Skip to main content

Pioneer Square, Seattle

Pioneer Square is triangular shaped park bounded by 1st Avenue and Yesler Way in downtown Seattle.  The Pioneer Square neighborhood is the traditional center for the City of Seattle.






Seattle was originally settled as New York Alki in the winter of 1851 at Alki Point.  By Spring of the following year the settlement was moved east over Elliott Bay to a naturally flat track of land which became Pioneer Square.  Pioneer Square was originally 20-30 lower than it today and was prone to flooding from the unguarded shoreline of Elliott Bay.  Pioneer Square is roughly bounded by; Alaskan Bay to the west, King Street to the south, 5th Avenue to the east and generally a block or two north of Yesler Way.


Downtown Seattle and Pioneer Square originally mostly consisted of wooden buildings.  In 1889 the great Seattle Fire was started accidentally in Pioneer Square when a cabinet maker accidentally overturned and ignited a glue bucket.  The grease based fire caused by the burning glue quickly overwhelmed the poorly maintained water system of the city and burned 31 blocks.  Pioneer Square was quickly rebuilt but the City of Seattle took the opportunity to regrade the streets 20-30 higher to mitigate flooding and install a better plumbing system.  Buildings were largely masonry in design and built with an entrance on the first floor at the original street grade in addition to entrances at the second level at the anticipated grade.  The increased street grades in Pioneer Square buried the original entrances to the rebuilt buildings which led to what is known as the Seattle Underground.

Pioneer Square has a large number of the historic downtown buildings in Seattle.  The Pioneer Building was the largest in Washington State from 1892 to 1904 is located in Pioneer Square Park.  The structure is 6 stories high and consists of various types of masonry stones.






There is evidence of Pioneer Square's past due to the hugely subsiding bricks on Yesler Way.


The Iron Pergola ahead in the photo was a street car waiting area installed in 1909.  The totem pole is a 1938 replacement for a structure that was given to the city of Seattle in 1899.



Comments

Popular posts from this blog

US Route 62 and US Route 180 in the Guadalupe Mountains

US Route 62/US Route 180 between El Paso, Texas and Carlsbad, New Mexico passes through the Guadalupe Mountains.  The Guadalupe Mountains comprise the highest peaks of Texas which are largely protected as part Guadalupe Mountains National Park.  The automotive highway through the Guadalupe Mountains was constructed in the late 1920s as part of Texas State Road 54.  US Route 62 was extended from Carlsbad through the Guadalupe Mountains to El Paso during 1932.  US Route 62 was joined in the Guadalupe Mountains by US Route 180 in 1943.  The Guadalupe Mountains comprise a portion of the 130 mile "No Services" zone on US Route 62/US Route 180 between El Paso-Carlsbad. Part 1; the history of US Route 62 and US Route 180 in the Guadalupe Mountains The Guadalupe Mountains lie within the states of Texas and New Mexico.  The Guadalupe Mountains essentially is a southern extension of the larger Rocky Mountains.  The Guadalupe Mountains is the highest range in Texas with the peak elevati

Former California State Route 215

  California State Route 215 was a short-lived state highway which existed in the Los Angeles Metropolitain area after the 1964 State Highway Renumbering.  California State Route 215 was aligned from US Route 60 at 5th Street in Pomona north to US Route 66 near Claremont via Garey Avenue.  California State Route 215 came to be after California State Route 71 was bisected in Pomona due to relinquishment of a portion of Garey Avenue due to the opening of a portion of the Corona Freeway (now Chino Valley Freeway) during 1958.  California State Route 215 was deleted by the Legislature during 1965. The history of California State Route 215 The initial segment of what was to become California State Route 215 was added to the State Highway System as part of the 1909 First State Highway Bond Act.  The First State Highway Bond Act defined what would become  Legislative Route Number 19  (LRN 19) as running from Claremont to Riverside.  The segment of LRN 19 between Claremont and Pomona would in

Paper Highways; unbuilt California State Route 100 in Santa Cruz

This edition of Paper Highways examines the unbuilt California State Route 100 in Santa Cruz. The History of Unbuilt California State Route 100 The route that became CA 100 was added to the State Inventory in 1959 as part of the Freeway & Expressway System as Legislative Route 287 .  According to CAhighways.org the initial definition of LRN 287 had it begin at LRN 5 (CA 17) and was defined over the below alignment to LRN 56 (CA 1) through downtown Santa Cruz. -  Ocean Street -  2nd Street -  Chestnut Street For context the above alignment would required tearing down a large part of the densely populated Santa Cruz.  A modern Google imagine immediately reveals how crazy an alignment following Ocean Street, 2nd Street, and Chestnut Street would have been. LRN 287 first appears on the 1960 Division of Highways State Map . In 1961 the definition of LRN 287 was generalized to; from LRN 5 via the beach area in Santa Cruz to LRN 56 west of the San Lorenzo River.