In 1907, real-estate developer Frank Goodwin founded one of Seattle's most famous landmarks, Pike Place Market, using gold he had mined in the Yukon a decade earlier. Born on a farm in Illinois, Goodwin first arrived in Seattle in 1898 on his way to the Klondike. After his gold stake paid off, he moved to Washington, D.C., to find a wife. That accomplished, he returned to Seattle around 1905 with his new family to join brothers Ervin and John in their real-estate business. In September 1907, a month after local farmers began selling their produce from horse-drawn carts along Pike Place, the Goodwins pitched the idea of building a sheltered structure to protect both buyers and sellers from the elements. With property they acquired along Pike Place, they erected a covered arcade housing 76 rental stalls, which opened on November 30, 1907. Goodwin was president of the public market for nearly two decades until his nephew Arthur took over. He continued mining, this time for coal and petroleum, and founded a bank. In the 1930s he launched two unsuccessful bids for a U.S. Senate seat, running as a conservative Republican. He died on December 3, 1954.
From the Farm to the Klondike
Frank Goodwin was born on a farm in Kankakee, Illinois, on August 17, 1865, to Benjamin Goodwin (1832-1924) and Mary Soper Goodwin (1833-1881). He was one of six sons. Among them were Joseph Henry (1854-1912), George Don (1863-1944), John William (1867-1940), and Ervin Shirley (1869-1937). Frank attended Lebanon Normal School in Lebanon, Ohio; Brookings Agricultural College in Brookings, South Dakota; and the University of Minnesota. His interests tended toward science, architecture, and engineering. Seen as eccentric and exceedingly thrifty, "Frank suffered from asthma, practiced a rigorous vegetarianism, slept out of doors in his own backyard" ("Frank Goodwin's Biography"). In his early 30s, he heard about the gold rush attracting thousands of miners to northwestern Canada. In 1898 he decided to join them.
Goodwin journeyed to Seattle, caught a ship to Skagway, and traveled on to Dawson, where he and his brother John staked a claim. A year later, he returned to Seattle with a small fortune: about $50,000 in gold dust and nuggets. With his Klondike stake in hand, he could now envision marriage, and he moved to Washington, D.C., to find a suitable mate. Around 1900, he "was invited to the party of a friend who had 'just the girl' for him. Frank went to the party, but experienced love at first sight with 'just the girl's' sister" ("Frank Goodwin's Biography"). Her name was Mabel Stier (1874-1932).
While in Washington, D.C., Goodwin took an interest in automobile design and built his own steam-powered car as part of his new business, Capitol Automobile Company. For the prototype, he bought the motor and the pump, and then contracted with a blacksmith, an upholsterer, and a carriage-maker to fabricate the other parts. He drove that car for about eight years, both in Washington and later in Seattle. Goodwin also tinkered with solving the challenge of manned flight but lost interest after the Wright brothers beat him to it in 1903 at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina.
Frank and Mabel married in 1901 and the following year welcomed their first child, Frank Stier Goodwin (1902-1977). The family remained in the national capital until 1905, when they moved to Seattle. There the Goodwins had three more children: Jean Campbell (1908-1931), Mary Margaret (1911-1996), and William Ervin (1912-1970). Still nursing an interest in automobiles, Goodwin built Seattle's first service station in 1905 at the intersection of Lake Washington Boulevard and Madison Street, according to his Seattle Post-Intelligencer obituary.
A Golden Opportunity
In Seattle, Goodwin joined his brothers John and Ervin in the Goodwin Real Estate Company. (The firm had initially been called Randall & Goodwin to acknowledge an earlier partner, G. W. Randall.) The company handled real-estate sales, rentals, and fire insurance as well as larger business transactions. In January 1907, for example, it negotiated the sale of a triangular piece of property on Westlake Avenue between Olive and Pine streets for $115,000. In April 1907, the company managed the sale of the Hotel Lincoln at the corner of 4th Avenue and Madison Street for $350,000. From their offices at 510 Alaska Building, the brothers placed ads nearly every day in the local papers advertising rooms or apartments to rent or single-family homes to buy. Extolling the investment potential of properties downtown and along the waterfront, they followed their own advice, buying "the Leland Hotel at the western end of Pike Street, the undeveloped land along the bluff west of Pike Place, and other land between First and Second Avenues, north of Pike. The brothers started a sugar import business in the building at the southwest corner of 1st & Pike" ("Frank Goodwin's Biography").
In the early 1900s, the community was up-in-arms about price fixing and rent gouging as farmers, who were mainly immigrants, tried to make a living. Residents were angry about the high consumer costs and farmers were mad about the commissions they were forced to pay. On August 5, 1907, the Seattle City Council, led by Council President Thomas Revelle (1868-1937), passed Ordinance 16636 establishing a public farmers market on the west side of Pike Place. On a rainy Saturday morning, August 17, 1907 (coincidentally, Goodwin's 42nd birthday), a handful of wagons piled high with produce made their way to a newly built plank roadway by the Leland Hotel. Thousands of shoppers showed up looking for bargains and quickly stripped the carts bare. The following Monday, 10 wagons appeared; 20 were there on Tuesday. By the next weekend, 70 wagons had lined up.
Goodwin and his brothers saw a golden opportunity: Why not construct a permanent arcade to get the farmers and the customers out of the rain? The city had no funds for the project so the Goodwins stepped in.
"A permit was issued to the Goodwin Real Estate Company today [September 21, 1907] by the board of public works for the construction of a temporary frame market building on the west side of Pike Place, under authority granted by the city council. Work on the new market building will begin Monday, the proposed structure to cost in the neighborhood of $15,000. By an arrangement with the Goodwin Real Estate Company, a nineteen-foot roof will be constructed over Pike Place in front of this building and attached to it from the permanent awning over the sidewalk. Columns at the edge of the sidewalk will support the roof and the additional cost of this will be borne by the city under the ordinance appropriating $1,000 ... The Goodwin building will be two stories high, one above and one below the level of Pike Place, and it will be fitted with stalls and stores suitable for market purposes" ("Market Building Authorized").
Pike Place Market Expands
The Pike Place Market covered arcade opened on November 30, 1907, with space for 76 stalls rented at reasonable prices to individual farmers. Opening-day festivities included a 40-piece band and a rousing speech by City Council President Revelle. The market was so popular with farmers and consumers that before long additional space was needed. In outlining his plans in 1910 for a larger, more modern building, Goodwin, now president of the newly formed Public Market and Department Store Company, indicated that "the Pike Place frontage of the building shall be set back ten feet from the sidewalk. In the arcade between the store fronts and the sidewalk will be selling space from which the farmers can sell their produce. This will remove them from the street" ("New Corporation in Control of Market").
The market's overwhelming success led city officials to consider opening a second farmers market in 1910 along Western Avenue. Not surprisingly, Goodwin vigorously opposed the idea, arguing that one strong unified market would be better than two smaller ones, plus the city would save on duplicate costs for maintenance and utilities. "In the course of a year something like 20,000 farmers come to market to sell their stuff direct to the consumer. While statistics as to the value of the produce are difficult to obtain it is safe to say that not less than $1,000,000 worth of produce is thus sold every year ... The city market inspector's official report shows that there are 300,000 personal visits to this market every month" ("Committee Has Proof ..."). Goodwin encouraged restaurants, businesses, and boarding houses to step up their support and patronize the farmers.
The Goodwins spent the next decade purchasing more property and erecting new buildings or renovating existing ones. The Sanitary Public Market opened in 1910, followed by the Corner Market Building in 1912. With Goodwin acting as architect, in 1913 the brothers proposed what The Seattle Times called a "public-spirited improvement" ("Market on Pike Place Rebounding ..."). The city agreed to pave the street while "the Goodwins will install a first-class modern market with every facility for the farmer, whether he be tributary to the city by land or by water. Every farmer's stall will be taken off the already too narrow street and housed under the roof of the new market, which will be arcaded for that purpose, a lease of ten years, free of cost, being given to the city for this purpose" ("Market on Pike Place Rebounding ..."). The improvements were lauded by Seattle Mayor George F. Cotterill (1865-1958) in 1914 in his annual address to the city.
The Farley Building (Main Market) opened in 1914, and a former Bartell Building became the Economy Market in 1916. In 1919, Goodwin was again asked to enlarge the market space without adding to traffic congestion. His plan extended "the present market buildings over Western Avenue at a height that would not interfere with traffic on that thoroughfare. The Pike Place level is proposed for market stalls and a large space below would be available for automobile storage during the day" ("Outlines Plan of Enlarged Market"). The cost for the land, labor, and materials was estimated at $405,000.
By now, the privately held market had earned a national reputation as the "finest sales place in country" ("Improved Public Market Building") yet the project still rubbed some of Seattle's leaders the wrong way, including Seattle Mayor Edwin J. Brown (1864-1941). As another seven-story building on Western Avenue got ready to open in 1922, Goodwin was crystal-clear in setting the record straight:
"We cordially invite all Seattle to come out today to the grand opening and judge for themselves whether they like the new market we have presented them or whether they would like to dig up the $3,000,000 for Dr. Brown to build still another market ... I am sorry of course that Mayor Brown and Superintendent Proctor seem not pleased with the new market we have donated to the city for the farmers ... They are evidently unaware that the market has not cost the taxpayer a dollar. We have provided free of cost all the housing for 240 farmers at a cost of $150,000. This leaves only sixty farmers for the city to house in the steel shed which cost it only $13,000 and which has more than been made up by surplus revenues since it was built" ("New $150,000 Market Opens ...").
The Next Generation
As market president, Goodwin oversaw operations from his modest below-ground office at Pike Place Market. Located next to the restrooms, the office was barely large enough to hold two desks and two chairs. He remained there until 1926, when his nephew Arthur bought out his uncle's interest in market operations; Frank continued to own the real property.
Born in New York City on June 4, 1887, to a father who was a Shakespearean actor, Arthur Goodwin moved to Seattle in 1907, the same year the market was founded. He was employed initially as a bookkeeper at Goodwin Real Estate and then became market assistant manager in 1916, learning the business first-hand from Uncle Frank. When Frank was ready to hand over the reins, it was Arthur who raised $750,000 to purchase the Public Market and Department Store Company and several of the market properties. The new company was called Pike Place Markets, Inc., and Arthur Goodwin was president.
His style of leadership was more flamboyant than his uncle's. He redesigned the market's interior spaces to incorporate coved ceilings, installed column capitals with decorative floral features, and mounted distinctive light fixtures. He moved his personal office above ground with a stunning view of Pike Place. The wood-paneled office contained a tiled fireplace, large conference table, bookcases, and a library. His attention to detail paid off: "Under Goodwin, the market grew from 76 stalls to 175; in 1927 rentals brought in $5,000 weekly" ("Arthur Goodwin").
In 1929, Arthur wrote a book called Markets: Public and Private – Their Establishment and Administration, in which he summarized many of the lessons he had learned from his uncle. He remained market president until 1933, when he "gradually lost control of the company to Giuseppe 'Joe' Desimone, ... a savvy businessman and ingratiating politician who put his faith in real property, not stocks or speculation" (Crowley). Arthur kept working at the market until 1941, when he sold his remaining market stock to Desimone. He moved to Salt Lake City and died in the mid-1950s.
Family Tragedies and Political Aspirations
In the early 1930s, tragedy struck Frank Goodwin and his family twice in quick succession. His daughter Jean, who had married Thomas Keuhnert in 1930, died in childbirth on May 15, 1931, at the age of 22. The following year, on September 27, 1932, his wife Mabel collapsed outside on the grounds of the family home, stricken by a heart attack. She was 58.
After the death of his wife, Goodwin threw himself into politics as a conservative Republican. In 1934, he ran for a U.S. Senate seat from Washington state, placing ads in local papers that claimed he was owner of 40 industries and founder of the "famous Pike Place Market, providing 500 jobs" ("Frank Goodwin: Candidate for U.S. Senate"). The ad affirmed he was in vigorous health with no ailments, and a staunch Republican who championed progress and individualism. He bemoaned the majority of lawyers in Congress (60 percent, by his count), and advocated that more businessmen and farmers be elected. When the primary votes were counted, however, Goodwin came in last among a field of four, garnering less than 8 percent of the vote. Undeterred, he ran again for the Senate in 1938 but was defeated a second time.
In addition to running Pike Place Market, Goodwin founded or served as director of several mining and banking enterprises. He was founder of the Fulton Petroleum Corporation, executive vice president in charge of engineering and marketing for the Carbon Dioxice [sic] and Chemical Co. (a subsidiary of Fulton Petroleum), and a partner in the Sultan Queen Mining Company. He founded a bank that became part of the Seaboard Branch of the Seattle-First National Bank, and was a director of the Dexter Horton National Bank. A charter member of the Arctic Club, he was also a member of the Rainier Club, Inglewood Golf and Country Club, and Seattle Golf Club.
Goodwin died in his sleep on December 3, 1954, at his home at 417 34th Avenue. He was 89 years old. After his death, his estate was valued at $50,000. He bequeathed $2,000 to the United Good Neighbor fund and $1,000 to the First Christian Church.
At the Pike Place Market's centennial in 2007, a delegation of about 70 Goodwin relatives traveled to Seattle, some from as far away as Maine. Most had never met before. Two of Frank's grandchildren, Bill Goodwin and Barbara Bonamy, had contacted the Public Development Authority, the entity responsible for the market, to ask if it would honor Frank and Arthur Goodwin in some tangible way. The family suggested a plaque and a time capsule. "[W]hile there's a plaque near the fish sellers for Giuseppe (Joe) Desimone, who was the colorful head of the Market in the '30s, no one thought to put one up for the Goodwins ... Frank Goodwin does have a library named after him in an out-of-the-way wing on the Market's second floor, 'but I'd like to see something more prominent, where tourists would see it,' Bonamy said" ("Family Pushes ...").
