从灯塔山的东南方可俯瞰西雅图市区全貌，而巍然屹立于灯塔山北端的 16 层太平洋医学中心 (Pacific Medical Center) 更令此山卓尔不群。山脊从杜瓦米什河 (Duwamish River) 和雷尼尔谷之间的 First Hill 向东南方向绵延不绝，海拔 350 英尺。灯塔山街区与西雅图市区似乎近在咫尺，但是地理环境又使得各街区独具特色。早在 19 世纪 50 年代，便有移民散居于山脊地带，但几十年间，大部分区域仍未得以开发。联邦军 (Union Army) 退伍军人、房地产开发商 M. Harwood Young (1846-1913) 于 1889 年以波士顿历史上著名的“Beacon Hill”命名此山，并修建了连接该街区和市区的有轨电车线路。由于沿 Jackson 和 Dearborn 大街重整坡度而切断山脊，因此只需在 12th Avenue S 上架起一座通往灯塔山的大桥，即可从市区直接前往雷尼尔谷。为蓄留市内雪松河 (Cedar River) 水系的河水，而在山脊上修建了水库（很早以前，为蓄留华盛顿湖的湖水，业已修建了小型水库），同时，还在邻近地区修建了杰佛逊公园 (Jefferson Park) 高尔夫球场。20 世纪 30 年代，美国海军医院（“太平洋医学中心”的前身）建成。二战后，在灯塔山的最高点（即杰佛逊公园南侧）成立了一家大规模的退伍军人医院。 20 世纪 60 年代，5 号州际公路被切断为灯塔山的西坡。
西雅图街区：灯塔山 (Beacon Hill)--简史
- By David Wilma
- Posted 2/21/2001
- HistoryLink.org Essay 3004
Sources:
Duwamish Diary (Seattle: Cleveland High School, 1949), 90-109; Greg Lange, "King County's First White Settlers," Cyberpedia Library, HistoryLink.org Website (www.HistoryLink.org); Alan J. Stein, "Beacon Hill Library and its Neighborhood," Ibid.; David Wilma, "Sand Point Naval Air Station: 1920-1970," Ibid., "Seattle's first military road is completed in 1860," Timeline Library, Ibid.; "Seattle pesthouse shelters 27 smallpox patients on December 26, 1892," Ibid.; "Interstate 5 completed from Everett to Tacoma on January 31, 1967," Ibid.; "Chicano activists occupy abandoned school that becomes El Centro on October 11, 1972," Ibid.; Clarence Bagley, The History of Seattle, (Chicago: S.J. Clarke Publishing Co., 1916), 357-363; James Bush, "Prickly Holly," The Weekly, March 11-17, 1999, (wwww.seattleweekly.com); "Pac Med: Looking Back," Pacific Medical Centers Website (www.pacmed.org); Nina Shapiro, "Dressing up the Projects," Ibid., December 23-29, 1999; Don Sherwood, "Jefferson Park Golf Course," Interpretive Essays on Seattle Parks, Vol. 3, (Seattle: Seattle Parks and Recreation Department, 1974); J. Martin McOmber, "Amazon Searches for Big Office Digs," The Seattle Times, February 8, 2005 (http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/home/index.html); Eric Pryne, " Wright Runstad Faces Foreclosure on Former Amazon HQ," Ibid., September 27, 2011.
Note: This essay was corrected (date of the U.S. Marine Hospital) on June 29, 2007, and was updated and revised on October 31, 2011; it was again corrected on January 13, 2012.
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