Denny Hill once stood north of what is now Seattle’s central business district, between Second and Fifth Avenues. Between 1889 and 1906, the Denny (later Washington) Hotel dominated its southern slope. The hill was so steep that the hotel’s second owner James Moore built a counterbalance streetcar on Third Avenue to carry guests up the two blocks from Pine Street.
Here, Moore's streetcar is on its way between the Washington Hotel and downtown. Never a commercial success, the hotel was torn down in 1906, and the hill was flattened in several stages over the next several decades.
Typed on verso: Third ave north from Pine St. The shortest streetcar line in the world. In 1903 it ran two blocks up the hill from Pine Street to the entrance of the Washington Hotel (old Denny Hotel) Used a counter balance. While short it was just wide as any. Where the tracks were is now Third ave.
Physical Description: 1 photographic print mounted on cardboard: b&w ; 8 x 10 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.
