506 results for: Government and Public Services
Photograph
Firemen posing outside Seattle Fire Department, November 1889
The creation of the Seattle Fire Department (SFD) can be traced back to July 6th, 1876, when the all-volunteer Seattle Engine Company No.1 was organized. In 1883, the City Charter was amended to create and fund equipment, but not staff, for a centralized municipal fire department. The volunteer-based system persisted until pressure from the insurance industry and citizens after the…
ID Number:SHS700
Date:1889
Photograph
Crowds waiting to see the Liberty Bell, Seattle, July 14, 1915
In 1915, the Liberty Bell made the long railroad journey to the Panama Pacific Exposition in San Francisco, stopping in many cities along the way. It arrived at Seattle's King Street Station on the morning of July 14th, 1915 and was moved to a viewing area where large crowds waited. State and local dignitaries welcomed the bell with speeches, and…
ID Number:SHS847
Date:1915
Photograph
Firemen and wagon at Ballard Fire Station No. 18, circa 1907
This photograph shows five fireman and their horse-drawn hose wagon at the original wooden fire station on NW Market Street and Russell Ave NW in Ballard. This was a volunteer station until Ballard's annexation into Seattle on June 1, 1907, when it because Hose No. 18, a paid company of the Seattle Fire Department. In 1911, this building was replaced…
ID Number:SHS1042
Date:Circa 1907
Photograph
Office area and laboratory in U.S. Assay Office, circa 1903
Gold must be assayed in order to determine its purity, and therefore its value. After extensive lobbying by Seattle businessmen, the United States government opened an assay office in Seattle in July 1898. Many miners sold their gold to the government at the assay office which sent it to the Philadelphia mint for making gold coins.This photo shows the interior…
ID Number:SHS1230
Date:Circa 1903
Photograph
Crates of gold on the way to the Seattle assay office, circa 1902
Gold from the Nome and Klondike gold fields was often shipped to Seattle in wooden crates. Wagons waiting at the waterfront hauled the heavy shipment up the hill to the U. S. Assay Office on Ninth Avenue. This photo, probably taken between 1898 and 1906, shows a group of men and boys looking at a shipment of gold in the…
ID Number:SHS2505
Date:Circa 1902
Photograph
Fire Station No. 5, Seattle, 1911
The Seattle Fire Department opened Fire Station No. 5 in 1902. It was located on the waterfront at the foot of Madison Street, where the fireboat “Snoqualmie” (known as Engine 5) was berthed. The building, shown here, housed the fireboat crew as well as Hose Company 5, with its chemical and hose wagon. Fire Chief Frank Stetson condemned the building…
ID Number:SHS2781
Date:1911
Photograph
Workers pouring concrete for Beacon Hill reservoir, Seattle, circa 1911
Washington's Cedar River originates in the Cascade Mountain Range and drains into Puget Sound via Lake Washington. Since 1899 the upper Cedar River watershed, and its subsequent reservoirs and pipeline infrastructure, have been operated by Seattle Public Utilities, providing drinking water for about two-thirds of King County. The population of Seattle and King County grew quickly after the establishment of…
ID Number:SHS3768
Date:Circa 1911
Photograph
Adding floors to the County-City Building, circa 1930
In 1916, the new King County Courthouse and Municipal Building, also called the County-City Building, opened on Third Avenue in downtown Seattle. The building, designed by Seattle architect Augustus Warren Gould, was five stories tall, with a partial sixth story for the use of the city engineer. In 1929-1931, architect Henry Bittman's six story addition expanded Gould's original building upwards.This…
ID Number:SHS6523
Date:Circa 1930
Photograph
Water tank at Firlands Sanatorium, circa 1935
By 1930, the Seattle Water Department had built water mains as far north as the 85th Street city limits. Firlands Sanatorium was located far outside the city limits. While it had enough well water for most uses, it lacked a good supply for fighting fires. The water department was reluctant to run mains that far north because planners were unsure…
ID Number:SHS7174
Date:Circa 1935
Photograph
Dogsled owned by a mail carrier, near Nome, Alaska, circa 1905
Mail delivery quickly became an important service for prospectors arriving in Alaska for the Gold Rush. During the winter, dogsleds delivered first class mail to Nome once a month. Magazines and newspapers had to wait for the steamers which ran after the ice melted. Dogsled mail carriers generally worked in relay, each carrying the mail along a particular section of…
ID Number:SHS7977
Date:Circa 1905