By Heidi Madden and Chris Jacobsen
Have you ever driven past the Eddie McAbee entrance to Carkeek Park off of NW 100th Place and wondered who Eddie McAbee is? Perhaps the name sounded familiar: Didn’t a guy named McAbee build a bunch of stuff around here?
Eddie McAbee was in fact the son of F.R. “Dick†McAbee, the prolific builder who, in the mid-1950s, developed and built much of what we see now on lower Crown Hill between Holman Road and NW 100th Place, including what used to be Art’s Plaza, now QFC. The Eddie McAbee park entrance land was originally part of the 105 acres on the east slope of Crown Hill purchased by Dick McAbee in 1945. The duplexes you see at the park entrance are McAbee built.
Dick McAbee was a self-made man. He was $10,000 in debt at the start of the Depression because of an employer who skipped town. It took him ten years, but he paid back every cent. He went on to build a real estate empire and a sterling reputation in the local business community.
Continue reading Gifts from the Builder: The Eddie McAbee Park Entrance