• 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

72 results for: Seattle Police Department

Share:
Image of Black Lives Matter sign from March of Silence, June 12, 2020
Ephemera

Black Lives Matter sign from March of Silence, June 12, 2020

In the summer of 2020, protests against police brutality and systemic anti-Black racism broke out across the United States in response to the murder of George Floyd, a Black man, by police officers in Minneapolis in May 2020. The protests were associated with the Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement. In Seattle, protesters formed the Capitol Hill Occupied Protest (CHOP; also…
ID Number:2021.39.1
Date:2020
Image of State Police and National Guard during the WTO protests, Seattle, November 30, 1999
Photograph

State Police and National Guard during the WTO protests, Seattle, November 30, 1999

The Third Ministerial Conference of the World Trade Organization (WTO) was held in Seattle from November 30 to December 3, 1999. Trade ministers and other officials from the WTO's 135 member nations met in an unsuccessful attempt to plan negotiations to further deregulate free trade. Tens of thousands of activists for many causes gathered to protest what they saw as…
ID Number:2024.54.16.21
Date:1999
Image of Seattle Police Department Band, 1915
Photograph

Seattle Police Department Band, 1915

Seattle’s Police Department Band started out by playing Sunday evening concerts at police headquarters. By the 1920s, they marched in city parades, played for city celebrations, played concerts in parks, and participated in funeral ceremonies for fallen comrades. This 1915 image shows the members of the Seattle Police Department Band posed on the sidewalk outside department headquarters. That year, the…
ID Number:Lib1991.21.1
Date:1915
Image of Seattle Police Department motorcycle corps, Seattle, August 1941
Photograph

Seattle Police Department motorcycle corps, Seattle, August 1941

In early 1910, the Seattle police department invested $1,329 in its first three motorcycles, with seven patrolman selected as the first members of the "motor cops" squad. At the time, speeding fines were paid to King County rather than the city of Seattle, and the city hoped to pass a traffic ordinance which would allow it to keep fines for…
ID Number:PI24808
Date:1941
Image of Japanese Americans surrendering equipment to police, Seattle, December 29, 1941
Photograph

Japanese Americans surrendering equipment to police, Seattle, December 29, 1941

On February 19, 1942, shortly after Japan's attack on Pearl Harbor and United States entry into WWII, President Franklin Roosevelt signed Executive Order 9066, calling for the exclusion of all civilians of Japanese descent from "designated military areas." More than 9,000 Japanese and Japanese American people living in the Pacific Northwest were forced into incarceration at camps in Idaho and…
ID Number:PI28030
Date:1941
Image of Man stacking radios surrendered by Japanese Americans, Seattle, December 29, 1941
Photograph

Man stacking radios surrendered by Japanese Americans, Seattle, December 29, 1941

On February 19, 1942, shortly after Japan's attack on Pearl Harbor and United States entry into WWII, President Franklin Roosevelt signed Executive Order 9066, calling for the exclusion of all civilians of Japanese descent from "designated military areas." More than 9,000 Japanese and Japanese American people living in the Pacific Northwest were forced into incarceration at camps in Idaho and…
ID Number:PI28032
Date:1942
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 Police Dept. First and Third Patrol officers posing, Seattle, April 1912
Photograph

Police Dept. First and Third Patrol officers posing, Seattle, April 1912

Police departments in metropolitan areas often utilize officers to patrol assigned beats throughout the community. At the time this photograph was taken, the Seattle Police Department had at least three shifts of patrols.This photo shows the uniformed officers of SPD's First and Third Patrol, posing together on the street near C. L. Hazzard's Grocery store at 524 Ninth Avenue, in…
ID Number:SHS5235
Date:1912
Image of Seattle Police Department First Patrol, November 11, 1919
Photograph

Seattle Police Department First Patrol, November 11, 1919

Police departments in metropolitan areas often utilize officers to patrol assigned beats throughout the community. At the time the photograph pictured here was taken, the Seattle Police Department had two shifts of patrols, the First Patrol and the Second Patrol.This photo shows the First Patrol standing outside the Police Headquarters Building at Yesler Way and Fourth Avenue. None of the…
ID Number:SHS5248
Date:1919
Image of Seattle Police Department officers sitting for portrait, August 21, 1891
Photograph

Seattle Police Department officers sitting for portrait, August 21, 1891

The Seattle Police Department was officially organized on June 2, 1869, and law enforcement in Seattle began with election of a town marshal, John Tenny Jordan (1832-1886), a stonemason originally from Maine who later served as the city's mayor. By 1890 the city's population had grown to 42,837, and the police force had grown to include the officers pictured here:…
ID Number:SHS6963
Date:1891
Previous 1 … 5 6 7 8 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