Factoria, Washington

Factoria is a mixed-use suburban neighborhood in south Bellevue, Washington and is one of the city's significant commercial districts. Originally timberland from the 1890s to 1920s and later envisioned as an industrial center, Factoria has since the 1960s evolved into commercial and residential development. Factoria was annexed into Bellevue in 1993. The core neighborhood is bounded by Interstate 90 to the north, Interstate 405 to the west, Newport Way to the east, and Coal Creek Parkway to the south.

Factoria is believed to have once been part of the Duwamish Tribal Territory. "During the 1890s, loggers cut large stands of timber on land now known as Woodridge Hill, Richards Valley, Greenwich Crest, Mockingbird Hill, Monthaven, Newport Shores, and the commercial area of Factoria."

In the late 1890s, the Northern Pacific Railway laid tracks through the largely uninhabited area along the shores of Lake Washington near Mercer Island. In the early 1900s a large industrial center was envisioned by a group of Seattle investors led by E. L. Skeel on what is now the interchange of Interstate 405 and I-90. In 1908 Skeel formed the Mercer Land Company and platted several blocks adjoining the railroad tracks. The new community was to be named Mercer. A stove factory was constructed at the town-site but never manufactured a single stove. By 1911, development of the community was at a standstill and the company, now run by a Sarah Kendall with Skeel as secretary, filed a new plat featuring more blocks and public space. The project was now called Factoria, a name that would hopefully attract major industries, which it never did.

According to, Factoria

was promoted as an industrial center with coal smoke “belching from hundreds of smokestacks.” Promoters expected at least 20 plants, in addition to the existing Factoria Stove and Range Co., to locate there. But some 15 years after the promoter’s pitch, only the Factoria School had been built and the proposed industrial town of Factoria never got off the ground. The present day Factoria Mall is located on the original Factoria property.

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Wikipedia