There are bulldozers and backhoes roaming along State Route 522 in Bothell, making way for a revamped downtown. More such machines will join the small herd in the future as the city advances its ambitious plan to redesign not just downtown, but surrounding locations, as well.

One spot that likely will receive plenty of attention is the Park at Bothell Landing. City officials plan to study the future of the park as the reworking of downtown and Bothell’s two state routes move forward. Still, having been moved to the park in the early 1990s, it’s probably a safe bet that the Beckstrom cabin will continue to be a focal point of the Landing.

As they mark National Preservation Month throughout May, the city’s Landmark Preservation Board wants to celebrate several local historic mainstays, including the former home of the large Beckstrom family.

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According to Rudy Beckstrom, 81, his grandfather Andrew Beckstrom built the log cabin on what was then the family dairy farm in 1883.

Rudy didn’t know the dimensions of the cabin off the top of his head, but the smallish, one-room structure was once home to a family that eventually included 16 children. One of the youngest was Rudy’s father and namesake, Rudy Beckstrom Sr.

Now planning some restoration work on his great-grandfather’s homestead, Robert Beckstrom, 44, said the cabin initially sat on the appropriately named Beckstrom Road near what is now St. Brendan Catholic Church. Though the family eventually built a farmhouse, Rudy said he vividly remembers playing in the cabin as a child.

There’s also no doubt he vividly remembers the dynamite once stored in the cabin.

“Everybody had dynamite back then,” he said.

The explosives were used to blow up tree stumps or whatever else might get in the way of farming.

While the cabin was moved to Bothell Landing from Beckstrom Road, its presence along the city’s waterfront seems somehow appropriate. Rudy said his grandfather arrived in the area in a rowboat, with his grandmother, Augusta.

According to their great-grandson, Andrew and Augusta Beckstrom both were born in Sweden and first moved to Kansas after immigrating to this country. Andrew was working alongside a building when Augusta happened by and knocked over his paint.

According to Rudy, Andrew chased Augusta down and the rest is family history. What is also family history is that when the couple and their first two children headed further west and north, Andrew first considered homesteading on Seattle’s Queen Anne Hill. He ended up in what became Bothell because, in the words of Rudy, even in the early 1880s, Queen Anne was a little too crowded for Andrew. After Andrew and Augusta settled down, their third child became the first white birth recorded in this area.

Andrew Beckstrom died before Rudy Beckstrom was born. However, Rudy described his grandmother Augusta as “tough,” adding she would have needed to be in order to survive raising a family in the cabin. While he commented he is getting older, he also admitted it is somewhat amazing that his family and society is not all that much removed from the days of one-room log homes.

By the way, since the first Beckstroms moved into that log cabin, three generations of the family have lived in he city and graduated from Bothell High School. Rudy’s parents Rudy and Inez Beckstrom are a bit of more recent Bothell history, once running Rudy’s Towing and known for sounding a horn at the business every day at noon, a horn that could be heard around the city.

A member of the Landmark Preservation Board, Robert Beckstrom said his renovation plans for the cabin are modest, consisting of work on the windows and removing moss and growth from the sides and roof.

Regarding the windows, early pictures of the cabin reveal they had more panes then they do presently and Robert plans on restoring the original configuration. The city owns the cabin and gave permission for the project about two weeks ago. With some help from volunteers, Robert Beckstrom hopes to begin the work next month.

Robert said every time he sees the cabin he is surprised by how well it has endured. He expressed a hope that as the city moves forward, bits of the past such as the cabin don’t get lost in the shuffle.

“All that history tends to fade into the distance,” Robert said.