Boeing Creek - History

History

In 1913 William Boeing, founder of the Boeing company, had a mansion built in The Highlands neighborhood, along Boeing Creek. He lived by himself until 1921, when he married and started a family. In time the creek came to be named after Boeing. Earlier names included Hidden Creek and Hidden Lake Creek. The senior water rights on the stream, those of William Boeing and the Seattle Golf and Country Club, call it "unnamed stream". The official USGS name, Boeing Creek, was entered into the GNIS database on September 10, 1979. Boeing owned much of the lower creek, including today's Shoreview and Boeing Creek Parks. He used the land primarily as a hunting retreat and had a small dam made, creating Hidden Lake which he used as a private fishing pond. In the 1930s Boeing platted and logged 400 acres (1.6 km2) north of Boeing Creek and sold the land to developers. The Innis Arden neighborhood began to be developed on this land after World War II. The land that today is Boeing Creek Park was partially logged, leaving a number of large mature conifers, some over 200 feet (61 m) tall. It is unclear why the area was only partially logged. The steep slopes may have made it too costly to fully log.

Much of Boeing Creek's upper course, to Hidden Lake, is within Boeing Creek Park, the northern part of Shoreview Park. Run by the City of Shoreline, these parks together span 88 acres (360,000 m2). William Boeing transferred the land that is now Shoreview Park to the Shoreline School District. In the mid-1970s land was cleared south of Hidden Lake for the construction of Shoreview High School. Funding failed and the school was never built. The cleared and terraced site has become infested with invasive species such as Scotch broom and Himalayan blackberry. In 1977 King County purchased the land from the Shoreline School District and established Shoreview Park. The City of Shoreline assumed ownership of Shoreview Park and adjoining Boeing Creek Park in 1997. Trails in these parks allow access to the middle portion of Boeing Creek. A few trails are official and maintained, including one that runs along the creek to Hidden Lake. There are a large number of "social trails" as well, which often climb steep, unstable slopes, increasing erosion and overall stream degradation. The lower portion of the creek, below Hidden Lake, is not accessible to the general public. Innis Arden does maintain a private trail for their residents that starts just below Hidden Lake and goes to the creeks end.