The Municipal Plans Commission of Seattle, established in 1910, hired civil engineer Virgil G. Bogue to prepare a strategic development plan for the city. Bogue’s 1911 proposal was very ambitious, including a Civic Center in the Denny Regrade area, a park and boulevard system, separation of railroad tracks from streets, and a variety of other municipal improvements. The plan, as Proposition 2, was presented to the public for a vote in 1912. Vociferous debates between Progressives and the business establishment ensued, and citizens’ confusion about costs helped bring the proposition to a resounding defeat.

This pro-Bogue Plan leaflet, published by the Municipal League of Seattle, speaks to the cost of what was proposed, what could have already been done if the plan had already been in place, the plan’s flexibility, progress already made in Portland, Oregon, and other matters.

Caption information source: Historylink.org Essay 160.