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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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3379 results for: Seattle Photographic Co.

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Image of Port Blakely planing mill in snow, January 1880
Photograph

Port Blakely planing mill in snow, January 1880

In January 1880, five feet of snow fell in the Seattle area. At Port Blakely, on Bainbridge Island, the lumber mill opened late each day so that workmen could clear the snow off the roofs in town. The weather was so cold that the snow stayed on the ground for several weeks.This photo shows the planing mill and waterfront at…
ID Number:SHS11500
Date:1880
Image of PT&T operators working at Garfield Exchange, Seattle, 1951
Photograph

PT&T operators working at Garfield Exchange, Seattle, 1951

Telephone service in Seattle began with 90 customers in 1883. One of Seattle's original service providers, Sunset Telephone-Telegraph Company (later Pacific Telephone & Telegraph Company, then AT&T) built a new exchange building in 1921 to help handle what was by then 83,347 customers, making half-a-million local telephone calls every day. The Garfield Exchange was built on Queen Anne Hill at…
ID Number:SHS11511
Date:1951
Image of Men pulling B & W into Boeing Seaplane Hangar on Lake Union, Seattle, 1916
Photograph

Men pulling B & W into Boeing Seaplane Hangar on Lake Union, Seattle, 1916

William Boeing started his airplane company in this hangar he had built on the shore of Lake Union in December 1915. The B & W seaplane, named after its designers, Boeing and Conrad Westervelt, was the first airplane produced at the small factory. The seaplane, constructed of Washington State spruce lumber, steel wire, and linen fabric, made its first successful…
ID Number:SHS11540
Date:1916
Image of City bus, Seattle, December 15, 1940

City bus, Seattle, December 15, 1940

Caption on image: Seattle Transit System, Coach 919, No. 1, 12-15-40. Typed on verso: Modern Seattle trolley coach 1952 [sic].SHS category: Transportation
ID Number:SHS11558
Date:1952
Image of SS Pacific, SS San Salvador, and bark Harriet Hunt docked at Yesler's Wharf, Seattle, 1875
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
Image of Inventor Edmund Augustine Smith, Seattle, circa 1905
Photograph

Inventor Edmund Augustine Smith, Seattle, circa 1905

In 1903, Seattle inventor Edmund A. Smith (1870-1909) developed a machine that gutted and cleaned salmon for canning 50 to 75% faster than human workers. Most Northwest cannery workers were Chinese immigrants, and Smith, with "unselfconscious racism" (in the words of historian Carlos Schwantes), called his invention the "Iron Chink." The use of a racial slur in the machine's name…
ID Number:SHS12053
Date:Circa 1905
Image of Pine Street entrance stairway to Public Market, Seattle, circa 1930
Photograph

Pine Street entrance stairway to Public Market, Seattle, circa 1930

Seattle's Public Market or Pike Place Market opened in 1907 on the edge of a steep hill and over the years has grown to incorporate several lower levels. This view of the entrance stairway from Western Avenue features the stairway leading to the upper levels of the market. The sign at the upper right corner of the frame is for…
ID Number:SHS12149
Date:Circa 1930
Image of Cherry Street Parking Garage, formerly the Grand Opera House, Seattle, 1972
Photograph

Cherry Street Parking Garage, formerly the Grand Opera House, Seattle, 1972

The interior of Seattle’s Grand Opera House on Cherry Street burned in January 1917. The building stood vacant for six years, and was then repurposed into one of the city’s earliest parking garages. Construction began in March 1923. When the new garage opened the following August, at a cost of $60,000, the multi-story garage had a capacity of 350 cars…
ID Number:SHS12368
Date:1972
Image of Waterfront of Port Blakely, Washington, circa 1885
Photograph

Waterfront of Port Blakely, Washington, circa 1885

Captain William Renton recognized that Blakely Harbor, on Bainbridge Island, was an ideal site for a sawmill. In 1863, he founded the town of Port Blakely. By 1882, the Port Blakely Mill Company was one of the three largest lumber producers in Puget Sound. This photo, probably taken in the 1880s, shows lumber ships and floating logs at the Port…
ID Number:SHS12507
Date:Circa 1885
Image of Wallace Bridge & Structural Steel employees, Seattle, March 4, 1930
Photograph

Wallace Bridge & Structural Steel employees, Seattle, March 4, 1930

John Duthie opened a small shipyard in Seattle around 1900. By 1930, Duthie & Company had changed its focus and renamed itself Wallace Bridge & Structural Steel Company. The Wallace plant fabricated structural steel for a number of bridges in Washington state, including Seattle’s Montlake Bridge (1925), the Lewis & Clark Bridge over the Columbia River (1929), and the Deception…
ID Number:SHS12521
Date:1930
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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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