The caption for this Seattle Times snapshot from Oct. 7, 1940 reads, “Cr-r-r-a-a-ac-ck! Smash! And down went an old frame home at Seventh Avenue and Washington Street as wreckers razed the first of 143 old bildings to be demolished to make room for the Seattle Housing Authority project on Yesler Hill, where modern buildings will replace t he dwelling which have grown shoddy and bleak since the days many years ago, when they housed Seattle pioneer families.”