The start of the Great Seattle Fire of June 6, 1889, looking south on First Avenue near Madison Street.
This picture was taken shortly after the great fire of 1889, looking toward Pioneer Place from the site of present Exchange Building at Marion Street. P-I File
The scene of destruction after the Great Fire of 1889 is evident from the ruins of the Frye Opera House. MOHAI will add to its exhibit on the fire this week. / Museum of History and Industry
This image shows all that was left of the Occidental Hotel after Seattle's Great Fire had swept through downtown. Photo courtesy MOHAI, Seattle Historical Society Collection, image number shs1267.
Courtesy MOHAI/UW Special Collections
After the Great Fire of 1889, this was all that was left of the Seattle Post-Intelligencer building at 108 Yesler Way.
UW Special Collections
Seattle's Post Building shown in 1881. The first home of the Seattle Post-Intelligencer went up in flames along with most of the business district in the Great Fire of 1889.
UW Special Collections
"Before about 1905, Pioneer Square was the heart of Seattle's central business district. Large brick buildings were built after the Great Fire of 1889, and the square was the start of many of the city's streetcar lines. This photo gives a particularly good overall view of Pioneer Square in about 1910. Streetcars move along the brick streets, and people wait for their rides under the glass-covered Pergola. By the time this photo was taken, the central business district had begun to move northward." -MOHAI. Photo courtesy MOHAI, PEMCO Webster and Stevens Collection, image number 1983.10.9094.
Courtesy MOHAI
The old Occidental Hotel: Prior to June 6, 1889, the elegant Occidental Hotel stood tall and proud at the corner of James and Mill streets in downtown Seattle. But the Great Fire of Seattle left only a couple columns of ruin of the grand hotel, along with 64 acres of downtown, essentially leveling the business district. When businesses rebuilt, they did so with brick -- not wood. Photo courtesy UW Special Collections.
Courtesy MOHAI/UW Special Collections
The one-year anniversary paper of The Great Fire - June 6, 1890.
MOHAI archives
The Post Building: "For Seattle's early citizens, the elegant Post Building, at the foot of Mill Street (now Yesler Way) was the best evidence that their town was no longer a pioneer village. The building had good reasons for its name. It housed the Post-Intelligencer newspaper; it was built at the corner of Mill Street and Post Alley; and, for a short time, the post office was in the basement." The building burned in Seattle's Great Fire of 1889. -MOHAI. Photo courtesy MOHAI, Seattle Historical Society Collection, image number shs9295.
Courtesy MOHAI/UW Special Collections
Bell's Hotel (also often called the Hotel Bellevue or the Bellevue House) at 2330 1st Ave. (intersection of 1st and Battery Sts), photographed in 1898. The Hotel survived the Great Fire and stood at this location until 1937. Courtesy of University of Washington Special Collections Anders Beer Wilse/University of Washington Special Collections
Arlington Hotel: At the corner of First Avenue and Main Street, the Arlington Hotel went up in 1876. At the time, it was said to be the largest wooden structure in the territory. Grand as it was, its wooden structure would be its doom. The building burned down in the Great Fire of 1889 and the Globe Building went up in its place. Photo courtesy MOHAI, Anders Beer Wilse, image number 1988.33.169.
Courtesy MOHAI/UW Special Collections
"The first Frederick & Nelson retail store opened in 1889, right after Seattle's great fire. By 1916, the company was doing so well that it built a large new store at Fifth Avenue and Pike Street, which many people thought was too far out of town. Frederick & Nelson was one of Seattle's landmark companies for over a century. It closed in the 1990s." -MOHAI. This 1944 photo shows Christmas shoppers crowding the store ahead of the holiday. Photo courtesy MOHAI, Seattle Post-Intelligencer Collection, image number PI21051. Courtesy MOHAI
"In 1882, James Lowman and Clarence Hanford joined forces to found Lowman & Hanford Stationery and Printing Company. After losing their original building in the Great Fire of 1889, the partners reopened the business at 616 First Avenue. There, they expanded into publishing, bookbinding and book selling, and even sold photographic equipment and other supplies to people leaving for the gold fields. In 1902-3, the firm built a large new building next door, on the corner of First Avenue and Cherry Street." -MOHAI. This photo shows the building in roughly 1899. Photo courtesy MOHAI, Anders B. Wilse Collection, image number 1988.33.73. Courtesy MOHAI
In what's considered the greatest sports moment at the Kingdome, Ken Griffey Jr. smiles after scoring the winning run against the New York Yankees in the 1995 American League Division Series, Oct. 8, 1995. (Robin Layton/Seattlepi.com file) P-I File
Feb. 5: 700,000 rally in Seattle for Super Bowl victory
Seattle had never seen anything like it. More than 700,000 people braved sub-freezing temperatures and swarmed downtown Seattle for the Seahawks' victory parade, having destroyed the Broncos 43-8 for their first-ever Super Bowl championship. Marshawn Lynch stole the show by throwing Skittles, chugging Fireball liquor and banging a drum from the hood of a Ride the Ducks vehicle.
Photo: Joshua Trujillo/seattlepi.com
Joshua Trujillo/seattlepi.com
Seattle SuperSonics win the 1979 NBA Championship
From left, SuperSonics assistant coach Les Habegger, head coach Lenny Wilkens, team captian Fred Brown and Dennis Johnson celebrate as they close in on a title on June 1, 1979.Seattle P-I file
Supersonics head coach Lenny Wilkens tries to smile as champagne is poured over his head in the dressing room after the Sonics beat the Washington Bullets on June 1, 1979 to secure the title. Seattle P-I file
Fans celebrate in Pioneer Square after the Seattle Supersonics clinched the 1979 NBA Championship. Grant M. Haller/Seattle P-I file
The victory parade celebrating the Seattle SuperSonics' 1979 NBA championship winds its way through throngs on Fourth Avenue. ( P-I photo by Grant M. Haller) Museum of History and Industry
Bill the Beerman
If you went to the Kingdome during the late 1970s and 80s you probably remember Bill Scott, aka "Bill the Beerman."
For more than 20 years, Scott led cheers in the Kingdome, starting in 1976 as a beer vendor who spontaneously encouraged fans to shout at Seahawks, Sonics and Mariners games.
P-I File
Kingdome implosion, 2000
The Kingdome opened March 27, 1976 and immediately became the Northwest's premier sports venue. More than 58,000 fans watched the Seattle Sounders and New York Cosmos play in the arena's first pro game April 9, 1976, when soccer legend Pele scored two goals in the Cosmos' 3-1 victory. In October, 1986, Steve Largent of the Seattle Seahawks broke a National Football League record with a reception that gave him at least one catch in 128 consecutive games. The Kingdome became dust March 26, 2000. Two new stadiums continue the story of professional sports in Seattle.
Seattle Post-Intelligencer
Seahawks win Super Bowl XLVIII, 2014
Seahawks fans chant before Super Bowl XLVIII on Feb. 2, 2014, at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey.Joshua Trujillo/seattlepi.com
Seattle Seahawks quarterback Russell Wilson celebrates with coach Pete Carroll after Carroll was hit with Gatorade in the final minutes during the Super Bowl on Sunday, February 2, 2014 at MetLife Stadium in New Jersey. The Seahawks dominated the Denver Broncos 43-8.
JOSHUA TRUJILLO/SEATTLEPI.COM
Quarterback Russell Wilson hoists the Vince Lombardi Trophy after defeating the Denver Broncos during the Super Bowl on Sunday, February 2, 2014 at MetLife Stadium in New Jersey. The Seahawks dominated the Denver Broncos 42-8.
JOSHUA TRUJILLO/SEATTLEPI.COM
1917: Metropolitans win Stanley Cup
Seattle won its first major national championship nearly 100 years ago, when the Metropolitans of the Pacific Coast Hockey Association became the first American pro-hockey team to win the Stanley Cup. The Mets returned to the Stanley Cup finals in 1919 (that team is pictured above), but a flu epidemic halted the tournament. In 1920, the Mets returned again but lost the Stanley Cup finals to the Ottawa Senators.
File photo/Seattle P-I archives
2018: Seattle Storm wins the WNBA Championship
Seattle Storm players (from left) Natasha Howard. Jordin Canada, Kaleena Mosqueda-Lewis and Sue Bird wave at fans from the trolley during a parade to celebrate the Storm winning the 2018 WNBA basketball championship, Sunday, Sept. 16, 2018, in Seattle. This was the team's third title after wins in 2004 and 2010, making them Seattle's most dominant sports team. GENNA MARTIN/SEATTLEPI.COM
This photo, shot from the roof of the Kingdome, shows a firework exploding as Seattle Mariners David Segui rounds 2nd base. Segui had a sixth inning home run against the Texas Rangers, June 25, 1999. P-I File
Seattle Sounders win the 2016 MLS Cup
The Emerald City Supporters carry the MLS Cup to the stadium during the march to match prior to the Sounders season opener against New York, Sunday, March 19, 2017 at CenturyLink Field. (Genna Martin, seattlepi.com)
GENNA MARTIN/SEATTLEPI
"I'm just here so I won't get fined": Seahawks go to Super Bowl XLIX, 2015
Marshawn Lynch answers a question with the phrase, "I'm just here so I won't get fined," during Super Bowl XLIX Media Day on Tuesday, January 27, 2015, at the US Airways Center in Phoenix, Arizona.JOSHUA TRUJILLO/SEATTLEPI.COM
Space Needle Base Jump
A parachuter jumps off the edge of the Space Needle. They were in the first group of jumpers which jump around 9:40 a.m. Thursday morning.
ROBIN LAYTON
Presidential Visits, Politics and Protests
Mayor George W. Dilling was host at this breakfast for visiting President William Howard Taft in 1911.P-I File
FDR visits Seattle, 1932: Democratic presidential nominee Franklin D. Roosevelt clasps the hand of Melody Bresina at Children’s Orthopedic Hospital during a campaign swing through the city on Sept. 20, 1932. Crowds waiting to see FDR gave him a roar of welcome as he stepped off his special train at King Street Station. Seattle Post-Intelligencer
President John F. Kennedy speaking at the University of Washington, pictured Nov. 16, 1961. Photo by Stuart Hertz, Seattle Post-Intelligencer. Seattle Post-Intelligencer archive, as preserved by the Museum of History & Industry
President Ronald Reagan slips on the steps of Air Force One at King County International Airport after a visit to Seattle on October 23, 1984. (P-I photo by Phil H. Webber) Phil H. Webber/Seattle Post-Intelligencer
In this image, an estimated crowd of 15,000 people gather at Victor Steinbrueck Park, on Virginia Street at the north end of Pike Place Market in downtown Seattle, to hear Bill Clinton give a presidential campaign speech on Oct. 22, 1992.
PI FILE
ABOARD THE USS AIRCRAFT CARRIER ABRAHAM LINCOLN President George W. Bush landed on the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln on May 1, 2003 to give his "mission accomplished" speech regarding the Iraq War. The president flew the plane for about 15 minutes before it landed on the carrier after its tour of duty in the Persian Gulf. (Seattle P-I photo by Grant M. Haller) P-I File
President George W. Bush leaves Air Force One at SeaTac Airport on Monday, August 27, 2007 during a brief trip to the area to raise funds for Congressman Dave Reichert and the Republican Party. Joshua Trujillo/seattlepi.com
President Barack Obama arrives in Air Force One to attend two Seattle fundraisers Sunday, Nov. 24, 2013, at Sea-Tac International Airport. JORDAN STEAD/SEATTLEPI.COM
Sen. Barack Obama speaks to a packed house during a rally at KeyArena. A packed KeyArena was the site of one of Seattle's most energetic political events of recent times. The visit by future President Barack Obama was the talk of the town and a historic event in a city usually forgotten during presidential elections.Joshua Trujillo/seattlepi.com
President Barack Obama boards Air Force One at Boeing Field during a brief visit to Seattle on Friday, October 9, 2015. The President stopped in the Seattle area for a fundraiser and event to support Senator Patty Murray. Obama came to Seattle after a stop in Roseburg, Oregon where he visited a week after a school shooting there. JOSHUA TRUJILLO/SEATTLEPI.COM
President Barack Obama points at the crowd as he walks off stage during a Democratic fundraiser at the Washington State Convention Center on Friday, June 24, 2016. GRANT HINDSLEY/SEATTLEPI.COM
One of Phil Webber's favorite photos shows men belly-laughing at a political rally for then-Vice President Walter Mondale on Nov. 30, 1979. Phil H. Webber/Seattle Post-Intelligencer
In May 1927, Charles A. Lindbergh made the first solo nonstop flight between New York and Paris in his plane the "Spirit of St. Louis." Lindbergh immediately became an international celebrity and was greeted with parades and gifts everywhere he went. He visited Seattle on September 13 and 14, 1927, where excited citizens held a parade and presented him with a monogrammed gold ring. After flying into Sand Point, the yacht, "Alarwee," took him to the University Stadium where he delivered an address promoting aviation and airports. In addition to a Second Avenue parade, 30,000 schoolchildren met him in Volunteer Park. In this September 1927 photo, Lindbergh is in an automobile with Seattle's first female mayor Bertha Landes en route to some of the festivities arranged for his visit. Staff Photographer/Seattle Post-Intelligencer
1970 Anti-Vietnam War Protest
Thousands of protestors and police blocked Interstate 5 on May 5, 1970, while making their way from the University of Washington to the downtown Seattle federal courthouse.
About 6,000 UW students joined demonstrations across the country in an anti-war protest responding to National Guard soldiers shooting and killing four student protesters at Kent State University.
Photo by Seattle Post-Intelligencer photographer Paul Thomas.
Seattle Post-Intelligencer photo, preserved by the Museum of History and Industry
Civil rights march, Seattle, 1965 Protestors' signs: Equality Now! We Protest Injustice NAACP. Discrimination Hurts Seattle. We Shall Overcome. Let My People Vote NAACP. In June, 1965, Robert L. Reece, a 40-year-old black, was shot and killed by an off-duty police officer after a confrontation at a Central District restaurant. The killing was ruled an "excusable homicide." This event became a flash point during a year that was already rife with civil rights turmoil and prompted African American community leaders to call for increased accountability from the Seattle police department and instate "Freedom Patrols," teams of two citizens who would follow cops on beat patrol to observe their actions. Staff Photographer/Seattle Post-Intelligencer
Seattle activist Dorli Rainey, 84, reacts after being hit with pepper spray during an Occupy Seattle protest on Tuesday, November 15, 2011 at Westlake Park. Protesters gathered in the intersection of 5th Avenue and Pine Street after marching from their camp at Seattle Central Community College in support of Occupy Wall Street. Many refused to move from the intersection after being ordered by police. Police then began spraying pepper spray into the gathered crowd hitting dozens of people. A pregnant woman was taken from the mele in an ambulance after being struck with spray.
JOSHUA TRUJILLO
WWI ends
Returning soldiers parading up Second Avenue, March 12, 1919. Although the armistice for World War I was signed on November 11, 1918, it took months before soldiers returned to Seattle. The 63rd Coast Artillery was the first local group to arrive. Crowds filled the sidewalks on March 12, 1919 as the soldiers marched up Second Avenue. The city celebrated throughout the night with parties, a street carnival, and fireworks. Here, members of the 63rd Coast Artillery parade up Second Avenue, past the Arcade Hotel and Rhodes Department Store. They left by train the following day for Tacoma and Fort Lewis.Staff Photographer/Seattle Post-Intelligencer
The Seattle Seven, 1970
In February 1970, members of the Chicago Seven were sentenced on contempt charges stemming from riots at the 1968 Democratic Convention. Demonstrations took place in numerous cities. The Seattle Liberation Front (SLF) called for protests in downtown Seattle. On February 17, over 2000 demonstrators carried on running battles with the police, breaking windows in the U.S. Courthouse and downtown businesses. Seventy-five people were arrested; eight were indicted for conspiracy to cause damage to federal property. The highly politicized trial of seven of these, who became known as the Seattle Seven, resulted in a mistrial. While they served time for contempt of court, the conviction was later thrown out. During the legal proceedings, it became clear that the violence had been precipitated by FBI agents who had infiltrated the SLF. This image shows Jeff Dowd (1949-), one of the Seattle seven, accompanied by Federal agents as he is brought to the Federal Courthouse in downtown Seattle for his arraignment in connection with the February riots. Years later, Dowd was the inspiration for the character of "The Dude" in the Coen brothers film "The Big Lebowski."Tom Brownell/Seattle Post-Intelligencer
In February 1970, members of the Chicago Seven were sentenced on contempt charges stemming from riots at the 1968 Democratic Convention. Demonstrations took place in numerous cities. The Seattle Liberation Front (SLF) called for protests in downtown Seattle. On February 17, over 2000 demonstrators carried on running battles with the police, breaking windows in the U.S. Courthouse and downtown businesses. Seventy-five people were arrested; eight were indicted for conspiracy to cause damage to federal property. The highly politicized trial of seven of these, who became known as the Seattle Seven, resulted in a mistrial. While they served time for contempt of court, the conviction was later thrown out. During the legal proceedings, it became clear that the violence had been precipitated by FBI agents who had infiltrated the SLF. Here, police and patrons examine broken glass outside the Hotel Stevens on First Avenue, across from the Federal Office Building. Tom Brownell/Seattle Post-Intelligencer
May Day protests turn violent, 2012
Black-clad protesters break windows on downtown businesses including American Apparel and NikeTown during a May Day rally on Tuesday, May 1, 2012 in downtown Seattle.
JOSHUA TRUJILLO
May 1, 2012 — Officers arrest a man that threw a glass jar and hit an officer in his face shield during a May Day rally in downtown Seattle. The rally turned violent when black-clad protesters smashed windows and threw objects at police. Police responded with pepper spray and seized sticks and other potential weapons from the protesters. JOSHUA TRUJILLO
A man is taken down by officers after scuffling with them after an officer knocked down a woman he was with during a May Day march in downtown Seattle.
JOSHUA TRUJILLO/SEATTLEPI.COM
A crowd dispersal device explodes during an anti-capitalist and anti-police brutality march in Seattle. Police described the march as a "riot" after marchers there objects at officers, broke windows and police responded to the rowdiness with pepper spray, crowd dispersal grenades and pepper balls. A march earlier in the day for immigrant and worker rights was peaceful. Photographed on May 1, 2015. JOSHUA TRUJILLO/SEATTLEPI.COM
Japanese Americans are sent to internment camps, 1942
This picture was taken in 1942 after Japanese Americans were taken to internment camps, as ordered in February of that year by President Franklin Roosevelt. The following month a P-I photographer followed 225 people were left Bainbridge Island for internment camps. A few of these images have never been published, and since 1976 the P-I negatives have been carefully preserved at the Museum of History and Industry.MOHAI/seattlepi.com file/ -
On the left, Fumiko Hayashida and her daughter Natalie Ong are photographed on Bainbridge Island on March 30, 1942. The picture on the right was taken at Hayashida's Seattle home in 2009, 67 years after the now-iconic photo was made. seattlepi.com file/MOHAI/Joshua Trujillo/ -
Crowds meeting Freedom Train at King Street Station, Seattle, 1948. The Freedom Train toured the country from 1947-1949 displaying an exhibit of Americana and historical artifacts. Some southern towns protested the train due to its racially integrated exhibit spaces. Staff Photographer/Seattle Post-Intelligencer
Civilian Conservation Corps, 1937
On April 13, 1937, eighty men reported to the Armory in Seattle on the first day of the spring enrollment for the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC). The program, created by the federal government in 1933 to relieve unemployment during the Great Depression, hired young men to work on conservation projects in remote areas of the United States. In March 1937, there were thirty-two CCC camps in Seattle's district and 2,002 camps nationwide. In this photo, new CCC recruits wave as their truck leaves Seattle for a CCC camp where they will spend the next six months to two years. In 1937, CCC members strung telephone lines, built roads and fire lookout towers, assisted in fighting fires and worked on a variety of other projects. The men also took classes at the camps for high school credit.Staff Photographer/Seattle Post-Intelligencer
Garfield High School Civil Rights sit-in, 1968
Aaron Dixon with his mother at courthouse, April 5, 1968. In March of 1968 two black students, cousins Charles Oliver and Trolice Flavors, where suspended from Seattle's Franklin High School after an altercation with a Caucasian student, who was not reprimanded. Franklin's outraged black students, with the help of UW Black Student Union (BSU) activists Carl Miller, Aaron Dixon and Larry Gossett, planned a peaceful demonstration at the school to make their point that racial discrimination would no longer be tolerated within the Seattle Public school system. The March 29 sit-in lasted several hours, and ended peacefully when school officials, mediators, and students arranged a meeting for the following Monday to discuss the demands and the issue of racial discrimination in Seattle schools. At that hearing, however, Seattle Public Schools Superintendent Dr. Forbes Bottomly implied that charges would be pressed against the UW BSU leaders for their role in the protest. On April 4, Carl Miller, Aaron Dixon, Larry and Richard Gossett, and Trolice Flavors were arrested for their participation in the Franklin High School sit-in. In June, Miller, Dixon, and Larry Gossett were found guilty of unlawful assembly and sentenced to 6 months in prison. The verdict created anger and frustration in Seattle's black community, resulting in riots in some Seattle areas. The men were freed on bail raised by the newly formed Seattle chapter of the Black Panther Party and other donors, and the case was dropped after prosecutors failed to pursue the retrial ordered by an appeals court in 1971. The Franklin sit-in was the first demonstration for the UW BSU, and an critical early fight for justice and equal opportunity in the Seattle area. It inspired the formation of the Seattle chapter of the...Dave Potts/Seattle Post-Intelligencer
Protests by thousands of people against the World Trade Organization's ministerial conference in late November and early December of 1999 brought police out in force; hundreds were arrested, and clouds of tear gas floated in front of businesses as delegates and officials attending the conference fought to gain access to their own meetings. Paul Joseph Brown, Seattle Post-Intelligencer
View of WTO Protesters on Pike street, from the conference center, Nov. 30, 1999. Photo by Grant M. Haller
GRANT M. HALLER/GRANT HALLER, SEATTLEPI.COM
WTO protesters performed a peaceful sit down demonstration in Westlake Park Wednesday morning. A new "No Protest" rule lets police arrest these folks even if they are not blocking traffic. Here a protester flashes the peace symbol to the crowd as Officers "carry" him to a waiting metro bus, Dec. 2, 1999. Photo by Grant M. Haller GRANT M. HALLER/GRANT HALLER, SEATTLEPI.COM
WTO protesters performed a peaceful sit down demonstration in Westlake Park Wednesday morning, Dec. 2, 1999. GRANT M. HALLER/GRANT HALLER, SEATTLEPI.COM
Seattle Police light off stun grenades at the Interstate-5 entrance on Cherry Street to prevent protestors from walking on the freeway. Protestors gathered in the streets in response to the Ferguson grand jury decision not to indict Darren Wilson in the death of Michael Brown, photographed Monday, November 24, 2014, in Seattle, Washington. ANNA ERICKSON/SEATTLEPI.COM
Obama wins a 2nd term, 2012
Seattle University student Victoria Czorny rides on the shoulders of a friend as a spontaneous party erupts in the intersection of East Pike Street and 10th Avenue after Barack Obama was announced as the winner, Referendum 74 appeared to be passing and a measure to legalize marijuana also seemed to be passing on Election Day, Tuesday, November 6, 2012.JOSHUA TRUJILLO
Gay Marriage Legalized, 2012
Partners Kara Haney, left, and her partner of 8 years Kate Wertin, right, embrace in the Lobby Bar in Seattle's Capitol Hill neighborhood as the Washington State Senate passes a bill that would legalize gay marriage in Washington State on Wednesday, February 1, 2012. Dozens gathered at the bar to watch the debate via TV on the senate floor. (Photo by Joshua Trujillo, seattlepi.com)JOSHUA TRUJILLO/Seattle Post-Intelligencer
Demonstrations and marches are a staple of photojournalism. Sometimes they're routine and sometimes they're powerful. This one, organized by a 20-year-old college student who opposed California's Proposition 8 outlawing gay marriage, was huge and diverse and compelling. I was thrilled to be there with my cameras and proud to be a citizen of Seattle. Paul Joseph Brown/Seattle Post-Intelligencer
Muslim ban protests at SeaTac Airport, 2017
Seattle city councilwoman and socialist activist Kshama Sawant raises a fist over the crowd, as more than 1,000 people gather at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport, Saturday, January 28, 2017 to protest President Trump's immigration ban. President Trump signed an executive order Friday that bars citizens from Iraq, Syria, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan and Yemen from entering the U.S. for the next 90 days and suspends the admission of all refugees for 120 days. (Genna Martin, seattlepi.com)
GENNA MARTIN/SEATTLEPI
Woman Marries Warehouse, 2012
In a "peak Seattle" move, Babylonia Aivaz stands in front of a large "I Do" banner during her marriage to the warehouse in the background at 10th Ave and Union St. on Sunday, Jan. 29, 2012. About 30 people attended Aivaz's wedding, which she says is a gay marriage because the building is a woman. Aivaz, who was among the Occupy Seattle protesters who wanted to reclaim it as community space, is using the wedding to protest the demolition of the 107-year-old building. An apartment building will be built in its place.
Photo: LINDSEY WASSON / SEATTLEPI.COM
Green River Killer trial, 2002
Green River killer Gary Ridgway is led toward King County Superior Court Judge Richard Jones's courtroom in King County Courthouse for an April 5, 2002, hearing.PAUL JOSEPH BROWN/P-I file photos
Barclay Girls dancing at Port of Embarkation, Seattle, November 14, 1951. Seattle's Port of Embarkation, or Pier 36, was used by the U. S. military to welcome home thousands of WWII and Korean War veterans in the 1940s and 1950s. The Welcome Lane program was organized by local volunteers and officials to celebrate the return of soldiers, and spectators lined the streets to glimpse the soldiers while bands played. A local troupe from the Barclay Dance Studio became famous in early 1950s when they started putting on shows for troops returning from the Korean War. In this image four of the "Barclay Girls," dancers wear kilts and Highland bonnets as they dance the "Hop-Scotch Polka" to welcome home 1,558 soldiers on the Navy transport General Hugh J. Gaffey. Stuart B. Hertz/Seattle Post-Intelligencer
Accidents and Disasters: Great Seattle Fire, 1889
On June 6, 1889, a fire started from an spilled glue pot in a carpentry shop in a downtown Seattle building and quickly spread. Due to a woeful water system, coupled with a city constructed mainly with wood, the Great Fire destroyed Seattle's entire business district, 29 square blocks including the railroad terminals and nearly all of the city's wharves. Here a crowd helplessly watches the approaching flames during the beginning hours of the fire.P-I File
Accidents and Disasters: Hooverville, 1937
May 6, 1937. During the Depression hundreds of unemployed and homeless people lived in shacks along the Seattle waterfront. Settlements such as these were called Hoovervilles after President Herbert Hoover, whom some people blamed for the hard times. P-I Staff Photographer.Seattle Post-Intelligencer
Hooverville in Seattle, 1937: Shantytowns sprang up around the country during the Great Depression. Seattle's Shacktown began to grow along the waterfront in 1931. The Seattle Port Commission eventually evacuated the residents, and by 1941 the shanties were burned to make room for a war-related shipping facility. Seattle Post-Intelligencer
Accidents and Disasters: Earthquake, 1949
Shortly before noon on Wednesday, April 13, 1949, an earthquake rocked the area from British Columbia to Oregon and caused extensive damage. Seven people died and at least 64 were injured in the heaviest shock ever recorded in the region. In Seattle, downtown streets and buildings were jammed with people but no deaths occurred. As soon as the ground began to shake, photographer Ken Harris headed out the door for Pioneer Square, where he predicted damage would be extensive. His front page photo shows the bricks that cascaded from the cornice of the Seattle Hotel at First and Yesler Way, damaging at least five automobiles. At least a half a dozen buildings in the Pioneer Square area had damage to cornices or walls.Ken Harris/Seattle Post-Intelligencer
Accidents and Disasters: Mount St. Helens Eruption, 1980
May 18, 1980 Mount St. Helens erupted causing wide spread damage and sent ash thousands of feet into the air. Photo by Grant M. HallerGRANT M. HALLER/GRANT HALLER, SEATTLEPI.COM
BRUCE LEE DIES, 1973
Martial-arts star Bruce Lee's mother, Grace Lee, reaches out to touch his casket during his funeral in Seattle on July 31, 1973. At rear, an unidentified student of Lee's stands with actors Steve McQueen and James Coburn, both pallbearers at the funeral.Phil H. Webber/Seattle Post-Intelligencer
Accidents and Disasters: Oso Mudslide, 2014
Rescue workers remove one of a number of bodies from the wreckage of homes and lives destroyed by a mudslide near Oso, Wash that occurred on March 22, 2014. An entire neighborhood was destroyed and 43 people were killed in the slide.JOSHUA TRUJILLO/SEATTLEPI.COM
Accidents and Disasters: NOT THE BEES!, 2015
Workers clean up on Friday, April 17, 2015 after a semi truck filled with over 400 beehives overturned on Interstate 5 in Lynnwood. Workers tried to rescue as many bees as possible before firefighters sprayed them with foam from a fire truck.JOSHUA TRUJILLO/SEATTLEPI.COM
Accidents and Disasters: Plane crash into Lake Union, 2002
A Seattle Fire Department diver jumps into Elliott Bay to check out a crashed Boeing 307 Stratoliner airplane that crash landed just off Harbor Avenue (near Salty's Restaurant) in West Seattle Thursday afternoon, March, 28, 2002. Four person were rescued by the Coast Guard after they climbed on top of the plane. Divers checked the integrity of the plane before attaching a rope to the rear landing gear so a Seattle Police Department boat could pull the plane to shore. Photo by Grant M. Haller 3/28/2002GRANT M. HALLER/GRANT HALLER, SEATTLEPI.COM
Accidents and Disasters: Lakewood Shooting, 2009
Jesse Clarke, right, and Bobbi Jo Lundt of Lakewood raise their candles during a candlelight vigil on Wednesday December 2, 2009 at the Lakewood Family YMCA in Lakewood, Wash. Thousands gathered to pay their respects to four Lakewood Police officers who were shot and killed at a coffe shop Sunday morning in Parkwood.Joshua Trujillo/seattlepi.com
Accidents and Disasters: Amtrak derailment, 2017
A derailed train is seen on southbound Interstate 5 on Monday, Dec. 18, 2017, in DuPont, Wash. An Amtrak train making an inaugural run on a new route derailed south of Seattle on Monday, spilling train cars onto a busy interstate in an accident that resulted in three deaths and 62 people injured.
GRANT HINDSLEY/SEATTLEPI
The iconic Seattle Space Needle is shown through the rain drop-covered windshield of a car on Wednesday, February 4, 2015. JOSHUA TRUJILLO/SEATTLEPI.COM
The Worlds Fair, 1962
A World's Fair exhibit, Aug. 1962.seattlepi.com file
The Beatles play the Coliseum, 1964
A crowd at Seattle Center's Coliseum responds as the Beatles take the stage in 1964. Photo by Seattle Post-Intelligencer photographer Tom Brownell.Seattle Post-Intelligencer archive, as preserved by the Museum of History & Industry
The Stones play the Coliseum, 1981
Fans at the 1981 Rolling Stones concert at the 300 level, the farthest and highest point from the stage you could get, Oct. 14, 81. PI FILE PHOTO GRANT HALLERGRANT HALLER/GRANT HALLER, SEATTLEPI.COM
Nuns on vacation, 1960
A truly iconic SeattlePI photograph from Aug. 21, 1960 taken as a group of nuns from the Order of Saint Benedict enjoyed their summer vacation at the beach in Grayland. Here Sisters Ruth (left) and Agnes play in the surf; partly hidden is Sister Rita. After a weeklong break they returned "refreshed and strengthened" to their routine duties of teaching school in the Seattle and Tacoma area.
Courtesy MOHAI
Mick Jagger sings second song of the Rolling Stones "A Bigger Bang" world tour perform in Seattle's Key Arena. Seattle, WA. Sunday, October 30, 2005. Photograph by Grant M. Haller GRANT M. HALLER/GRANT HALLER, SEATTLEPI.COM
Elvis at the World's Fair, 1962
Elvis Presley visited Seattle to make his 11th motion picture, "It Happened at the World's Fair." Colonel Tom Parker (second from right) accompanied him. At the Westlake Monorail station, Elvis posed with Governor Albert Rosellini (left) on September 5, 1962. The ham was reportedly from Presley's Tennessee farm. Other individuals in the photo are Ted Richmond (second from left), the producer of the movie and Norman Taurog (right), the director.
Seattle P-I/MOHAI
Comicon Costumes, 2015
From left, Stephanie Galver as Wonder Woman, Amber Hague as Mystique, and Anna Harris as a cheetah eat lunch during day one of Emerald City Comicon at the Washington State Convention Center on Friday, March 27, 2015. The three day convention is the largest comic book and pop culture convention in the Pacific Northwest. The convention features cosplay, comic books, celebrities and more.JOSHUA TRUJILLO/SEATTLEPI.COM
Bon Marche opens at Northgate Mall, 1950
Fireworks for the opening weekend of the Bon Marche at Northgate Mall, the country's oldest indoor mall complex, April 30, 1950.
seattlepi.com file
Space Needle is built for the World's Fair, 1961
The 1961 photo caption read: The first two of six supporting columns for the World's Fair Space Needle are shown being connected to the needle's center core, 100 feet from the base. The 50-ton legs are 90 feet long and are connected to the core by 30-foot crossbars. The Space Needle will rise 600 feet and will feature a revolving restaurant at the top.P-I File
In January, 1962, construction was well underway for the Space Needle, monorail and other World's Fair projects as Mount Rainier watches over Seattle. (Seattle Post-Intelligencer photo) Museum of History and Industry
Space Needle turns orange at 40, 2002
George Links of O'Mega Graphics (Ballard) battles winds of up to 30 mph to paint the top of the Space Needle on March 27, 2002. In honor of the landmark's 40th anniversary celebration, the pagoda roof of the landmark is being painted the original Galaxy Gold, the primary color from the original "Century 21"-themed paint scheme. The contrast between the tower's goldish-orange roof and Astronaut White legs made it one the most photographed attractions at the 1962 World's Fair. At the end of April, the roof will be restored to its white color. (P-I photo by Dan DeLong)P-I File
Boeing 707 takes its first flight, 1954
Test pilots, in circle at right, are surrounded by reporters, photographers and well-wishers after completion of the epochal flight at Seattle's Boeing Field, 1954. The huge, sleek 707 jet transport, which made a successful 1-hour and 24-minute test flight forms the backdrop for the thong. The 707 was Boeing's first commercial jet airliner.
P-I FILES 1954/SEATTLEPI.COM
Alaskan Way Viaduct construction, Oct. 29, 1951. P-I File
Monorail first run, 1962
Among the infrastructure developments built for the World's Fair was the Seattle Monorail, pictured here leaving the Seattle World's Fair terminal on its first trial run, March 3, 1962. (Phil H. Webber/Seattlepi.com)P-I File
Interstate 5 constructed
This aerial view shows the construction of the Tacoma-Seattle-Everett Freeway that was to become Interstate 5 (I-5) .
Construction of the Tacoma-Seattle-Everett freeway, which opened to traffic in December 1962, took up 6,600 parcels of land, 4,500 of them in Seattle. In 1958-59, the Washington State Highway Department paid homeowners fair market value for their homes, then auctioned the buildings for either removal or salvage .
The 1956 Federal-Aid Highway Act kicked off the Interstate construction program. Completed in the 1960s, Interstate 5 (I-5), of which the Tacoma-Seattle-Everett Freeway forms a part, is the only Interstate highway running from Canada to Mexico.PI
Highway 99 Tunnel built, 2018
The under construction southbound lanes of the SR-99 tunnel on Tuesday, March 27, 2018. (GRANT HINDSLEY, seattlepi.com)
GRANT HINDSLEY/SEATTLEPI.COM
Workers climb scaffolding at the site as Bertha, the world's largest tunnel boring machine, finally breaks through the north end of the Seattle waterfront tunnel, Tuesday afternoon, April 4, 2017. (Genna Martin, seattlepi.com)
GENNA MARTIN/SEATTLEPI
Laborers climb out into the cutter head of Bertha and hold an American flag after breaking through the north end of the tunnel, Tuesday, April 4, 2017. (Genna Martin, seattlepi.com)
GENNA MARTIN/SEATTLEPI
This is a color photo taken around 3 p.m. Monday as a large black storm cloud moved over the downtown area. The cloud brought snow, rain, thunder and lightening in a 20-minute span. Although it is hard to see, there is a small patch of blue starting to show in the middle right of this picture. Photo by Grant M. Haller 3/31/97 GRANT M. HALLER/GRANT HALLER, SEATTLEPI.COM
Every Seattleite worth their salt knows that Seattle doesn't actually get more rain than anywhere in the country (keep it down though; the San Franciscans are listening).
But can you attest to the varacity of the rest of these Seattle myths and legends? Click through the slideshow to check your knowledge.
JORDAN STEAD/SEATTLEPI.COM
Does Seattle buy more sunglasses than anywhere else?
Nope, this is a myth. KUOW has reported that the Vision Council, an organization for eye doctors and people who concern themselves with eyewear, tracks sales regionally, and says the South buys more sunglasses than the West.
GENNA MARTIN/SEATTLEPI.COM
Is there a gun range under the Seattle Center House?
Yes, actually. The Seattle Center House was opened in April 1939 as the National Guard Armory, and as such had a gun range in the basement. The area is now used for storage, but still has hundreds of bullet marks in the slanted wall where the targets were.
Joshua Trujillo/seattlepi.com file
Were there actually strippers at Seattle World's Fair?
Yep. You could find them at "Show Street" which was billed as "naughty but nice" and featured models posing revealing space-age costumes (in keeping with the fair's aesthetic). Fairgoeers could rent cameras to take pictures.
From the book "The Future Remembered" on the World's Fair: "The Seattle Censor Board ordered the show closed at one point. Among its complaints: excessive shimmying and shaking by bare-breasted "space girls." The board he been led to believe would be standing still."
State Archives/seattlepi.com file
Is Nordstrom's return policy really so good that someone once brought a tire in and returned it?
This is a fun one, but no. It's a bit of a twisty tale though:
According to Snopes , though Nordstrom is legendary for its return policy and customer service, this legend seems decidedly untrue, even if Nordstrom themselves have egged it on a bit. John Nordstrom himself said he was there, but this was years after Nordstrom insisted the tale was lore. Not only that but the timing of the story never seemed to line up quite right. Home Depot has also laid claim to this tale over the years.
Kevin Schafer/Getty Images
What's up with Capitol Hill's mystery soda machine?
Truthfully, no one really knows. Though there's been
some evidence as to how the machine remains stocked, people enjoy the unknown nature of this coke machine. It's a bit like life in that way.
JORDAN STEAD/SEATTLEPI.COM
Did a Seattle police officer really help smuggle booze during prohibition, get caught, go to jail, and become a bootlegger king upon release?
Oh hell yeah! Roy Olmstead (pictured here on the right in the photo with his wife that lead the PI back in 1931 upon his release) learned the bootlegging trade from his involvement in raids and arrests as a Seattle Police Lieutenant. His arrest in 1920 was pretty scandalous, considering that up to that point he had been considered the department's golden boy. He was fined $500 and lost his job but he managed to find new work: devoting himself full-time to being "King of the Puget Sound Bootleggers."
His operation dwarfed any other liquor operations in Seattle, legal or no. His eventual arrest for rum-running, for which he served 35 months in federal prison, eventually made it to the Supreme Court for a major ruling about the wire-tapping efforts feds used to catch him.
Seattle Post-Intelligencer
Was UW's Red Square intentionally designed with bricks to make student protests harder?
Not as far as any documentation shows. The area was designed to sit above the parking garage underneath it, and the engineers who designed the garage were afraid that if they put grass on top it would leak into the garage.
Though it came about in 1961, just in time for an era known for collegiate protests, it seems the bricks are just a structural (if slick) choice.
P-I File
Does Seattle have more suicides than anywhere else?
Not us. Though we apparently got this rep for being gloomy and rainy, Las Vegas is actually the place with the highest number of suicides in the U.S. Seattle doesn't even crack the top ten, according to Business Insider .
Was there really a duck-eating sturgeon in Lake Washington?
Well, no . For seemingly decades there was talk of a giant sturgeon running around the area preying on ducks. Sturgeon don't eat ducks, but there has been many sturgeon pulled out of Lake Washington that look like the 640 pound, 11-foot sturgeon above. This one was found on Nov. 6, 1987 near Kirkland, but an 8-foot one turned up as recently in 2013.
JIM BATES/AP
Is there really a PB4Y wrecked off of Magnuson with the bodies of the crew still inside?
Yes and no . No, there are not remains still left in the plane. But yes,
there is actually a World War II bomber , sunken in the lake off of Magnuson. The plane was doing a routine training flight from the Sand Point Naval Air Station that sent the bomber crashing shortly after takeoff into Lake Washington. The crew was safely recovered, but after lugging the plane up from about 175 feet of water a shackle pin broke and the plane sank back to the depths. Further salvage efforts were abandoned, and the plane still rests just off the Magnuson's boat ramp under about 155 feet of water.
Paul Joseph Brown/Seattle Post-Intelligencer
Was Jimi Hendrix kicked out of Garfield High School for ______?
Nope. Depending on when you came up and where you were, you might've heard that Hendrix got kicked out of either having sex with a white girl, or having sex in the hall way, or having sex in the stairwell – suffice it to say it was not for any of these. Hendrix actually dropped out of Garfield when
he was 16 to work . He returned seven years later to pick up an honorary diploma from the high school though, spending the years in between in the army and then launching a major music career.
David Redfern/Getty Images
Did Kurt Cobain live under the Aurora Bridge?
No . This is possibly one of those things that just got conflated over the years with people saying that Nirvana got their start in Seattle. But Cobain himself said he lived under the Young Street Bridge (the inspiration for "Something in the Way") in Aberdeen.
file photo
Was Seattle Public Schools' first school founded by prostitutes?
Not really, no. One of the first Seattle teachers was a Mercer Girl (Elizabeth Ordway, pictured here), the nickname given to women who arrived in Seattle by boat. They became known as "mail order brides" towards the middle of the 20th century, which has morphed over the years into "prostitutes."
Though they were technically brought to Seattle by Asa Mercer during the Civil War, probably for the purposes of marriage, they were technically there to even out the man/woman ratio that was askew all over the nation at the time (in the East, from the war; in the West, from frontier life). Many of these women went on to be teachers in what eventually became SPS.
/ Museum of History and Industry
Is "Jeremy Bunker" in Ft. Ward about the kid from that Pearl Jam song?
No. This legend sprung up around Bainbridge and the Pearl Jam song "Jeremy," which describes a boy who killed himself. Local myth had it that Jeremy was a local who shot himself in the bunker in Ft. Ward, named the "Jeremy Bunker," and now haunts the place. Eddie Vedder has said that the song is about a boy in either (or both) Texas and California.
Tim Mosenfelder/Getty Images
Is there a tunnel running under Queen Anne Hill?
Yes, but don't expect it to help you get to Fremont any easier. The tunnel was for the counterbalance trolley that used to run up Queen Anne Ave. N. until 1940 when trackless trolleys and buses took over. A worker, W.W. Wiley shown here in a 1940 P-I archive photo, would hook a cable to the counterbalance when the streetcar was going up the hill.
seattlepi.com file
Is there a tunnel under North Aurora?
Yep, though it's really a pedestrian underpass that has been closed for years. As Casey McNerthney reported : "You can find it at the intersection of Aurora and North 79th Street, on the north side. It was created in the early 1930s - Aurora opened in 1932 - for easier pedestrian travel on the old highway. But it closed after problems with drugs and prostitution in the area."
Casey McNerthney/seattlepi.com file
Did a Japanese Glenn overfly Seattle in June 1942?
Nope, but it did land those responsible for Seattle's air defenses during World War II in hot water for a little bit. The Glenn's were used twice later in 1942 to drop incendiary bombs on forests in Oregon (in an attempt to cause devastating forest fires).
So when a U.S. Navy interrogator heard from a Japanese staff officer after the war that a Glenn had launched a reconaissance mission against Seattle that went unrecorded, the news spread about the "close call." However, t
his has since been attributed to an error in interpretation during the initial interrogation.
Was Padelford Hall intentionally built confusingly to help protect UW staff from rioters?
Probably not, but maybe . The building – which houses faculty across a few departments and features many idiosyncasies like hallways that lead to dead-ends and don't connect between towers – has quickly become notorious among UW students for its utterly perplexing layout.
A profile from UW's alumni magazine Columns attributes this to a couple things: UW architecture was going through some experimentation, the unusual site of the hall created didn't lend itself to a standard design, and the firm's previous work included designing prisons.
Walt Crowley, a local history buff and UW student during the '60s, told The Daily that he thinks there's some credence to the idea that Padelford was "certainly not designed to conducive human habitation," and arguably "intended to withstand and discourage student protests."
That the giant plate glass windows of UW's collegiate Gothic style are gone, does seem peculiar, but so far no one's turned up anything that this is deliberately designed to defend from protesters. The building did receive an American Institute of Architects Seattle merit award for design when it first opened in 1967, though!
Google Street View
UFO's at Mount Rainier?
Mike Urban/Seattle Post-Intelligencer
A pot of glue was being heated up on a stove inside the Clairmont and Company cabinet shop in downtown Seattle when all hell broke loose 130 years ago.
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It caught fire, and a worker inside tried to put it out with water. But, just like what happens when water hits flaming oil, the hot glue erupted.
Flaming bits of glue flew about the room before 3 p.m. on June 6, 1889, landing on wood shavings spread around the floor. The tinder ignited a blaze that spread through the wooden building located at what is now the corner of First Avenue and Madison Street.
The building was quickly engulfed. The fire tore through the city on a strong northerly wind -- a city that had just endured a dry season. The city's small band of volunteer firefighters got to work, but used up all available public and private water supplies.
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The blaze continued to grow until it had torched about 120 acres, 130 years ago today. The final embers finally fizzled out around 3 a.m., after reaching the tide flats south of where T-Mobile Park now sits.
No people died, but an estimated 1 million rats were consumed by fire. Thousands lost their homes, and about 5,000 men lost their jobs. Total losses were in the millions of dollars, up to $20 million by some estimates.
The event became known as Seattle's Great Fire. Homes and businesses in 25 city blocks were destroyed. Most buildings were made of wood, but even 10 brick buildings were destroyed in the heat of the blaze. The city was in ruins.
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The day after the fire, citizens got to work. They asked Mayor Robert Moran to require new buildings to be built out of brick. They wanted wider streets, a city-owned water system and a bona fide fire department. Two hundred special deputies were sworn in to help combat looting, and the city spent two weeks under martial law.
A little over four months after the fire, the city's first fire department was approved. Gardner Kellogg was named the first fire chief and 32 men were hired as firefighters.
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During the first year of re-construction, 150 brick buildings were erected, some of which formed what is now Pioneer Square. The corner of First Avenue and Madison Street now houses the Old Federal Building, with a bronze plaque indicating that was where the Great Fire began. Wooden pipes were eliminated and more fire hydrants were added.
Streets in some areas of the city were also raised by up to 22 feet, making the city more level and creating the infamous underground which visitors can tour today .
Before the fire, Seattle's population had been growing by an estimated 1,000 residents per month. The growth was slowed by the fire, but by no means stopped, growing to 43,000 residents from 25,000 in a year. Lumber and coal were the city's primary industries, but fishing, wholesale trade, shipbuilding and shipping also contributed.
The catastrophe that, in many ways, lead to the creation of the Seattle we know today was not a unique one. New York City had its own "Great Fire" in 1835 which razed nearly 700 buildings, for example, and the Chicago Fire of 1871 destroyed thousands of buildings and killed an estimated 300 people, according to The History Channel. Just in Washington state, the business districts of 20 towns were destroyed by fires between 1882 and 1928.
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What you see now is the result of how those cities rebuilt.