Follow The Red Brick Road -- 84-Year-Old Path Serves As Bone- Rattling Marker Toward Redmond's Past

REDMOND

Union Hill Road approaching 196th Avenue Northeast is dotted with the hallmarks of an industrial society: a concrete plant here, a machine shop across the way, a cedar-shake factory squatting beside a field of discarded machinery and waste.

But to go south on 196th, all the noise and clutter of the industrial society slips away.

And so does the blacktop.

The stretch of road that links Union Hill Road to Redmond-Fall City Road is paved with 84-year-old red bricks, a relic of a bygone era, before the concrete, machines and industrial waste moved in.

Along the uneven path, farms and houses are widely spaced amid the grassy fields. Horses graze in their pastures, and only the odd satellite dish betrays the area as being connected to the modern world.

And the road itself has no connection to the present but serves as a marker toward Redmond's past.

Now known as the Red Brick Road, this stretch of 196th was declared a King County landmark in 1983, says a sign at each end of the 1.3-mile stretch. And while it's bumpy and uneven, a bone-rattling experience for drivers of even the smoothest-riding cars, its place in local history is secure.

Step back in time

"It's a step back in time," said Cloe Copass, a cultural-resources specialist with the King County Landmarks and Heritage Program.

Not only was the road important to Redmond, she said, as part of the Yellowstone Trail that linked Boston to Seattle by continuous roadway, it was vital for the community to form at all.

"It was part of one of the first cross-continent roads in the country that gave people the confidence that they could actually get here," Copass said.

Lesser roadways, thrown together with dirt and sand, turned quickly into muddy traps in wet weather and stalled travelers until the road dried out. The bricks were solid year-round in all weather conditions, making the trip out West a relative breeze.

And travelers going east from Redmond had their choice of two muck-prone paths, one along east Lake Sammamish and a shortcut over a steep hill that rolled down to join Fall City Road.

In 1901, James Mattson of Redmond had a plan to cure the city's travel woes.

He petitioned the city to connect Union Hill Road and Fall City Road via the flatter land to the south. That year, James Mattson Road was built for $1,900. It was covered with its now-famous bricks in 1913.

$600,000 to restore road

The paving is the stuff of local folklore. Although only a 2 1/2-mile stretch at the time, the bricking of the road required a layer of concrete material, then a cushion of sand before bricks could be laid down one by one.

Legend has it that every brick was installed by a single professional bricklayer whose hands moved so quickly that he needed a support team of five to keep him supplied with bricks.

In 1989, King County spent $600,000 restoring the 1.3-mile stretch.

Today, few know the road better than Ronny Shattuck, whose home is tucked about 40 feet off the landmark. Shattuck grew up in the area, learned to drive on the road, and knows its ups and downs better than most.

"You've either got to go 5 (mph) or 50 on it," he said. "It's like skiing: You've got to stay up on a plane, or you lose it."

And Shattuck wished that fewer drivers felt compelled to find that plane. In the past four or five years, he said, the growing population in the area has made the road a heavily traveled shortcut from Redmond-Fall City Road to Union Hill Road.

And those looking to save time barrel down the old road at high speeds, upsetting the peaceful setting and worse, putting pressure on a piece of history.

"The speed limit here is only 25 (mph)," Shattuck said. "But people just come flying down here. It's an old road, and it just can't take it." Murray Whyte's phone message number is 425-453-2130. His e-mail address is: mwhy-new@seatimes.com