Redmond beginnings: York Post Office (later Derby, later Redmond) opens on April 18, 1890.

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On April 18, 1890, York Post Office opens. John A. Steeves is the first postmaster. York was located 11 miles northeast of Seattle about four miles south of Woodinville along the Seattle, Lake Shore & Eastern Railroad line on the west side of Sammamish River.

York was located within the present (1999) city limits of Redmond.

York was originally established as a flag station for the Seattle, Lakeshore & Eastern Railway. (A flag station is one at which a train will stop if a flag is out, but not otherwise.) It was located 28 miles by rail from Seattle, on a route around the north end of Lake Washington.

In August, 1891, Mrs. Addie G. Wyatt became postmistress. In March 1892, Addie and John Wyatt moved, along with the post office, one mile north (just outside of the present city limits of Redmond) and Derby became the name of the post office. Mrs. Wyatt remained the postmistress.

In 1911, Derby moved yet another mile north and the name changed once again, this time to Hollywood. Of Hollywood, Guy Ramsey, who compiled a history of every post office in Oregon and Washington, writes, "This office was at what was known as Hollywood Farm, owned by Fred S. Stimson. The office was in a store and mail came daily by train. At the death of Mr. Stimson the Hollywood Farm was put up for sale, and the post office was discontinued." (Ramsey, 706). The Hollywood Post Office closed in 1922.

Sources:
Guy Reed Ramsey, "Postmarked Washington, 1850-1960," Microfilm (Olympia: Washington State Library, February, 1966), 630, 639; R. L. Polk & Co., Orgegon Washington and Idaho Gazetteer and Business Directory, 1889-90 Vol. 4, (Portland, OR: Published by R. L. Polk, 1889), 927.

By Greg Lange, December 12, 1998

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