Look At This

Seattle Of Old

I just discovered the Seattle Municipal Archives' Flickr photostream.There are some pretty amazing photos of old Seattle as well as some great maps and other things cataloging Seattle's history. It's great to see all that has changed over the years but also all the things that still exist and that have stayed the same. Here are some of my favorite photos from the bunch.

Here is a photo from 1916 of the Fremont Bridge under construction. In the background you can see Queen Anne hill on the right side, and you can see Dexter going up the side as well. Off in the distance on the left side you can see Capital Hill with Lake Union below it, and you can also see what use to be Stone Way Bridge.

Here is a photo of the Aurora Bridge under construction in 1931.

The Smith Tower under construction in 1913. Look at all the street car lines along 3rd and Yesler. Almost all the buildings in this photo are still there today.

The Denny Regrade, 1914. I'd hate to be the milk man or the paper boy for this house.

 

 Traffic sucked around the Fremont bridge back in 1957 too.
 

Check out the Publix hotel \in the skyline photo taken in 1954.(E shaped white building just left of center)

Here is a great areal photo of downtown Seattle before all the tall sky scrapers went in. You can see the Publix again the the lower right. Also look how wide 5th ave is back then, it's at least twice as wide as it is now. There are also the train lines going to Union Station that Paul Allen now has his buildings over.

 

Here is a photo looking north up 5th at Union and King st. station. On the right the empty lot is now where the new Uwajimyaya store is, and in the center is where Paul Allen's buildings are now.

 

Look at this crazy design proposal for the West Seattle Bridge, maybe one day in the future we will all be living under a freeway.

Well, that's it for now. There are many more amazing photos of Seattle in their photostream. It would be great to do then and now photos for some of these shots just to get a good sense of what has changed over the years.