83 results for: Great Seattle Fire (1889)
Soda fountain chair from Seattle's main Post Office once located at 3rd and Union, ca. 1892-1910
Seattle's first post office was located in early settler Arthur Denny's cabin home with Denny as the first official Postmaster. Move forward fifty years to 1890, and the post office, having moved to various places, was then located in a building on Columbia Street that was constructed after the Great Seattle Fire of 1889. The first permanent home for the…
ID Number:1958.1449.7
Date:1892-1910
Two silver spoons melted together from the Seattle Fire of 1889
The Great Fire of June 6, 1889 was a significant turning point in Seattle's history and changed both the physical and political landscapes of the city. The fire started in a paint and woodwork shop at Front and Madison and swept southward across 100 acres of Seattle's business district and waterfront. The inferno completely consumed the business district's wooden buildings,…
ID Number:1958.1521.2
Date:Circa 1880
Stack of melted saucers from the Seattle Fire of 1889
The Great Fire of June 6, 1889 was a significant turning point in Seattle's history and changed both the physical and political landscapes of the city. The fire started in a paint and woodwork shop at Front and Madison and swept southward across 100 acres of Seattle's business district and waterfront. The inferno completely consumed the business district's wooden buildings,…
ID Number:1958.1550.1
Date:Circa 1880
Painting of the Great Seattle Fire and Mount Rainier by B. J. Harnett, 1889
Seattle’s Great Fire occurred on June 6, 1889, in a carpenter shop at 1st Avenue and Madison Street. The story goes that a workman, John Back, was melting glue in a pot that boiled over onto the floor, igniting wood shavings and sawdust. The fire quickly grew, and flames swept out through the shop’s open doors and windows, spreading to…
ID Number:1959.1721
Date:1889
Ballot box with 29 white marbles and 8 black marbles, ca. 1880
This ballot box was used prior to the 1889 Great Seattle Fire by members of the Seattle Fire Department in order to elect volunteer firefighters. The box comes with 29 white marbles and 8 black marbles.
ID Number:1959.2208
Date:Circa 1880
Purple velvet hat from MacDougall & Southwick, ca. 1905
This hat was sold at Seattle department store MacDougall & Southwick. In 1875 Polish immigrants Ferdinand Toklas (1845-1924) and Paul Singerman (1847-1915) opened a retail business which soon became the city's first department store. Originally located at Cherry and Front Street (later called 1st Avenue), the store moved and expanded multiple times and was an early adopter of new technologies…
ID Number:1960.1901.1M221
Date:Circa 1905
Rust-colored felt hat from J.S. Graham, 1921
This hat was sold by Seattle retailer J.S. Graham. Owner John Graham opened the business just after the Great Seattle Fire of 1889. His business grew through the years, and by 1910 he had a store on the corner of Second Ave and Spring Street where he specialized in clothing for women and children. Graham made routine buying trips to…
ID Number:1960.2028.M234
Date:1921
Dynamo mechanism, said to be the first to cross the Rockies, melted in the Seattle Fire of 1889
This twisted piece of metal was once a dynamo mechanism, possibly the first to cross the Rockies. A dynamometer or "dynamo" for short, is a device for measuring force. This one was melted nearly past recognition in the Great Seattle fire of 1889. The June 6th fire was a significant turning point in Seattle's history and changed both the physical…
ID Number:1960.2102.2
Date:1880-1885
China doll found by Frank H. Davidson during the Seattle Fire of 1889
The Great Fire of June 6, 1889 was a significant turning point in Seattle's history and changed both the physical and political landscapes of the city. The fire started in a paint and woodwork shop at Front and Madison and swept southward across 100 acres of Seattle's business district and waterfront. The inferno completely consumed the business district's wooden buildings,…
ID Number:1960.2128
Date:Circa 1870
White china coffee mug that burned in the Seattle Fire of 1889
The Great Seattle Fire of 1889 burned many of the city's blocks to the ground and left countless damaged items in its wake including this charred coffee mug from the Columbia and Puget Sound Railroad Restaurant at Jackson and Commercial Streets. Thomas Marley, owner of the restaurant, saw his land value skyrocket after the fire convincing him not to rebuild.…
ID Number:1961.2371.10
Date:Circa 1880