Central Waterfront, Seattle - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

The Central Waterfront of Seattle, in the state of Washington, USA, is the most urbanized portion of the Elliott Bay

Elliott Bay

Elliott Bay is the body of water on which Seattle, Washington, is located. A line drawn from Alki Point in the south to West Point in the north serves to mark the generally accepted division between the bay and the open sound...

shore. It runs from the Pioneer Square

Pioneer Square, Seattle, Washington

Pioneer Square is a neighborhood in the southwest corner of Downtown Seattle, Washington, USA. It was once the heart of the city: Seattle's founders settled there in 1852, following a brief six-month settlement at Alki Point on the far side of Elliott Bay. The early structures in the neighborhood...

shore roughly northwest past Downtown Seattle

Downtown Seattle

Downtown is the central business district of Seattle, Washington. It is fairly compact compared to other city centers on the West Coast because of its geographical situation: hemmed in on the north and east by hills, on the west by the Elliott Bay, and on the south by reclaimed land that was once...

and Belltown

Belltown, Seattle, Washington

Belltown is a neighborhood in Seattle, Washington, United States, in the 98121 Zip Code, located on the city's downtown waterfront, on land that was artificially flattened as part of a regrading project...

, ending at the Broad Street site of the Olympic Sculpture Park

Olympic Sculpture Park

The Olympic Sculpture Park is a public park in Seattle, Washington that opened on January 20, 2007.The park consists of a outdoor sculpture museum and beach. The park was designed by Weiss/Manfredi Architects, along with Charles Anderson Landscape Architecture and other consultants. It is...

.

The Central Waterfront (website) was once the hub of Seattle's maritime activity. Since the construction of a container port

Containerization

Containerization is a system of freight transport based on a range of steel intermodal containers...

to its south in the 1960s, the area has increasingly been converted to recreational and retail uses. As of 2008, several century-old piers are devoted to shops and restaurants. There are several parks, an aquarium

Seattle Aquarium

The Seattle Aquarium is a public aquarium opened in 1977 and located on Pier 59 on the Elliott Bay waterfront in Seattle, Washington, USA. It is accredited by the Association of Zoos and Aquariums .-History:...

, and one over-water hotel

The Edgewater

The Edgewater is a four-story, 223-room hotel in Seattle, Washington. It is located on the Central Waterfront on a pier over Elliott Bay and is the only over-water, and water-front hotel in the Seattle area...

.

Some dock

Dock (maritime)

A dock is a human-made structure or group of structures involved in the handling of boats or ships, usually on or close to a shore.However, the exact meaning varies among different variants of the English language...

s remain on the Central Waterfront, under the authority of the Port of Seattle

Port of Seattle

The Port of Seattle is a port district that runs Seattle's seaport and airport. Its creation was approved by the voters of King County, Washington, on September 5, 1911, authorized by the Port District Act. It is run by a five-member commission. The commissioners' terms run four years...

, including a cruise ship

Cruise ship

A cruise ship or cruise liner is a passenger ship used for pleasure voyages, where the voyage itself and the ship's amenities are part of the experience, as well as the different destinations along the way...

dock, ferry

Ferry

A ferry is a form of transportation, usually a boat, but sometimes a ship, used to carry primarily passengers, and sometimes vehicles and cargo as well, across a body of water. Most ferries operate on regular, frequent, return services...

terminals, and a fireboat

Fireboat

A fireboat is a specialized watercraft and with pumps and nozzles designed for fighting shoreline and shipboard fires. The first fireboats, dating to the late 18th century, were tugboats, retrofitted with firefighting equipment....

dock. There are many architectural vestiges of the area's past status as the heart of a port, and a handful of businesses have remained in operation since that time.

Location and extent

As with most Seattle neighborhoods, the Central Waterfront has no defined and agreed-upon boundaries. According to the Seattle Waterfront Plan, the Central Waterfront runs roughly from Jackson Street in the Pioneer Square

Pioneer Square, Seattle, Washington

neighborhood, north along the Elliott Bay shore through Downtown to Broad Street, near the north end of Belltown

Belltown, Seattle, Washington

. To its south is the Port of Seattle

Port of Seattle

's container port

Containerization

Containerization is a system of freight transport based on a range of steel intermodal containers...

; to its north is the Olympic Sculpture Park

Olympic Sculpture Park

. That plan makes no clear statement as to how far inland the "waterfront" neighborhood might extend.

Real estate and consulting firm Wronsky, Gibbons & Riely PLLC describe the Central Waterfront as a "predominately linear district running north-south along Alaskan Way" from Pier 48 to Pier 70. Pier 48 is at the foot of Yesler Way, three blocks north of Jackson Street (the city plan's southern boundary); Pier 70 is at the foot of Broad Street.

A 2006 study by the Department of Neighborhoods agrees on where to place the north end of the district, but puts its southern boundary at Columbia Street (a block north of Yesler Way at the water's edge). Below Battery Street, this study considers the neighborhood to extend inland to First Avenue. Above Battery Street, they consider the neighborhood to extend only to Elliott Avenue, taking in facilities such as the World Trade Center. The southern cutoff at Columbia Street completely excludes the Pioneer Square neighborhood, while the extension inland to First Avenue means that they consider the former warehouse district along Western Avenue and the entire Pike Place Market

Pike Place Market

Pike Place Market is a public market overlooking the Elliott Bay waterfront in Seattle, Washington, United States. The Market opened August 17, 1907, and is one of the oldest continually operated public farmers' markets in the United States. It is a place of business for many small farmers,...

Historical District as part of the Central Waterfront.

In its southern portion, the waterfront is separated from inland Seattle by the Alaskan Way Viaduct

Alaskan Way Viaduct

The Alaskan Way Viaduct, completed on April 4, 1953, is a double-decked elevated section of State Route 99 that runs along the Elliott Bay waterfront in Seattle's Industrial District and downtown Seattle. It is the smaller of the two major north–south traffic corridors through Seattle ,...

, which continues northward through downtown. As one continues north, the land rises more rapidly away from the water, creating a sharper distinction between waterfront and uplands. There are several distinct passages between the Central Waterfront and the uplands: the Harbor Steps at University Street, leading to the Seattle Art Museum

Seattle Art Museum

The Seattle Art Museum is an art museum located in Seattle, Washington, USA. It maintains three major facilities: its main museum in downtown Seattle; the Seattle Asian Art Museum in Volunteer Park on Capitol Hill, and the Olympic Sculpture Park on the central Seattle waterfront, which opened on...

; the Pike Hill Climb from the Seattle Aquarium

Seattle Aquarium

to the Pike Place Market; and, farther north, the Lenora Street and Bell Street Bridges. The last two are not heavily used, because they do not connect to any major upland destination.

Historically, Seattle's Central Waterfront continued farther south, with a similar character. Since the mid-1960s, the area to the south has been a container port.

Seattle's current pier numbering scheme dates from World War II

World War II

World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

; prior to that era, for example, the present Pier 55

Pier 55, Seattle

Pier 55 is a pier Seattle, Washington. Pier 55 was originally known as Pier 4 until it was renumbered during World War Two.-Location:Pier 55 is located at the foot of Seneca Street. Pier 55 is the next pier to the south. Pier 56 is the next pier to the north.-Construction:Pier 4 was at the foot...

was Pier 4 and Pier 57 was Pier 6.

Roads

As of 2008, the two main routes along the Central Waterfront are Alaskan Way

Alaskan Way

Alaskan Way, originally Railroad Avenue, is a street in Seattle, Washington, that runs along the Elliott Bay waterfront from just north of S. Holgate Street in the Industrial District—south of which it becomes East Marginal Way S.— to Broad Street in Belltown—north of which is Myrtle Edwards Park...

and (from Battery Street south) the Alaskan Way Viaduct

Alaskan Way Viaduct

. Alaskan Way follows the route of the earlier railway line and one-time Railroad Avenue along the "Ram's Horn" from just north of S. Holgate Street in the Industrial District

Industrial District, Seattle, Washington

The Industrial District is the principal industrial area of Seattle, Washington. It is bounded on the west by the Duwamish Waterway and Elliott Bay, beyond which lies Delridge of West Seattle; on the east by Interstate 5, beyond which lies Beacon Hill; on the north by S King and S Dearborn Streets,...

to Broad Street at the north end of the Central Waterfront.

The original Railroad Avenue was built as a planked roadway on pilings over the waters of Elliott Bay. The chaos of horses and buggies, pedestrians, rail cars, multiple railroad tracks and multiple sidings was somewhat relieved when the Great Northern built a rail tunnel (1903–1906) under Downtown. From that time, only rail traffic that actually needed to access the waterfront had to use Railroad Avenue; other trains could bypass the busy corridor. Still, there continued to be problems with the structural integrity of the planked roadway. Between 1911 and 1916, a concrete seawall

Seawall

A seawall is a form of coastal defence constructed where the sea, and associated coastal processes, impact directly upon the landforms of the coast. The purpose of a seawall is to protect areas of human habitation, conservation and leisure activities from the action of tides and waves...

strengthened the portion of the waterfront between S. Washington Street and Madison Street. By 1936 the seawall extended northward to Bay Street, its current extent as of 2008, and Railroad Avenue officially became Alaskan Way. Still, it was not properly paved until 1940, during the administration of mayor Arthur Langlie. In the early 1950s, the Alaskan Way Viaduct was built, paralleling Alaskan Way for much of its distance.

From May 29, 1982 to November 19, 2005 the George Benson Waterfront Streetcar Line ran parallel to Alaskan Way on the land side. The trolley barn was demolished to build the Olympic Sculpture Park, and since 2005 a roughly equivalent route has been served by a bus. The tracks and stations remain.

Piers and buildings

The pier

Pier

A pier is a raised structure, including bridge and building supports and walkways, over water, typically supported by widely spread piles or pillars...

s of Seattle's Central Waterfront are numbered from Pier 46, at the south end of the area, to Pier 70 at the northern end.

Piers 46–48

Pier 46, 88 acres (356,123.7 m²) and land filled, is the southernmost pier on the Central Waterfront and the northernmost pier of the Port of Seattle's container port. For two years in the early 2000s part of it was operated by the Church Council as a homeless shelter

Homeless shelter

Homeless shelters are temporary residences for homeless people which seek to protect vulnerable populations from the often devastating effects of homelessness while simultaneously reducing the environmental impact on the community...

.
South Korea

South Korea

The Republic of Korea , , is a sovereign state in East Asia, located on the southern portion of the Korean Peninsula. It is neighbored by the People's Republic of China to the west, Japan to the east, North Korea to the north, and the East China Sea and Republic of China to the south...

n container shipping company Hanjin

Hanjin

The Hanjin Group is a South Korean conglomerate, or Jaebeol. The group is a holding company that includes a shipping company, Hanjin Shipping , and Korean Air , which was acquired in 1969...

Shipping has a lease at the pier through 2015 with a 10-year renewal option. Nonetheless, there has been much discussion about the future of Pier 46. Proposals have included a sports arena, mixed-income or low-income housing, condos and a shopping center, or continued use as part of the port.
Pier 48, at the foot of Main Street, also incorporates the former Pier 47.
Nirvana

Nirvana (band)

Nirvana was an American rock band that was formed by singer/guitarist Kurt Cobain and bassist Krist Novoselic in Aberdeen, Washington in 1987...

, Cypress Hill

Cypress Hill

Cypress Hill is an American hip hop group from South Gate, California. Cypress Hill was the first Latino hip-hop group to have platinum and multi-platinum albums, selling over 18 million albums worldwide...

and the Breeders

The Breeders

The Breeders are an American alternative rock band formed in 1988 by Kim Deal of the Pixies and Tanya Donelly of Throwing Muses. The band has experienced a number of line-up changes; the current line-up consists of Kim Deal , her twin sister Kelley Deal , Jose Medeles , Mando Lopez Todd the Fox...

performed a concert at Pier 48 on December 13, 1993, which was recorded for MTV

MTV

MTV, formerly an initialism of Music Television, is an American network based in New York City that launched on August 1, 1981. The original purpose of the channel was to play music videos guided by on-air hosts known as VJs....

. Until 1999, the pier was the Seattle terminal for a ferry service to Victoria, British Columbia

Victoria, British Columbia

Victoria is the capital city of British Columbia, Canada and is located on the southern tip of Vancouver Island off Canada's Pacific coast. The city has a population of about 78,000 within the metropolitan area of Greater Victoria, which has a population of 360,063, the 15th most populous Canadian...

using the ship Princess Marguerite. After the final departure of the Princess Marguerite, Pier 48 became home to a museum ship, the Soviet-era Foxtrot class submarine

Foxtrot class submarine

The Foxtrot class was the NATO reporting name of a class of diesel-electric patrol submarines that were built in the Soviet Union. The Soviet designation of this class was Project 641....

Cobra. The Washington State Department of Transportation (WSDOT) purchased the pier from the Port of Seattle in 2008. Citing safety and the expense of maintaining the buildings on the worm-eaten pier, WSDOT demolished the 120000 square feet (11,148.4 m²) warehouse on the pier in July 2010 in order to use the space as a staging area for the coming demolition of the nearby Alaskan Way Viaduct.

Piers 46–48 are roughly in the area once occupied by Ballast Island (see above). Pier 48 began life in 1901 as Pier B of the Pacific Coast Company's Ocean Dock, which also had two other piers (A and C, the latter also known as City Dock). In the early 20th century, there was a terminal here for the Columbia and Puget Sound Railroad.

Harbor Entrance Pergola

As of 2008 there is no Pier 49 as such; the site used to be the Washington Street Boat Landing, but is closed off and unused. This was roughly the site of both the pre-fire and post-fire Yesler's Wharf (see above) and of Piers 1 and 2, built by the Northern Pacific some time between 1901 (when the post-fire Yesler's Wharf was demolished) and 1904. The one prominent remaining feature of the crumbling wharf is the Harbor Entrance Pergola, which is listed on the National Register of Historic Places

National Register of Historic Places

The National Register of Historic Places is the United States government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures, and objects deemed worthy of preservation...

. Originally it functioned as a landing point for boats bringing passengers from ships. Over the years since the boat landing was closed, various uses have been proposed, including a terminal for the King County Water Taxi route to West Seattle or a mooring point for the historic tugboat Arthur Foss. As of 2010, the site has become the Downtown terminal for the West Seattle water taxi. On September 26, 2010, a water taxi carrying 78 passengers failed to reverse its engines and slammed into the pier. 7 were injured.

The Harbor Entrance Pergola was the last-constructed of the historic structures associated with Seattle's Pioneer Square district, and is the district's only important landmark on the west side of Alaskan Way. It was designed by Seattle City Architect Daniel Riggs Huntington and built in 1920. Huntington was also co-architect of the nearby Morrison Hotel (1909) and was responsible for the 1912 repairs to Colman Dock on the site of the present ferry terminal. Huntington also designed the Lake Union Steam Plant, built in 1914. The pergola was restored in the 1970s by the Committee of 33, a local Seattle philanthropic organization.

Washington State Ferry Terminal

Pier 50 and Pier 52 are operating terminals of Washington State Ferries

Washington State Ferries

Washington State Ferries is a passenger and automobile ferry service owned and operated by the Washington State Department of Transportation that serves communities on Puget Sound and in the San Juan Islands. It is the most used ferry system in the world and the largest passenger and automobile...

. As of 2008, there is no longer a Pier 51. Passenger-only ferry service runs from Pier 50 to Vashon Island, while ferries carrying both vehicles and passengers run from Pier 52 to Bainbridge Island

Bainbridge Island, Washington

Bainbridge Island is a city in Kitsap County, Washington, United States, and the name of the island in Puget Sound on which the city is situated...

and Bremerton, Washington

Bremerton, Washington

Bremerton is a city in Kitsap County, Washington, United States. The population was 38,790 at the 2011 State Estimate, making it the largest city on the Olympic Peninsula. Bremerton is home to Puget Sound Naval Shipyard and the Bremerton Annex of Naval Base Kitsap...

.

Pier 52 was historically known as Colman Dock. The original Colman Dock was built by Scottish engineer James Colman in 1882. It burned with most of the rest of the city in the Great Seattle Fire

Great Seattle Fire

The Great Seattle Fire was a fire that destroyed the entire central business district of Seattle, Washington, USA, on June 6, 1889.-Early Seattle:In the fall of 1851, the Denny Party arrived at Alki Point in what is now the state of Washington...

of 1889, but was quickly rebuilt. In 1908, Colman extended the dock to a total length of 705 feet (214.9 m) and added a domed waiting room and a 72 feet (21.9 m) clocktower. Calamity hit four years later. On the night of April 25, 1912, the steel-hulled ship Alameda accidentally set its engines "full speed ahead" instead of reversing, and slammed into the dock. The dock tower fell into the bay and the sternwheeler Telegraph was sunk. The clock was salvaged, as was the Telegraph, and the dock was reconstructed with a new tower. No one died in the Alameda accident, but a less dramatic accident the following month proved fatal. On May 19, 1912, a gangplank collapsed as passengers were boarding the Black Ball steamer Flyer. At least 60 people fell into the water. One woman and one child died.

In 1912, Puget Sound

Puget Sound

Puget Sound is a sound in the U.S. state of Washington. It is a complex estuarine system of interconnected marine waterways and basins, with one major and one minor connection to the Strait of Juan de Fuca and the Pacific Ocean — Admiralty Inlet being the major connection and...

was still served by the "Mosquito Fleet

Puget Sound Mosquito Fleet

The Puget Sound Mosquito Fleet was a large number of private transportation companies running smaller passenger and freight boats on Puget Sound and nearby waterways and rivers. This large group of steamers and sternwheelers plied the waters of Puget Sound, stopping at every waterfront dock...

", an assortment of boats plying a variety of routes. The following year, Joshua Green

Joshua Green (seaman and banker)

Joshua Green was an American sternwheeler captain, businessman, and banker. He rose from being a seaman to being the dominant figure of the Puget Sound Mosquito Fleet, then sold out his interests and became a banker...

founded the Puget Sound Navigation Company

Puget Sound Navigation Company

The Puget Sound Navigation Company was founded by Joshua Green in 1913. It operated a fleet of steamboats and ferries on Puget Sound in Washington and the Georgia Strait in British Columbia...

(PSNC or Black Ball Line). Within about a decade, they had consolidated control of regional ferries. In the mid-1930s they modernized Colman Dock, using an Art Deco

Art Deco

Art deco , or deco, is an eclectic artistic and design style that began in Paris in the 1920s and flourished internationally throughout the 1930s, into the World War II era. The style influenced all areas of design, including architecture and interior design, industrial design, fashion and...

style that matched their streamlined

Streamliner

A streamliner is a vehicle incorporating streamlining in a shape providing reduced air resistance. The term is applied to high-speed railway trainsets of the 1930s to 1950s, and to their successor "bullet trains". Less commonly, the term is applied to fully faired recumbent bicycles...

signature ferry MV Kalakala.

In 1951, Washington State bought out PSNC and took over the ferry system. Work on the present terminal began a decade later; there have been several reconfigurations and modernizations since. The very month that the state ferry terminal opened, it was the subject of another accident. The Kalakala, which had recently been voted Seattle's second biggest attraction after the then-new Space Needle

Space Needle

The Space Needle is a tower in Seattle, Washington and is a major landmark of the Pacific Northwest region of the United States and a symbol of Seattle. Located at the Seattle Center, it was built for the 1962 World's Fair, during which time nearly 20,000 people a day used the elevators, with over...

, rammed the terminal February 21, 1966. Though dramatic, the damage proved not to be severe. The ferry needed only minor repairs and was back in service the next day. Repairs to the slip cost $80,000 and took two months to complete.

The clock from the old Colman Dock tower, dunked into the bay in the 1912 Alameda accident and removed in the 1936 renovation, was rediscovered (lying in pieces) in 1976, purchased by the Port of Seattle in 1985, restored, given as a gift to the Washington State Department of Transportation

Washington State Department of Transportation

The Washington State Department of Transportation , was established in 1905. The agency, led by a Secretary and overseen by the Governor, is a Washington governmental agency that constructs, maintains, and regulates the use of the state's transportation infrastructure...

, and reinstalled on the present Colman Dock May 18, 1985.

The Grand Trunk Pacific

Grand Trunk Pacific Railway

The Grand Trunk Pacific Railway was a historical Canadian railway.A wholly owned subsidiary of the Grand Trunk Railway , the GTPR was constructed by GTR using loans provided by the Government of Canada. The company was formed in 1903 with a mandate to build west from Winnipeg, Manitoba to the...

dock stood just north of Colman Dock at the foot of Marion Street. The original dock was built in 1910 as the largest wooden pier on the West Coast. It was not there for long. On July 30, 1914, it was swept away by an explosion and massive fire. The cause has never been determined. Five people died and 29 more were injured. The flames were hot enough to scorch several parts of Colman Dock, but the fire department managed to contain the fire largely to the one pier. A replacement dock was promptly built, and survived until 1964, when it was replaced by waiting area for automobiles boarding ferries at the new ferry terminal.

Fire Station No. 5

Pier 53, a very short pier just north of the ferry terminal near the foot of Madison Street, is the site of Seattle Fire Station

Seattle Fire Department

The Seattle Fire Department is the medical, rescue, and fire protection force of Seattle, Washington and it is the largest metropolitan fire department in the Pacific Northwest. It is also a part of Medic One.-History of the department:...

No. 5, at 925 Alaskan Way. The present 1963 building is the third fire station at this address and the fourth to serve the Central Waterfront. The fire department used to play a particularly critical role on the waterfront: not only were the piers all made of wood; until federal money helped pay for the construction of a seawall

Seawall

in 1934, so was the road along the water (prior to that Railroad Avenue, after that Alaskan Way). The Great Seattle Fire

Great Seattle Fire

of 1889 had consumed the piers as far north as Union Street along with the rest of the heart of the city.

After the Great Fire, a small one-story wood frame firehouse was erected near the foot of Madison Street, but not quite at the present site. It opened January 3, 1891 with a crew of nine, the new fireboat Snoqualmie and a small hose wagon. In 1902, a larger two-story wood frame building was constructed on the present site and in 1910, the new fireboat Duwamish
Duwamish (fireboat)
The Duwamish reigned as one of the most powerful fireboats in the United States several times over her 75-year working life.She is the second oldest vessel designed to fight fires in the USA, after the Edward M Cotter, in Buffalo, New York....

replaced the Snoqualmie. The wood frame building was demolished in 1916 and replaced by an elegant brick building in 1917, incorporating Craftsman

American Craftsman

The American Craftsman Style, or the American Arts and Crafts Movement, is an American domestic architectural, interior design, landscape design, applied arts, and decorative arts style and lifestyle philosophy that began in the last years of the 19th century. As a comprehensive design and art...

and Tudor Revival

Tudorbethan architecture

The Tudor Revival architecture of the 20th century , first manifested itself in domestic architecture beginning in the United Kingdom in the mid to late 19th century based on a revival of aspects of Tudor style. It later became an influence in some other countries, especially the British colonies...

details. An additional fireboat Alki came into service in 1928.

While the 1917 fire station was recognized as an aesthetically good building, by the early 1960s its supporting pier timbers were becoming unsafe. The building was demolished in early 1961. After extensive work on the pier supports, the new modern

Modern architecture

Modern architecture is generally characterized by simplification of form and creation of ornament from the structure and theme of the building. It is a term applied to an overarching movement, with its exact definition and scope varying widely...

building by Durham, Anderson & Freed (Robert Durham, David R. Anderson, and Aaron Freed) opened in December 1963.

Piers 54–56

Pier 54 (originally Pier 3) and its shed were constructed in 1900 by the Northern Pacific Railroad, the southernmost of their three adjacent piers between Madison and University Streets. The shed's first tenants were Galbraith and Bacon (James Galbraith and Cecil Bacon) who dealt in grain and hay, and also in building materials. In Mosquito Fleet days it became known as the Galbraith Dock, from which the Kitsap County Transportation Company

Kitsap County Transportation Company

The Kitsap County Transportation Company was an important steamboat and ferry company that operated on Puget Sound. The company was originally founded in 1898 as the Hansen Transportation Company.-Hansen Transportation:...

, run by James Galbraith's son Walter Galbraith, competed against the Black Ball Line at the Colman Dock. It was home port for the Kitsap, the Utopia, the Reliance and the Hyak

Hyak (steamboat 1909)

Hyak was a wooden-hulled steamship that operated on Puget Sound from 1909 to 1941. This vessel should not be confused with the sternwheeler Hyak which ran on the extreme upper reach of the Columbia River at about the same time...

. From 1929 to the mid-1930s it was general headquarters for Gorst Air Transport, who operated a seaplane

Seaplane

A seaplane is a fixed-wing aircraft capable of taking off and landing on water. Seaplanes that can also take off and land on airfields are a subclass called amphibian aircraft...

service from there, using Keystone-Loening planes. They also operated out of Bremerton across the Sound. Through this period, the Northern Pacific still owned the pier, but by 1944 the Washington Fish and Oyster Company (now Ocean Beauty Seafoods) had purchased the pier and was its main tenant. Engineering firm Reese and Callender Associates helped them reinforce the pier and to adapt it to its new use.

By 1938, the Kitsap Transportation Company was out of business. That year, Ivar Haglund

Ivar Haglund

Ivar Haglund was a Seattle folk singer and the "flounder" of Ivar's.-Background:Ivar Haglund was born in Seattle, Washington. Ivar Haglund was born to pioneers Johan Ivar Haglund, a Swedish immigrant and Daisy Hanson Haglund, daughter of Norwegian immigrants...

rented the northeast corner of the pier shed for a one-room aquarium

Aquarium

An aquarium is a vivarium consisting of at least one transparent side in which water-dwelling plants or animals are kept. Fishkeepers use aquaria to keep fish, invertebrates, amphibians, marine mammals, turtles, and aquatic plants...

, which included a small fish and chips stand. The aquarium closed around 1945, at which time the restaurant moved to the southeastern corner and was redesigned in Streamline Moderne

Streamline Moderne

Streamline Moderne, sometimes referred to by either name alone or as Art Moderne, was a late type of the Art Deco design style which emerged during the 1930s...

style. Ivar's Acres of Clams, named after an old folk song

Old Settler's Song (Acres of Clams)

"Old Settler's Song " is a Northwest United States folk song written by Francis D. Henry around 1874. The lyrics are sung to the tune "Old Rosin the Beau." The song also goes by the names "Acres of Clams", “Lay of the Old Settler,” “Old Settler’s Song,” while the melody is known as “Rosin the...

, became the flagship of the Ivar's

Ivar's

Ivar's is a seafood restaurant chain based in Seattle, Washington, United States, with operations in the Puget Sound region; in Spokane, Washington; and in Santa Clara, California....

chain of seafood restaurants. In 1966, Haglund purchased the pier, and Washington Fish and Oyster Company became his tenant. The restaurant was repeatedly redesigned and expanded over the years, achieving more or less its present configuration before Haglund's death in 1985.

Since 1988, Pier 54 has been home not only to Ivar's Acres of Clams, but also to the current incarnation of Ye Olde Curiosity Shop

Ye Olde Curiosity Shop

Ye Olde Curiosity Shop is a store on the Central Waterfront of Seattle, Washington, United States, founded in 1899. It has moved several times, mainly within the waterfront area, and is now located on Pier 54. Best known today as a souvenir shop, it also has aspects of a dime museum, and was for...

, which has occupied a succession of venues on the Central Waterfront since its founding in 1899. Besides the usual run of tourist souvenirs, it sells a variety of Northwest Native art

Northwest Coast art

Northwest Coast art is the term commonly applied to a style of art created primarily by artists from Tlingit, Haida, Tsimshian, Kwakwaka'wakw, Nuu-chah-nulth and other First Nations and Native American tribes of the Northwest Coast of North America, from pre-European-contact times up to the...

; the store prides itself on dealing directly with the artists. They also carry Russian lacquer boxes, matreshka dolls and porcelain figurines, copper and wooden postcards, music boxes, and a variety of other unusual items. None of these are nearly as unusual as the store's "museum" curiosities, which are not for sale: "Sylvester" the mummy

Mummy

A mummy is a body, human or animal, whose skin and organs have been preserved by either intentional or incidental exposure to chemicals, extreme coldness , very low humidity, or lack of air when bodies are submerged in bogs, so that the recovered body will not decay further if kept in cool and dry...

, fetal conjoined twin calves, a collection of shrunken human heads

Shrunken head

A shrunken head is a severed and specially prepared human head that is used for trophy, ritual, or trade purposes.Headhunting occurred in many regions of the world. But the practice of headshrinking has only ever been recorded in the northwestern region of the Amazon rain forest...

, a woven cedar bark hat worn by Chief Seattle

Chief Seattle

Chief Seattle , was a Dkhw’Duw’Absh chief, also known as Sealth, Seathle, Seathl, or See-ahth. A prominent figure among his people, he pursued a path of accommodation to white settlers, forming a personal relationship with David Swinson "Doc" Maynard. Seattle, Washington was named after him...

, whale and walrus oosiks, and a number of items that appeared in Ripley's Believe It Or Not.

Pier 55, at the foot of Spring Street, was originally named Pier 4. The first Pier 4, built in 1900, collapsed in September 1901, causing the loss of at least 1700 tons of freight. No one was killed in the accident, and the following year the Northern Pacific Railroad completed a new Pier 4, this time with better bracing, which survives today as the renamed Pier 55. Its first tenant, the Arlington Dock Company, was a shipping agent for passenger steamships to several West Coast cities and to Alaska, Asia and Europe. The pier was used for passenger service until around World War I. The Fisheries Supply Company became the principal tenant from at least 1938 to the 1980s. In 1945, the pier was remodeled. Structural improvements were made at that time by Melvin O. Sylliaasen and in the 1960s by the engineering firm Harvey Dodd and Associates. Further improvements were made in the late 1990s, along with some alterations to the exterior of the pier shed.

The north side of Pier 55 is the downtown terminus of the Elliott Bay Water Taxi to West Seattle, which runs from May to October approximately. Between Piers 55 and 56, and utilizing parts of both piers as of 2008, Argosy Cruises moor the tour boats Royal Argosy, Spirit of Seattle, Lady Mary, Goodtime II, and Sightseer. Among its routes is the boat to Tillicum Village

Tillicum Village

Tillicum Village is a Puget Sound area visitor attraction located on Blake Island just off the shore of Seattle, WA. It is believed that this attraction dates to the time period immediately preceding the 1962 Seattle World's Fair. The Tillicum Village attraction features a scenic cruise from...

on Blake Island

Blake Island

Blake Island is an island in Washington state in the United States. It lies in the middle of Puget Sound, north of Vashon Island, south of Bainbridge Island and east of Manchester....

.

Pier 56 (originally Pier 5), the third of the Northern Pacific Railroad wharves, was constructed in 1900. President Theodore Roosevelt

Theodore Roosevelt

Theodore "Teddy" Roosevelt was the 26th President of the United States . He is noted for his exuberant personality, range of interests and achievements, and his leadership of the Progressive Movement, as well as his "cowboy" persona and robust masculinity...

landed there on the steamer Spokane on May 23, 1903. With the adjacent Pier 4/55, it was one of the two Arlington Docks, but is better known as the base of operations for Frank Waterhouse and Company, a steamship line that rose to prominence during the Klondike Gold Rush. They provided transportation to the Yukon and Alaska, including the Bering Sea

Bering Sea

The Bering Sea is a marginal sea of the Pacific Ocean. It comprises a deep water basin, which then rises through a narrow slope into the shallower water above the continental shelves....

, and transported American soldiers to Manila

Manila

Manila is the capital of the Philippines. It is one of the sixteen cities forming Metro Manila.Manila is located on the eastern shores of Manila Bay and is bordered by Navotas and Caloocan to the north, Quezon City to the northeast, San Juan and Mandaluyong to the east, Makati on the southeast,...

in the Philippines

Philippines

The Philippines , officially known as the Republic of the Philippines , is a country in Southeast Asia in the western Pacific Ocean. To its north across the Luzon Strait lies Taiwan. West across the South China Sea sits Vietnam...

during the Spanish American War of (1898–1899). Eventually, they serviced Hawaii

Hawaii

Hawaii is the newest of the 50 U.S. states , and is the only U.S. state made up entirely of islands. It is the northernmost island group in Polynesia, occupying most of an archipelago in the central Pacific Ocean, southwest of the continental United States, southeast of Japan, and northeast of...

, the Mediterranean and Russia

Russia

Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...

, but went bankrupt in 1920.

After the Waterhouse company, the pier housed a succession of firms: the Hayden Dock Company, Shepard Line Intercoastal Service, and the Northland Transportation Company, as well as the Arlington Dock Company. During the 1962 Century 21 Exposition

Century 21 Exposition

The Century 21 Exposition was a World's Fair held April 21, 1962, to October 21, 1962 in Seattle, Washington.Nearly 10 million people attended the fair...

, the World's Fair at what afterwards became Seattle Center

Seattle Center

Seattle Center is a park and arts and entertainment center in Seattle, Washington. The campus is the site used in 1962 by the Century 21 Exposition. It is located just north of Belltown in the Lower Queen Anne neighborhood.-Attractions:...

, the pier added curio shops, restaurants, fish houses, etc., and ceased to be a transportation hub. Trident Imports, opened on the pier around that time, had a decades-long run of importing everything from rattan

Rattan

Rattan is the name for the roughly 600 species of palms in the tribe Calameae, native to tropical regions of Africa, Asia and Australasia.- Structure :...

furniture from Southeast Asia to chocolate

Chocolate

Chocolate is a raw or processed food produced from the seed of the tropical Theobroma cacao tree. Cacao has been cultivated for at least three millennia in Mexico, Central and South America. Its earliest documented use is around 1100 BC...

from Belgium

Belgium

Belgium , officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a federal state in Western Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts the EU's headquarters, and those of several other major international organisations such as NATO.Belgium is also a member of, or affiliated to, many...

. Ted Griffin's Seattle Marine Aquarium was located at the west end of the pier. Its star attraction, Namu

Namu (Orca)

Namu was only the second orca displayed in an aquarium exhibit and was the first orca to perform with a human together in the water...

the killer whale

Orca

The killer whale , commonly referred to as the orca, and less commonly as the blackfish, is a toothed whale belonging to the oceanic dolphin family. Killer whales are found in all oceans, from the frigid Arctic and Antarctic regions to tropical seas...

, died in 1966. The architecture, landscape and urban design firm Mithun completed a renovation of the pier in 2000 and is now housed in the second floor of the pier shed.

Piers 57–63

The city purchased Pier 57 in 1971 and Piers 58 to 61 in 1978, after cargo shipping at the piers was relocated years earlier to the container port to the south. In 1989, the city traded Pier 57 for Piers 62 and 63.

Pier 57 (originally Pier 6) near the foot of University Street was built in 1902 by the Miller and Geske Construction Company and repeatedly modified over the course of the next decade. It was originally built for the John B. Agen Company. In 1909, the pier passed into the hands of the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul Railroad, the last of four transcontinental railroads to reach Seattle. The Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul was commonly known as the "Milwaukee Road", so the pier became known as the "Milwaukee Pier". It soon became the terminal for the McCormick Steamship Line, the Munson McCormick Line and Osaka Shosen Kaisha, and by the mid-1930s was also known as the "McCormick Terminal". In the 1950s at least part of the pier was used for fish processing. By the 1960s, the Port of Seattle owned the pier, and had cut holes in the deck for recreational fishing, but the pilings were deteriorating and the pier was settling unevenly. In 1971, the City purchased the pier from the Port and renovated it over the next three years. The renovated pier, now known as the "Bay Pavilion", has restaurants, shops, an amusement arcade, and an early 20th century carousel

Carousel

A carousel , or merry-go-round, is an amusement ride consisting of a rotating circular platform with seats for riders...

. Pier 57 is now privately owned after the city traded it for Piers 62 and 63.

Pier 58 (originally Pier 7) was constructed during the same period as the renovation of Pier 57, Waterfront Park

Waterfront Park (Seattle)

Waterfront Park is a public park on the Central Waterfront, Downtown, Seattle, Washington, USA. Designed by the Bumgardner Partnership and consultants, it was constructed on the site of the former Schwabacher Wharf .-History of the site:...

, designed by the Bumgardner Partnership and consultants, was constructed on the site of the Schwabacher Wharf demolished in the 1950s. The Schwabacher Wharf had been just far enough north to survive the Great Seattle Fire in 1889. In the 1890s, it was the site of two prominent events in the city's history. The freighter Miike Maru opened Seattle's Japan trade by docking there August 31, 1896. Less than a year later, July 17, 1897, the steamship Portland arrived from Alaska bearing a "ton of gold", from the Klondike, Yukon

Klondike, Yukon

The Klondike is a region of the Yukon in northwest Canada, east of the Alaska border. It lies around the Klondike River, a small river that enters the Yukon from the east at Dawson....

. The ensuing Yukon Gold Rush formed strong bonds between Seattle and Alaska, and brought enormous wealth to Seattle as the "Gateway to Alaska".

Pier 59 is the site of the main building of the Seattle Aquarium

Seattle Aquarium

, built on a pier shed first constructed in 1905.
In 1896 fish and grain dealers Ainsworth and Dunn (see below) built a pier at the location of today's designated city landmark Pier 59, originally Pier 8, also known as the Pike Street Pier. The pier had to be reconfigured because the 1897 Thomson/Cotterill plan dictated that all piers run parallel to one another. Ainsworth and Dunn left this pier around the time the present shed was constructed; subsequent tenants were grain dealer Willis Robinson and the Northwestern Steamship Company. By 1912, the pier was owned and largely occupied by steamship agent Dodwell Dock and Warehouse Company. It became known as the Dodwell Dock. That name fell out of usage when the pier was sold in 1916 to the Pacific Net and Twine Company, later merged into Pacific Marine Supply Company. In the 1950s through early 60s, Pier 59 was the home of Puget Sound Tug & Barge. Crowley moved the operations to the Duwamish Waterway in the 1960s.
The two "stubby" piers known as the Fish and Salt Docks (later Piers 60 and 61) were purchased by the Port of Seattle in the mid-1940s, and were removed in 1975 to make room for the Seattle Aquarium. Prior to acquisition by the Port, they had housed the Whiz Fish Company and the Palace Fish Company.

Pier 62 (built in 1901) and Pier 63 (built in 1905) have long since lost their sheds, which were similar to the one on Pier 59. Pier 62 was originally numbered Pier 9, known as the Gaffney Dock, after its absentee owner Mary Gaffney. Pier 63 (originally Pier 10) was known by 1908 as the Holden Dock, but was more commonly known as the Virginia Dock or Virginia Street Dock from its location. It was designed by architect Max Umbrecht and one of its main tenants in the 1910s was Northwest Fisheries, who canned and distributed Alaskan red salmon. An overpass connected the dock to a warehouse on the other side of Railroad Avenue. For many years after the city acquired these two piers in 1989 (in a trade with a private company for Pier 57), they were the venue for the Summer Nights at the Pier concert series, but the "aged and deteriorating" piers can no longer handle the weight of a stage and a crowd. As of 2006, the city is considering plans to replace these piers.

Bell Street Pier, Edgewater hotel, and Port headquarters

Pier 66 is the official designation for the Port of Seattle's Bell Street Pier and Bell Harbor complex, which replaced historic Piers 64, 65, and 66 in the mid-1990s. Facilities at the Bell Street facility include a marina, a cruise ship terminal, a conference center, the Odyssey Maritime Discovery Center, restaurants, and marine services. A pedestrian elevator and overpass at Bell Street connects it to the upland World Trade Center (another Port of Seattle property), as well as to a parking lot and to Belltown in general. The area once was a shantytown. Cleared around 1903 in conjunction with the regrading

Regrading in Seattle

The topography of central Seattle was radically altered by a series of regrades in the city's 1st century of urban settlement, in what might have been the largest such alteration of urban terrain at the time....

of Denny Hill

Denny Regrade, Seattle, Washington

The Denny Regrade is a neighborhood in Seattle, Washington, USA, that stretches north of the central business district to the grounds of Seattle Center. Its generally flat terrain was originally a steep hill, taken down as part of a mammoth construction project in the first decades of the 20th...

, it became home to the Pacific Coast Company's Orient Dock, which ran parallel to the shoreline rather than at the usual northeast-southwest angle. The southern portion of that dock was sometimes referred to as Pier D. By the 1920s, the Orient Dock was replaced by two "finger piers" running at the usual angles. These Lenora Street Piers (Piers 64 and 65) were used by the "Princess Ships" of the Canadian Pacific Railway

Canadian Pacific Railway

The Canadian Pacific Railway , formerly also known as CP Rail between 1968 and 1996, is a historic Canadian Class I railway founded in 1881 and now operated by Canadian Pacific Railway Limited, which began operations as legal owner in a corporate restructuring in 2001...

and the Leslie Salt Co. The Port of Seattle's original Bell Street Pier, the previous Pier 66, was built here in 1914 on dirt from the Denny Regrade. Despite the Thomson/Cotterill plan, the Orient Dock and the both the old and new Bell Street Pier were built parallel to the shore. There was a bridge on the site of the present-day pedestrian overpass.

Pier 67, renamed from Galbraith-Bacon Pier or Vine Street Pier in World War II, is the site of The Edgewater

The Edgewater

hotel (originally and briefly the Camelot, and for many years the Edgewater Inn). The hotel has hosted numerous celebrities over the years, most famously the Beatles

The Beatles

The Beatles were an English rock band, active throughout the 1960s and one of the most commercially successful and critically acclaimed acts in the history of popular music. Formed in Liverpool, by 1962 the group consisted of John Lennon , Paul McCartney , George Harrison and Ringo Starr...

who came to Seattle in 1964 during the height of Beatlemania

Beatlemania

Beatlemania is a term that originated during the 1960s to describe the intense fan frenzy directed toward The Beatles during the early years of their success...

. Pier 68 (the Booth Fisheries Pier) was demolished at the time the hotel was built on the newly reconstructed Pier 67.

Pier 69, north of Pier 67 and roughly between Vine and Clay Streets, is the site of the Port of Seattle headquarters and the Seattle terminus of the Victoria Clipper

Victoria Clipper

Clipper Navigation, Inc. is a privately held company based in Seattle, Washington that provides multiple transportation and vacation packages, many of which are offered under the name Clipper Vacations....

, a foot passenger (walk-on only) ferry

Ferry

with regular service to the Inner Harbour

Victoria Harbour (British Columbia)

Victoria Harbour is a harbour, seaport, and seaplane airport located in the Canadian city of Victoria, British Columbia. It serves as a cruise ship and ferry destination for tourists and visitors to the city and Vancouver Island. It is both a port of entry and an airport of entry for general...

in Victoria, British Columbia

Victoria, British Columbia

. Although very heavily remodeled, the pier traces its history in part to Pier 13, built by the Roslyn Coal and Coke Company (1900), which also had a warehouse across Alaskan Way in the early 20th century. The warehouse was torn down to build the American Can Company

American Can Company

The American Can Company was a manufacturer of tin cans. It was a member of the Tin Can Trust, that controlled a "large percentage of business in the United States in tin cans, containers, and packages of tin." It was formerly a member of the Dow Jones Industrial Average from 1959–1991, though...

building (headquarters of Real Networks since 2008), which had an overpass to the pier in the 1930s.

Pier 70

Pier 70, at the foot of Clay and Broad Streets, now marks the northern end of the Central Waterfront. Beyond that are the Olympic Sculpture Park

Olympic Sculpture Park

and Myrtle Edwards Park

Myrtle Edwards Park

Myrtle Edwards Park in Seattle, Washington is a 4.8 acre public park along the Elliott Bay waterfront north of Belltown. It features a 1.25-mile long bicycle and walking path and is a good place to see eagles, gulls, and crows....

. Although the pier shed retains its historic shape, it was remodeled after a fire in 1915, remodeled again in the 1970s, and so heavily altered in the late 1990s—reclad with metal siding, all windows and doors modernized and many reconfigured—that (unlike the old Northern Pacific piers) it retains only traces of its historic character.

The pier was built as Pier 14 by Ainsworth and Dunn and completed in 1902 along with a warehouse across Railroad Avenue (today's Alaskan Way) that is now the Old Spaghetti Factory. Ainsworth and Dunn's Seattle Fish Company dated from 1889 and occupied a succession of Central Waterfront locations. Beginning with a retail operation on higher ground at Second Avenue and Pike Street, they established themselves on the waterfront at the foot of Seneca Street by 1893, expanded their business to include grain and feed, and built Pier 8 / Pier 59 (though not its current pier shed) in 1896. By that time they had canning operations in Seattle and at Blaine, Washington

Blaine, Washington

Blaine is a city in Whatcom County, Washington, United States. The city's northern boundary is the Canadian border. Blaine is the shared home of the Peace Arch international monument...

. Eventually they moved their entire operation to Blaine, but they owned of Pier 14 until at least 1920, taking on a succession of tenants. In 1905, the main tenant was the Puget Sound Wharf and Warehouse Company, in 1912, the American and Hawaiian Steamship Company and in 1920, the Dodwell Dock and Warehouse Company, operating it as a terminal for the Northland Steamship Company

Northland Steamship Company

The Northland Steamship Company was a small steamship line that sailed between ports on Puget Sound and Alaska.In 1914, Northland Steamship was sailing two passenger ships totaling from the Puget Sound Terminal in Seattle on the Southeast Alaskan Route, regularly visiting the ports of Ketchikan,...

and the Blue Funnel Line

Blue Funnel Line

Alfred Holt and Company, marketed as the Blue Funnel Line, was founded by Alfred Holt on 16 January 1866.The main operating subsidiary was the Ocean Steam Ship Company, which owned and operated the majority of the company's vessels....

. The Washington State Liquor Control Board

Washington State Liquor Control Board

The Washington State Liquor Control Board is an administrative agency of the State of Washington. The Liquor Control Board is part of the executive branch and reports to the Governor. The Board holds a monopoly on the distribution of hard liquor because Washington is a control state...

used the pier as a warehouse during World War II, after which The Coast Guard

United States Coast Guard

The United States Coast Guard is a branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the seven U.S. uniformed services. The Coast Guard is a maritime, military, multi-mission service unique among the military branches for having a maritime law enforcement mission and a federal regulatory agency...

used the pier as its Seattle base from 1946 to 1955, and visiting naval vessels moored on its north side.

Like the piers to it south, its historic uses were superseded by containerization, and it was remodeled to house shops and restaurants. Triad Development bought the pier in 1995, and in the late 1990s it was remodeled as a headquarters for Go2Net, which was merged into InfoSpace, and fared poorly in the 2000–2001 crash that followed the dot-com bubble

Dot-com bubble

The dot-com bubble was a speculative bubble covering roughly 1995–2000 during which stock markets in industrialized nations saw their equity value rise rapidly from growth in the more...

. Immediately before that remodel, in 1998 The Real World: Seattle
The Real World: Seattle
The Real World: Seattle is the seventh season of MTV's reality television series The Real World, which focuses on a group of diverse strangers living together for several months in a different city each season, as cameras follow their lives and interpersonal relationships. First airing in 1998, the...

was filmed there. Because the Central Waterfront piers are not zoned

Zoning

Zoning is a device of land use planning used by local governments in most developed countries. The word is derived from the practice of designating permitted uses of land based on mapped zones which separate one set of land uses from another...

residential, the building was officially a 24-hour-a-day film set for the shoot.

Across Alaskan Way

Several buildings on the inland side of Alaskan Way have strong maritime associations. For example, as mentioned above, the building that now houses the Old Spaghetti Factory was built in conjunction with Pier 14, now Pier 70. Southeast from there, across Clay Street, the building that is now the headquarters of Real Networks and also houses part of the Art Institute of Seattle

The Art Institute of Seattle

The Art Institute of Seattle in Seattle, Washington is one of The Art Institutes, a system of more than 40 educational institutions located throughout North America, providing education in design, media arts, fashion and culinary arts...

began life in 1916 as the American Can Company, and in the 1930s was connected to Pier 69 by a skybridge. Continuing south across Vine Street is the former Booth Fisheries Building. Even farther inland, across Elliott Way from the Booth Fisheries Building, three former cannery worker cottages survive.

Another example is the Agen Warehouse, also known as Olympic Cold Storage Warehouse, at the corner of Western Avenue and Seneca Street near the downtown piers. Designed by architect John Graham and built in 1910, it is listed on the National Register of Historic Places

National Register of Historic Places

The National Register of Historic Places is the United States government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures, and objects deemed worthy of preservation...

. It originally housed John Agen's Alaska Butter and Cream Company, which moved from Pier 6 (now Pier 57). Immediately north of that is another Graham building, built in 1918 as a warehouse for the Pacific Net and Twine Company. That company merged with the Marine Supply Company to form the Pacific Marine Supply Company, which continued to use the warehouse in conjunction with its operations on the old Pier 1 at the foot of Yesler Way. More recently, the building has been associated with genetic engineering

Genetic engineering

Genetic engineering, also called genetic modification, is the direct human manipulation of an organism's genome using modern DNA technology. It involves the introduction of foreign DNA or synthetic genes into the organism of interest...

company Immunex.

Early native villages

The history of human activity on what is now Seattle's Central Waterfront predates the settlement that became the city of Seattle. The Duwamish had a winter village of approximately 8 longhouses roughly at the intersection of First Avenue South and Yesler Way. With about 200 people, it was one of the most sizable villages along Elliott Bay. Its name, Djicjila'letc ("little crossing-over place") is still used by the Duwamish today.

Farther north, at the foot of Bell Street, was a ravine with another Duwamish encampment, Ba'qbaqwab ("little prairies"). It may have constituted a route to the prairie that extended between Queen Anne Hill and the former Denny Hill

Denny Regrade, Seattle, Washington

, including the site of the present Seattle Center

Seattle Center

. Two longhouses took advantage of a spring. By around the 1860s, the longhouses were gone, but modest beach structures remained.

There were also burial grounds roughly at the foot of Seneca Street. There appears to have been a smaller later burial ground just north of Ba'qbaqwab, possibly dating from when the larger settlement at Djicjila'letc had been pre-empted by white settlers.

Chief Seattle

Chief Seattle

's daughter Princess Angeline

Princess Angeline

Princess Angeline , also known in Lushootseed as Kikisoblu, Kick-is-om-lo, or Wewick, was the eldest daughter of Chief Seattle. Born in what is now Rainier Beach in Seattle, Washington, she was named Angeline by Catherine Broshears Maynard, second wife of Seattle pioneer Doc Maynard...

continued to live on the central waterfront until the end of her life (she died in 1896). It is not known exactly where her beach shack stood, but photos indicate that it was somewhere just north of the present-day Pike Hill Climb. Also into the 1890s, the Duwamish camped on Ballast Island at the foot of Washington Street in the present-day Pioneer Square neighborhood. The mound had been created from ballast

Sailing ballast

Ballast is used in sailboats to provide moment to resist the lateral forces on the sail. Insufficiently ballasted boats will tend to tip, or heel, excessively in high winds. Too much heel may result in the boat capsizing. If a sailing vessel should need to voyage without cargo then ballast of...

and other material dumped by ships. In the late 1890s, Ballast Island was planked over as part a continuation of Railroad Avenue south of Yesler Way. Later, it was dredged and became part of the harbor.

19th century development

Henry Yesler

Henry L. Yesler was an entrepreneur considered to be Seattle, Washington's first economic father and first millionaire. He arrived in Seattle in 1852 and built a steam-powered sawmill, which provided numerous jobs for those early settlers and Duwamish tribe members...

established his steam-powered sawmill

Sawmill

A sawmill is a facility where logs are cut into boards.-Sawmill process:A sawmill's basic operation is much like those of hundreds of years ago; a log enters on one end and dimensional lumber exits on the other end....

at the foot of Mill Road (now Yesler Way) in October 1852. That mill and its wharf were, for several decades, the most important structures on the waterfront. The wharf became a transportation hub.

The Seattle, Lake Shore and Eastern Railway

Seattle, Lake Shore and Eastern Railway

The Seattle, Lake Shore and Eastern Railway was a railroad founded in Seattle, Washington, on April 28, 1885, with three tiers of purposes: Build and run the initial line to the town of Ballard, bring immediate results and returns to investors; exploit resources east in the valleys, foothills,...

(SLS&ER) was the first to run a rail line along the water, in 1887, with a depot near the foot of Columbia Street on Western Avenue. The SLS&ER was eventually purchased by the Northern Pacific Railway

Northern Pacific Railway

The Northern Pacific Railway was a railway that operated in the west along the Canadian border of the United States. Construction began in 1870 and the main line opened all the way from the Great Lakes to the Pacific when former president Ulysses S. Grant drove in the final "golden spike" in...

. James J. Hill

James J. Hill

James Jerome Hill , was a Canadian-American railroad executive. He was the chief executive officer of a family of lines headed by the Great Northern Railway, which served a substantial area of the Upper Midwest, the northern Great Plains, and Pacific Northwest...

's Great Northern Railway eventually laid track even farther to the water side. Railroad Avenue, the route of both railways, was 120 feet (36.6 m) wide and built mainly on pilings over tideflats. The rail lines came from the south and, until 1893, went no farther north than Smith Cove

Smith Cove (Washington)

Smith Cove is a body of water, the northern part of Seattle, Washington's Elliott Bay, immediately south of the area that has been known since 1894 as Interbay...

, a short distance north of the Central Waterfront.

The Great Seattle Fire

Great Seattle Fire

(June 6, 1889) obliterated Yesler's Wharf and all other waterfront structures south of Union Street. The one major wharf remaining after the fire was the Schwabacher Dock (also known as Schwabacher Wharf or Schwabacher's Wharf), just north of the "burnt district". Within four years after the fire, there was enormous redevelopment west of Front Street (now First Avenue), with an 1893 Sanborn

Sanborn Maps

Sanborn Maps is an American publisher of historical and current maps of U.S. cities and towns that were initially created to estimate fire insurance liabilities. The company's maps are frequently used for preservation and restoration efforts....

insurance map showing West Street, now Western Avenue, running the entire length of the present Central Waterfront (and then some, continuing northwest into what is now Myrtle Edwards Park

Myrtle Edwards Park

), and Water Street (now Elliott Avenue) running more or less along what was then the shore from Bell Street to Broad Street; filling has subsequently moved that shore west. There were numerous docks, mostly perpendicular to the shore. The Sanborn map indicates the nature of the businesses along the waterfront, and suggests that fishing had not yet become an important industry at this time. More typical waterfront uses were warehouses for grain and feed. Just inland from the water were many hotels, ranging from workingmen's hotels to a "Grand Hotel" on Front Street between Madison and Marion Streets.

Prior to Washington statehood in 1889, the question of title to the tidelands was entirely unclear. Yesler and others had built onto the tidelands regardless of this legal limbo. The number of these "tideland jumpers" increased up as statehood approached. Officially, the federal government held the tidelands in trust for the future state, and all such activities—which included the construction of railways—were technically illegal. The new state constitution fashioned a compromise measure: the state generally affirmed its own ownership of tidelands, but provided for case-by-case exceptions to be adjudicated by the courts. In many cases, adjudication had to be made between upland owners and those who had built on pilings on the tidelands. Constitutional provisions were also made for state-owned harbors with zones along the shore reserved for "landings, wharves and streets and other conveniences of navigation and commerce." All this was later modified to allow towns and municipalities to gain more control of their own shorelines, setting the stage for coherent plans for development and reclamation.

The arrangement of the "finger" piers on the Central Waterfront, each more or less a parallelogram

Parallelogram

In Euclidean geometry, a parallelogram is a convex quadrilateral with two pairs of parallel sides. The opposite or facing sides of a parallelogram are of equal length and the opposite angles of a parallelogram are of equal measure...

, dates from an 1897 plan. Their uniform northeast-southwest direction was prescribed by city engineer Reginald H. Thomson

Reginald H. Thomson

Reginald Heber Thomson was a self-taught American civil engineer. He worked in Washington state, mainly in Seattle, where he became city engineer in 1892 and held the position for two decades. Alan J...

and his assistant George F. Cotterill

George F. Cotterill

George Fletcher Cotterill , born in Oxford, England, was an American civil servant and politician. His public career in Seattle and the state of Washington lasted over 40 years; his politics were generally aligned with Progressivism...

. Most earlier piers, none of which survive, formed a perfect right angle to the shore; the present piers do not. Thomson and Cotterill's arrangement spared freight trains from needing to make a sharp right angle and prevented piers from potentially running into one another where the shoreline curved.

Heyday, stagnation, and revival

Throughout the first half of the 20th century, Seattle's Central waterfront was the bustling center of one of North America's major ports. The needs of the waterfront created a district of light industrial uses and workingmen's hotels. The waterfront was a focus of the conflicting agendas of big business, radical labor unionists such as the Industrial Workers of the World

Industrial Workers of the World

The Industrial Workers of the World is an international union. At its peak in 1923, the organization claimed some 100,000 members in good standing, and could marshal the support of perhaps 300,000 workers. Its membership declined dramatically after a 1924 split brought on by internal conflict...

(IWW), Populists

Populism

Populism can be defined as an ideology, political philosophy, or type of discourse. Generally, a common theme compares "the people" against "the elite", and urges social and political system changes. It can also be defined as a rhetorical style employed by members of various political or social...

, and middle-class Progressive

Progressivism

Progressivism is an umbrella term for a political ideology advocating or favoring social, political, and economic reform or changes. Progressivism is often viewed by some conservatives, constitutionalists, and libertarians to be in opposition to conservative or reactionary ideologies.The...

reformers such as the Municipal Ownership League led by George Cotterill. The Progressives achieved one of their most cherished goals when the Port of Seattle, the first municipal corporation

Municipal corporation

A municipal corporation is the legal term for a local governing body, including cities, counties, towns, townships, charter townships, villages, and boroughs. Municipal incorporation occurs when such municipalities become self-governing entities under the laws of the state or province in which...

in the United States, was established in 1911, with elected port commissioners. Despite that victory, for the next several decades and even, to a lesser extent, today, much of the Central Waterfront remained in private hands.

The Port Commission nonetheless had an enormous impact shortly after its inception. Their original Bell Street Pier (1914; see below) established a significant presence on the waterfront. However, as Seattle became a particularly successful port during World War I

World War I

World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...

, the Port Commission became increasingly the captive of business interests. Seattle prospered as a port in the 1920s, especially through increased trade with Japan, importing such goods as soybean oil

Soybean oil

Soybean oil is a vegetable oil extracted from the seeds of the soybean . It is one of the most widely consumed cooking oils. As a drying oil, processed soybean oil is also used as a base for printing inks and oil paints...

and raw silk

Silk

Silk is a natural protein fiber, some forms of which can be woven into textiles. The best-known type of silk is obtained from the cocoons of the larvae of the mulberry silkworm Bombyx mori reared in captivity...

. The soybean oil had an important local industrial use: in 1923, I. F. Laucks invented his waterproof "Lauxein" glue. Made from soybeans, it was used heavily by the region's plywood

Plywood

Plywood is a type of manufactured timber made from thin sheets of wood veneer. It is one of the most widely used wood products. It is flexible, inexpensive, workable, re-usable, and can usually be locally manufactured...

industry.

Shipping lines with facilities on Central Waterfront piers in the 1920s included local steamer companies, but also the Grand Trunk Pacific

Grand Trunk Pacific Railway

Steamship Company, the Royal Mail Steam Packet Company

Royal Mail Steam Packet Company

The Royal Mail Steam Packet Company was a British shipping company founded in London in 1839 by Scot James Macqueen. After good and bad times it became the largest shipping group in the world in 1927 when it took over the White Star Line....

, the East Asiatic Steamship Company, the Cosmos Line, the Osaka Shoshen Kaisha, the Hamburg America Line

Hamburg America Line

The Hamburg Amerikanische Packetfahrt Actien Gesellschaft was a transatlantic shipping enterprise established in Hamburg, Germany during...

, the Blue Funnel Line

Blue Funnel Line

, and such mercantile tenants as Seattle Pacific Marine Supply and W. R. Grace and Company

W. R. Grace and Company

W. R. Grace and Company is a Columbia, Maryland, United States based chemical conglomerate.The company has two main divisions, Davison Chemicals and Performance Chemicals. The Davison unit makes chemical catalysts, refining catalysts, and silica-based products that let other companies make...

.

Although Seattle was hit hard by the Great Depression

Great Depression

The Great Depression was a severe worldwide economic depression in the decade preceding World War II. The timing of the Great Depression varied across nations, but in most countries it started in about 1929 and lasted until the late 1930s or early 1940s...

, development of the Central Waterfront did not come to a complete halt. Former livery stables continued to be converted to garages, the Black Ball Line brought a striking Art Deco

Art Deco

motif to Colman Dock, and Gorst Air Transport operated seaplane

Seaplane

A seaplane is a fixed-wing aircraft capable of taking off and landing on water. Seaplanes that can also take off and land on airfields are a subclass called amphibian aircraft...

s. The American Can Company built its massive building across from Pier 69, and the seawall

Seawall

was greatly extended in 1934.

During World War II

World War II

, 29 shipyards operated in Seattle, though none of them on the Central Waterfront. This period also saw the introduction of fork lifts and pallets to move cargo. These marked the beginning of a change in shipping and quayside technology that would render the old piers obsolete. In 1946, E. H. Savage, president of the Port Commission, proposed demolishing the "Gold Rush period" piers and put forth the first of several schemes for "modern reinforced concrete structures, providing longitudinal mooring parallel to Alaskan Way", suitable for "large ocean-going vessels." These schemes were not adopted, and in the 1950s Seattle was a port in decline. The Port of Seattle had come to own most of the over-water structures on the Central Waterfront, but for the most part such shipping traffic as Seattle retained was using other piers and docks. Furthermore, construction of the Alaskan Way Viaduct in the early 1950s placed a visual barrier and a partial physical barrier between much of the Central Waterfront and the rest of Downtown.

With maritime activity moving elsewhere, especially to the new container port south of the Central Waterfront, people began to consider the potential importance of the Central Waterfront as a tourist destination. At the beginning of 1960, the only specifically tourist-oriented businesses on the Central Waterfront piers were Ye Olde Curiosity Shop

Ye Olde Curiosity Shop

(founded in 1899) and Ivar Haglund

Ivar Haglund

's Acre of Clams restaurant (founded in 1938). Another restaurant, the Cove, opened that year. Most of the plans proposed in this era foresaw demolishing all or nearly all of the historic piers. (In this same era, there were many proposals to demolish large numbers of Pioneer Square

Pioneer Square, Seattle, Washington

buildings, as well.) Proposed to take their place were such things as a sea circus, an aquarium, hotels and motels, a park, a marina, a heliport, a convention center, shops, restaurants, office buildings, and high rise apartments. One hotel, now The Edgewater

The Edgewater

, was built in 1962–63. Some of the visions from this era also included marine-supply stores, mooring for historic ships and a maritime museum. There was already criticism of the Alaskan Way Viaduct: architect Ibsen Nelson called it a "major built-in problem".

Tangible signs of revival began in the 1960s and accelerated in the 1970s and '80s. Several piers were reworked to contain shops and restaurants. Ted Griffin's Seattle Marine Aquarium was located on the western end of Pier 56 from 1962 to 1976, succeeded by the current Seattle Aquarium

Seattle Aquarium

on Pier 59. All of these were achieved while preserving historic pier shed structures. The space once occupied by the Schwabacher Wharf, vacant for decades, became Waterfront Park

Waterfront Park (Seattle)

. Also in this era, many historic buildings nearby on land were rehabilitated; several received city or federal historic designations. The bars and taverns along First Avenue "considered decrepit by some and colorful by others," gave way to new developments such as the Watermark Tower.

The future

While the many thwarted plans of the 1960s may constitute a warning about prognostication, the city has adopted an official Waterfront Concept Plan. The planning process behind this document began in 2003 and centered on a 300-person Visioning Charrette

Charrette

A charrette , is often Anglicized to charette and sometimes called a design charrette. It consists of an intense period of design activity.-Charrettes in general:...

in February 2004, the largest event of its kind in the city's history. Aside from the city's process, plans are under consideration for major work at the Washington State Ferry terminal and the Seattle Aquarium; the Olympic Sculpture Park has already transformed the northern end of the Central Waterfront.

Some things about the future of the Central Waterfront are clear. The 2001 Nisqually earthquake revealed that the Alaskan Way Viaduct is unsound and the seawall is in very poor condition. Another earthquake could cause liquefaction of the soils, undermining the viaduct and placing massive pressure on the seawall. While there may be much question as to what will happen, there is no doubt that things cannot remain as they are. Elsewhere on the waterfront, the deteriorating Piers 62 and 63 also cannot remain as they are.

As of 2008, the Washington State Department of Transportation is considering eight different scenarios for replacing the viaduct's Central Waterfront section. These include three different surface road options, two viaduct options (one with a park level over the traffic level), a bored tunnel, a cut-and-cover tunnel, and a lidded roadway. The city's Department of Parks and Recreation is considering five different alternatives for replacing Piers 62 and 63, some of them integrated with specific replacement plans for the viaduct. The issue of what will replace the viaduct also figures prominently in the city's own planning process.

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