The Seattle area’s Eastside is known more for suburbs and traffic jams than airports and air defense, but not too long ago some of those neighborhoods had more planes than homes. Some even had NIKE missiles. Small air parks operated in Bellevue and in Kirkland’s Juanita area as well as in Issaquah and Kent. In the early 1970s, Redmond even contemplated building a commercial airport where today’s Watershed Park lies.
“If you find Eastside traffic challenging during the daily commute, consider what it could have been like if SeaTac Airport had been built here,” notes Sherry Grindeland, editor of the SnoValley Star newspaper in Snoqualmie and a former Seattle Times and Bellevue American reporter. She will examine that aviation history at 10:30 a.m. on Saturday at the Old Redmond Schoolhouse Community Center, 16600 N.E. 80th St. in Redmond. She is speaking as part of the Redmond Historical Society Saturday Speaker Series.
“In the last century, airplanes and other uplifting devices have hovered over the local area,” adds Grindeland, who will cover early Eastside birdmen, World War II and Cold War air defense, wishful thinking by city planners and business people — and even the local connection to the D.B. Cooper hijacking mystery.
Grindeland has a deep passion for local history and serves on the Eastside Heritage Center board. She enjoys doing oral histories and has written or contributed to several local history books and research papers.
The Saturday Speaker Series is a monthly program presented by the Redmond Historical Society on every second Saturday (with the exception of December). There is a suggested $5 donation for non-members. The Redmond Historical Society is a 501 (3)(c) nonprofit organization that receives support from the City of Redmond, 4 Culture, Nintendo, the Bellevue Collection and Humanities Washington as well as from other donors and members.
