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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.

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3503 results for: Seattle Photographic Co.

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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 August Wenzel in front of his blacksmith shop at 7th and Pike, Seattle, 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
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 Military road on Beacon Hill, Seattle, circa 1900
Photograph

Military road on Beacon Hill, Seattle, circa 1900

The Fort Steilacoom to Fort Bellingham Military Road was a network of roads running through the Puget Sound area to promote the migration of settlers to Washington Territory and to secure U. S. interests in the region from those of Native Americans. Today’s I-5 roughly follows the route north from Fort Vancouver, built in 1924 by the Hudson's Bay Company…
ID Number:SHS2354
Date:Circa 1900
Image of Railroad Avenue during the gold rush, circa 1898
Photograph

Railroad Avenue during the gold rush, circa 1898

Seattle's Railroad Avenue ran along the waterfront. During the peak gold rush period, from 1897 through about 1906, the avenue was busy with people headed to the Klondike and Nome gold fields. Merchants set up shops to sell supplies to the prospectors. Signs advertised last-minute purchases.This Anders Wilse photo shows Railroad Avenue (now Alaskan Way) in 1897 or 1898, during…
ID Number:SHS2500
Date:Circa 1898
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 Wagner's First Regiment Band, Seattle, 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
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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
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