Residents and Redmond Historical Society members to celebrate Red Brick Road’s centennial on Saturday | SLIDESHOW

Published 4:27 pm Thursday, August 8, 2013

To get to the Emerald City in the Land of Oz, Dorothy and her friends just had to follow the Yellow Brick Road.

To get to the Emerald City in the Pacific Northwest, early 20th century travelers coming from the east just had to follow the Land of Redmond’s Red Brick Road.

Running from Northeast Union Hill Road to State Route 202, the north-south road — also known as 196th Avenue Northeast — is located just outside the City of Redmond in unincorporated King County. It was originally a dirt road and part of the Yellowstone Trail, which ran from Seattle to Boston and was the northernmost of four main highways in the United States at the time, according Redmond Historical Society co-founder Miguel Llanos.

The road is about 1.3 miles long and was paved with red bricks — the source of its name — in 1913. Llanos said residents at the time wanted the bricks, which came from Renton, put in because the dirt road would flood and basically create a mud pit whenever it rained. While paving the road accomplished its original goal of helping with flood control, it was also a boon for the area’s economy because it made traveling along the road easier.

“It put Redmond on the map more than it was already at that point,” Llanos said.

CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION

This year, the red bricks of Red Brick Road turn 100 and residents, along with the Redmond Historical Society, will mark their centennial with a special event from 11 a.m. to noon on Saturday.

“We’d love for the public to come celebrate with us,” said Tanya Rusak, who has lived on Red Brick Road for five years.

She said they will close the road and there will be a small parade, which will begin at the south end of the road, featuring the kids of Red Brick Road and Model A and Model T cars. City of Redmond Mayor John Marchione and someone from the historical society will speak after the parade.

Parking will be available at the Enzo Center at 8708 196th Ave N.E. and Ewing Fruit Produce at 19700 N.E. Union Hill Road.

The goal of the event is to bring attention to city, county and state officials to help preserve the historic road and surrounding habitat.

Rusak said Red Brick Road is a “local access only” road with a five-ton weight limit and 25 mph speed limit, but many people disregard these restrictions — which causes damage to the bricks. She added that people also dump trash and young people often party by Evans Creek along the road in the summer at night.

“We want to draw attention to that because we want to preserve the bricks,” Rusak said about Saturday’s event. “It’s a unique part of our history.”

RURAL ROOTS

There are about 40-50 homes located along Red Brick Road. Carolyn Hudson, 86, who has lived at the south end of the road for 56 years, said most of the homes were family farms with chickens and eggs on the west side and cows and dairy on the east.

“The eggs pretty much disappeared by the 1970s and the dairy was (mostly) gone by 1980s,” she said.

Hudson added that back then, the residents also had to share a limited number of phone lines among them.

“When I moved here, we were on party lines,” she said.

Rusak said nowadays their utilities and services are still limited due to the rural area and they “have to make do.” Although, this doesn’t bother her. Rusak said she likes living in an area that is still somewhat untouched within a community that has become such a high-tech hub.

“It’s kind of a little hidden gem,” she said about the Red Brick Road and the surrounding community.