Red Brick Road

The James Mattson Road contains the longest stretch of exposed historic red-brick highway in King County. In 1901, the northern route between Seattle and Snoqualmie Pass, first developed as a road in 1865, was realigned to create what is now 196th Avenue NE in order to eliminate a long, difficult grade. 

The dirt and gravel road was often impassable, and with the growing popularity of automobile travel, local resident James Mattson and his neighbors pressed the county to pave the road to provide an all-weather surface. 

In 1913, the road was paved with red bricks manufactured in Renton. In 1915, the road became part of the Yellowstone Trail. By 1925 The Yellowstone Trail was rerouted at Fall City and this road became part of the Bothell Branch until 1928 when the road was bypassed. 

In the 1980s, the King County Roads Department restored the brick surface, which had deteriorated severely. In 2014 a kiosk was built at the north end of the road.