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Photograph
Studio portrait of George Frederick Frye, Seattle, circa 1910
Order an ImageGeorg Friedrich Christian Freye was born in Drakenburg, Germany, on January 15, 1833, the son of Otto Friedrich Christian Freye and Sophia Maria Pranga. He immigrated to the US at 16, working for his brother-in-law, Johann F. Rodekohr in Lafayette County, Missouri, until 1852 when he traveled to Oregon. The following year he moved to Seattle. He married Louisa Catherine Denny, daughter of Arthur Armstrong Denny, on October 25, 1860. Louisa and George had six children: James Marion Frye (1861-1905), Marie Louise Frye Kirk (1864-1937), Sophie Frye Bass (1867-1947), George Arthur Frye (1869-1893), Roberta Gertrude Frye Watt (1875-1963), and Elizabeth Helen Frye Bogue (1878-1961). The family resided at 1306 Madison Street.
George and Louisa Frye were active business partners and started a number of successful early Seattle companies. They built the first established theater, Frye’s Opera House, the largest venue north of San Francisco, but it burned in the Great Seattle Fire of 1889. George also organized Seattle’s first brass band. From 1870 to 1874, George was the purser and later captain of the J.B. Libby, a steamer that delivered mail in northern Puget Sound. Goerge built three hotels in Seattle, the Stevens, the Barker, and the Frye, which attracted President Theodore Roosevelt to the grand opening in 1911. George Frye died in Seattle on May 2, 1912, shortly after the Louisa C. Frye Hotel opened. Louisa Frye continued to manage the hotel and their other business interests until her death in 1924.
This studio portrait of George was taken in Seattle, about 1910, when George was in his 70s.
Embossed on recto: James & Bushnell, Seattle
Caption information source: "The Pioneer Dead of 1912," Thomas W. Prosch, The Washington Historical Quarterly Vol. 4, No. 1 (Jan., 1913), pp. 36-43, http://journals.lib.washington.edu/index.php/WHQ/article/view/4973/4050
George and Louisa Frye were active business partners and started a number of successful early Seattle companies. They built the first established theater, Frye’s Opera House, the largest venue north of San Francisco, but it burned in the Great Seattle Fire of 1889. George also organized Seattle’s first brass band. From 1870 to 1874, George was the purser and later captain of the J.B. Libby, a steamer that delivered mail in northern Puget Sound. Goerge built three hotels in Seattle, the Stevens, the Barker, and the Frye, which attracted President Theodore Roosevelt to the grand opening in 1911. George Frye died in Seattle on May 2, 1912, shortly after the Louisa C. Frye Hotel opened. Louisa Frye continued to manage the hotel and their other business interests until her death in 1924.
This studio portrait of George was taken in Seattle, about 1910, when George was in his 70s.
Embossed on recto: James & Bushnell, Seattle
Caption information source: "The Pioneer Dead of 1912," Thomas W. Prosch, The Washington Historical Quarterly Vol. 4, No. 1 (Jan., 1913), pp. 36-43, http://journals.lib.washington.edu/index.php/WHQ/article/view/4973/4050
ID Number: 1990.45.82
Date: Circa 1910
Creator(s):
James & Bushnell, Photographer
Physical Description: 1 photographic print mounted on cardboard : b&w ; 11 x 6 in.
Additional Information: Digital copy of this item available thanks to funding from a 2016 Institute for Museum and Library Services grant. Metadata updated as part of a grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services administered by the Library Services and Technology Act, through the Washington State Library, a division of the Office of the Secretary of State.
View the finding aid for this collection at https://archiveswest.orbiscascade.org/ark:80444/xv35104
View the finding aid for this collection at https://archiveswest.orbiscascade.org/ark:80444/xv35104
Credit: MOHAI, George and Louisa Frye Family Papers, 1990.45.82
Copyright: No Known Copyright
Subjects:
European American Settlement