September 29, 1882, Patrick Downey, an Irish immigrant, homesteaded a 160-acre tract of real estate land on the southern slope of Clyde Hill. He was the first known settler in present-day Clyde Hill. Downey's tract of property was bounded by NE 8th Street on the south, 92nd Avenue NE on the west, NE 16th Street on the north, and 100th Avenue NE on the east. It included the Bellevue residential area now known as Vuecrest. Downey built a log cabin at 100th Avenue NE and NE 12th Street with the help of neighbors. Pat Downey reportedly lived in this cabin home for two years before he discovered Meydenbauer Bay. From his cabin he hiked to Houghton (now south Kirkland), and rowed to Seattle when he wanted to go to the city. He remodeled and rebuilt the house several times and eventually the entire house was destroyed by fire in 1911. In September 1888, Downey filed his final affidavit for a homestead real estate claim, (SE º of Section 30 in Township 25 N of Range 5 E), and described the property as timbered agricultural land. Timber was described as fir and cedar 2nd class. He said that in the process of clearing land, he cut, removed, and sold 296,000 board feet from 20 acres to a Terence O'Brien of Seattle.  By 1888, Downey had built an 18' X 27' log house, a single story high with shake roof home. The house included four rooms and was valued at $300.00. In addition to the house, the Downey estate included a 16' X 22' shake barn, a 10' X 12' shake stable to house his "neighbors", a 8' X 10' shake hen house and a 8' X 10' shake storehouse. These additional buildings were valued at a combined $185. During this time Downey used his property to raise crops on about 11 acres of the land for five seasons, including potatoes, oats, wheat and vegetables.
In 1888, Patrick Downey in his homestead claim, cited Peter Buckley, John McRae, John Davis of Bellevue, Washington Territory, and W. W. Easter of Seattle, Washington Territory as references for his claim. McRae, 49 years old, lived on nearby property. Peter Buckley, 42 years old, lived about 1/2 mile away and also gave testimony supporting Downey's homestead real estate claim. Also living in homes near Downey's were W. E. Conway and Isaac Bechtel. Downey eventually planted 15 acres of his claimed property in strawberries. These strawberries brought a premium from wholesalers on Western Avenue in Seattle. A number of farmers in Clyde Hill raised strawberries on their properties, and the community was well known for that product. Downey would pack a load of strawberries from his land into a wheelbarrow
to the foot of Clyde Road (now 92nd Avenue NE) and board a little wood-burning steamer to Leschi in Seattle. There he could take a cable car over the Seattle hills from Leschi to Elliott Bay. By 1890, about 20 families had settled in the Clyde Hill, Medina, and downtown Bellevue area. In June 1900, the Federal Census of Bellevue Precinct, King County, Washington, encompassing about the same area, enumerated a total of 254 persons. In June 1894, Patrick and wife, Virginia M. Downey, subdivided the north eighty acres of their original claim (from about NE 12th Street to NE 16th Street), most of which lay in present-day Clyde Hill. His plat, of which most of it is still known today, was entitled "Lake Washington Garden Tracts." Most of the subdivision was platted as 5-acre lots. Streets shown in the plat include Hunter Avenue (present 92nd Avenue NE), Bellevue Avenue (Present 100th Avenue NE), and Downey Street (NE 14th Street).
In 1947, the area residents formed a local community club. During this time the postwar home building activity was accelerating. At the time people found that it was difficult to describe the exact location of the Clyde Hill area. It wasn't exactly Bellevue, although the Bellevue Post Office delivered the mail. Columnist Ann Seeger often referred to this area as Nanny-Goat Hill in her column in the Bellevue American (now Eastside Journal).  At the first meeting of the new community club, the members grappled with the problem of a name. Some of the community club members included Bill Painters, John and Carrie Hill, Al Constans, Sam and Vivienne Boddy, Oscar and Ann Seeger, Father Val-Spinosa of St. Thomas Church, Mickey and Irja Telfer and Leon Snow.
Sam Boddy, whose family had homesteaded here, told the group how Clyde Hill Road (now 92nd Ave. NE) first got its name. Clyde Road had been named long before 1947. Regular commuters on the Yarrow Point to Seattle ferry, most of who were of Irish decent, had been giving unofficial names to the various roads along their route. Most of those names were Irish. One of the "regulars" happened to be from Scotland and wanted his opportunity to develop a name. The others invited him to name a road. This area pioneer had migrated from an area in Scotland called the "Firth of Clyde." Since the trip to the boat landing reminded him of his Scotland home, he suggested the name Clyde Road for the road that was later numbered by the County as 92nd Avenue NE. Since "Clyde Road" was the main thoroughfare in 1947, and because the area was obviously a hill, Ken Day proposed the name "Clyde Hill" for the area. Six years later on March 31, 1953, the area incorporated as the Town of Clyde Hill.
Clyde Hill was incorporated in 1953 as a small residential town covering an area of approximately one square mile. The City is bordered by Points Drive to the north, on the south by NE 12th and NE 13th Streets, on the west by 84th Avenue NE and on the east by 98th Avenue NE. The City is zoned single family residential with the exception of a gas station on the corner of 84th Avenue NE and Points Drive, and a Tully's Coffee establishment located on Points Drive and NE 28th Street. The minimum lot size allowed in the zoning code is 20,000 square feet, with smaller lots existing from before incorporation.
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