On July 20, 1961, the East Side Journal included a special supplement called "Face of the Future". It provided a view of what things might be like in Kirkland within 10 years. On the cover was a drawing of an aerial view over Lake Washington. The Evergreen Bridge (then under construction) was complete and filled with cars. A grid of streets lined with homes and businesses stretched back to the base of the Cascade mountain range, and a highway ringed the East Side. Along with this, bubblecars happily zizzed and whizzed through the air.

Most of this perspective would prove to be quite prescient - except, of course, for the bubblecars. Nevertheless, over the next decade, Kirkland and the East Side would experience even larger growth than they had in the past decade:

• POPULATION TO EXPLODE - 1/25/62
• 4000 NEW NEIGHBORS EXPECTED SOON - 4/26/62
• 2 JUNIOR COLLEGES NEEDED FOR AREA - 7/26/62
• SCHOOL ENROLLMENT AT 7644 - 9/19/63
• JUANITA WAY PRELIMINARY PLAT REQUESTS 166 LOTS - 7/29/65
• 3 LOCAL CITIES UP 7.7%; HOUGHTON PASSES BOTHELL - 10/28/65
• REAL ESTATE SALES BOOM ON EAST SIDE - 4/7/66

The second bridge across Lake Washington and the construction of I-405 (originally called 2-A) were the leading cause of movement to the East Side, just as the ferry system had been in its own small way years ago:

• SECOND LAKE WASHINGTON BRIDGE OPENING SET AUGUST 28 - 7/25/63
• ROSELLINI SAYS BRIDGE IMPORTANT TO AREA - 8/15/63
• COMMUTE TICKETS ON SALE HERE NOW - 8/22/63
• KIRKLAND MAKES "BEST DRESSED" LIST FOR BRIDGE OPENING - 9/5/63
• EVERGREEN BRIDGE MAY NOT NEED COUNTY GUARANTEE, PAYING OWN WAY - 2/13/64
• KIRKLAND TO ANNEX 405 ACCESS ROUTE - 4/23/64
• 405 TO HAVE SIX LANES - 8/13/64
• HOME DEVELOPMENT STARTED EAST OF 405 - 4/7/66
• 405 COMPLETION SEEN IN LATE '68 - 8/4/66

New routes of transportation also changed the demographics of the East Side. Unlike the ferry route, the terminus was not in downtown Kirkland. A few years after the first bridge was built south of Bellevue, that town incorporated. Now, the new bridge was to their north, and the highway coming off of the bridge led the way to Redmond:

• REDMOND, BELLEVUE IN ANNEX FIGHT - 6/9/66
• ROUTE NAMED FOR BRIDGE LINK TO REDMOND (MAP) - 9/1/66
• REDMOND BUILDING FOR '66 TOPS IN AREA - 1/11/67
• BELLEVUE WANTS: CITIES TO MULL FUTURE LIMITS - 11/8/67
• BELLEVUE COMMUNITY COLLEGE SERVES EASTSIDE - 4/29/70
• $16 MILLION IN HIGHWAY PROJECTS UNDERWAY IN BELLEVUE AREA - 9/16/70

Kirkland and Houghton, meanwhile, settled their past differences and finally came to a mutual agreement. The two cities would consolidate, but Houghton would remain a separate yet equal voice in the new city government:

• KIRKLAND SUPPORTS ELECTION (CONSOLIDATION) - 2/21/68
• CONSOLIDATION: NEW CITY PROJECTED IN REPORT - 4/3/68
• HOUGHTON WOULD CONTROL LAND USE - 4/17/68
• CONSOLIDATION: TAX GAIN FOR CITY FORESEEN - 4/17/68
• HOUGHTON, KIRKLAND OFFICIALLY BECOME ONE CITY - 8/7/68
• CONSOLIDATED CITY'S BUDGET $4.4 MILLION - 10/2/68
• CONSOLIDATION YEAR OLD: 'DIVISIONS HAVE DISAPPEARED' (LOCKE, AL) - 8/6/69

The two combined cities would now share in the growth of years to come:

• CITY AT 15,000 IN COUNT - 7/9/69
• 129% INCREASE IN STUDENT ENROLLMENT BY 1976 - 11/18/70
• 1972 EAST SIDE REAL ESTATE SALES HEAD FOR 36% LEAP - 12/13/72
• EAST SIDE 911 SYSTEM READY IN '75 - 10/17/73
• OFFICIAL RETURNS ... 17,630 IN SCHOOL - 10/9/74

One hundred years ago, the East Side had barely been settled. Fifty years ago, Kirkland was a small town with dirt roads and a boat to the city. Bellevue and Redmond had even less. Now, the three towns had become thriving cities, each coexisting in modern suburbia:

• PETER KIRK BUILDING REVITALIZED FOR ARTS LEAGUE - 4/29/65
• GRAVITY POWERED RACERS 'ROAR' IN DERBY (PINEWOOD DERBY) - 5/13/65
• PET PARADE HAS ALLIGATOR, IGUANA, 'SLUG', BUT NO ZEBRA (PHOTOS) - 7/8/65
• SPACE EVENT SET TOMORROW FOR CHILDREN - 7/28/66
• DRIVE-IN TO OPEN WITHIN 60 DAYS - 10/6/66
• LECTURES TO PROMOTE MARYMOOR LOCAL MUSEUM - 4/19/67
• AT HIGH SCHOOL: REDMOND 'HIPPIE' TALKS STIR PARENTS - 1/17/68
• DONKEY BASKETBALL TONIGHT AT KJHS - 2/14/68
• FLUORIDATION WOULD AFFECT KIRKLAND - 7/3/68
• THIS WAS THE YEAR THAT WAS FOR DIDI ANSTETT, MISS USA - 5/28/69
• GIRLS WIN! PANTS OKAY FOR SCHOOL - 12/31/69
• PLANNED PARENTHOOD TO OPEN LOCAL BRANCH - 12/23/70
• CHET HUNTLEY TALKS TO STUDENTS - 2/24/71
• PIONEER COUPLE OBSERVES 65TH WEDDING ANNIVERSARY 6/21/72
• EVERGREEN GENERAL MAY GET HELIPORT - 12/31/72
• KIRKLAND AN ENVIRONMENTAL LEADER, CITY MANAGER SAYS - 5/16/73
• RECYCLING FACTS BROUGHT BEFORE PUBLIC - 1/23/74
• 'GOLDEN ARCHES' SIGN TOO HIGH FOR PLANNERS - 10/30/74

Sadly, the price of progress included the loss of much of Kirkland's past:

• GROCERY TO REPLACE CITY'S 1ST GAS STATION - 4/22/65
• LAST PIECE OF HOUGHTON DOCK GONE - 1/18/67
• RED BARN LANDMARK MAKES WAY FOR HOMES (WOLD HOMESTEAD) - 8/23/67
• WOOD CARVER REMOVES FINN HILL LOG CABIN FROM BULLDOZER'S PATH -7/31/68
• ANYONE FOR A FERRY? (PHOTO OF SUNKEN FERRY USED AS BREAKWATER) - 7/23/69
• MAKE WAY FOR THE NEW (PHOTO OF RAZING OF BLAU'S GARAGE) - 9/24/69
• LAKE WASHINGTON SHIPYARDS THREATENED WITH EXTINCTION - 1/28/70
• BUILT ROOM BY ROOM, MCKIBBEN HOME COMING DOWN SAME WAY - 12/29/71
• FLOOD CLEANS CITY SLATE (PHOTO OF FLOOD AT CITY HALL - RECORDS DESTROYED) - 3/15/72
• AUCTION TO END 50-YEAR HISTORY OF KIRKLAND MILL (PHOTO) - 11/29/72
• RETIREMENT MARKS END OF ERA FOR 'CORNER DRUG STORE' (HALVERSON'S) - 6/20/73
• KIRKLAND 'LANDMARK' TO FALL (PHOTO OF ARMORY) - 10/3/73
• BIT BY BIT, SHIPYARD DEMOLISHED (PHOTO) - 7/3/74

A Look Back at the End of the 20th Century

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