Larsen Lake is named after Danish immigrants Ove Peter and Mary Larsen. The Larsens acquired 160 acres near the lake in 1889. Ove worked at the Newcastle coal mines, and his wife and children grew vegetables and harvested wild berries to sell.

Ove Larsen moved to Seattle in 1916, making way for the Aries family farm. The Aries brothers, who had purchased half of Larsen’s property in 1913, operated a very successful farm at Larsen Lake. The Aries farm shipped produce as far away as Alaska, the Philippines and Yukon Territory.

In 1944 entrepreneur Louis Weinzirl purchased 45 acres of farmland and planted it with blueberries. He sowed multiple varieties, which allowed him harvest continuously from early July through mid-September. Over the years, the body of water was unofficially renamed “Blueberry Lake.”

Many young people worked in the blueberry fields during the harvesting season. The Weinzirls hired a few boys to work on the farm year-round. These young men could earn between $600 and $1,000 a year, and some high school boys paid for their college educations in this manner.

The Weinzirls retired from the blueberry farm in the 1960s. The city of Bellevue purchased the farm in 1970 as part of a 63-acre parcel that would become Lake Hills Greenbelt Park. The blueberry farm is still in operation. Like the Overlake Blueberry Farm at Mercer Slough Park, the Larsen Lake Blueberry Farm is owned by the city and leased to farmers.

Heritage Corner is a feature in the Bellevue Reporter. Material is provided by the Eastside Heritage Center. For more information call 425-450-1049.