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In 1917 the Puget Mill Company looking for a way to lessen the tax burden of
their logged off lands developed the planned community of Alderwood Manor,
Washington. To promote this new community located halfway between Seattle and
Everett they developed a 30-acre Demonstration Farm which included a hatchery,
as well as demonstration gardens and orchards.
Potential residents came from all over the United States and Canada. Some would
arrive on the Interurban Railway that ran between Seattle and Everett. Once on
the Demonstration Farm they 
would be shown how they could make a living raising chickens on the 5-acres
they were considering purchasing. Soon Alderwood Manor was one of the largest
egg producing regions in the United States.
For twenty plus years the Community of Alderwood Manor grew. In 1927 Highway 99
was completed just a few miles west of the Alderwood Manor Town Center. As more
people traveled this new south/north highway the area around it was developed.
Several events of the 1930s changed this growing community. The effects of the
Depression were felt as egg prices dropped. This caused many families to sell
their chicken ranches and the Puget Mill Company closed the Demonstration Farm
and sold most of it as one-acre “ranchettes.” In October of 1939 the Interurban
Railway ceased operations.
In 1959 the City of Lynnwood incorporated. A few years later Interstate 5 was
constructed and opened. In the 1960’s an election was held to incorporate
Alderwood Manor into a city. This effort failed and eventually the area of
Alderwood Manor Town Center was annexed to the city of Lynnwood. Over the years
the farms of Alderwood Manor were subdivided, becoming a city that today is
home to over 33,000 residents.
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