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Building History

Irene and Zacharias Woodson erected their apartment building to house those moving to Seattle, WA, who flocked to the city both before and after the Alaska-Yukon-Pacific Exposition in 1909. They operated early rooming houses for African-Americans in the city. Another Woodson apartment house was located above a livery stable at 1530 5th Avenue. (Thank you to Rob Ketcherside for detailed information on 1530 5th Avenue sent to the author in an email of 02/03/2021.)

Irene Patterson (born c. 06/1870 in SC) married Zacharias Woodson on 07/29/1895 in Cook County, IL). She was 24, he, 29. (See Ancestry.com, Source Information Cook County, Illinois, U.S., Marriages Index, 1871-1920 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2011, accessed 02/06/2021.) By 1900, they resided in Los Angeles, CA, where he worked as a express driver. Irene had had two children by 1900, only one of whom, Freddie (born c. 01/1899 in WA), was alive in that year. They lived in a predominantly white neighborhood in Los Angeles, at 640 28th Street. As Freddie had been born in WA State, either one or both of the Woodsons had resided there before relocating to Southern CA.

Zacharias Woodson (born c. 09/1866 in WI-d. 1934 in Seattle, WA) of African-American descent, lived in Seattle when the black community was relatively small and highly segregated.

The 1930 US Census listed his occupation as "proprietor of apartment houses," and that his real estate wealth was valued at a substantial $30,000. His address was 1824 24th Avenue and a pencil annotation on the census form read "16 lodgers" presumably the number of tenants at the address. All were African-American and ranged in age from 3 to 82 years of age. Most had been born in the American South, and paid rents varying from $10 to $22 per month. (See Ancestry.com, Source Citation Year: 1930; Census Place: Seattle, King, Washington; Page: 16A; Enumeration District: 0113; FHL microfilm: 2342232, accessed 02/06/2021.)

Alteration

Heavily altered. This apartment house was abandoned and for sale in 1937. Since that time, all of the building's vaguely Classical Revival ornamental details have been stripped making the building unlistable on the National Reigster of Historic Places.

PCAD id: 6284