• 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

272 results for: Lake Union

Share:
Image of View of Lake Union from south, Seattle, 1919
Photograph

View of Lake Union from south, Seattle, 1919

In this view of Lake Union, Estep & Kimball's machine shop can be seen just beyond the large fishing vessel APEX. In 1919, the firm of Estep & Kimball sold its machine shop at Fisherman's Terminal and moved to the Lake Union Drydock Company on the eastern shore of Lake Union. The dock is also filled with fishing vessels, and…
ID Number:1983.10.2126
Date:1919
Image of King County Sheriff Matt Starwich with murderer James Mahoney, Seattle, 1921
Photograph

King County Sheriff Matt Starwich with murderer James Mahoney, Seattle, 1921

One of the state's most notorious crimes, the "Mahoney Trunk Murder" occurred in Seattle in 1921. The victim was Kate Mooers, 72, an eccentric and wealthy woman who married for the third time to James E. Mahoney, 38, a convicted robber. When Kate went missing, Mahoney claimed she had disappeared in St. Paul, Minnesota, but the Seattle police detectives decided…
ID Number:1983.10.2240
Date:1921
Image of Surplus warships in Lake Union, circa 1921
Photograph

Surplus warships in Lake Union, circa 1921

Seattle's shipyards boomed during 1918, when the United States entered World War I. After the war, some of the U.S. Navy's surplus wooden warships were stored in Lake Union and other sheltered parts of Puget Sound. This "mothballed" fleet was nicknamed "Wilson's Wood Row," after President Woodrow Wilson, the wartime president.This photo, taken about 1921, shows the surplus wooden warships…
ID Number:1983.10.2261.1
Date:Circa 1921
Image of View of Lake Union from Capitol Hill, Seattle, circa 1922
Photograph

View of Lake Union from Capitol Hill, Seattle, circa 1922

This view of Lake Union shows a working Gas Works in the middle ground and house on Capitol Hill in the foreground. Handwritten on sleeve: Lake Union Panorama.Webster & Stevens number: 86336
ID Number:1983.10.2261.3
Date:Circa 1922
Image of Barge being built at Anderson Shipyard, Houghton, circa 1921
Photograph

Barge being built at Anderson Shipyard, Houghton, circa 1921

In 1907, Captain John Anderson joined with the owners of the Bartsch & Tompkins shipyard at Houghton, Washington to found Anderson Shipbuilding Corporation. With the outbreak of World War I in Europe in 1914 and the opening of the Lake Washington Ship Canal in 1917, Anderson modernized the yard and started building larger ships. In 1918, the shipyard built four…
ID Number:1983.10.2530.3
Date:Circa 1921
Image of Ford Motor Company assembly plant, circa 1928
Photograph

Ford Motor Company assembly plant, circa 1928

In the 1920s, the Ford Motor Company had a number of buildings across the country for local assembly of Model T cars. One assembly plant was located in Seattle, at the southern end of Lake Union, in today's South Lake Union neighborhood.This photo shows the Seattle Model T assembly plant. Like many industrial buildings of its time, its large windows…
ID Number:1983.10.3598
Date:Circa 1928
Image of View of Lake Union from Capitol Hill, circa 1928
Photograph

View of Lake Union from Capitol Hill, circa 1928

In the late 1920s, Lake Union was truly an industrial lake. Lining its shores were a lumber mill, a brickyard, a dry dock, the city gasworks, and other industries. Many can be seen in this photo, taken around 1928 from Capitol Hill. Smoke floats above the Fremont and Ballard lumber mills. Surplus wooden warships from World War I are anchored…
ID Number:1983.10.4011
Date:Circa 1928
Image of Denny Hill regrade area, Seattle, June 8, 1928
Photograph

Denny Hill regrade area, Seattle, June 8, 1928

In the late 1920s, part of Denny Hill still separated the waterfront area from Lake Union. The city had grown, and southbound traffic coming into the downtown area backed up at Denny Way. Businesses pressured the city to regrade the area. This 1928 photo shows the area to be leveled in the second Denny Hill regrading project. Handwritten on sleeve:…
ID Number:1983.10.4029
Date:1928
Image of Shell Oil plant, Seattle, July 24, 1929
Photograph

Shell Oil plant, Seattle, July 24, 1929

The City Sales Office and Northern Division Office of Shell Oil Company was located at the corner of Westlake Avenue North and Highland Drive. This view looks east towards Capitol Hill. Handwritten on sleeve: Shell Plant 7/24/29.Webster & Stevens number: 133634
ID Number:1983.10.4069.2
Date:1929
Image of Aurora Bridge and ship canal, August 7, 1935
Photograph

Aurora Bridge and ship canal, August 7, 1935

Seattle's George Washington Memorial Bridge (commonly called the Aurora Bridge) was dedicated on February 22, 1932, on the bicentennial of the first president's birth. The governor of the state and a Canadian representative used a two-person saw to cut the official "ribbon," a large Douglas fir. This photo, taken in 1935, shows the main span of the Aurora Bridge above…
ID Number:1983.10.4538.2
Date:1935
Previous 1 … 4 5 6 7 8 … 28 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