• Visit
    • Museum Accessibility
    • Community Access
    • Group Visits and Tours
    • Programs
      • History Café
      • MOHAI Mercantile Literary Series
      • First Thursday
      • Denny Lecture
      • Al Young Educator of the Year
      • Everyday Heroes
    • MOHAI Mercantile
    • Gourmondo at MOHAI
  • Exhibits
  • Events
  • Collections and Research
    • Collections Search
    • Themed Collections
    • Research Library
    • Image Ordering
    • Donate an Artifact
    • Curator’s Fellowship
  • Support
    • Donate
    • Membership at MOHAI
    • Gift Memberships
    • Corporate Support
  • Education
    • Field Trips
      • Self-Guided School Year Explorations
      • Creating Our Community
      • Cracking the History Code: Salish Stories
      • Cracking the History Code: Settling Around the Sound
      • Hands on History
      • Self-Guided Summer Field Trips
      • Homeschool Group
    • Portable Museum Program
    • Scholarships
    • Education FAQ
    • Primary Source Analysis
    • Online Curricula
    • Teen Programs
    • Idea Lab
    • Discovery Packs
    • Summer Camps
  • About
    • Annual Reports
    • The MOHAI Blog
    • Contact MOHAI
    • Opportunities
    • Leadership
    • Private Events
  • Donate
  • Tickets
  • Membership
HomeCollections and ResearchCollections Search

Collections Search

Explore stories in Northwest history through highlights from MOHAI’s collections. Search by keyword below or browse the entire online collection by entering the asterisk symbol (*). Filter your search by type of materials.

Download lower resolution images directly from an item page. MOHAI offers high-resolution digital reproductions of photographs and other materials from our collections for personal and professional use.

We have many more items in our collections and not everything you see online is on view at the museum. We have additional materials online at the University of Washington’s Digital Collections.

MOHAI Statement on Harmful Content

Search by Collection

Not finding what you are looking for?
Ask the MOHAI Collections Staff

1580 results for: City of Seattle

Share:
Image of Seattleites posing with goods salvaged from the fire, June 1889
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
Image of Native camp on the beach, Seattle, circa 1885
Photograph

Native camp on the beach, Seattle, circa 1885

In 1865 the Board of Trustees of Seattle passed Ordinance No. 5 banning Indigenous people from living in the city unless they worked for a non-Indigenous resident and lived on their employer’s property. Despite this attempt to enforce separation between Indigenous people and the settlers, Seattle depended on Indigenous people. Settlers relied on Native people for domestic work and for…
ID Number:SHS2174
Date:Circa 1885
Image of Indigenous encampment at the Seattle waterfront, circa 1895
Photograph

Indigenous encampment at the Seattle waterfront, circa 1895

In 1865 the Board of Trustees of Seattle passed Ordinance No. 5 banning Indigenous people from living in the city unless they worked for a non-Indigenous resident and lived on their employer’s property. Despite this attempt to enforce separation between Indigenous people and the settlers, Seattle depended on Indigenous people. Settlers relied on Native people for domestic work and for…
ID Number:SHS2210
Date:Circa 1895
Image of Chesheeahud and others in a canoe on Lake Union, Seattle, circa 1885
Photograph

Chesheeahud and others in a canoe on Lake Union, Seattle, circa 1885

Chesheeahud (also spelled Cheshiahud) was a Duwamish chief and guide to the lakes and rivers around what is now Seattle, living between the mid-19th and early 20th centuries. He led a village called hehs-KWEE-kweel (meaning Skate), at the south edge of the mouth of Union Bay onto Lake Washington. hehs-KWEE-kweel was near a vital portage used by the Duwamish between…
ID Number:SHS2228
Date:Circa 1885
Image of Members of Seattle Police Department, Ballard Station, April, 1913
Photograph

Members of Seattle Police Department, Ballard Station, April, 1913

Ballard was an independent city from its incorporation in 1890, until a vote to annex to Seattle passed 996 to 874 on November 6, 1906. On May 29, 1907, the City of Ballard officially became simply Ballard, a neighborhood of Seattle.In the 1910s, Seattle had neighborhood police headquarters in Ballard, West Seattle, Columbia City, Densmore (now Wallingford), and Georgetown. This…
ID Number:SHS2273
Date:1913
Image of Mayor Bertha K. Landes at her desk, Seattle, circa 1927
Photograph

Mayor Bertha K. Landes at her desk, Seattle, circa 1927

In 1926, Bertha Knight Landes was the first woman to be elected mayor of a major American city when she became mayor of Seattle. She vowed to clean up city government, running on the platform of "municipal housekeeping." She served only one term as mayor but remained a civic leader in such organizations as the Women's University Club, the Women's…
ID Number:SHS2344
Date:Circa 1927
Image of Crowd with steamship
Photograph

Crowd with steamship "Australia" at Seattle pier, circa 1898

Gold seekers streamed to Seattle by the thousands, eager to board ships bound for the Klondike gold fields. Seattle's shipping industry and waterfront businesses boomed during the gold rush. In March 1897, before the news of the Klondike gold finds reached Seattle, port records show that only 18 ships sailed to or from Seattle. In March 1898, with the gold…
ID Number:SHS2504
Date:Circa 1898
Image of Steamship
Photograph

Steamship "Australia" loading at Seattle pier, circa 1898

The United States was in the grip of a nationwide economic depression in the 1890s. When the steamer "Portland" arrived in Seattle in July 1897 with more than a ton of Klondike gold, the city's depression ended. Pacific Northwest shipping companies were eager to profit from the gold rush. They scrambled to provide passenger and freight service to the Alaskan…
ID Number:SHS2506
Date:Circa 1898
Image of Theodore Wernecke and employees inside fur store, Seattle, circa 1898
Photograph

Theodore Wernecke and employees inside fur store, Seattle, circa 1898

An estimated 100,000 prospectors migrated to the Klondike region of the Yukon in north-western Canada between 1896 and 1899. Most of them stopped in Seattle to purchase supplies, greatly contributing to the city's economic success. Ohio-born Charles Theodore Wernecke (1852-1922) came to Seattle around 1897 and operated at least one store catering to miners headed to Alaska during the Klondike…
ID Number:SHS2508
Date:Circa 1898
Image of Exterior of C.T. Wernecke fur store, Seattle, circa 1897
Photograph

Exterior of C.T. Wernecke fur store, Seattle, circa 1897

Fur trading in the Pacific Northwest dates back to the 1700s. The first raw fur auction in the United States was organized in Seattle in 1898, coinciding with the Klondike Gold Rush, which had started in 1896. Ohio-born Charles Theodore Wernecke had come to Seattle in 1897 and ran a store that bought raw furs, manufactured fur clothing, and catered…
ID Number:SHS2525
Date:Circa 1897
Previous 1 … 151 152 153 154 155 … 158 Next

Land Acknowledgement

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
  • Plan a Visit
  • Directions and Parking
  • Accessibility
  • Group Tours
  • About

Sign up to Receive our Newsletter

"*" indicates required fields

This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

Copyright 2026, Museum of History & Industry. All Rights Reserved