By DON CARTER
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER REPORTER

Not far north of Carkeek Park, Betsy and Arthur Sullivan live in Broadview's oldest home. Betsy Sullivan's grandfather, Joseph Bauer, built it in 1909 for his bride, Anna Penner.

Bauer, a carpenter and farmer, built the home with wood from the Bitter Lake Sawmill that is said to have given the lake its unusual name. When the lake was used as a log pond for the mill, tannin from the park gave the water a puckerish taste.

Broadview's active historical society is now documenting the area's past, using interviews with many early residents who still live in the area.

Lucille Stoll Bellings remembers when the Everstate Dance Hall ("Everstep at Everstate") was built at about Northwest 122nd Street and Fremont Avenue North.

"When I was 18, in about 1930, I was terribly interested in dancing. Everstate bought a jitney, a touring car with several doors and a soft top, and on Sunday nights they'd send the car down to 85th and Greenwood, where Seattle's streetcar line ended," Bellings recalls.

Unlike the rowdier World War II-era dance halls, the Everstate was pretty tame, Bellings says. "They were definitely well behaved. I didn't know that anybody ever went outside to get a drink."