From egg fame to mall neighbor

The name Alderwood Manor conjures up visions of shopping and freeways, but not that long ago, the Lynnwood neighborhood was home to more chickens than people.

In 1917, shortly after the Puget Mill Company logged over the South Snohomish County land, the company began selling off acreage as "stump farms," calling the real-estate promotion the Alderwood Manor Plan.

According to local historian Marie Little, co-author of "Alderwood Manor," a 2006 book of photographs that details the history of the neighborhood, the company operated a 30-acre demonstration farm to teach land buyers from as far away as the East Coast how to raise poultry and vegetables.

"It was billed as an agricultural college of sorts," Little said. "But in reality it was little more than a real-estate promotion."

Literature at the time urged city folks to buy 5- and 10-acre tracts and to "drink in the uncontaminated invigorating fresh air of the countryside."

By 1922, nearly 1,500 people had settled on the poultry farms but, according to the Alderwood Manor Heritage Association, many found it impossible to make a living on farming alone.

They became commuters to jobs in Seattle, riding on the old Interurban electric rail line that ran from Seattle to Everett.

Many of the farmers who stuck it out through the Depression and World War II responded to the rising demand for suburban housing by selling off acreage, sparking an influx of residents further fueled by the construction of Interstate 5 in the 1960s.

Alderwood Manor's population growth and the boom in shops and restaurants are the biggest changes Cynthia Prichard has seen in the 17 years she's lived in the neighborhood. But she's not surprised.

"It's the center of the universe," said Prichard, a real-estate agent with Coldwell Banker Bain in Lynnwood. "You can walk to the [Alderwood] mall and to the theater."

With Interstate 5 bisecting Alderwood Manor and Interstate 405 just minutes east of the neighborhood, driving is convenient, if at times congested.

"People have been moving north of Lynnwood," Prichard said. "So compared with Marysville and Everett, our commute is looking good."

According to Prichard, an 1,800-square-foot split-level home built in the 1960s on a good-sized lot can still be purchased for less than $400,000.

Homes built in the 1980s that are up to 2,800 square feet and have modern conveniences will fetch around $450,000.

She recently had a rare listing: A single-family home on a 12,600-square-foot lot listed at $305,000.

"It sold in less than 48 hours. I could have sold that home 10 times over," Prichard said with a laugh.

The median price for a single-family house in the part of Snohomish County that includes Alderwood Manor was $405,450 in June, up 2.6 percent from the year before, according to figures compiled by the Northwest Multiple Listing Service.

Newer residents may not be aware of their neighborhood's rich history, but a quick visit to Heritage Park can rectify that.

A sliver of green just southeast of I-5, Heritage Park is home to restored buildings from the early 1900s, including the Wickers Building, a two-story Tudor building that housed a general store and Alderwood Manor's first post office.

Today, it is home to the Snohomish County Visitor Information Center.

Park visitors can also admire Interurban Car 55, which ran from 1910 to 1939, and imagine the difference between the trolley commute to Seattle from Alderwood Manor compared with the drive down I-5 today.