Topic: Business
Randy Finley -- who became known to a generation of Seattle moviegoers for his long black beard, a habit of wearing an army jacket with his name sewn on it, and his innate ability to generate hype -- ...
Bob and Micki Flowers have a history of breaking down racial barriers. She was the first female African American broadcaster at KIRO television; he was the first black executive at Washington Mutual b...
When it opened on April 19, 1929, Seattle's Fox Theatre was described as being "fairy-like in appearance," but that luster would fade pretty quickly in the years following its debut. Known variously a...
Prentis Frazier, a son of former slaves, arrived in Seattle in 1916 and operated a number of businesses which included real estate, insurance, bail bonds, and publishing.
Frederick & Nelson was for many years Seattle's premier department store. The store was founded by Donald E. Frederick (1860-1937) and Nels B. Nelson (1854-1907). In 1890, they began selling used ...
This history of the Frederick & Nelson Department Store is by Gordon Padelford, age 13 at this writing (May 2002). Gordon Padelford is the great grandson of the founder of the store, Donald Edward...
A fourth-generation Washington businessman and leading Eastside real-estate baron, Kemper Freeman Jr. directed redevelopment of his father's Bellevue Square into a first-class urban mall with 200 stor...
The waterfront of Friday Harbor, now the county seat and only incorporated town in San Juan County, has served as a sheltered access to San Juan Island from the early days of human occupation of the a...
The Bartell Drug Company, the oldest drugstore chain in the United States, has thrived throughout most of its 120-year history, with the exception of several decades spanning the 1950s to the 1970s. T...
Furniture manufacturing was a key industry in Tacoma for nearly a century. By the late nineteenth century much of the Pierce County city's economy was built on the lumber industry. The availability of...
G.O. Guy (1846-1927) opened his first drugstore in Seattle in 1888, but it wasn't his first store -- that came in Chicago in 1874. After his death, his sons Albert (1892-1983) and George (1881-1968) ...
For a good part of the last century, Gai's Northwest Bakeries was Seattle's largest bakery, supplying high-end restaurants and fast-food chains alike, and stocking area grocery stores with breads and ...
When he died at the age of 104, Hiram R. Gale was the last Civil War veteran in the Pacific Northwest. Born in Vermont, he joined the Union Army in 1864 and served until after the war ended the next y...
William H. (Bill) Gates was co-founder and CEO of Microsoft Corp. As such, he not only accumulated a fortune -- in 2013 he was the richest person in the world, with a net worth of $72.1 billion -- but...
Cheryl Linn Glass was the first African American female professional race-car driver in the United States. Growing up in Seattle, at the age of 9 she started her own doll business and also began drivi...
Alex Golitzin (b. 1939) is a revered figure in Washington winemaking. Born in France, raised in California, and trained as an engineer, Golitzin was living in Snohomish and working at Scott Paper Comp...
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, Goodw...
Architect John Graham Sr. designed many of Seattle’s most significant commercial buildings during the first half of the twentieth century. Many, including the former Frederick & Nelson build...
For 10 years beginning in 1929, most of the world experienced the largest economic depression in history. The Great Depression devastated national economies, threw millions out of work, and contribute...
Great Western Malting was founded in Vancouver, Washington, shortly after the repeal of Prohibition by a group of Washington and Oregon businessmen, most of whom were brewery owners. Prohibition had s...
William Grose, a Black pioneer, came to Seattle around 1860 and became a successful businessman. He acquired one of the largest land holdings in the city and paid among the most in taxes.
In this reminiscence, John Brace, great-grandson of Brace and Hergert Mill founder John S. Brace and grandson of Brace Lumber Company cofounder Nick Brace remembers life in the Brace Lumber family and...
Gardner J. Gwinn was a talented and industrious immigrant from Canada who quickly established himself as one of Seattle's most influential home builders and land developers in the early decades of t...
Ivar Haglund, Seattle character, folksinger, and restaurateur was known as "King of the Waterfront," and also "Mayor" and "Patriarch" of the waterfront. He began as a folksinger, and in 1938 establish...