Business at Seattle's Frederick & Nelson department store was so good in the late 1890s that the store needed more space. In 1897, the owners leased part of the Rialto Building, on Second Avenue at Madison Street. By 1906, the store had expanded to occupy the whole building. Here, the owners of this landmark department store installed one of the city's first elevators for the convenience of their customers.

This photo shows the Frederick & Nelson Building in about 1910. Wagons and a few automobiles move along Second Avenue, and a trolley car passes on Madison Street. Pedestrians pause to look in the department store's big display windows.

Webster & Stevens number: 5510