3221 results for: Seattle Post-Intelligencer
Photograph
Three Klansmen talking to PI reporter Robert Berman, circa 1923
A resurgence of Ku Klux Klan (KKK) movement between 1915 and the mid-1920s, in what historians call the "Second Klan," reached all 48 states, with membership over four million in the mid-1920s. Although the Klan's core belief in white supremacy, at least with regard to African Americans, had less resonance in Washington State, by 1921 there was a ready audience…
ID Number:PI21477
Date:Circa 1923
Photograph
Western Union messengers on bicycles, Seattle, 1937
Before long-distance telephones, fax machines and the internet became so widespread in the late 20th century, the quickest way to send a message was by telegraph. Messages came in by wire to the local Western Union telegraph office, and uniformed messengers delivered written or printed copies to homes and businesses. In Seattle and other cities, Western Union messengers generally delivered…
ID Number:PI21632
Date:1937
Photograph
George Hewitt testifying before Canwell Committee, Seattle, 1949
George Hewitt was an ex-Communist from New York who testified that Burton W. James and Florence Bean James, founders of the Seattle Repertory Playhouse, were members of the Communist Party. Committee members in photo are Robert L. Rutter, Sydney A. Stevens, Thomas H. Bienz, Albert Canwell, and Grant C. Sisson.Handwritten on image: Un-American Activities hearing.Handwritten on sleeve: Communists - Washington…
ID Number:PI21665
Date:1949
Photograph
Protestors outside Canwell Committee hearings, Seattle, 1948
The Committee on Un-American Activities, also known as the Canwell Committee, held hearings in 1948 in the Seattle Armory. Organizations under investigation included the Seattle Repertory Theatre, the Building Service Employees Union, the Washington Pension Union, and University of Washington faculty. After being accused of Communist involvement many individuals lost their jobs and organizations were shut down. Protest signs read:…
ID Number:PI21683
Date:1948
Photograph
Engineers Town near site of Grand Coulee dam, circa 1937
Thousands of workers from all over the United States poured into the central Washington to work on the Grand Coulee Dam. Whether they were engineers, office workers or unskilled labor, all of these people and their families needed places to live. In December 1933, at the start of the dam project, workers graded the land for Engineers Town. Six months…
ID Number:PI22025
Date:Circa 1937
Photograph
Change of shift at dam construction site, circa 1937
Work started on the Grand Coulee Dam in the fall of 1933 and was finished ten years later. Workers used a system of cranes, trestles, and conveyor belts to move the concrete and other construction materials into place. The men labored in shifts around the clock in winter and summer to build the dam on the Columbia River.This photo, taken…
ID Number:PI22031
Date:Circa 1937
Photograph
Trestles and traveling cranes at dam construction site, circa 1937
Large concrete dams, like Grand Coulee Dam, are actually built as a series of immense blocks, not as one solid structure. At Grand Coulee, workers poured concrete five feet at a time into wooden forms at the top of each column. A system of trestles and traveling cranes moved the workers and building materials to where they were needed.This photo,…
ID Number:PI22037
Date:Circa 1937
Photograph
Men emptying cement into form at dam construction site, circa 1937
After much research, the United States Bureau of Reclamation and its contractor, the MWAK Company, developed a very strong type of concrete for the Grand Coulee Dam. Two concrete mixing plants built at the dam site supplied 640 cubic yards of concrete per hour, breaking all earlier records. Traveling cranes moved the concrete to the building site in huge buckets.This…
ID Number:PI22043
Date:Circa 1937
Photograph
West side of Grand Coulee Dam showing powerhouse, March 1941
The Columbia Basin Project, including Grand Coulee Dam, was designed to supply irrigation water from the Columbia River to the dry lands of eastern Washington state. The dam also harnessed the power of the river to supply electricity to the Pacific Northwest. Irrigation and cheap hydroelectric power stimulated the growth of both agriculture and industry throughout the region.This photo, taken…
ID Number:PI22057
Date:1941
Photograph
Inside a powerhouse at Grand Coulee Dam, August 1941
When Grand Coulee Dam was completed in 1943, its huge generators were the largest in the world, and the dam itself was one of the world's largest power plants. During World War II, the cheap electric power from Grand Coulee and Bonneville Dams stimulated the growth of the Pacific Northwest's aluminum, aircraft and shipbuilding industries and lit the homes of…
ID Number:PI22065
Date:1941