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Home > About
About the Nelsen Family Residence Historical Trust
KING COUNTY HISTORIC SITES SURVEY Inventory Sheet
In 1881, James Nelsen (1861-1952) and five of his eight brothers and sisters, (Ole, Herman, Fred, Sophie and Mary), immigrated to the United States from Denmark. They settled first in Illinois, but gradually all made their way to the Seattle area. About 1884, James Nelsen homesteaded twenty acres in the Renton Junction area of the White River Valley. He continued working and borrowing money to purchase more land until his holdings included 280 acres of rich valley farmland. Around the turn-of-the-century, he sold the northern 100 acres to his brother Fred for $8,000. Here, Fred developed a prosperous dairy farm. By 1929, James Nelsen also had a prosperous dairy farm. He had a dairy herd of 70 cows and raised all of his own food. In 1934, James leased the northeastern 107 acres to the Washington Jockey Club. He later sold the land to them and it became known as Longacres Racetrack. Of the other brothers, Herman married the widow of Nels Anderson, who had homesteaded North Orillia. Ole moved to the lower Cedar River area. He had a large, successful dairy farm. Ole’s son, Herman, later owned and operated the farm. To finance his land purchases, James held a number of jobs. At one time, he was employed as coachman for Mr. Gazert, part owner of Bailey-Gazert hardware in Seattle. During this time, he met Mary Dobler, an adventurous young German woman who had immigrated to the United States by herself when she was 21. She has worked as a governess in New York City for a few years, and then, seeking a better climate, came to Seattle. James and Mary married and went to live in a small house that James had built on 16010 West Valley Road. The Nelsen’s raised potatoes and hops. James also worked as a hop foreman and as a county road commissioner. While living in their first family home, James and Mary, had three children: Harry J. (1888-1975), Frank A. (1890-1972), and Sidonia (1895-1984). In 1905, Mary Nelsen consulted with Mr. Olsen, a local carpenter, to design a new family home. Olsen built the house and the Nelsens moved into it shortly before the birth of their fourth and last child, Helen B. (1906-1996). James Nelsen served as a director of the First National Bank of Renton. He helped to organize and served as director of the King County Dairyman’s Association. In 1908, the Nelsen family organized the Independent Water Company, still servicing the local area (although now owned by the city of Tukwila). Historically, the James and Mary Nelsen House is significant as the home of a prominent, early White River Valley farmer. It is also a fine example of rural turn-of-the-century architecture. Large Victorian homes such as this one were once scattered all over the White River Valley. PRESENT AND ORIGINAL PHYSICAL APPEARANCE: This large, stately house across West Valley Highway from Longacres is the James and Mary Nelsen house. It is an excellent example of vernacular Victorian architecture as expressed by a prominent White River dairy farmer at the turn-of-the-century. A two story, 32’ x 40’, frame structure, it has a hip roof with boxed cornice. The exterior has clapboard siding, a wide, plain frieze, and corner boards. The frieze serves as trim across the top portion of the second story windows. The rest of the window openings have shelf trim. Three pedimented roofed dormers with decorative bands of fishscale and diamond shingles are distinctive features of the house and its style. Each dormer has a small rectangular window. The dormers on the east and north each extend over a 3’ x 11’ two story polygonal bay. Decorative brackets on the second story and bands of fishscale and diamond shingles between the two floors characterize the bays. A large window in the center of each bay on the first floor has a leaded glass upper sash. The third dormer is on the rear (west) façade. Two hip roofed porches are additional features of the house. The original gingerbread trim on both porches was enclosed about 1930. Elaborate brackets were removed from the porch posts, but have been retained by the family. Porch railings were removed from both the 6’ x 14’ front porch at the northeast corner of the house and the 3’ x 32’ side porch on the south facade. Several small, rectangular, leaded glass windows light the interior staircase at the northeast corner of the house. In 1964, because of the widening of the West Valley Road, the house was moved 60’ west. Pictures were taken before the move and every attempt was made to relocate the landscaping exactly as it had been. Two life-size stone lions lie on stone blocks in front of the house. Nelsen was able to buy the stone when a Seattle Catholic organization was unable to raise the funds for a statue. Purchased before the railhead was extended beyond Tacoma, the stone was barged from Tacoma to Seattle and then hauled by horse and wagon to the Nelsen farm. A local artist, Sam Barrett, sculpted the lions. He and his wife also did many of the local landscape paintings displayed in the Nelsen House. In 1903, James Nelsen built a dairy barn southeast of the house’s present location. The large, frame structure with its two 7’ gable roofed cupolas was moved across the West Valley Highway in 1969. Relocated near the entrance to Longacres, it then became the Renton Auction barn (since demolished). In 1964 the garage was moved and attached to the west end of a horse barn located southwest of the house. A new, compatible garage was constructed near the southwest corner of the house. INTERVIEWS: Sidonia (Kettering) Nelsen. Age 83. 15813 W. Valley Rd. Interviewed jointly with Helen Nelsen in May 1978. Daughter of James and Mary Nelsen, pioneers and builders of the house. Helen Nelsen. Age 72. 15643 W. Valley Rd. Interviewed jointly with S.N. (Kettering) Nelsen in May 1978. Daughter of James and Mary Nelsen, pioneers and builders of the house. BIBLIOGRAPHICAL REFERENCES:
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