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13 results for: Puget Sound Electric Railway

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Image of Seattle Electric Company ticket, Seattle, 1903
Ephemera

Seattle Electric Company ticket, Seattle, 1903

In 1898 the Seattle Electric Company was granted a contract to consolidate the city's 22 separate streetcar lines and private street railways. The SEC was an arm of the national Stone & Webster utility cartel, which also controlled the city's electrical grid and operated the Puget Sound Electric Railway (PSE), an interurban line linking Tacoma, Seattle, and Everett. Due to…
ID Number:1953.641.1b
Date:1903
Image of Puget Sound Electric Railway time table, 1904
Ephemera

Puget Sound Electric Railway time table, 1904

The Puget Sound Electric Railway was an interurban railway that ran for 36 miles between downtown Tacoma and Pioneer Square in Seattle, where it interchanged with other interurbans in the area. The railroad ran from 1902-1928, when Highway 99 was opened to accommodate the rise in popularity of automobiles over trains and streetcars. Most of the rails were pulled up…
ID Number:1953.677.1
Date:1904
Image of Alki Beach Park, Seattle, circa 1908
Photograph

Alki Beach Park, Seattle, circa 1908

Alki Beach has long been a popular recreation spot in the Puget Sound region. Originally a favorite campsite for Duwamish Tribe, it became known as the birthplace of Seattle when the Denny Party landed there in 1851. They called this settlement "New York Alki," a reference to the hope that it would grow to become an important city ("Alki" is…
ID Number:1973.5695.1
Date:Circa 1908
Image of View of Latona Bridge and Lake Union, Seattle, circa 1915
Photograph

View of Latona Bridge and Lake Union, Seattle, circa 1915

Seattle's first substantial bridge to cross Lake Union was the Latona Bridge, a pile-driven, fixed-span bridge linking the Eastlake neighborhood to the University District at Portage Bay. Constructed in 1891 for Seattle pioneer and investor David T. Denny (1832-1903) as an extension of his Rainier Power & Railway Co., the bridge was rebuilt in 1902 to allow pedestrian and vehicular…
ID Number:1983.10.1383.2
Date:Circa 1915
Image of A wreck on the Puget Sound Electric Railway, September 23, 1925
Photograph

A wreck on the Puget Sound Electric Railway, September 23, 1925

In September 1925, two interurban trains collided head-on in a dense fog. The wreck took place just south of Kent. The motorman in the southbound train saw the other train's lights, locked on the brakes and jumped. Luckily, the eighteen people injured in the accident received only cuts and bruises. In this photo, spectators watch as a crane prepares to…
ID Number:1983.10.3019.2
Date:1925
Image of Alki Beach, Seattle, circa 1911
Photograph

Alki Beach, Seattle, circa 1911

Long a site for Native encampments, Alki Beach in West Seattle became a popular Sunday outing for Seattleites after the installation of ferry service to the beach in 1888. By 1902, it was so well-visited that it became the destination for a new electric street railway line from Seattle. This view looks north and shows the muddy roadway alongside the…
ID Number:1983.10.7978
Date:Circa 1911
Image of Fremont streetcar and pedestrians along waterfront, Seattle, circa 1900
Photograph

Fremont streetcar and pedestrians along waterfront, Seattle, circa 1900

In this photo, the "Fremont 16" streetcar runs on tracks along the west side of Lake Union, with a smartly dressed couple strolling on the adjacent wooden walkway. The letters "SE Ry" are worked into the ornate metalwork on the electrical poles, initials of the Seattle Electric Railway Company. Though unattributed, the photograph was probably taken by Seattle photographer John…
ID Number:2011.26.7.12
Date:Circa 1900
Image of Seattle Electric Company trip guide, 1909
Ephemera

Seattle Electric Company trip guide, 1909

In 1898 the Seattle Electric Company was granted a contract to consolidate the city's 22 separate streetcar lines and private street railways. The SEC was an arm of the national Stone & Webster utility cartel, which also controlled the city’s electrical grid and operated the Puget Sound Electric Railway (PSER), an interurban line linking Tacoma, Seattle, and Everett. Due to…
ID Number:2018.3.3.25
Date:1909
Image of Races at the Meadows program, August 3, 1906
Program

Races at the Meadows program, August 3, 1906

Built in 1902 by the King County Fair Association, The Meadows was the premier venue in the Northwest for horse racing. The track was located just five miles south of downtown Seattle, between the south end of Beacon Hill and the Duwamish River, in what is now known as the Georgetown neighborhood. The grandstands seated 10,000 spectators, who had convenient…
ID Number:2018.3.3.51
Date:1906
Image of Foster, Washington, plat map, circa 1905
Cartographic material

Foster, Washington, plat map, circa 1905

This blueprint map depicts the former King County community of Foster, Washington, just south of Seattle city limits. Brothers Joseph and Stephen Foster came from Illinois and settled in the area in 1852, where the Black and White Rivers met. Joseph Foster became a very prominent pioneer who served as an early Washington Territorial legislator, the first superintendent of schools,…
ID Number:2019.3.30
Date:Circa 1905
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MOHAI stands on the historic and contemporary lands and shores of the Duwamish, Suquamish, Muckleshoot, and other Coast Salish Nations. We acknowledge the forced displacement of Native Communities from this land while honoring the endurance of the Duwamish people who still live here.
Address: 860 Terry Ave N, Seattle WA, 98109
Phone: 206 324 1126
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