141 results for: Great Seattle Fire (1889)
Photograph
Members of the Washington National Guard in Seattle, June 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. One hundred acres of Seattle's business district and waterfront were destroyed. The burned areas were guarded and patrolled by members of the Washington National Guard from Seattle, Tacoma, and Port Townsend until June 11,…
ID Number:SHS710
Date:1889
Photograph
Men posing in front of tent near Jacob Furth home, 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. In this image men pose in front of a tent set up after the fire during regrading operations, in which streets were raised up to 22 feet in places, helping to level the hilly…
ID Number:SHS1359
Date:1889
Photograph
Columbia St., looking east from 3rd Ave., Seattle, circa 1890
Seattle in the early 1890s was a rapidly growing city. The Seattle City Census of 1888 records population at 19,116, and although 1889's Great Fire leveled 116 acres in the heart of the city's business district, by 1890 the city's population actually grew to 40,000 inhabitants from the influx of people helping to recreate the city. Lumber and coal were…
ID Number:SHS1546
Date:Circa 1890
Photograph
Seattleites posing with goods salvaged from the fire, June 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, destroying 100 acres of Seattle's business district and waterfront. The city didn't take much time to mourn; most businesses decided to rebuild where they had been, and rebuilding began almost immediately. Relief bureaus were…
ID Number:SHS2150
Date:1889
Photograph
August Wenzel in front of his blacksmith shop at 7th and Pike, Seattle, 1889
August Joseph Wenzel (1856-1945) was born in Kingdom of Prussia, Germany, and moved to Seattle in 1888 with his wife Maria and their 8 children. He opened a blacksmith and cooper shop on Pike Street between Fourth Avenue and Fifth Avenue. Next door to the blacksmith shop he owned a wagon works shop and next to that a meat market.…
ID Number:SHS2303
Date:1889
Photograph
Wagner's First Regiment Band, Seattle, 1889
Cornetist Theodore H. “Dad” Wagner arrived in Seattle in the mid-1880s. As leader of the Second Regiment National Guard Band, Wagner’s band gained community fame by providing free concerts at Pioneer Square after Seattle’s Great Fire of 1889. That same year, he led the First Regiment Washington National Guard Band in celebration of Washington’s statehood. His own band, Dad Wagner’s…
ID Number:SHS2514
Date:1889
Photograph
Seattle's first July 4th celebration, 1865
Seattle was first incorporated by the Washington Territorial Legislature in 1865, with a population of 350 and an economy based on timber. The Fourth of July celebration depicted in this photo would have been the first for the new city, as well as the first after the end of the Civil War. Pioneers pose in front of a foliage-covered structure,…
ID Number:SHS2772
Date:1865
Photograph
Pioneer Building and Pergola at Pioneer Square, Seattle, 1970
This unusual 1970 view, taken in Seattle's Pioneer Square district, captures two landmark structures built after the 1889 Great Fire. The 1889 brick Pioneer Building, designed by Elmer Fisher and built by Henry Yesler, occupies the corner of First Avenue and James Street. The 1909 cast iron and glass Pergola sits across the street on Pioneer Square itself. The square…
ID Number:SHS8189
Date:1970
Photograph
Gazebo in Pioneer Square, Seattle, 1901
Before about 1905, Pioneer Square was the heart of Seattle's central business district. Large brick buildings were built after the Great Fire of 1889, and the square was the start of many of the city's streetcar lines. Typed on verso: Pioneer Place 1901SHS category: Streets
ID Number:SHS9129
Date:1901
Photograph
SS Pacific, SS San Salvador, and bark Harriet Hunt docked at Yesler's Wharf, Seattle, 1875
Seattle Pioneer Henry Leiter Yesler (1810-1892) built a wharf in 1854 at the foot of Mill Street (now Yesler Way). A makeshift affair at first that would eventually extend nearly 1,000 feet into Elliott Bay, it was built next to the steam sawmill he built two years prior. This pier was the center of local maritime commerce until it was…
ID Number:SHS11765
Date:1875