members of the historical society came from West Seattle and White Center, and their scope comprised those areas after they met with Jerry Brockey, college president, and Normie Beers, longtime former West Seattle Chamber of Commerce secretary and YMCA director who had compiled materials for a history book of the area. The vision was to create a history center that covered the entire Duwamish peninsula.

Log House Museum restorer David Rogers creates the new log wall next to the old insect and weather-damaged south wall. This ensures consistency for size and fit when it is replaced. Note the beams through the windows that will lift the building as the old logs are slid out, and the new, in. Photo by Deborah Mendenhall (SWSHS Collection)

Brockey offered the services of the college to help form a historical society. With the help of John Ashford, college library administrator, the 501(c)3 non-profit Southwest Seattle Historical Society was formed.

Brockey offered the college campus for meetings and storage of the collection. Beers’ book idea was absorbed in the West Side Story book project and published by the West Seattle Herald/White Center News in July 1987. Clay Eals, editor of the papers, served as the book’s editor and project manager, and Brad Chrisman, editorial coordinator, did the fundamental research and wrote most of its chapters.

The founding date for the Southwest Seattle Historical Society was Nov 13, the date of the landing on Alki Beach of the settlers who eventually formed the city of Seattle.

In 1993, the Southwest Seattle Historical Society became aware of the pending sale of a log building at the southwest corner of 61st Avenue Southwest and Southwest Stevens Street that was built as the carriage house for Fir Lodge/Alki Homestead in 1904. Also in 1993, Metro was building a sewage pipeline beneath West Seattle and had created a $500,000 mitigation fund for the Alki/Beach Drive neighborhood. The historical society placed a $200,000 measure on the community ballot, and in March 1994 local residents voted in favor of spending that amount for the purchase of the building for use as a museum.

In a covenant with the City of Seattle, the historical society acquired, restored, and converted the building and named it the Birthplace of Seattle Log House Museum. The restoration was made possible through a grassroots effort led by Arlene Wade, board president, that raised more than $875,000.

The museum has been open since November 13, 1997, the 146th anniversary of the Alki landing in 1851. The landscaping consists of native plants. A granite and marble donor circle adorns the courtyard in tribute to the many people and organizations helping to make this heritage project an award-winning facility and a community treasure.

Programs and events of the Southwest Seattle Historical Society include:

Assisting in the publication of “West Side Story,” a historical record of Southwest Seattle
B.J. Bullert’s PBS video “Earl Robinson: Ballad of an American”
Development of Weather Watch Park on Beach Drive
Preservation of the Admiral Theater
“If These Walls Could Talk” annual home tour
“Words, Writers, & Southwest Stories” monthly book-talk event at the Seattle Public Library
Restoration, raising and unveiling of the 1966 Admiral Totem Pole at our museum
Securing city landmark status for the Campbell Building (1911/1920) and Hamm Building (1926) in the West Seattle Junction
Rotating exhibits in two galleries at the Log House Museum

Northeast view of the Log House Museum restoration. Photo by Deborah Mendenhall (SWSHS Collection)

Photo by Deborah Mendenhall (SWSHS Collection)

The opening ceremony of the Birthplace of Seattle Log House Museum was an historic moment for the Southwest Seattle Historical Society and the Duwamish Tribe. The museum is a place to learn about all peoples who have chosen residence on the Duwamish Peninsula.

A decade later, in 2007, construction began on the Duwamish Longhouse and Cultural Center on West Marginal Way along the Duwamish River. Opened in January 2009, the longhouse is a place where the Duwamish people are recognized and have the opportunity to tell their own stories, in their own words.