Seattle's first neighborhood meets modernity: How Pioneer Square has changed from then to now

Alaskan Way Viaduct from 1st Ave., Seattle, 1960 The Alaskan Way Viaduct was an elevated highway in Seattle which opened in 1966 after 16 years of construction and decades of planning. The double-decked highway runs along the Elliott Bay waterfront above the surface street, Alaskan Way, following previously existing railroad lines. The viaduct provided Seattle with its first bypass route around the downtown business district, relieving traffic congestion. The viaduct was damaged in the 2001 Nisqually earthquake. This image was taken facing northwest and looking from street level up to the viaduct at the intersection of Railroad Avenue, First Avenue, and Dearborn Street, in the Pioneer Square neighborhood The wedge-shaped building on the right, the Flatiron Building, still stands as of 2019.MOHAI Seattle Historical Society Collection [SHS3978]/Courtesy of MOHAI

This photograph shows Pioneer Square festively decorated and with crowds gathered about 1910. It is possible that this was a celebration in junction with the Alaska-Yukon-Pacific Exposition, held in Seattle in 1909 on a site that later became the University of Washington. The brothers Clarence R. and Otto Langstaff were prolific amateur photographers in Seattle. Clarence (1880-1941) worked as a carpenter and also spent time at Mt. Rainier as a guide. Otto (1883-1969) worked for W.P. Fuller Company as a glazier and was a member of United Glass Union #188. Because most of their photos are not signed, it is often difficult to discern which brother was behind the camera.MOHAI Clarence and Otto Langstaff Photographs [Lib1993.8.32]/Clarence and Otto Langstaff Photographs

Built in the aftermath of the Seattle Fire on a triangle at Second Avenue and Yesler, the Seattle Hotel was the city's premier hotel. The building is shown here in 1897 on the eve of the Yukon gold rush. For years early in the century, the hotel was the gala social center of the growing city. The building was demolished in 1961 to make way for a parking garage sparking a wave of preservation of Pioneer Square buildings.Seattle Post-Intelligencer

The Hotel Seattle was located near Pioneer Square, which was then the heart of Seattle's business district. The five-story brick and stone building had 200 rooms. It was close to the railroad depots, the docks, and the point where most of the city's streetcar lines started. The hotel was torn down in 1962 to make room for a parking garage. This photo shows the Hotel Seattle at the intersection of Yesler Way, James Street, and First Avenue. [1983.10.6827]Webster & Stevens/PEMCO Webster & Stevens Collection, Museum of History & Industry, Seattle; All Rights Reserved

Some of Seattle's steep streets had cable car lines. Cable cars move by gripping a long wire cable that runs under the street. This photo was taken on James Street in 1905, looking downhill towards Pioneer Square. The cross street at the bottom of the slope is Second Avenue. At that time, James Street still had wooden sidewalks. [1983.10.6854]Webster & Stevens/PEMCO Webster & Stevens Collection, Museum of History & Industry, Seattle; All Rights Reserved

Seattle's King Street Station was built between 1904 and 1906 for the Great Northern Railroad. The St. Paul, Minnesota, architectural firm of Reed & Stem designed the station, patterning its tall clock tower after a famous bell tower in Venice, Italy. This mimicry of European architecture added a touch of tradition and heritage to Seattle's growing downtown area. Courtesy of MOHAI [SHS9949]Webster & Stevens/Museum of History & Industry, Seattle

A photo of Pioneer Square and the historic totem pole in Pioneer Square Park, photographed in the early 1900s. The totem pole, called the Chief-of-All-Women pole, was stolen from a Tlingit village by businessmen from the Seattle Chamber of Commerce while they were on a "goodwill tour" of Alaska in 1899 and gifted to the city upon their return. It was later vandalized by an arsonist in 1938 and the city had a replica commissioned from the Tlingit tribe.seattlepi.com file/SeattlePI

Though Pioneer Square is the first area of modern Seattle settled by the Denny Party in 1852, not much exists today that would have been built by them.

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The first iteration of Pioneer Square was destroyed in the Great Seattle Fire of 1889. A worker tried to put out a flaming pot of glue with water, causing the glue to explode. Flaming bits of glue spread about the building, and quickly spread from the corner of First Avenue and Madison Street through a district of buildings built primarily out of wood.

But the neighborhood was quickly rebuilt -- with less combustible materials than its previous version -- and some of that Pioneer Square still exists in the area today.

Pioneer Square is known for brick buildings and classic Seattle architecture. By 1914, it was home to the tallest building west of Ohio in Smith Tower.

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Some of the neighborhood's classic buildings have since been re-purposed, like the historic Seattle Hotel, first built up from the ashes of the Great Seattle fire. It served a few purposes, but was eventually converted into a parking garage known as the Sinking Ship, after the hotel was demolished in the early 1960s, which it remains today.

King Street Station was built between 1904 and 1906 and became the city's first "elegant passenger depot," per HistoryLink.org. Some of its original features were destroyed through a "modernization" process in the middle of the 20th century, but in 2008, the city began buying property from the rail company to restore some of its former glory.

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Pioneer Square is also home to the Bread of Life Mission, which has been working to serve people who are homeless or struggling financially or with addiction since 1939, according to its website. Over 240 meals are served and 141 people shelter there each day.

Perhaps the most recent change to the neighborhood has been the removal of the Alaskan Way Viaduct, which concluded in November. Built in the 1950s, the viaduct served to carry traffic along the Seattle waterfront between downtown and Sodo for about 60 years. It was torn down in 2019 after the construction of a tunnel beneath downtown opened to traffic earlier in the year.

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To see more of what has changed and what has remained in this historic Seattle neighborhood, click through the slideshow above.