Monday, June 18, 2007

Clyde Hill Bellevue, WA

HOW CLYDE HILL GOT ITS NAME
In 1947, the area residents formed a local community club. There was much housing building activity taking place and people found that it was difficult to describe the exact location of the Clyde Hill area. It wasn't exactly Bellevue, although the Bellevue Post Office delivered the mail. At the first meeting of the new community club, the members grappled with the problem of a name. One of the attendees, Sam Boddy, whose family had homesteaded there, told the group how Clyde Hill Road (now 92nd Ave. NE) first got its name. Clyde Road had been named long before 1947. Regular commuters on the Yarrow Point to Seattle ferry, most of who were of Irish decent, had been unofficially naming various roads along their route. Most of those names were Irish. One of the "Regulars" was Scottish and wanted his opportunity to develop a name. The others invited him to name a road. This pioneer had migrated from an area in Scotland called the "Firth of Clyde." Since the trip to the boat landing had reminded him of his Scotland home, he suggested the name Clyde Road for the road which was later numbered by the County as 92nd Avenue NE. Since "Clyde Road" was the main thoroughfare in 1947, and because the area was obviously a hill, local resident and first mayor of Clyde Hill, Ken Day, proposed the name "Clyde Hill" for the area. Six years later on March 31, 1953, the area incorporated as the Town of Clyde Hill.

Clyde Hill is surrounded by Medina and downtown Bellevue.

Here is an interesting fact that I learned about: Only 9% of the real estate property tax bill paid by Clyde Hill property owners goes to the City of Clyde Hill for municipal government services. Isn't that amazing? These services include but are not limited to: police, fire, and medic one, street operations, roadway improvements, storm drainage to prevent flooding, sidewalks, building code enforcement, park facilities, and general municpal government.
When compared to the other 39 cities and towns in King County, only 1 other city can boast of a lower city property tax rate than Clyde Hill.

No comments: