Ballard resident Robert Donat is working on learning, studying and compiling a unique and specific history of east Ballard. And, it all started with his dogs.

Donat said walking his two energetic labradors, Bali and Mercedes, caused him to become interested in the neighborhood's past because it gave him a chance to observe the houses, buildings and roads of east Ballard.

"I take these dogs for a walk and investigate around Ballard," he said.

Donat, who has lived in his east Ballard home for 10 years, is still in the information-gathering portion of his history project, and he said he is not sure what the final product will be.

He does know that he wants to concentrate on east Ballard because it has been somewhat left out in favor of the west when the history of Ballard has been covered, he said.

"I'm trying to get a snapshot of what east Ballard looked like 100 years ago," he said.

Donat said his father got him interested in genealogy when he was a teenager. He said his genealogy research is above amateur and, given the time, he would like to do it professionally.

When he moved into his Ballard home, Donat transferred that passion onto researching his house.

He said he used census records from the 1910s through 1930s to find out who used to live in the home and fire insurance maps to find out what was there before the house.

Now, thanks to his walks with Bali and Mercedes, Donat is working on doing that for the rest of his neighborhood.

Dawn Hemminger of the East Ballard Community Association said she is glad Donat is taking initiative to look into east Ballard's history.

"I think it's great that somebody is interested in the history of our neighborhood," she said. "Because when you look at the history books on Ballard, our part of the neighborhood is often left out."

Donat has pulled archived photos from various sources in an attempt to compile a series of before and after pictures of east Ballard.

He said he is also interested in the architectural side of the neighborhood's history and has been studying the architects of the time and trying to match them with their work in Ballard.

But, the focus Donat may end up taking is change in the neighborhood, possibly since 1907 when Ballard was annexed by the city of Seattle, he said.

"It's difficult for me to see houses getting torn down in this neighborhood and cheap condos going up in their place," he said.

Between Market Street and Salmon Bay, it was entirely residential, Donat said. There was no Leary Way, and there were houses where Fred Meyer now stands, he said.

Donat said he still needs to answer the question of why the history of east Ballard is interesting, but the changing layout of the neighborhood is a factor.

"It's probably the most notable, the change south of Market," he said. "Ballard's high school used to be where Schuck's (Auto Supply) is. It's not the most interesting thing but the most depressing, seeing these old buildings getting torn down."

In his first attempt at creating something concrete out of his research, Donat printed and distributed a 16-page document titled "The History of East Ballard." This was done under the encouragement of Hemminger to coincide with the East Ballard Walking Tour.

The document contains modern and historical photos of the neighborhood and brief histories of homes, churches, schools, stores and roads. But, Donat acknowledged that such a document may not be the best method of sharing his research, and the final product may be published on the East Ballard Community Association's Web site.

In the next steps of his project, Donat said he would like to track down old photos of the neighborhood beyond what are in the archives and perhaps talk to the inheritor of Edith Macefield's house to see if the little home surrounded by Ballard Blocks can offer any historical secrets.

"That area would have been a lot of houses like that," Donat said. "Of course, that's getting destroyed now."

Donat said he would also like to get first-hand accounts of east Ballard's past from elderly residents, though there are not many left on his street so he may need to go door-to-door.

Bali and Mercedes can help with that.