Topic: Infrastructure
This file contains an undated, unsigned letter describing what it was like working at Seattle City Light in the early years, around 1910. The letter is held in the Seattle Municipal Archives. It descr...
The Seattle Housing Authority (SHA) was established in 1939 during the waning days of the Great Depression. It was inspired by New Deal legislation and brought to life largely through the tireless eff...
The 1960s brought a renaissance of sorts for the Seattle Housing Authority (SHA), which had been established in 1939 and endured bleak years during the 1950s. In the Sixties different forms of federal...
The Seattle Housing Authority (SHA) was founded in 1939 as part of a federal program to clear slums and create jobs by building housing for the poor. After the United States entered World War II, the ...
In this interview, former Seattle mayor Charles Royer (b. 1939) discusses the housing crisis that faced older residents of Seattle in the early 1980s, and how the City of Seattle and the Seattle Housi...
The Seattle, Lake Shore & Eastern Railroad Company was incorporated on April 15, 1885, as a solution to the problem of connecting Seattle to the Canadian border. The line was incorporated into the...
The Seattle Steam Heat & Power Company was formed the year after the Great Fire of 1889 destroyed most of the city's commercial core and waterfront. The firm's founder and largest shareholder was Jame...
This condensed chronology traces major milestones in the evolution of public transportation in greater Seattle and was originally published in The Seattle Times on October 20, 2002. Detailed essays on...
The City of West Seattle was annexed to Seattle in 1907, in large measure to improve the community's access to sufficient water and other utilities. Even so, well more than two decades would pass befo...
Bob Donegan, President of Ivar's, has been a tireless advocate for the interests of businesses along Seattle's waterfront and beyond. In conversation with Dominic Black he recounts his activism around...
Cary Moon (b. 1963) was a co-founder of the People's Waterfront Coalition in Seattle. In these extracts from her conversation with Dominic Black and Jennifer Ott of HistoryLink, she recounts her early...
Christine Gregoire (b. 1947) served as Governor of Washington from 2005 to 2013. In this 2022 interview with HistoryLink's Dominic Black and Jennifer Ott, Gregoire discusses the political and financia...
Greg Nickels was mayor of Seattle from January 1, 2002, until December 31, 2009. In the following audio extracts he reflects on the process around replacing the Alaskan Way Viaduct on Seattle's waterf...
Jared Smith was the Head of Transportation, Policy and Planning for the City of Seattle when the Nisqually earthquake hit in 2001. He worked for the city and as an independent consultant througho...
Jason Toft is a Principal Research Scientist in the University of Washington’s School of Aquatic and Fishery Sciences. In these audio cuts he speaks to HistoryLink’s Jennifer Ott and Domin...
Maggie Walker, chair of Friends of Waterfront Seattle, joined former Seattle Mayor and fellow committee member Charley Royer on July 23, 2022, to talk about how they designed the process around reimag...
Marshall Foster has helped shape Seattle's reimagined waterfront as the city's director of the Office of Waterfront and Civic Projects. In this 2022 interview with HistoryLink's Dominic Black and...
Mike McGinn (b. 1959) served as Mayor of Seattle from 2009 to 2013. In this 2022 interview with HistoryLink's Dominic Black and Jennifer Ott, McGinn discusses his early political influences, his views...
Paula Hammond was Washington State Secretary of Transportation from August 2007 to March 2013. She was appointed by Governor Christine Gregoire. In these audio clips she outlines her early experi...
Seattle architect Rico Quirindongo served as chair of the Pike Place Market Preservation and Development Authority Council during planning and construction of the MarketFront addition on Western Avenu...
The natural harbor of Elliott Bay offered a wealth of resources to the settlers who came to its shores in the 1850s to build Seattle into a city. Its deep waters provided ample space for ships to anch...
The late 1960s and early 1970s saw a profound shift in thinking about Seattle's central waterfront. As the central business district struggled with declining customers and community groups advocated f...
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 1...
John D. Spellman was the first King County Executive and later served as governor of Washington. Elected Executive in 1969, shortly after the County's Home Rule Charter created the position, Spellman ...