Showing 1 - 20 of 171 results
1411 4th Avenue Building (Seattle)
With the opening of the 1411 4th Avenue Building on 4th Avenue and Union Street in early 1929, the Stimson Realty Company contributed an elegant addition to Seattle's growing central business district. The company chose the architect Robert Chambers Reamer (1873-1938), who created modern Art Deco ornamentation for the facade and interior finishes. It chose the Metropolitan Building Company to manage the operations of the building. With an impressive architectural vision and state-of-the-art conveniences, the Stimson Realty Company attracted a "high character of tenantry" (Western Building Forum, 1929) and "firms with whom dignity of surroundings is an important consideration" (Metropolitan Bulletin, December 1928). The building at the corner of 4th Avenue and Union Street became a financial and transportation hub in downtown Seattle, with national and local investment brokers, insurance firms, and ticket offices for railway companies and steamship lines. Because of its unique Art Deco styling, prominent location in the central business district, and impressive modernist stone facade, 1411 4th Avenue has been designated as Seattle Landmark and placed on the National Register of Historic Places.
File 9000: Full Text >
400 Yesler Way: Seattle Municipal Building 1909-1916, Seattle Public Safety Building 1917-1951
The Seattle building located at 400 Yesler Way was constructed as a Municipal Building in 1909 and provided space for Seattle City offices, the City jail, an emergency hospital, the police department, and a health and sanitation department. The architect of the concrete and steel-framed building was Clayton D. Wilson. In about 1912, a penthouse for a nurses' residence was added onto the roof. In 1916, City offices relocated to the new County-City Building (now the King County Courthouse), leaving the 400 Yesler building to the purposes for which it was originally intended: to be the city's first public safety building. And so it remained until 1951, when a new public safety building was built (which has since been demolished). The old public safety building was abandoned, then sold in 1957 to private owners. Toward the end of 1976, the City negotiated with the owners to renovate the building and lease it to the City for offices. The inside of the building was gutted and redeveloped, and some City offices moved there in 1977 and early 1978. King County bought the building in 1991 and in the late 1990s waterproofed and renovated the rotting foundation levels. Today, 400 Yesler Way continues to grace Yesler Hill between 4th and 5th avenues and Yesler Avenue and Terrace Street, a beaux arts, government building that dates from the early years of the twentieth century.
File 9336: Full Text >
Alaska-Yukon-Pacific Exposition (1909) -- A Cybertour of Selected Buildings
This is a "Now and Then" Cybertour of selected exhibit buildings at the Alaska-Yukon-Pacific Exposition, held in 1909 on the University of Washington campus in Seattle. The buildings included in the Cybertour include most of those funded by the federal government and by the four Washington counties (Chehalis, King, Spokane, and Yakima) that erected buildings at the fair. This tour also includes the Washington Building (an important gathering place for large receptions) and the New York Building (where most of the fair's important banquets were held). This tour was written by Alan Stein and Paula Becker with assistance from Jennifer Ott, and curated by Paula Becker. Map by Marie McCaffrey. Preparation of this feature was made possible by the Washington Humanities Commission.
File 8678: Full Text >
Alaska-Yukon-Pacific Exposition (1909): Hoo-Hoo House
The Hoo-Hoo House was built by the Hoo-Hoo, a lumberman's fraternity, for the Alaska-Yukon-Pacific (A-Y-P) Exposition in Seattle in 1909. The exposition took place between June 1 and October 16, 1909, drawing more than three million people. Visitors came from around the state, the nation, and the world to view hundreds of educational exhibits, stroll the lushly manicured grounds, and be entertained on the Pay Streak midway, while Seattle promoted itself as a gateway to the rich resources of Alaska, the Yukon, and Asia. The Hoo-Hoo House was open to Hoo-Hoo members and lumbermen during the exposition. The house was particularly known for its two large ornamental cats in front of the building with green electric eyes which shone brightly at night. After the exposition ended, the building served as the University of Washington Faculty Club until it was demolished in 1959.
File 8655: Full Text >
Alaska-Yukon-Pacific Exposition, 1909 -- A Slide Show of Seattle's First World's Fair
This is a Slide Show on the Alaska-Yukon-Pacific Exposition, Washington's first World's Fair, which opened on June 1, 1909, and closed on October 16, 1909. More than three million people visited the fair, which took place in Seattle on the University of Washington campus. Written and Curated by Paul Dorpat, with Chris Goodman. Presented by Safeco.
File 7082: Full Text >
Bank of Commerce (Yesler) Building (Seattle)
The Bank of Commerce Building (common name, Yesler Building) at 95 Yesler Way, is located on the southwest corner of 1st Avenue S and Yesler Way and was one of three "legacy" buildings commissioned by Henry L. Yesler (1810-1892) to celebrate Seattle's pioneers. Designed by architect Elmer H. Fisher (ca. 1840-1905) and built in 1890-1891, it was called the Bank of Commerce Building after the first of the three start-up banks it incubated between 1891 and 1905. The others were the Scandinavian-American Bank and the Seattle State Bank. All three were instrumental in bringing eastern capital to rebuild Seattle after the Great Fire of 1889, and they supported fledgling businesses, especially those of immigrants from Italy and Scandinavia. Although a third floor, designed by Albert Wickersham (1891-1920), was completed in 1906, the banks eventually outgrew the space, and by 1911 they had all moved to other facilities. The following decades were hard on the entire Pioneer Square area, and this former home of banks was reduced to housing a shoe store, dentists' offices, an Army surplus store, the Afro-American Club, and other short-term tenants. After World War II, the Yesler Building became one of the many properties of landowner Sam Israel (1899-1994), and is currently owned by Samis, the foundation he established in 1987. In 1970, the Pioneer Square area where the building is located was designated as both a National Historic District and a local preservation district, and shortly thereafter the building was upgraded structurally and renovated. Today, in 2009, the building remains the property of Samis, and temptingly offers the Rocky Mountain Candy Company on the first floor and Skyn Spa upstairs.
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Beacon Hill Branch, The Seattle Public Library
The Beacon Hill Branch of The Seattle Public Library is located on Seattle's Beacon Hill at 2821 Beacon Avenue S in a new building financed by the 1998 "Libraries for All" bond issue. Originally located in a small storefront at 2708 Beacon Avenue S, the library later moved into a converted retail store at 2519 15th Avenue S. It occupied that space for more than 40 years. The new building, designed by Carlson Architects, opened on July 10, 2004. It is three times the size of the old one, and includes special collections in Chinese, Vietnamese, Spanish, and Tagalog.
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Bellevue Art Museum
The Bellevue Art Museum originated in 1947 as a street-based art fair, and then moved indoors, first to a surplus schoolhouse, then to a former funeral home, later to the somewhat isolated third floor of the Bellevue Square shopping center. On January 13, 2001, it officially opened its first purpose-built home, a bold red-stained concrete structure located at NE 6th Street and Bellevue Way in the heart of the city's downtown. It is the first major avant-garde building on the Eastside, intended, according to architect Steven Holl (b. 1947), as "a prototype for urbanizing a sprawling suburban zone" through its compactness, underground parking, and lot-filling form. The building served for two-and-a-half years before the Bellevue Art Museum closed its doors due to lack of funds. After hiring as director veteran curator of crafts and design Michael Monroe, and raising $3 million, the museum reopened on June 18, 2005, with a new focus on crafts and a new name -- Bellevue Arts Museum.
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Bengston Cabin (Sammamish)
The Bengston cabin, located in Sammamish (eastern King County) on Duane Isackson's property at 3019 244th Avenue NE, is the oldest-standing pioneer structure in Sammamish. Built in approximately 1888, the cabin served as the home of James and Johanna Bengston until Johanna passed away in 1946. Vacant since the 1950s, the little modest one-room (plus closet) log cabin is today (2008) slowly deteriorating, but still stands as mute testimony to the pioneer era on the Sammamish Plateau in the late nineteenth century. This account, written by Sammamish Heritage Society historian Phil Dougherty, reprints Dougherty's articles, "Little House on the Plateau" (Sammamish Review, July 30, 2008, p. 10) and "Pioneer Spirit Lives On in Sammamish Cabin" (Sammamish Review, August 6, 2008, pp. 12-13) and is reprinted with the kind permission of the Sammamish Heritage Society.
File 8784: Full Text >
Broadview Branch, The Seattle Public Library
The Broadview Branch, The Seattle Public Library, located at 12755 Greenwood Avenue N, began as one room in a portable classroom and has served northwest Seattle in one form or another since 1944. Broadview's history is distinguished by strong community support, which not only raised money and purchased and cleared land, but also staged protests to insure that readers had the library
services they deserved.
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Building Seattle -- A Slide Show History of Seattle's Capital Improvement Projects
This is a Slide Show photo essay on the history of Seattle's Capital Improvement Projects. Written By Walt Crowley and curated by Paul Dorpat, with Chris Goodman.
Presented by Seattle City Councilmember Martha Choe.
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Burke Museum (Seattle)
The Burke Museum, founded in 1885 by a group of teenage boys, is Washington's oldest museum. Since its inception, the museum has been part of the University of Washington, and has had various homes on campus. The museum is responsible for Washington state collections of natural history and cultural heritage.
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Butler-Jackson House: Everett Landmark
The Butler-Jackson House at 1703 Grand Avenue is significant for its place in Everett's architectural history and as the home of two prominent and influential, and very different, Everett residents. The large Colonial Revival house on a bluff overlooking the port was designed by August F. Heide (1862-1943?), an important local architect whose buildings helped shape Everett's downtown and residential neighborhoods during its boom years. The house was built in 1910 for William C. Butler (1866-1944), the conservative Republican banker and businessman who financed much of the city's early development and controlled it economically and politically for decades, his wife Eleanor Hughes Butler, and their son. In 1967, Democratic United States Senator Henry M. "Scoop" Jackson (1912-1983), his wife Helen Hardin Jackson, and their two young children moved into the home. Jackson savored the irony of owning the big house built by the tight-fisted Republican banker, to where he had delivered newspapers as a boy. In 2008, the Butler-Jackson house, added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1998, remains the home of Helen Jackson.
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Capitol Hill Branch, The Seattle Public Library
The Capitol Hill Branch, The Seattle Public Library, opened at 425 Harvard Avenue E on May 31, 2003. The site was formerly home to the Susan J. Henry Branch, The Seattle Public Library. The Henry Branch served the Capitol Hill community from 1954 until November 2001, when it was demolished to make way for the new facility. Library services in the Capitol Hill neighborhood have developed over nearly a century from a tiny deposit station in the Mission Pharmacy to the $5.7 million Capitol Hill Branch. The Capitol Hill Branch was funded by the $196.4 million "Libraries For All" bond issue approved by Seattle voters in 1998. "Libraries For All" provided for replacement or renovation of existing branches, several new branches, and a new main library.
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Central Library, 1960-2001, The Seattle Public Library
For more than 40 years, The Seattle Public Library's Central Library at 4th Avenue and Spring Street served as the city's largest branch and as system headquarters. The building with its International Style design opened in 1960 to replace the library's previous Beaux Arts style structure. It fit with other buildings going up downtown at the time such as the Municipal Building (1959) and the Norton Building (1959). The new library offered room for the various collections, staff offices, a bindery, meeting rooms, and classrooms.
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Central Library, 2002-present, The Seattle Public Library
The new Central Library of The Seattle Public Library opened in May 2004 in a startlingly unique and widely praised steel-and-glass building designed by Dutch architect Rem Koolhaas. It boasts the most advanced library technology in the nation, and is being called the "first library of the twenty-first century" ( The New Yorker, May 24, 2004). The new library was built after Seattle voters approved the "Libraries For All" bond issue on November 3, 1998.
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Colman Building (Seattle)
The Colman Building in downtown Seattle was built by James M. Colman (1832-1906) in 1889. Sometimes called the Colman Block, it spans the 800 block on the west side of 1st Avenue between Marion and Columbia streets. The history of this building begins with plans before the Great Fire of 1889. Reflecting changes in Seattle from tideland fill, through major renovations in 1904-1906, again in 1929, and historic restoration in the 1980s, it remains a rare example of a Chicago-style business block in Seattle. The Colman family retained ownership of the building through three generations. Tenants in the building have conducted diverse businesses including express services, marine services, brokerages, food purveying, and insuring. Consuls from other countries have had their offices in the building. Professionals, including lawyers, engineers, and architects, have been tenants. Retail storefronts along 1st Avenue housed bankers, grocers, druggists, meat marketers, restaurateurs, clothiers, and the Seattle Hardware Company. The Colman Building today is home to diverse office tenants and street front businesses along each of its four street faces, including the Colman Barbershop founded in 1930, and two Irish pubs: Fado and the Owl 'n' Thistle. A renovated historic pedestrian walkway along Marion Street from 1st Avenue continues across Western Avenue and Alaskan Way to the Colman Ferry Dock. The Colman Building was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on March 16, 1972, and received City of Seattle Landmark status on March 27, 1990.
File 8708: Full Text >
Colman Clock (Seattle)
The Colman Clock of the Seattle Ferry Terminal at Colman Dock has truly taken a licking, but keeps on ticking. Over the past hundred years, since 1908 when it arrived, the clock has been dunked into Puget Sound, tossed in a warehouse, and moved around here and there. Today (2005) it is back at Colman Dock (Seattle Pier 52), and once again marks the minutes and hours of the day.
File 7559: Full Text >
Columbia Branch, The Seattle Public Library
The Columbia Branch, The Seattle Public Library, is the smallest of the libraries built for Seattle with gifts from philanthropist Andrew Carnegie (1835-1919). Since the branch's inception in 1909, it has seen dramatic changes in a neighborhood that has always attracted immigrant groups from Italians to Asians to Pacific Islanders. Under the "Libraries For All" improvement program, a $196.4 million bond issue passed by Seattle voters in 1998, the building was expanded to double its size. It closed for a year for renovation, reopening in August 2004. The expanded and renovated library preserves the building's distinctive character as a landmark.
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Columbia County Courthouse (1887), Dayton
The Columbia County Courthouse, located on 341 E Main Street in Dayton, is the oldest working courthouse in all of Washington's 39 counties. When the courthouse was completed in 1887, Washington was still a territory.
File 7845: Full Text >
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Showing 1 - 20 of 277 results
United States Army establishes Camp Columbia at the Hudson's Bay Company's Fort Vancouver on May 13, 1849.
On May 13, 1849, Companies L and M of the United States Army First Artillery arrive at the Hudson's Bay Company's Fort Vancouver and establish an army post that they initially name Camp Columbia. The post, later called Columbia Barracks, Fort Vancouver Military Reservation, and Vancouver Barracks, is located on a bluff above the north bank of the Columbia River on the future site of the city of Vancouver, Clark County. The Army maintains a major presence at the base for nearly 100 years, until after the end of World War II.
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Bishop Augustine Blanchet dedicates Washington's original St. James Cathedral at Fort Vancouver on January 23, 1851.
On January 23, 1851, Bishop Augustine Magloire Alexandre (A. M. A.) Blanchet (1797-1887) consecrates as a Catholic cathedral a rustic missionary church on land adjacent to the Hudson's Bay Company's Fort Vancouver headquarters. The wooden structure is built and paid for by Hudson's Bay at the request of Francis N. Blanchet (1795-1883), Father A. M. A. Blanchet's brother and the first Archbishop of the see, or diocese, of Oregon City. After serving as a simple parish church for the Roman Catholic residents of Fort Vancouver and the surrounding area, its status is upgraded to cathedral when the Nesqually (later Nisqually) diocese is created and A. M. A. Blanchet is appointed bishop. It will serve as the seat of the diocese until 1885, when a much grander St. James Cathedral is completed in the City of Vancouver. The new cathedral will be the headquarters of the church in Western Washington for more than two decades, then will revert to a parish church when Bishop Edward J. O'Dea (1856-1932) moves the diocese to Seattle and builds a new St. James Cathedral.
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Seattle's first church is dedicated on May 12, 1855.
On May 12, 1855, Seattle's first church building, called the Little White Church because of its white paint, is dedicated. The Reverend David Blaine (1824-1900) had established the church's Methodist Episcopal congregation in December 1853.
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Thomas G. Richards & Co. begins building the first brick building in Washington Territory in Whatcom on July 5, 1858.
On July 5, 1858, T. G. Richards & Co. purchases a lot "having a front on E and Centre Street" in the town of Whatcom on Bellingham Bay for $600. They start building a brick warehouse that will be the first brick building in Washington Territory. At the time some 10,000 miners are pouring into the town on their way to the Fraser gold fields in British Columbia. The company hopes to make a killing by selling goods to these miners. Joining the owners, Thomas G. and Charles Richards, is John G. Hyatt. All three men are from San Francisco.
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Vessel Ann Parry (often miscalled Ann Perry) arrives in Bellingham Bay with bricks for the T. G. Richards Building on July 16, 1858.
On July 16, 1858, the bark Ann Parry arrives in Bellingham Bay from San Francisco after 24 days at sea. She is carrying 200 hopeful miners as well as bricks for the T.G. Richards building to be erected entirely of bricks. Made in San Francisco, these bricks will still be present at the building's 150 year anniversary in 2008. (Note: The registered vessel name Ann Parry was usually misspelled Ann Perry after her arrival in San Francisco in 1849.)
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Ben Snipes builds a log cabin near Sunnyside in 1859.
In 1859, cattleman Ben Snipes (1835-1906) constructs a small cabin in the Yakima Valley. The structure is the first cabin in the region to be built by a white person.
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U.S. Army founds Fort Colville on June 20, 1859.
On June 20, 1859, Captain (Brevet Major) Pinkney Lugenbeel (also spelled Lougenbeel) (1819-1886) arrives in the Colville Valley and selects a site near the present town of Colville, Spokane County (later Stevens), for establishing a new fort. Initially it is called Harney's Depot, named for Brigadier General William S. Harney (1800-1889), his commanding officer, who has authorized the fort as a means of defending miners and settlers encroaching into Indian tribal areas as yet unsecured by treaty. The establishment of Fort Colville in 1859 comes on the heels of the 1858 defeat of Colonel Edward Steptoe (1816-1865) by Indians near present Rosalia and the subsequent victories of Colonel George Wright (1803-1865) in the battles of Four Lakes and Spokane Plains during the Indian War of 1858. The fort will also serve as the headquarters and provide escorts for the American contingent of the International Boundary Commission charged with locating and marking the 49th parallel as the boundary with Canada. The name of the fort soon changes to Fort Colville (not to be confused with the earlier Hudson's Bay Company fur trade post, Fort Colvile, spelled with one "l" in the second syllable, and located 15 miles west on the Columbia River at Kettle Falls). A civilian village, Pinkney City, named for Lugenbeel, develops just across the creek to serve as a supply and trading center for the fort and surrounding countryside. Fort Colville continues under a succession of commanders until its closure in 1882.
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Trinity Parish, Seattle's first Episcopal parish, is established on August 13, 1865.
On August 13, 1865, a lay vestry organizes Trinity Parish, Seattle's first Episcopal parish, which builds its first church at 3rd Avenue and Jefferson Street in 1870. It was destroyed in Seattle's Great Fire of 1889. A new church was constructed at 609 8th Avenue in 1891, but destroyed by fire a decade later. The present structure was erected in 1902 and was designated a historic landmark in 1976. The building sustained heavy damage in the 2001 Nisqually earthquake. Within the next few years it was completely restored and earthquake-retrofitted. The church opened for its first service in the restored sanctuary on Christmas Eve, 2005. Trinity Parish is one of Seattle's oldest continuously operating religious congregations, and its church is the oldest church structure in Seattle.
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Dexer Horton Bank, Seattle's first non-wood structure, is built during 1868-1869.
From 1868 to 1869, the Dexter Horton Bank builds the first stone structure in Seattle and King County.
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Seattle's first Roman Catholic Church is built in 1869.
In 1869, Seattle's first Roman Catholic Church is built. It is called Our Lady of Good Help and guided by Fr. Francis Xavier Prefontaine (1838-1908) until its demolition in 1904.
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Seattle's Yesler Hall is completed in 1869.
In 1869, Yesler Hall is built to be used for community meetings and events. Located at the southeast corner of Cherry Street and Front Street (later renamed 1st Avenue), it becomes the first community hall built in Seattle for this purpose.
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Baker Boyer Bank opens in Walla Walla on November 10, 1869.
On November 10, 1869, Baker Boyer Bank opens for business in Walla Walla. Founded by brothers-in-law Dr. Dorsey Syng Baker (1823-1888) and John F. Boyer (1824-1897) with profits from their years as merchants servicing gold miners, Baker Boyer Bank is the first banking institution in what will become the state of Washington.
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Dexter Horton opens King County's first bank in March 1870.
In March 1870, Dexter Horton (1825-1904) opens a bank in Seattle. From 1870 to 1875 the bank is located in a small wooden building on northwest corner of Commercial Street (later First Avenue S) and Washington Street. This is the first bank in King County and is the forerunner of the Seafirst Bank.
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Protestant Episcopal Church building in Seattle is consecrated on June 11, 1870.
On June 11, 1870, the new Protestant Episcopal Church building in Seattle is consecrated by Bishop Morris and Reverends Edward Hyland and William H. Summers. The church is located at the northwest corner of 3rd Avenue and Jefferson Street.
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Seattle's first public school house opens on August 15, 1870.
On August 15, 1870, Seattle's first public school house opens. It is located in the "northern portion of town" (now downtown) on 3rd Avenue between Madison and Spring streets in a two-story, two-room school house.The teacher is Elizabeth "Lizzie" Ordway (b. 1828), one of the original "Mercer Girls" who arrived in Seattle from Lowell, Massachusetts, in 1864.
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Schwabacher's erects Seattle's first brick building on October 24, 1872.
On about October 24, 1872, Seattle's first brick building, constructed by Schwabacher Bros. & Company is completed. It stands on the west side of Commercial Street (1st Avenue S) just south of Mill Street (Yesler Way). In it Schwabacher's opens a general store and wholesale house which purveys everything "from a needle to an anchor." The Seattle branch of Schwabacher Bros. & Company is managed by firm partner Bailey Gatzert (1829-1893), an important figure in Seattle commercial and social life.
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Real-estate prices in Seattle's business district continue to increase in 1875.
In 1875, Henry Yesler (1810-1892) sells to James M. Colman a quarter of a city lot on the southeast corner of Commercial Street and Mill Street (renamed 1st Avenue S and Yesler Way) for $8,000. Yesler sells another portion of an adjoining lot to Anderson and Osborne (24 x 70 feet) for $6,000. These are by far the highest prices realized to date for Seattle real estate.
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King County Hospital begins operation in Georgetown in May 1877.
In May 1877, three nuns from the Roman Catholic Sisters of Charity of the House of Providence open the poor home and hospital in Georgetown on a contract with King County. After 14 months, they find the facility inadequate and move to their own hospital in Seattle. King County will reopen the Georgetown hospital in May 1890 and continued at that location until 1956.
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Sisters of Providence open their first Seattle hospital on August 2, 1878.
On August 2, 1878, the Sisters of Charity of Providence open their first Seattle hospital at 5th Avenue and Madison Street. Known as "the Builder," Mother Joseph (1823-1902) designed and supervised construction of the three-story, wood-frame building.
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Fort Vancouver is renamed Vancouver Barracks on April 5, 1879.
On April 5, 1879, Fort Vancouver, in Clark County, is renamed Vancouver Barracks. This army post will become the oldest on the West Coast and the most historic in the Northwest. Vancouver Barracks will provide troops in the Indian Wars, Spanish-American War, World War I, and World War II. However, because Fort Vancouver lacked adequate maneuver and training space, Fort Lewis in Pierce County will replace it as a major military installation. In 1946 the post will become an Army Reserve facility, and portions of it will later be turned over to the U.S. National Park Service's Fort Vancouver National Site, with the final United States Army parcel closing in 2011 upon completion of a new Army Reserve Center at a different Vancouver location.
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25 Years Later: Veteran Idealist Frank Ruano Speaks Out about the Kingdome
Before Frank Ruano (1920-2005) came to Seattle and became one of the city's most outspoken citizens, particularly with regard to the Kingdome, he lived in New York and worked for American Express. When asked if he would relocate to another U.S. city, he consulted his girlfriend Sophie first. She didn't want to live in a cold place. Frank eventually agreed to Seattle, despite its rainy reputation. Frank and Sophie departed together after she agreed to marry him (after a little bit of arbitration) on Labor Day, 1949. "I didn't know a single soul," Frank recalls. Some Seattle and King County politicians no doubt wished he'd stayed in New York.
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Bresemann, E. J. (1881-1971) -- Tacoma's architect of schools
In this People's History, Steilacoom resident Nancy Covert outlines the life and works of Tacoma's Emanuel J. Bresemann, one of Washington state's first 20 licensed architects and the designer of more than two-dozen schools in Pierce County. "E. J.," as he was known throughout his life, learned the furniture-making trade from his pioneer father. He then went into architecture, and during his long career he designed, in addition to schools, more than 30 private homes and numerous commercial buildings. In compiling this People's History, the author interviewed E. J.'s daughter-in-law and granddaughter and reviewed contemporary news accounts of the prolific architect's accomplishments.
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Growing up in the Brace Lumber Company family (South Lake Union, Seattle)
In this reminiscence, John Brace, great-grandson of Brace and Hergert Mill founder John S. Brace and grandson of Brace Lumber Company cofounder Nick Brace remembers life in the Brace Lumber family and discusses the Brace Lumber Family legacy in Seattle. It was written by John and Marta Kelso Brace and edited by HistoryLink.org staff historian Paula Becker.
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On Preservation and the Stimson-Green Mansion: an Interview of Priscilla (Patsy) Collins
In this HistoryLink interview conducted by architectural historian Heather MacIntosh on September 18, 2000, native Seattleite and
businesswoman Priscilla (Patsy) Collins (1920-2003) provides perspective on the preservation of the Stimson-Green mansion, a Seattle landmark located at 1204 Minor Avenue on First Hill. In 1899, her grandparents, C. D. Stimson (1857-1928) and Harriet Overton Stimson (1862-1936) hired noted Spokane architect Kirtland Cutter (1860-1939) to design their new First Hill home. The Stimsons lived in the house only 14 years. Joshua Green (1869-1975), an influential local businessman, and his family lived in the house until the 1970s.
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Reard-Freed Farmhouse (Sammamish)
The Reard-Freed farmhouse in Sammamish (King County), built in 1895, has a long and rich local history, and the original farmstead on which the house was built has the distinction of being the only location in Sammamish that appears in the National Register of Historic Places. This account, written by Sammamish Heritage Society historian Phil Dougherty, reprints Dougherty's articles, "The Origins Of The Freed House" ( Sammamish Review, July 1, 2009, pp. 14-15) and "How The Freed House Became What It Is Today" ( Sammamish Review, July 8, 2009, p. 8), and is reprinted with the kind permission of the Sammamish Heritage Society.
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Sandbox at the Seattle Hotel
Bill Bonham managed hotels in the Northwest in the 1920s through the 1940s, including the Seattle Hotel at 1st Avenue and Yesler Way in Seattle and the Hotel Monticello in Longview. Bonham's daughter, Billie Bonham Dunne, of Portland offers these photos of a sandbox Bonham built on the top floor of the Seattle Hotel, a grand old hotel in Pioneer Square that was replaced in the early 1960s by the "sinking ship" parking garage.
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Sicks' Stadium (Seattle) in the 1930s: a Reminiscence
In this account, Sally Flood remembers the games at Seattle's Sicks' Stadium in the late 1930s.
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Southgate Roller Rink (White Center)
The Southgate Roller Rink (now Southgate Event Center) is located in the center of White Center (at 9646 17th Ave SW), a neighborhood of South Seattle. It was originally built by Hiram Green (1863-1932) in 1920 as a boxing arena. From 1937 for the next 70 years it became a roller rink, most recently famous for hosting the Rat City Roller Girls. Today (2009) it is owned by Tom Brown, his son Andrew Brown, and Dean Burgess. They have renamed the historic building the Southgate Event Center and it hosts the White Center Swap Meet and Flea Market among other events. This People's History of the famous old roller rink was contributed by White Center resident Ron Richardson.
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The Swinging Chandelier: A Story for April 1 by Ralph Munro
Ralph Munro served as Secretary of State from 1980 to 2001. This story of the chandelier in the Capitol Building in Olympia also involves another person, Jack Metcalf (1927-2007), a Washington state senator and later U.S. Congressman from Washington.
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