The first European settlers to come to the Kent valley in the mid 1800’s found a rich, arable land, filled with glacial silt supplied by the White River. It was perfect for farming. As the European farms grew in number and supplanted the native population, the White River Indians, not wanting to give up their ancestral lands, began to fight. The Seattle Indian Wars ended with the signing of a treaty which established the Muckleshoot reservation, the only Indian reservation in King County.

Kenmore is 14 miles north of Seattle with the borders of its 3,960 acres encompassing all of the north shore of Lake Washington and a significant portion of the northeastern shore, too. The Sammamish River runs east to west and bisects the city into northern and southern halves as it connects Lake Sammamish with Lake Washington. Founded in 1901, the city’s name originated with Scotsman, John McMasters, who named it after the Canadian town in which he had met his wife, Annie. During Prohibition, Kenmore was a favorite of the Seattle social community since it was far enough out of Seattle that the revenooers ignored it. The weekends were known to be rowdy and busy through the 1940s.