This Ballard street is named for Boyd J. Tallman (1858–1932), who became a superior court judge in 1900. Originally from Pennsylvania, Tallman came to Walla Walla in 1885 and moved to Seattle two years later. That same year, he, along with Thomas Burke, William Rankin Ballard, and John Leary, founded the West Coast Improvement Company, which filed the plat of Gilman Park in 1889. Almost all of the street names were changed when Ballard was annexed to Seattle in 1907, but five streets that paralleled the Salmon Bay shoreline and one that ran perpendicular to it, as opposed to following the cardinal directions, were left alone: Shilshole Avenue, Ballard Avenue, Leary Avenue, Tallman Avenue, Barnes Avenue, and Ione Place.
Tallman Avenue NW goes ⅕ of a mile from NW Market Street just east of 20th Avenue NW to 17th Avenue NW just south of NW 52nd Street and NW Ione Place.
Born and raised in Seattle, Benjamin Donguk Lukoff had his interest in local history kindled at the age of six, when his father bought him settler granddaughter Sophie Frye Bass’s Pig-Tail Days in Old Seattle at the gift shop of the Museum of History and Industry. He studied English, Russian, and linguistics at the University of Washington, and went on to earn his master’s in English linguistics from University College London. His book of rephotography, Seattle Then and Now, was published in 2010. An updated version came out in 2015.
My Grand parents Bought Judge Boyd Tallman’s Home after he died in 1932. I have a picture of the house. My Grand parents owned the home until the early 1940’s.
Very cool. Thanks for your comment, Anne! Do you happen to know where it was and if it is still standing?
Hi Benjamin,
The Address of the house was 5342 Tallman AVE. This address number does not exist. The closest address number now is 5343 Tallman Ave. My Father said it sat right where the parking garage sits. So, it’s not standing any more. It was a two-story house. My father talked about his older brother living upstairs with his wife. I Have been doing some research on Mr Tallman and his siblings. I’m searching for two of the Tallman Descendants from Boyd Tallman’s siblings.
Thanks! 5342 would have been on the east (northeast) side of the street… so perhaps this is where it used to be?
Boyd J. Tallman
Born 1858 in Pennsylvania
Died 1932 in Seattle
Boyd never married.
Boyd never Had children
Parents: Jonathan Tallman
Ruth C. Boyd
Siblings: 5 siblings all born in Pennsylvania
Eliott Tallman 1857- died in Arkansas
Mary Tallman
Joseph Tallman 1864-1942 died in Ballard
Frank Tallman 1863- Died in Ballard
William Sherman Tallman 1868-1936 died in Ballard