Showing 1 - 17 of 17 results
Building Seattle -- A Slideshow History of Seattle's Capital Improvement Projects
This is a Slideshow photo essay on the history of Seattle's Capital Improvement Projects. Written By Walt Crowley and curated by Paul Dorpat, with Chris Goodman.
Presented by Seattle City Councilmember Martha Choe.
File 7083: Full Text >
Denny/Washington Hotel (Seattle)
Between 1890 and 1906, Seattle's Denny/Washington Hotel, advertised as "The Scenic Hotel of the West," straddled 3rd Avenue between Stewart and Virginia streets on the south summit of Denny Hill. (Denny Hill was subsequently flattened.) The Denny Hotel was conceived and begun in 1889 by a group of developers including Seattle founding father Arthur Denny (1822-1899). The Panic of 1893 halted the proceedings with interiors incomplete, and the turreted shell hung over Seattle for a decade. James A. Moore (1861-1929) bought it and it flourished as the Washington Hotel for one or two summers before the Denny Hill regrade regraded it out of existence.
File 2990: Full Text >
Downtown Historic Theatre District (Seattle) Cybertour
This is a cybertour of Seattle's Downtown Historic Theatre District as it existed at the time of its designation on December 6, 2011. The Downtown Historic Theatre District was created to support the preservation, promotion, and maintenance of Seattle's downtown historic theaters. Five venues are included in the district: Town Hall Seattle (formerly the Fourth Church of Christ, Scientist), the 5th Avenue Theatre, A Contemporary Theatre ACT/Eagles Auditorium, the Paramount Theatre, and the Moore Theatre. This tour was written and curated by Paula Becker. Map by Marie McCaffrey. Preparation of this feature was made possible by the Seattle Office of Arts & Cultural Affairs, and 4Culture King County lodging tax.
File 10149: Full Text >
Gerber, Andrew (1943-2002)
Andrew Gerber was an influential painter in Seattle's burgeoning Belltown art scene of the 1980s and early 1990s and a member of the staff of Center on Contemporary Art (COCA). He is best known for his "Rubble Without a Cause" series of drawings and paintings of demolished buildings, which commented powerfully on the destruction of low-income hotels and apartments in Seattle.
File 7442: Full Text >
Igloo, The -- Lost Landmark of Seattle's Auto-Tecture
The Igloo, a diner and drive-in restaurant at the southeast corner of 6th Avenue and Denny Way, operated from late 1940 until sometime in 1954. It featured a distinctive twin-domed design intended, like much vernacular commercial architecture of its period, to grab the attention and business of passing motorists. The Igloo was established by Ralph Grossman and Ernie Hughes, and later managed by Sander's Fountain Lunches.
File 1162: Full Text >
Kohl-Welles, Jeanne Elizabeth Pearl (b. 1942)
Jeanne Kohl-Welles has represented Seattle's 36th District in the Washington State Senate since 1994. Her career in politics began in 1992 when she was appointed to fill a vacancy in the state House of Representatives. She won election to a two-year term in 1993 and went on to serve as House majority whip in the 1994 legislative session. In October of that year, Governor Mike Lowry appointed her to finish the term of long-serving state Senator Ray Moore (1912-2003), who was forced to resign when it was determined that he was a legal resident of Hawaii. Kohl-Welles (then using the single last name "Kohl") won the seat on her own in the 1994 November election and has cruised to victory in every election since. A Democrat, she currently (2011) chairs the wide-ranging and powerful Labor, Commerce, & Consumer Protection Committee and sits on the Ways & Means, Judiciary, and Rules committees. In addition to her work as a legislator, Kohl-Welles is a sociology lecturer, researcher, author, and consultant at the University of Washington and is an international expert and speaker on human trafficking.
File 9664: Full Text >
Lake Union (Seattle) Cybertour
This is a Cybertour of Seattle's historic South Lake Union neighborhood, including the Cascade neighborhood and portions of the Denny Regrade. It was written and curated by Paula Becker with the assistance of Walt Crowley and Paul Dorpat. Map by Marie McCaffrey. Preparation of this feature was underwritten by Vulcan Inc., a Paul G. Allen Company. This Cybertour begins at Lake Union Park, then loosely follows the course of the Westlake Streetcar, with forays into the Cascade neighborhood and into the Seattle Center area. It was updated in 2012
Also available as a printable walking tour (pdf format)
File 8166: Full Text >
Moore Theatre (Seattle)
The Moore Theatre, Seattle's oldest existing entertainment venue, stood as one of the finest houses on all the West Coast when it opened in December 1907. Located on 2nd Avenue and Virginia Street, the new venue (with its attached hotel) was built by local developer James A. Moore (1861-1929) after his plans to expand and add a theater to his Washington Hotel (the former Denny Hotel) were derailed by the Denny Regrade project. Instead, he built the Moore and turned its management over to John Cort (1861-1929), who later became a prominent New York impresario. Now more than 100 years old, the Moore Theatre's stage has seen everything from vaudeville to symphony to religious revivals to hard rock and, as the Moore Egyptian, was the original home of the Seattle International Film Festival. It today retains much of its historic ambience and hosts musical artists and touring stage productions from around the world.
File 3852: Full Text >
Now & Then -- Seattle's Elephant on Front Street (now 1st Avenue)
This file contains Seattle historian and photographer Paul Dorpat's Now & Then photographs and reflections on the early business along Seattle's Front Street (now 1st Avenue) and the former Denny Hill.
File 2573: Full Text >
Ryan, Patricia McGuinness (1944-2001)
Seattle restaurateur Patricia McGuinness Ryan was the long-time proprietor of the Denny Regrade's popular Two Bells Tavern. Under her management between 1982 and 1999, the Two Bells became a neighborhood institution famed for its home-style fare and for regular art exhibits curated by Ryan's husband, Rolon Bert Garner.
File 3487: Full Text >
Seattle Aquarium Slideshow, Part 1: From Settlement to Cinders, 1841-1899
This is Part 1 of a three-part slideshow photo essay on the history of the Seattle Aquarium and its neighborhood beginning in 1841 through the present day. Part 1 takes the story from the early dates of settlement along the Seattle waterfront to the Great Seattle Fire of 1899. Curated by Paul Dorpat. Edited by Walt Crowley. Presented by the Seattle Aquarium Society.
File 7052: Full Text >
Seattle Cemetery
The Seattle Cemetery, located at the present (1999) site of Denny Park north of downtown, was Seattle's first official municipal cemetery. The first burials in 1861 (?) were bodies removed from other informal cemetery sites to make room for buildings. The Seattle Cemetery served the municipality from about 1861 until 1884. In 1884, some 223 burials were removed to other cemeteries, a process which produced some curious results. Seattle pioneer David Denny (1832-1903) donated the land for the cemetery and park.
File 969: Full Text >
Seattle Neighborhoods: Belltown-Denny Regrade -- Thumbnail History
The area of Seattle stretching north of the central business district from Stewart Street to Mercer Street is usually dubbed the Denny Regrade, acknowledging the area's forcible flattening by city engineers early in the twentieth century. It incorporates the older Belltown district, originally west of 2nd Avenue but today more broadly defined by its various denizens. After initial high expectations and then decades of relative neglect, the area today combines artist lofts and hangouts with new highrises and upscale restaurants and clubs.
File 1123: Full Text >
Seattle Neighborhoods: Seattle Center -- Thumbnail History
The Seattle Center, located north of downtown at the foot of Queen Anne Hill, is a cultural and entertainment campus built in 1962 for the Seattle World's Fair. The World's Fair helped to transform Seattle from a rather provincial backwater into a genuinely cosmopolitan port city, and it created a lasting legacy of important civic buildings for the arts, professional sports, and major community events, such as the annual Bumbershoot arts festival that takes place over Labor Day weekend.
File 1321: Full Text >
Seattle Water System -- A Slideshow
The Seattle Public Utilities water system provides direct water service to around 630,000 people in and just outside the city of Seattle and sells water wholesale to cities and water districts serving another 720,000 people. Seattle's publicly owned water system began in 1890 with the purchase of several private water companies. Creation of a gravity supply system from the Cedar River beginning in 1901 gave Seattle enough water to accommodate its own growth and supply an ever-increasing number of other jurisdictions. Inauguration of the South Fork Tolt River supply in the 1960s added a second source, ensuring adequate supplies well into the twenty-first century. As the system grew and water quality requirements increased, water treatment evolved from manual application of chlorine at intakes to the current sophisticated Tolt and Cedar River treatment facilities. This slideshow history of the Seattle water system was written and curated by Kit Oldham.
File 9386: Full Text >
Seattle's History -- A 10-Minute Slideshow
This is a 10-minute slideshow of the history of Seattle. Written and Curated by Paul Dorpat.
File 7085: Full Text >
Thomson, Reginald Heber (1856-1949)
Reginald Heber Thomson probably did more to change the face of Seattle than any one individual. During his exemplary career as city engineer and beyond, he leveled hills, straightened and dredged waterways, reclaimed tideflats, built sewers, sidewalks, tunnels, bridges, and paved roads. He was instrumental in the creation of the Cedar River watershed, City Light, the Port of Seattle, and the Hiram M. Chittenden Locks. Almost all of Seattle's infrastructure can be attributed to R. H. Thomson.
File 2074: Full Text >
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Showing 1 - 17 of 17 results
Legislature incorporates the Town of Seattle for the first time on January 14, 1865.
On January 14, 1865, the Territory of Washington Legislature incorporates the Town of Seattle for the first time, adopting a city charter that puts the municipal government in the hands of a board of five trustees, to be elected annually. The Legislature defines the city limits as encompassing an area from Howell Street on the north to Atlantic Street on the South, and from Elliott Bay on the west to 24th Avenue S on the east.
File 168: Full Text >
Seattle City Council passes ordinance for first large-scale grading of a Seattle street on June 8, 1876.
On June 8, 1876, the Seattle City Council passes an ordinance for the first ever large-scale grading of a Seattle street. For the next 11 months, contractor George Edwards and his crews use picks, shovels, and wheelbarrows to smooth out Front Street and make it a gentle grade from James Street north to Pike Street. At the time Front Street (which will later be renamed First Street) runs right along the waterfront and is one of Seattle's main commercial thoroughfares.
File 10229: Full Text >
Denny Regrade first phase is completed on January 6, 1899.
On January 6, 1899, the first phase of the Denny Regrade is completed. The regrade of Denny Hill is one of several projects designed to make more level the steep hills of Seattle. The regrade is started in 1898 to level 1st Avenue with a uniform grade from Pine Street to Denny Way. Excess dirt is dumped into the tidelands of Elliott Bay.
File 708: Full Text >
Denny Regrade (Seattle) contract for second phase is issued August 29, 1903.
On August 29, 1903, C. J. Erickson (1852-1937) wins a contract to regrade a portion of Denny Hill. This is the second phase of the massive Denny Regrade, one of several projects designed to make more level the steep hills of Seattle.
File 709: Full Text >
Thomas Edison, world famous inventor, visits Seattle on September 11, 1908.
On September 11, 1908, the inventor Thomas A. Edison (1847-1931), accompanied by his wife Mina and daughter, stays at the Rainier-Grand Hotel while visiting Seattle on a long-deferred vacation.
File 2066: Full Text >
Denny Regrade second phase is completed on October 31, 1911.
On October 31, 1911, the second phase of the Denny Regrade is completed. The regrade of Denny Hill is one of several projects designed to make more level the steep hills of Seattle. It incorporates an area of downtown Seattle from 2nd Avenue to 5th Avenue and from Pike Street to Cedar Street.
File 710: Full Text >
Seattle defeats Bogue Improvement Plan on March 5, 1912.
On March 5, 1912, Seattle voters reject the Bogue Plan -- named after Virgil Bogue (1846-1916), the municipal planning director -- by a 10,000-vote margin. It would have established Seattle's first comprehensive plan and a variety of improvements, including a civic center in the new Denny Regrade area.
File 160: Full Text >
U.S. President Woodrow Wilson visits Seattle on September 13, 1919.
On Saturday September 13, 1919, U.S. President Woodrow Wilson (1856-1924) visits Seattle. After a parade through downtown Seattle, he reviews the 51 U.S. Navy vessels on Elliott Bay, the largest U.S. fleet ever assembled on the Pacific Coast. After dinner at The Hippodrome the President gives a speech to 7,000 at The Arena in support of the World War I peace treaty and the League of Nations.
File 879: Full Text >
U.S. President Warren G. Harding makes his last speech in Seattle on July 27, 1923.
On July 27, 1923 at 1:15 p.m., U.S. President Warren G. Harding (1865-1923) arrives at Seattle from Alaska. He reviews the fleet in the harbor, visits the Bell Street Pier in a parade through downtown, goes to Volunteer Park and Woodland Park to meet children, and then gives a speech on Alaska at University of Washington Stadium. At 7:35 p. m. he leaves by train for California. Warren G. Harding's speech in Seattle is his last. On his way to California he falls ill. He will die in San Francisco on August 2, 1923.
File 878: Full Text >
King County Sheriff's Department uncovers 190 cases of liquor in downtown Seattle raid on December 19, 1923.
On December 19, 1923, during Prohibition, a search warrant is issued to King County Sheriff department to search Union Stables at Western Avenue and Blanchard Street in downtown Seattle. The Sheriff's Department finds 190 cases of liquor including bourbon, scotch, French liquor, and assorted wines.
File 941: Full Text >
Seattle's Denny Regrade is completed after 32 years on December 10, 1930.
On December 10, 1930, the third and final phase of the Denny Regrade is completed. This public works project to lower Denny Hill level the area just north of downtown Seattle was executed over 32 years in three phases in 1898-1899, 1903-1911, and 1928-1930.
File 711: Full Text >
Lesbians' first Seattle bar opens about 1950.
About 1950, the first Seattle bar that caters to lesbians opens. The Hub, located at 421 Denny Way, is operated by Marjory Taylor and Anne Thompson.
File 1168: Full Text >
Seattle's Monorail construction contract is signed on May 13, 1961.
On May 13, 1961, the construction contract for Seattle's Alweg monorail is signed. The line, to be featured at the World's Fair in 1962, is to run on a raised track from the Century 21 Fairgrounds north of downtown Seattle along 5th Avenue to just north of Pine Street.
File 719: Full Text >
Seattle's Monorail is christened on April 19, 1962, just two days before Century 21 opens.
On April 19, 1962, two days before the Seattle Century 21 World's Fair opens, the wife of Sixten Holmquist christens the Monorail. Sixten Holmquist is President of Wegematic Corporation, a subsidiary of Alwac International, Inc. which holds the U.S. patent to Alweg monorails.
File 720: Full Text >
Arsonist kills 20 and injures 10 at the Ozark Hotel fire in Seattle on March 20, 1970.
At 2:30 a.m. on March 20, 1970, an arsonist sets a fire that sweeps up two stairways of the five-story wooden Ozark Hotel at Westlake Avenue and Lenora Street in Seattle. Fourteen men and six women die and 10 others are hospitalized with serious injuries. Subsequent fire codes led to the closure of many downtown single-room-occupancy (SRO) hotels, leading to a significang loss of low-income housing and rise in homelessness.
File 698: Full Text >
First Seattle International Film Festival (SIFF) opens at Moore Egyptian Theatre on May 14, 1976.
On May 14, 1976, the first Seattle International Film Festival (SIFF) opens at the historic Moore Egyptian Theatre at 2nd Avenue and Virginia Street. The festival's founders, Dan Ireland (b. 1958) and Darryl MacDonald, had taken over the Moore Theatre the previous year, cleaned it up, installed a new screen and sound system, and reopened it as the The Moore Egyptian in December 1975. They show a mix of classic Hollywood revivals and foreign films before launching the film festival, which will run from May 14 through May 31, 1976, and features films from several countries. SIFF stays at the Moore Egyptian for five seasons before relocating in 1981 to the Masonic Temple on Capitol Hill, which will be renovated by Ireland and MacDonald and renamed the Egyptian. The Seattle International Film Festival will grow to be one of the nation's largest and continues (2012) to bring a wide variety of foreign and domestic films, both well-known and obscure, to Northwest audiences.
File 10097: Full Text >
Social advocacy newspaper Real Change debuts in Seattle on August 20, 1994.
On August 20, 1994, the first issue of Real Change, Puget Sound's Newspaper for the Poor and Homeless, hits the streets in Seattle. It is sold by licensed vendors who are, for the most part, themselves poor and homeless. Vendors keep 75 cents out of each $1 copy they sell.
File 2716: Full Text >
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Showing 1 - 3 of 3 results
Reflections on Belltown
In this people's history, Joe Martin reflects on the old Belltown neighborhood of downtown Seattle, "once a quiet community largely made up of skid roaders, low-income elderly, struggling artists, and working people," and now "one of the trendiest neighborhoods in the city" with some of the highest rents. The Belltown denizens who speak out here include Ben Ferguson, Mark Sullo, Buster Simpson, Robert Lavigne, Father Tony Haycock, Joan Paulson, Jesse Petrich, Jesse Petrich, Dewitt Harris, Ann Hirschi, Gretchen Apgar, Gillian Parke, Laurie Olin, Hubert "Mac" McCanlies, and others.
File 2736: Full Text >
South Lake Union: The Evolution of a Dream
This essay surveys the development of Seattle's South Lake Union and Cascade communities from 1854 to 2003, with emphasis on visions for its future including Virgil Bogue's 1911 Plan of Seattle, the 1972 Bay Freeway, the 1995-1996 Seattle Commons proposals, and Paul Allen's efforts to create a new community centered on biotechnology. It was published in The Seattle Times on June 8, 2003.
File 4250: Full Text >
Speakeasy Fire: An Eyewitness Account of the fire on May 18, 2001
Two members of HistoryLink's staff, Alyssa Burrows and Chris Goodman, happened to be at the Speakeasy Cafe the night it burned down. This is Alyssa'a first-hand account of the confused scene as the building caught fire.
File 3301: Full Text >
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