[1] The land that formed the original core of Wedgwood, west of 35th Avenue NE between 80th and 85th Streets, was at one time a heavily wooded ginseng farm.

Charles E. Thorpe had cleared a portion of his 40-acre (160,000 m2) tract north of the Seattle city limits of the time, building a log cabin from the wood of his own trees.

By the 1920s, 35th Avenue NE was becoming a thoroughfare with homes and businesses (the first store opened in 1922), the electric (1923), water (1926), and sewer grids had been extended to the area, and it was becoming too urban for Thorpe's tastes.

The Jesuit institution Seattle University paid Thorpe $65,000 for the property, planning to build a new campus there and move north from First Hill.

Thorpe's cabin became St. Ignatius Parish in 1929; the congregation grew through the Depression years, although it was served at that time only by visiting priests.

By 1940, the Jesuits had decided not to relocate Seattle University, and sold Thorpe's 40 acres (160,000 m2) to Albert Balch at a loss, for only $22,500, barely a third of what they had paid for the land in 1929.

Balch and Setzer built 500 homes on 40 acres (160,000 m², 16 hectares), constituting the center of today's Wedgwood neighborhood.

During its short life, the volunteer department operated a Ford Model A truck with a pump, based in the garage of a neighborhood home.

In 1917, Earl J. McLaughlin relocated to Cleveland, Ohio, where he remained active in real estate for 12 years, before emigrating to Canada.

[16] The large P-Patch Community Garden near the west edge of the neighborhood, and the adjoining University Prep School[17] and Temple Beth Am (Reform synagogue)[18] are on land that remained a working farm as late as 1965.

However, after sewer lines were built along 25th Avenue NE in the late 1940s, houses began sinking in the peat; the city bought them out and turned the land into the "80th Street Playfield".

Unincorporated areas of King County accessible by auto became popular locations for speakeasies selling illegal liquor and purveying prostitution and gambling, often in clever guises.

One remarkable structure among numerous establishments was the China Castle, later the Jolly Roger, having a unique tower from which a watchman signaled the approach of police, visible from miles away.

In the event of a raid, patrons and employees could leave via tunnels such as one under the highway, easily dispersing via the wooded ravine on the other side.

At the time, the building had just been purchased the week before from the previous owner, with whom the buyer was entangled in legal and financial red tape.

For nearly three decades, beginning in 1929, the Coon Chicken Inn sold southern-style food in a restaurant whose themes drew heavily on light-hearted, overtly racist stereotypes akin to blackface or the iconic Sambo's on Aurora Avenue N.[26] Mr. and Mrs. Nick Jacklin opened the first store in what is now Wedgwood in 1922, before either electricity or city water reached the neighborhood.

[27] Half a mile (0.7 km) north, McVicar's Hardware Store (1946–1986)—in the space in the 8500 block of 35th Avenue NE opened shortly after World War II.

Adapting their business to whatever people in the neighborhood wanted to buy, as Wedgwood residents began putting in lawns and gardens, McVicar's sold them the requisite supplies; they sold specialty foods and rented out skis; they were also, for a decade, the only hardware store in the state licensed to sell beer and wine.

A small QFC store at the Wedgwood Center near 85th Street closed in 2021 and is planned to be redeveloped into a mixed-use retail and residential building.

MESO was originally intended specifically for older musicians, and as of 2008, the oldest is 91 years old, but now the orchestra includes players of all ages.

[59] The "Neighbors" project (1996–2000) of the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, currently updated as the "Webtowns" section of the on-line P-I, defines Wedgwood a little differently.

[60] "Neighbors" further asserts that Wedgwood has always been a middle-class neighborhood, trending toward upper middle, with home sales suggesting that it is currently becoming more of a young family area, as the initial 1940s owners reach the end of their lives and Baby Boomers become retirees.

[63][64] National standards long adopted by the Seattle Department of Transportation define minor arterials, in part, as generally along neighborhood boundaries: NE 65th, 75th, and 95th streets, and 35th Avenue.