The Seattle Fire Department battled a large blaze at the Hotel Lincoln on April 7, 1920. The fire broke out in the middle of the night in the hotel's basement laundry room. By the time it was discovered, it had had burned upwards inside the walls. Many guests were trapped upstairs and had to be rescued by ladder or rope. Three guests and a fireman died in the blaze, but more than 300 others were rescued.

In this photo, taken in the early morning at the corner of Third Avenue and Madison Street, the fire fighters are still trying to put out the fire. A steam-powered engine (far left) pumps water for the hoses. By this time, the west wall of the hotel had fallen on top of the nearby buildings, and the south wall had collapsed into Madison Street (right).

Webster & Stevens number: 82644