THEN: James Lee, for many years an official photographer for Seattle’s public works department, looks south over Ballard’s Salmon Bay a century ago. Queen Anne Hill marks the horizon, with a glimpse of Magnolia on the far right. (Courtesy, Museum of History and Industry)NOW: Ballard’s bascule bridge opened on 15th Ave. N.W. in 1917.
We can be pretty confident about why James Lee photographed this look south across Ballard’s Salmon Bay to the Queen Anne Hill horizon. Lee has dated his negative – and presumably his visit here – June 23, 1915. That was one month before the city’s public works department opened bids for the construction of two bascule bridges, of the department’s own design, both of which are still lifting, one in Fremont and the other here in Ballard. Through his long service as a employee of public works, Lee’s efforts as a photographer of the city grew into one of the greater collections of Seattle subjects. And, like this view, nearly all had some public works purpose, and were in focus, too. Many examples of his work can be studied through on-line links with the Seattle Municipal Archives.
The Public Works Dept. call for July 23 bids on both the Fremont and Ballard bridges, announced in the Seattle Times for June 8, 1915.
The featured photograph at the top is the photographer’s record of the path that the Ballard Bridge would follow by continuing 15th Ave. N.W. from Interbay north to Ballard proper. It would replace the 14th Ave. Bridge, the clutter of contiguous spans on the left, whose first trestle was pile-driven into the shallow Salmon Bay in 1891. It was built for the West Street Electric trolley line, the first streetcar railway from the Seattle Waterfront to reach Ballard, which was then promoting itself as “the Shingle Capitol of the World.” The industrious community’s first lumber mill was built on Salmon Bay in 1888, and by 1890 there were seven more – at least.
An early look across Salmon Bay from the northwest corner of Queen Anne Hill. The curving Great Northern Railroad trestle (1892-3) easily reached the Ballard waterfront over short pilings. The railroad then snaked along the north shore of the bay and behind the several mills built along the waterfront in order to receive lumber and ship finished products like cedar shingles. The trolley and wagon bridge along 14th Avenue n.e. is out of frame to the right, but can be seen in several photos included below. .
I think it likely that it was the Phoenix Shingle Co. mill where Lee found his high prospect for shooting south through the line of 15th Ave. N.W., although some Ballard mills changed names and positions often enough to be confusing. In the 1912 Baist real estate map, included on the blog listed at the end of this feature, the Phoenix footprint is shown just east of a short wharf that extends 15th Ave. about 200 feet into Salmon Bay. The map reveals that Lee’s chosen overview is a few yards east of 15th Ave. For his “now,” Jean Sherrard has nestled above the east side railing of the Ballard Bridge. Although separated by a century, I think James and Jean are close.
The Phoenix Shingle Co. mill is foot-printed on the Baist map framed here beside another and somewhat later James Lee photograph of the site, one that looks back – and north – at early construction on the north pier for the new Ballard Bascule Bridge. This alternative photo is discussed in Jean’s video that introduces this “bascule blog.” I was also tempted to choose it for this week’s historical photo printed in The Times, but dismissed it for that primary role because we were not secure about where to put Jean and his Nikon. I imagine that Lee was aboard a boat for this shot, a few feet west of the future western margin of the 15th Ave. Bridge. . (To read the map click the mouse.) Again, this “other” look of the north end is featured with some talk in the video. Also noted there is Saint Alphonso’s tower on 15th, which here just punctures the far left horizon. (We include an Alphonso girls school sotball team feature below) The burning tower on the left and the metal warehouse, right-of-center, both appear in the later photo that follows. It was recorded looking north at the bridge’s north pier from below its south pier. (Courtesy, Lawton Gowey and the Seattle Municipal Archive.)Dated April 24, 1917, the piers, north and south, are up, but not the teeter-totter wings for the bascule. Consequently, the bridge would not be ready for the Lake Washington Ship Canal’s July 4, 1917 inaugural opening. (The Fremont Bridge was completed in time.) Again, the burning tower and chimney on the left and the metal warehouse on the right, both appear in the earlier photo above this one. This photo then was our primary clue for placing the photo above it.
The bridges at Ballard and Fremont (and soon the University District) were built for the Lake Washington Ship Canal. Ballard had long campaigned for a canal, not to reach Lake Washington but for dredging to deepen Salmon Bay in order to move more lumber off and on to its waterfront. In the spring of 1915 City Engineer A.H. Dimock calculated that once the bids were in and the contractors chosen it would take about a year to build the new bridges. Here in Ballard Dimock was half right. Work started on Sept 1., 1915. However, a Times headline, “Ballard Viaduct Thrown Open to Traffic,” did not appear until Dec. 1, 1917.
This 1908 Baist map may be compared to the 1912 map printed above. Some of the milll names are different, but the relationship between the curving Great Northern trestle and the 14th Ave wagon and trolley bridge is the same.Looking north from Interbay to the Ballard side led by familiar lines made by the Great Northern bridge, on the left, and the 14th Ave. trolley bridge on the right.First appeared in Pacific, January 29, 1987.Looking east from the 15th Avenue Ballard Bridge’s north approach to the Bolcom-Canal LumberCompany at the southeast corner of Salmon Bay in 1923. The 8th Ave. W. Railroad bridge reaches the horizon near the scene’s center. The Bolcom-Canal mill looking southwest from the Ballard side.
WEB EXTRAS
More to add, my droogs? First, Ron Edge has posted eleven other blog features that will get one somehow to Ballard and/or Magnolia – sometimes with transfers. We will also add a few more past features scanned from clippings.
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First appeared in Pacific, March 9, 1986,
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A “now” from thirty-two years ago.First appeared in Pacific, July 15, 1984.
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first appeared in Pacific, October 31, 2004.
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The Ballard Bridge profile from the east. ABOVE, on February 24, 1917, with the piers but not the wings. BELOW, on September 14, same year, 1917, now with the completed wings.
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First appeared in Pacific, December 11, 1988.
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First appeared in Pacific, October 20, 1996.
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First appeared in Pacific, January 6, 1985.
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First appeared in Pacific, August 19, 2001.
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Seattle Cedar looking west from the Ballard Bridge.
First appeared in Pacific, June 24, 1984. ======
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ECUMENICAL BALLARD
First appeared in Pacific, March 10, 1996.First appeared in Pacific, November 18, 2007
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THE END
Measuring for the flood coming with the closing of the Chittenden Locks and the lifting of Salmon Bay “around” Nine Feet to the level of Lake Washington – and the rest.Jean’s FINI
One thought on “Seattle Now & Then: Ballard’s Bascule Bridge”
Hi Paul,
Greetings after quite a while. I’ve lost your email address but hope you’ll see this. I was down at Balmer Yard yesterday taking pictures of locomotives, got talking with an old local boy who told me there used to be another bascule railroad bridge between the Ballard and Fremont bridges near 6th and 41st. . He said he remembers them dismantling it in early 1970s or so. Sure enough, the aerial image set of 1969 on NETR Historic Aerials clearly shows this bridge standing upright, connecting the rail line from Interbay to both directions of what is now the Burke-Gilman path on the north side. I don’t see any info or photos about this anywhere — even Wikipedia’s list of demolished or removed bridges in Seattle does not list it. On Google maps you can still see the curve of the former rail line heading into the water on the south side — it’s lined with houseboats — just beyond where the old tracks end as they come out of Interbay from under the Ballard Bridge. Do you have any images or information about this?
Hope you’re well after all this time…
-Matt the Journeyman
Hi Paul,
Greetings after quite a while. I’ve lost your email address but hope you’ll see this. I was down at Balmer Yard yesterday taking pictures of locomotives, got talking with an old local boy who told me there used to be another bascule railroad bridge between the Ballard and Fremont bridges near 6th and 41st. . He said he remembers them dismantling it in early 1970s or so. Sure enough, the aerial image set of 1969 on NETR Historic Aerials clearly shows this bridge standing upright, connecting the rail line from Interbay to both directions of what is now the Burke-Gilman path on the north side. I don’t see any info or photos about this anywhere — even Wikipedia’s list of demolished or removed bridges in Seattle does not list it. On Google maps you can still see the curve of the former rail line heading into the water on the south side — it’s lined with houseboats — just beyond where the old tracks end as they come out of Interbay from under the Ballard Bridge. Do you have any images or information about this?
Hope you’re well after all this time…
-Matt the Journeyman