West Hill Community History

Youth Empowerment Project 2008!
"To enable young people to be agents of change, World Vision has developed the Youth Advocacy Training Initiative. This initiative includes 80 hours of innovative training over 20 weeks, and culminates in the Youth Empowerment Summit this summer in Washington, D.C."

They did it! Students went to Washington, DC, in July to lobby in support of the Youth PROMISE Act, "which seeks to reduce youth violence by creating a web of support for young people." West Hill Community Council board member Paul Patu lead this group of youths, working with them for months beforehand, as documented in the Seattle Times (external).
See the video documenting this program and the trip:


World Vision has a local presence. The attached form explains the project and includes a form for donations for the trip to Washington DC. Make checks payable to World Vision and send the form to:

World Vision
c/o Paul Patu
Main Office
13445 Martin Luther King Jr. Way
Seattle, WA 98178

Governance Task Force (2005) (Annexation Study)

King County and West Hill Advisory Group Unveil Traffic Safety Recommendations (March 20, 2001)

Community Advisory Group- Roads Strategic Plan

The West Hill Community Council was very active in 1991. And someone made a photo album to show it: Very large (40 MB) PDF file- scanned photo album

The West Hill Community Council was founded in February 1990. (http://www.kingcounty.gov/operations/DCHS/Boards/WestHill.aspx)

For even older West Hill history, there are books available from the King County Library System:

Hoyt, Harold "Jiggs", A Tale of Between Two Cities: Skyway History 1870-1983 (Skyway, 1983) by the Author. 979.777 HOY

A Tale of Between Two Cities- Now available electronically!
This book has been scanned and turned into a searchable text document. We have made attempts to contact the Hoyt family, without success. We've decided to put the book on the web, anyway. Judging from the end of the book, it seems that making the book available to people in this way would be in keeping with Jiggs Hoyt's wishes. If anyone knows a member of his family, please let them know that his book is available on the web, and ask them if it's okay with them.

Raw scan- includes photos (9.8MB)
Searchable text- but no photos (134kB)
Searchable text, no photos, original page breaks preserved (152kB)
Skyway Business District- 1962- Aerial Photo from front of book (10.5MB)

If anyone would like to place the photos in the Word document to produce a searchable document with photos, please e-mail whcc-web@westhillcommunity.com. There are higher-quality scans of the pages/photos available in PDF form.

Hoyt, Harold. The Story of Bryn Mawr, 1872-1986 / by Harold "Jiggs" Hoyt ; edited by Betty Herr Moore, [King County, Wash.] : H. Hoyt, c1986. 979.777 HOY

The Story of Bryn Mawr- Now available electronically!
This book has been scanned (not yet turned into a searchable text document). Again, we have made attempts to contact the Hoyt family, without success. We've decided to put the book on the web, anyway. The copyright notice says "Material may be used with recognition to author." And we certainly want to recognize Jiggs Hoyt! This book is truly a gift to our community. If anyone knows a member of his family, please let them know that his book is available on the web, and ask them if it's okay with them.

Raw scan- includes photos- low resolution (14MB)
Raw scan- includes photos- mid resolution (25MB)
Raw scan- includes photos- high resolution (64MB)

Taken from the back cover: "Who were the first land barons? What is a Dinky? The Gallopin' Goose? How come the school had a slide? Why did the lumber mill move? What building disappeared without a trace? Who decorated the mailboxes? Who were the famous visitors? What is hog fuel? Where did the Blue Bird go? Who are the "Racoons?" Why was the call "Fire" particularly menacing? Who rescued the damsels in distress? Who were the pioneers? Why is the airport so large? What important meeting did the ladies hold? Who was the flying thief? Why are there so many greenhouses? What is a 20-horsepower road grader? Who named Bryn Mawr? Who drove the fire engine? Where was the Black River? Who was "Water" Edmund? What is the W.P.A.? Who were the Volunteers? What group did the "Professor" lead? Which is Bryn Mawr's only church? Who bought the wrestling mats? What businesses came to the area? Who was the first postmistress?"

Hoyt, Harold "Jiggs", The Fire Districts of King County, (Seattle, 1990) Frontier Publishing Co. 363.378 HOY