The creation of the Port of Seattle in 1911 transformed a messy jumble of privately-owned and competing waterfront companies into a publicly owned and organized entity capable of propelling Seattle into a major center for trade. In 1915 the Port constructed the Spokane Street Terminal at Pier 24 (now Terminal 30), on the Duwamish East Waterway, in what is now the SoDo neighborhood. The wharf included an innovative cold storage facility for fresh-caught fish from Alaska, produce refrigeration, a Frozen Fish Museum (1926-1956) for unusual fish from all over the world, and from the 1930s was home to the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Frozen Pack Laboratory, designed to research preserving fruits and vegetables by freezing.
This image of the Spokane Street Terminal was taken facing west towards Harbor Island with West Seattle faintly visible in the background.
Signs in image: Port of Seattle, Spokane St. Wharf; Spokane St. Terminal; The Royal Mail Steam Packet Co.; Holland-America Line; The Blue Star Line' Williams Line; Port of Seattle Public Warehouse and Cold Storage
Caption information source: http://www.portseattle.org/About/History/Pages/1911-1919.aspx Caption information source: The Seattle Daily Times, August 20, 1940, page 9 Caption information derived from captions written by Post-Intelligencer staff and attached to the back of the photograph.
