Seattle Now & Then: The Jules Maes Saloon, 1936

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THEN1: The brick building at 5919 Airport Way S. was erected in 1898 and operated as a restaurant, grocery and hardware store until 1936, when this King County tax photo was taken. (Courtesy Puget Sound Regional Branch, Wash. State Archives)
NOW1: Kevin Finney (green T-shirt), artistic director of Drunken Owl Theatre, surrounds himself with cast members after a recent summer production. Plays submitted for the Sept. 16-17 Jules Maes-themed performances must include three prompts: Jules Maes as central character, the words “the oldest bar in Seattle” and the saloon’s original serving tray. (Jean Sherrard)

Published in The Seattle Times online on Sept. 7, 2023
and in PacificNW Magazine of the printed Times on Sept. 10, 2023

Sudsy stories flow from a rowdy Georgetown saloon
By Jean Sherrard

Belgian-born Jules Maes (1867-1939), whose namesake saloon we feature this week, arrived in rambunctious Georgetown in the early 1900s and felt right at home.

Then unincorporated, Georgetown could claim a slightly longer history than Seattle, its northern neighbor. Homesteaders Henry Van Asselt, Jacob Maple and Luther Collins and their families had settled along the next-door banks of the winding Duwamish River on Sept. 16, 1851, almost two months before the Denny Party arrived at Alki Point.

Within 50 years, the settlers’ farmland transformed into a one-company town, housing the Seattle Brewing & Malting Company, largest brewery west of the Mississippi, whose famed Rainier Beer was wildly popular throughout the country.

Hundreds of brewery workers, including many recent immigrants, lived in nearby company-owned houses. In contrast to strait-laced Seattle, where suds stopped flowing at 2 a.m. and never on Sundays, Georgetown’s unregulated taverns, eateries and roadhouses were open round-the-clock, serving laborers the hoppy product of their labors. Visiting rowdies looking for trouble often found it here.

THEN2: A turn-of-the-20th-century portrait of handlebar-mustachioed Jules Maes in his prime. (Courtesy Rache Purcell)

Confident, shrewd and tenacious, Maes (pronounced MAZE) thrived in the lawless town, first as a scrappy bartender. Soon he took over the notorious Maple Leaf Saloon (one of several he managed) described in the Seattle Times as “one of the toughest dives in King County.” Gunplay and knife fights were common.

While reputedly generous to a fault, Maes was no saint, repeatedly facing arrest and fines for running illegal gambling operations and slot machines. Following Washington state’s early adoption of Prohibition in 1916, he often was charged with selling spiked “soft drinks” and ciders from his former taverns.

After repeal of Prohibition in 1933, Maes promptly resumed selling beer to loyal customers who christened him Georgetown’s unofficial mayor. Noted for his largess, he helped relieve Depression hard times with rarely repaid loans. In 1936, he opened the Jules Maes Saloon at 5919 Airport Way S., slyly backdating its founding to 1888.

The enigmatic chameleon begs a question: Was he a community pillar or lovable rogue? Modern-day Robin Hood or scheming Soapy Smith?

NOW2: Drunken Owl Theatre’s house band members (from left) Kevin Finney, Phil Kelley, Brett Sindelar, Jerry Stein and David Sorey offer a musical segue during a show in July. (Jean Sherrard)

Enter West Seattle impresario Kevin Finney, who will probe this mystery in a program of drama and song. His Drunken Owl Theatre operates on a shoestring while mounting exuberant variety shows in the Jules Maes Saloon’s tiny performance space, where earlier patrons once played backroom poker.

NOW3: Actors Peter Murray and Kirsten McCory perform a one-act comedy in July. (Jean Sherrard)

The troupe’s Sept. 16-17, 2023, performances will feature original plays, poetry and musical interludes playfully examining the life and times of Jules Maes, who reportedly never let truth get in the way of a good story. For more info and reservations, visit DrunkenOwlTheatre.org.

WEB EXTRAS

For our on-site video 360, recorded in July, click here.

To see Clay Eals’ video of T.J. O’Brien, grand-nephew of Jules Maes, recalling family stories about his great uncle before the June 24, 2023, Drunken Owl audience, along with other videotaped segments from that show, visit the YouTube links below.

And scroll down further for more photos by Jean of the Drunken Owl Theatre in performance in July.

 

Here are more photos by Jean of the Drunken Owl Theater in performance in July:

 

Seattle Now & Then: The Glory of the Seas, 1908

THEN: Taken for the Seattle Times on Sept. 30, 1908, this portrait of “the Boneyard” at Eagle Harbor features a line of classic sailing ships. Glory of the Seas is second from the left. On it, Capt. Henry Gillespie made several long voyages, including one to Callao, Peru, before the ship’s owners converted the classic windjammer into a barge. It was eventually burned off West Seattle at Fauntleroy in 1923. (Courtesy Puget Sound Maritime Historical Society)
NOW; On the beach below Rose Loop Northeast at Bainbridge Island’s Eagle Harbor, Michael Jay Mjelde holds a copy of his book “From Whaler to Clipper Ship.” Over his shoulder can be seen “the boneyard,” still used by Washington State Ferries to anchor mothballed ferries. (Jean Sherrard)

Published in The Seattle Times online on August 31, 2023
and in PacificNW Magazine of the printed Times on Sept. 3, 2023

A rehabilitated ‘brute’ finds respect via a celebrated windjammer
By Jean Sherrard

The city of Troy. King Tut’s tomb. Sunken Spanish Armada gold.

The efforts of historians and explorers compelled to discover lost treasures are the stuff of legend — as well as popular film and fiction.

For Bremerton-born Michael Jay Mjelde, a passionate maritime quest began at age 17. That’s when he stumbled upon a yellowing periodical recounting the intentional burning of Glory of the Seas, a legendary windjammer just off the shore of West Seattle at Fauntleroy one century ago. The story of that immolation fueled his lifetime of research and writing.

The majestic 1869 clipper ship, constructed by renowned Boston shipbuilder Donald McKay, spanned an impressive 300 feet. Celebrated for its size, speed and beauty, it served faithfully for 40 years, hauling cargo across the world’s oceans under multiple masters.

One figure stood out in its eventful history: Henry Gillespie, the last captain to helm the ship during its final voyage as an American flag vessel.

The only known portrait of Henry Gillespie, from his US passport. (Courtesy Michael Mjelde)

In 1874, Gillespie (also at age 17) ran away to sea, bluffing his way aboard a New Bedford, Mass., whaler with false claims of experience. When the truth emerged, he faced relentless bullying and beatings from the crew, leading him to desert the ship the first time it reached port.

The big, burly youth had learned a rough-and-tumble lesson aboard the whaler. “A product of brutal times,” Mjelde says, “he became a brute.” But what most intrigued the longtime writer, editorial board member and former editor of The Sea Chest, journal of the Puget Sound Maritime Historical Society, was the story of Gillespie’s gradual evolution to civility.

Mjelde’s meticulously researched, 456-page biography, “From Whaler to Clipper Ship” (Texas A&M University Press) details the seafarer’s career straddling decades of technological change, from wooden sailing ships to propeller-driven, steel-hulled schooners.

With wide-ranging primary sources, Mjelde charts Gillespie’s transformation “from a profane, brutal and sadistic chief mate [who used] belaying pins to enforce discipline … to a highly respected shipmaster fully suited to command.”

Mjelde credits much of Gillespie’s rehabilitation to his wife, Catherine, a Liverpool-born milliner “who helped him change his violent ways.” Within three years of their marriage, the reformed sailor was appointed to his first captaincy in 1895.

His three-year tenure (1906-09) with Glory of the Seas, then consigned to “the boneyard” of Bainbridge Island’s Eagle Harbor, proved bittersweet. Despite the ship’s continued seaworthiness, it was converted to a barge then burned for scrap metal.

A painting by artist Mark Myers of Glory of the Seas in its prime under full sail. (Courtesy Michael Mjelde)

Undaunted, Gillespie became captain of a U.S. Navy tanker during World War I. The helmsman made repeated trips across the Atlantic through submarine-infested waters. Eat your heart out, Indiana Jones.

WEB EXTRAS

To see our 360 degree video of the Eagle Harbor boneyard site, please click here.

Seattle Now & Then: Landmarked bank on Denny Way, 1950

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From the cover sleeve of the First Bank radio spot. (Courtesy Gavin MacDougall)
Click the red promotional record above to hear a one-minute radio commercial, “Another Nice Thing,” prepared by First Bank, which is how Seattle-First National Bank branded itself in 1975-1977. (Gavin MacDougall)
Lyrics to “Another Nice Thing,” from the cover sleeve of the First Bank radio spot. (Courtesy Gavin MacDougall)
From the cover sleeve of the First Bank radio spot. (Courtesy Gavin MacDougall)
A BONUS!

This column installment begins below, But first a delightful bonus above. Here we present a one-minute radio commercial for First Bank, which is how Seattle-First National Bank branded itself from 1975 to 1977. Click the red promotional record below to hear the commercial, titled “Another Nice Thing.” Next to the record are images from its sleeve. Enjoy!

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THEN1: This view looks northwest from Sixth Avenue across Denny Way at the new Seattle-First National Bank branch on Oct. 10, 1950. At right, the top of its identifying pillar is barely visible. (Courtesy Puget Sound Regional Branch, Washington State Archives)
NOW1: The Space Needle peeks above cars and walkers breezing by the former bank building at 566 Denny Way, converted in 2009 to a Walgreens. In its windows, the pharmacy chain displays a history-based slogan: “Happy and healthy since 1901.” Heritage advocates note that the building is one of about 450 official Seattle landmarks, representing just 0.5% of all city parcels. (Clay Eals)

Published in The Seattle Times online on Aug. 24, 2023
and in PacificNW Magazine of the printed Times on Aug. 27, 2023

A former bank on Denny Way, but not its site,
retains its status as a Seattle landmark
By Clay Eals

Can a Seattle landmark lose its protection? If can if the Seattle City Council overrules its Landmarks Preservation Board.

In the 50-year history of the city’s landmark program, the council rarely has approved such a reversal. But it almost did so last January, before a compromise saved a building but not most of its surrounding site.

The site, at 566 Denny Way, is known mostly for its notable neighbors: the Space Needle, the Monorail, the KOMO-TV complex, the Chief Seattle statue, Denny Park (the city’s first), the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and the gaggle of South Lake Union mid- and high-rises informally known as Amazonia.

THEN1B: This 1950 image looks northwest from Sixth Avenue across Denny Way at the new Seattle-First National Bank branch. (Construction News Bulletin, 1950)

Since 2009, the site has operated as a Walgreens, but it took shape in 1950 as a Seattle-First National Bank branch, among the firm’s “customer-friendly” banks built after World War II.

THEN2: A promotional postcard from 1950 touts the modern aspects of the then-new Denny branch of Seattle-First National Bank. The firm later became subsumed within Bank of America. (Washington Department of Archaeology & Historic preservation)

The building — with its gently concave roof, stone logo plaques and brick-faced and limestone entries, augmented by a curved drive-through lane, parking lot and prominent identifying brick pillar — embodied design known today as Mid-Century Modern. It also brought stature north of downtown to a district of wood-frame houses leveled in 1928-30 during the final phase of the hill-sluicing Denny Regrade project.

Today, it bears unfortunate earmarks of decline: persistent graffiti and a closed front entrance to deter theft. But in 2006, the Landmarks Preservation Board designated the building exterior and site a landmark for its design, architects (Lister Holmes, John Maloney) and contribution to neighborhood identity.

Last year, the building and site faced the final step in the landmark process. Specific controls agreed to by Walgreens and the landmarks board and staff headed to the City Council, which routinely OKs such negotiated agreements. Not this time, however.

Backed by urbanist housing advocates, a council committee voted 4-0 on Dec. 9 against landmark controls for the building and site. Led by chair Tammy Morales, committee members said preserving a one-floor, auto-centric building and parking lot in a dense neighborhood “doesn’t make sense” amid a citywide housing crisis.

NOW2: The site’s identifying pillar dominates this south-facing view of the former bank’s backside, which provides the only customer entrance to this Walgreens, given closure of its front doors. The pillar, drive-through and parking lot are now unprotected by recently enacted landmark controls. (Clay Eals)

Heritage advocates disagreed. They also said the committee vote threatened the landmark board’s autonomy and expertise.

Their lobbying produced a compromise: On Jan. 10, the full council voted 9-0 to protect the ex-bank building but open most of the rest of the site to development. No plan to develop the site has surfaced.

The debate spotlighted the council’s desire to foster affordable housing despite its inability to compel property owners to build it. In addition, it addressed transfers of development rights, and it refocused attention on which landmarks are worth saving, especially those that express the city’s more recent history of change.

Discussion surely will continue.

A wider view of the site, with the Space Needle and other buildings looming nearby. (Clay Eals)
The back of the 1950 promotional postcard illustrates the then-new Denny branch of Seattle-First National Bank. The firm later became subsumed within Bank of America. (Washington Department of Archaeology & Historic Preservation)

WEB EXTRAS

Thanks to Michael Houser, Michael Herschensohn, Leanne Olson, Tom Rasmussen, Nick Licata, Deb Barker, Kathy Blackwell, Karen Gordon, Erin Doherty, Midori Okazaki and especially Eugenia Woo for their invaluable help with this installment!

To see Clay Eals‘ 360-degree video of the “Now” prospect and compare it with the “Then” photos, and to hear this column read aloud by Clay, check out our Seattle Now & Then 360 version of the column.

Below are 4 landmark-related documents  and, in chronological order, 33 historical clips (including 11 clips that detail how Seattle’s landmark ordinance came to be in 1972-1974) from The Seattle Times and Seattle Post-Intelligencer online archive (available via Seattle Public Library) and Washington Digital Newspapers, that were helpful in the preparation of this column.

Click the above image to download a pdf of the full Sept. 12, 2006, landmark nomination for the bank building, including many photos.
Click the above image to download a pdf of the full Seattle Landmarks Preservation Board landmark designation for the former bank building and site.
Click the above image to download the Dec. 7, 2022, letter by Historic Seattle addressing the former bank building and site.
Click the above image to see the Jan. 3, 2023, testimony of Seattle architectural historian Susan Boyle on the former bank building and site.
Oct. 24, 1903, Seattle Post-Intelligencer, p24.
June 7, 1904, Seattle Post-Intelligencer, p6.
Oct. 24, 1904, Seattle Times, p3.
Oct. 28, 1904, Seattle Times, p4.
May 7, 1915, Seattle Post-Intelligencer, p9.
May 7, 1915, Seattle Times, p16.
Jan. 29, 1916, Seattle Post-Intelligencer, p14.
Feb. 27, 1916, Seattle Times, p61.
Feb. 4, 1917, Seattle Times, p60.
July 13, 1917, Seattle Times, p28.
March 21, 1918, Seattle Post-Intelligencer, p8.

 

March 31, 1918, Seattle Post-Intelligencer, p8.
June 24, 1918, Seattle Post-Intelligencer, p10.
Aug. 5, 1918, Seattle Times, p13.
March 31, 1951, Seattle Post-Intelligencer, p2.
Aug. 18, 1953, Seattle Post-Intelligencer, p8.
Jan. 6, 1961, Seattle Times, p38.
April 8, 1962, Seattle Times, p333.
June 25, 1972, Seattle Times, p103.
Sept. 28, 1972, Seattle Times, p8.
Nov. 26, 1972, Seattle Times, p38.
Dec. 3, 1972, Seattle Times, p56.
Jan. 11, 1973, Seattle Times, p15.
Feb. 1, 1973, Seattle Times, p19.
March 30, 1973, Seattle Post-Intelligencer, p20.
March 31, 1973, Seattle Post-Intelligencer, p21.
March 31, 1973, Seattle Times, p15.
April 12, 1973, Seattle Times, p15.
May 30, 1973, Seattle Post-Intelligencer, p26.
Feb. 27, 1974, Seattle Post-Intelligencer, p47.
Aug. 4, 1999, Seattle Post-Intelligencer, p21.
Dec. 8, 2000, Seattle Post-Intelligencer, p1.
Dec. 8, 2000, Seattle Post-Intelligencer, p18.

Seattle Now & Then: London’s oldest photo, 1839

THEN: An 1839 daguerreotype featuring the bronze equestrian statue of Charles I, the only English king charged with and executed for treason. Furthest in the line of buildings stands the Banqueting House, completed by Inigo Jones in 1621.
NOW1: Derry-Anne Hammond, expert London Blue Badge guide, stands below the king’s statue, holding a copy of one of London’s first photos. Many Whitehall buildings were replaced or restored after World War II, but the Banqueting House remains. The Elizabeth Tower, aka Big Ben, completed in 1859, can be seen in the distance. (Jean Sherrard)

Published in The Seattle Times online on August 20, 2023
and in PacificNW Magazine of the printed Times on August 17, 2023

Civil war and a king’s execution come alive in early London photo
By Jean Sherrard

Intrigued by an extraordinary portrait of 19th century London, I joined this summer’s post-pandemic hordes and ventured to the historic spot to attempt a repeat.

Within a year of Louis Daguerre’s groundbreaking first photo of a cityscape (in Paris, 1838), the French government acquired the rights to his daguerreotype process and magnanimously offered it “free to the world” on Aug. 17, 1839. Just days later, this week’s “Then” photo was captured. It’s the earliest extant image of London, within the first two years of Queen Victoria’s reign.

A French photographer identified only as M. De St-Croix offered Londoners a public demonstration of the new technology. Positioning his bulky box camera at Charing Cross, a conjunction of six thoroughfares just south of today’s Trafalgar Square, he exposed a silver-coated copper plate for several minutes.

A view looking north to Trafalgar Square from Charing Cross, the geographical heart of London. Lord Nelson atop his column looks down on the mounted King Charles I.

The resulting daguerreotype captured an equestrian statue of Charles I (1600-1649) framed by buildings lining Whitehall, several of which fell victim to the London Blitz of 1940-41.

Nearly 184 years later, Derry-Anne Hammond, a London Blue Badge Tourist Guide, met me beneath the king’s statue — the oldest bronze in London — to provide historical context.

Cast in 1633 by French sculptor Hubert Le Sueur, the bronze was designed to massage Charles’ ego, elevating his short stature atop an imposing war horse. But his reign soon was overshadowed by civil war between supportive royalists and Oliver Cromwell’s “roundheads,” also known as puritans.

“Charles I very much believed in the divine right of kings, and when Parliament disagreed, he shut them down,” Hammond said. “Then things went a bit awry.”

After years of confrontation, a frustrated Parliament accused the obstinate king of treason and sentenced him to death. He is the only English king ever so charged. On Jan. 30, 1649, at Whitehall’s Banqueting House, the king mounted a scaffold below a second-floor balcony.

A commemorative plaque of King Charles I is affixed to an exterior wall of the Banqueting House, site of his 1649 execution.

“Thousands of spectators waited on the street below,” Hammond said, “hoping his blood would spatter onto their handkerchiefs to keep as a macabre memento.” However, the anonymous executioner removed Charles’ head with a single, spatter-free blow.

For the next nine years, Oliver Cromwell ruled Britain as “lord protector,” replacing the monarchy with the Commonwealth of England until his death in 1658. By 1660, the royal line was restored with the accession of Charles II, who installed his father’s equestrian statue at its Charing Cross location. The statue faces in the direction of the still-standing Banqueting House, site of Charles I’s execution.

Banqueting House, created by Inigo Jones for James I, father of Charles I. It opened in 1622,.

In the shadow of De St-Croix, attempting to repeat his time-ravaged daguerreotype, I could just make out these echoes of history, muddled by light and shadow, lingering right beneath the surface.

Looking across a nearly empty Trafalgar Square towards the equestrian statue of Charles I.

 

Seattle Now & Then: Grateful Dead, 1974, UC Santa Barbara

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THEN1: Backed by a “wall of sound,” singer-guitarists Jerry Garcia (left) and Bob Weir with the rest of the Grateful Dead perform May 25, 1974, at Campus Stadium of the University of California, Santa Barbara. (Steve Schneider)
NOW1: Bathed in colors and a “gorge-ous” backdrop, The Dead & Company performs July 7 at The Gorge Amphitheatre. At center is longtime band member Bob Weir. (Steve Schneider)

Published in The Seattle Times online on Aug. 10, 2023
and in PacificNW Magazine of the printed Times on Aug. 13, 2023

Photographer grateful his images can ‘hit the moment in time’
By Clay Eals

You grow up an ordinary guy on the outskirts of Los Angeles. You’re not great at academics, but in the late 1960s you pick up a camera and shoot for the high-school newspaper and yearbook. Later, you work at McDonalds and a Ford plant. You deliver sailboats around the country. In 1979, you move north, bouncing from Granite Falls to Green Lake to the Alaska town of Valdez and, finally, to Shoreline.

NOW2: Photographer Steve Schneider at West Seattle’s Husky Deli. (Clay Eals)

All the while, you immerse yourself in enormous concerts by the biggest names in rock, blues, country and folk, your camera a constant companion. Over more than 50 years, you amass a rare archive.

You’re Steve Schneider, whose musically panoramic imagery fills “The First Three Songs: Rock & Roll at 125th of a Second,” a 220-page coffee-table compendium whose title alludes to the brief time at the opening of shows when promoters typically let photojournalists work up close. The tome bolsters Schneider’s uncomplicated mantra: “It’s always been about excitement, about fun. I just want to get the shot.”

NOW3: The cover of Steve Schneider’s book “The First Three Songs.” He held a book-signing Aug. 17, 2023, at Easy Street Records in West Seattle. More info: SteveSchneiderPhoto.net. (Courtesy Steve Schneider)

The 71-year-old has earned day-job pay from documenting conventions of professional associations and occasional journalistic assignments (UPI had him shoot a 1984 Seattle campaign visit by Democratic VP candidate Geraldine Ferraro, see below). But nights and weekends are a different story.

A happy book-buyer chats with Steve Schneider and Cathy Floit at Steve’s signing event Aug. 17, 2023, at Easy Street Records in West Seattle. (Clay Eals)

His “Who’s Who” concert subjects range from CSNY to Pearl Jam, Dylan to Cobain, Bonnie Raitt to Carlos Santana, Willie Nelson to Paul Simon, to McCartney, Clapton, Jagger, Springsteen, Bowie and, yes, the Who. Whew!

Schneider’s most enduring focus, however, has been the trippy Grateful Dead, known for its freeform shows and faithful “Deadheads.” He has seen at least 100 Dead concerts. More than 20 appear in the book.

THEN2: Jerry Garcia plays at the Dead’s last Seattle concert on May 25, 1995, at Memorial Stadium. After Garcia died at 53 on Aug. 9, 1995, this portrait appeared full-page one week later in a Time magazine tribute. (Steve Schneider)

His Dead shots began with a May 25, 1974, gig at UC Santa Barbara featuring then-beardless leader Jerry Garcia. Exactly 21 years later, Schneider captured a greying Garcia at his last Seattle concert, at Memorial Stadium. Garcia died 76 days later at age 53, and Schneider’s portrait filled a page in Time magazine’s tribute.

The band persisted in various forms, most recently as The Dead & Company, which disbanded in July. Its fourth- and fifth-to-last shows were at The Gorge Amphitheatre. Schneider was there, part of “the family.”

For the Dead, and all of Schneider’s star subjects, the most compelling factor has been the music itself. “It once was all new,” he says. “The songs hit the moment in time. Today you enjoy the song, and it brings back good memories. I just preserve a bit of history, that moment in time that I saw.”

You might say it’s what keeps his Dead soul alive.

THEN3: Carlos Santana performs Sept. 9, 1995, at The Gorge Amphitheatre. (Steve Schneider)
THEN4:: Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young (from left: Stephen Stills, David Crosby, Graham Nash and Neil Young) perform July 16, 1974, at Arizona’s Tempe Stadium. (Steve Schneider)
THEN5:: Emmylou Harris performs April 23, 1977, at Irvine Bowl, Laguna Beach, California. (Steve Schneider)
THEN6: Robert Cray performs Nov. 12, 2019, at the Edmonds Center for the Arts. (Steve Schneider)

WEB EXTRAS

Thanks to Steve Schneider for his invaluable help with this installment!

Below are 26 additional photos (not enlargeable here)  and, in chronological order, 10 historical clips from The Seattle Times and Seattle Post-Intelligencer online archive (available via Seattle Public Library) and Washington Digital Newspapers, that were helpful in the preparation of this column.

Backed by a “wall of sound,” singer-guitarists Jerry Garcia (left) and Bob Weir with the rest of the Grateful Dead perform May 25, 1974, at Campus Stadium of the University of California, Santa Barbara. (© Steve Schneider)
May 25, 1995, Grateful Dead, Memorial Stadium, Seattle. (© Steve Schneider)
May 25, 1995, Grateful Dead, Memorial Stadium, Seattle. (© Steve Schneider)
May 25, 1995, Grateful Dead, Memorial Stadium, Seattle. (© Steve Schneider)
June 18, 1994, Grateful Dead, Autzen Stadium, Eugene. (© Steve Schneider)
June 18, 1994, Grateful Dead, Autzen Stadium, Eugene. (© Steve Schneider)
June 13, 1994, Grateful Dead, Memorial Stadium, Seattle. (© Steve Schneider)
June 13, 1994, Grateful Dead, Memorial Stadium, Seattle. (© Steve Schneider)
June 13, 1994, Grateful Dead, Memorial Stadium, Seattle. (© Steve Schneider)
June 13, 1994, Grateful Dead, Memorial Stadium, Seattle. (© Steve Schneider)
The Dead & Company perform July 7, 2023, at the Gorge, WA. (© Steve Schneider)
The Dead & Company perform July 7, 2023, at the Gorge, WA. (© Steve Schneider)
The Dead & Company perform July 7, 2023, at the Gorge, WA. (© Steve Schneider)
The Dead & Company perform July 7, 2023, at the Gorge, WA. (© Steve Schneider)
The Dead & Company perform July 7, 2023, at the Gorge, WA. (© Steve Schneider)
The Dead & Company perform July 7, 2023, at the Gorge, WA. (© Steve Schneider)
The Dead & Company perform July 7, 2023, at the Gorge, WA. (© Steve Schneider)
The Dead & Company perform July 7, 2023, at the Gorge, WA. (© Steve Schneider)
Bob Weir of The Dead & Company performs July 7, 2023, the Gorge, WA. (© Steve Schneider)
The Dead & Company perform July 7, 2023, at the Gorge, WA. (© Steve Schneider)
The Dead & Company perform July 7, 2023, at the Gorge, WA. (© Steve Schneider)
The Dead & Company perform July 7, 2023, at the Gorge, WA. (© Steve Schneider)
The Dead & Company perform July 7, 2023, at the Gorge, WA. (© Steve Schneider)
The Dead & Company perform July 7, 2023, at the Gorge, WA. (© Steve Schneider)
The Dead & Company perform July 7, 2023, at the Gorge, WA. (© Steve Schneider)
The Dead & Company perform July 7, 2023, at the Gorge, WA. (© Steve Schneider)
Nov. 1, 1981, Seattle Post-Intelligencer, p2, featuring Steve Schneider.
Oct. 18, Seattle Post-Intelligencer, p3, Steve Schneider photos.
May 1, 1987, Seattle Post-Intelligencer, p17, Steve Schneider photo.
April 5, 1994, Seattle Post-Intelligencer, p23.
April 29, 1994, Seattle Post-Intelligencer, p87.
June 14, 1994, Seattle Post-Intelligencer, p1.
June 14, 1994, Seattle Post-Intelligencer, p27.
June 14, 1994, Seattle Post-Intelligencer, p29.
May 25, 1995, Seattle Post-Intelligencer, p35.
May 26, 1995, Seattle Post-Intelligencer, p34.
Aug. 21, 1995, Time magazine, p60-61, Steve Schneider photo p61.

 

 

Seattle Now & Then: the fireboat Duwamish 1910

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THEN1: The fireboat Duwamish anchors at the downtown waterfront in 1910. It could pump 9,000 gallons of water a minute at 200-pound pressure. Reflecting the era of wooden craft, it was built with a “ram” bow capable of sinking blazing vessels. Ships later were constructed of steel, so when the Duwamish was dieselized in 1949, its bow was refashioned. (F.H. Noell postcard, courtesy Bob Carney)
NOW1: As volunteer Bob Carney and mom Devon Lawrence observe, fireboat Duwamish caretaker Steve Walker helps Owen Lawrence, 2, of Seattle, adjust a disabled water cannon aboard the fireboat on a June visit. The fireboat will display a diorama during the Aug. 19-24 Seattle Design Festival. (Clay Eals)

Published in The Seattle Times online on Aug. 3, 2023
and in PacificNW Magazine of the printed Times on Aug. 6, 2023

Water cannons evoke big blazes fought by fireboat Duwamish
By Clay Eals

Wildfires often command today’s attention. But how’s this for a different kind of wild?

THEN2: The fireboat Duwamish, lower right, fights futilely to save the Grand Trunk Pacific Dock, north of Colman Dock, on July 30, 1914. At upper left is the Smith Tower, from which many watched the blaze. The tower had opened earlier that month on Independence Day. Colman Dock, built in 1882 and rebuilt after 1889’s Great Seattle Fire, is above the Duwamish at right. (Courtesy Bob Carney)

Early on May 20, 1910, at the foot of Vine Street along Elliott Bay, a kettle of melted asphalt sprang a leak, mushrooming into a “blazing pile of more than 100 tons of inflammable asphalt” and producing “the thickest smoke that ever rolled up from a city,” reported The Seattle Times.

THEN3: The fireboat Duwamish, shown circa 1920, could pump 9,000 gallons of water a minute at 200-pound pressure. Reflecting the era of wooden craft, it was built with a “ram” bow capable of sinking blazing vessels. Ships later were constructed of steel, so when the Duwamish was dieselized in 1949, its bow was refashioned. (Courtesy Bob Carney)

The fire destroyed Independent Asphalt Co. and damaged Occidental Fish Company nearby but could have been catastrophic for the waterfront if not for gushers from “the highest powered fireboat in existence,” the Duwamish. Thousands of tons of water — shot from the vessel’s cannons for more than an hour, aided by two land-based engines along Railroad Avenue (now Alaskan Way) — doused the flames.

Eyewitnesses said the sight of “streams from the fireboat playing across her bow was the prettiest firefighting spectacle ever witnessed in this city.”

THEN4: In 1949, when the Duwamish (misspelled here) converted to diesel-electric from steam, its pump capacity jumped to 22,800 gallons per minute, making it the world’s most powerful fireboat at the time. (Ellis postcard, courtesy Bob Carney)

The inferno came 10 months after the launch of the steam-driven Duwamish, named for the city’s Native American tribe and only river. The fireboat fought decades of water-proximate fires, many with dramatic smoke plumes from both the conflagrations and the fireboat’s aging steam engine. Dieselized in 1949 and retired in 1984, the Duwamish endures as a city and national landmark at South Lake Union.

Seattle’s first fireboat — and the first one on North America’s west coast — was the Snoqualmie, launched in 1891. Sold in 1932, it became a freighter in Alaska, where it burned in 1974. The city’s third fireboat, the Alki, launched in 1927, lingered for decades at Lake Union and recently was scrapped. Thus, the in-between Duwamish is the sole old-time survivor.

NOW3: Steve Walker (left), Duwamish caretaker for the past 10 years, and volunteer Bob Carney chat aboard the fireboat. (Clay Eals)

West Seattle’s Bob Carney, a retired electrical-parts salesman who first toured the Duwamish at age 8 in 1968, could be its biggest historian and fan. He is rivaled only by Beacon Hill’s Steve Walker, who traces his maritime affection to “The Sand Pebbles” (1966) starring namesake Steve McQueen, “the king of cool,” as a military steamship engineer.

Walker, a state ferry retiree, helms the Duwamish, moored permanently at the Historic Ships Wharf next to the Museum of History & Industry. He and Carney lead Sunday tours, spouting gentle cannons of marine lore for visitors.

NOW2: James Lawrence, 5, of San Francisco, aims a disabled Duwamish water cannon on a June visit. (Clay Eals)

Today’s four operating Seattle fireboats are the Chief Seattle (launched in 1984), the Leschi (2007), Fire One (2006) and Fire Two (2014). During summer festivals, their pumps propel a sizeable spray. But the most inspired show emerges from the deck of the Duwamish where, for a few gripping moments at its disabled water cannons, anyone can imagine being a waterborne hero.

THEN5: In front of the Seattle skyline in 1959, the fireboat Duwamish struts its spray. The newly built, white-colored Washington Building stands at center right, while the Seattle Tower (1929) is at far right. (Courtesy Bob Carney)
THEN6: On July 4, 1976, the fireboat Duwamish spouts red, white and blue spray for the nation’s Bicentennial. The Duwamish later was featured in an episode of the TV series “Emergency.” (Courtesy Last Resort Fire Department)
An identifying sign adorns the red center stack of the fireboat Duwamish. (Clay Eals)
During a June visit, 4-year-old Ryan Tong, maneuvers one of the disabled water cannons on the fireboat Duwamish. The Museum of History & Industry stands to the south. (Clay Eals)
During a June visit, 4-year-old Ryan Tong and his dad Xin circle the wheelhouse of the fireboat Duwamish. The Museum of History & Industry stands to the south. (Clay Eals)
NOW4: Visitor Tom Smith of Seattle examines an artist’s rendering of the inner workings of the Duwamish. (Clay Eals)
NOW5: Taken from the neighboring vessel Tordenskjold, this is a panoramic, west-facing view of the 1909 fireboat Duwamish, moored permanently at Northwest Seaport’s Historic Ships Wharf at the south end of Lake Union. The Duwamish also partners with the Museum of History & Industry, the Duwamish Tribe and the Maritime Washington National Historic Area. More info: FireboatDuwamish.com. (Clay Eals)

WEB EXTRAS

Thanks to Molly Michel, Seattle Design Festival; David Cueropo, Seattle Fire Department; Xin Tong, Kristin Wong, Tom Liu, Devon Lawrence, Tom Smith and especially Bob Carney and Steve Walker for their invaluable help with this installment!

To see Clay Eals‘ 360-degree video of the “Now” prospect and compare it with the “Then” photos, and to hear this column read aloud by Clay, check out our Seattle Now & Then 360 version of the column.

Below are a video interview of Steve Walker, a historical timeline and fact sheet by Bob Carney, 38 additional photos  and, in chronological order, 6 historical clips from The Seattle Times and Seattle Post-Intelligencer online archive (available via Seattle Public Library) and Washington Digital Newspapers, that were helpful in the preparation of this column.

Click the document above to view a pdf of a timeline of history and statistics about the fireboat Duwamish prepared by Bob Carney. (Courtesy Bob Carney)
1968, fireboat Duwamish at Todd Shipyard dock fire. (Courtesy Bob Carney)
Sept. 17, 1973, fireboat Duwamish demonstrates its water cannons. (Jerry Gay, Seattle Times, courtesy Bob Carney)
May 22, 1970, Seattle Fire Chief Gordon Vickery (rear center) with 14 maritime contestants and their sponsors. (Courtesy Bob Carney)
May 10, 1969, restrauteur Ivar Haglund and Seattle Fire Chief Gordon Vickery with fireboat Duwamish model, 10 feet long, built on scale of one inch to one foot. Taken at station #5, foot of Madison Street. (Courtesy Bob Carney)
1968, fireboat Duwamish at Todd Shipyard dock fire. (Courtesy Bob Carney)
Feb. 7, 1956, fireboat Duwamish. (Seattle Municipal Archives, courtesy Bob Carney)
Pre-1949, fireboard Duwamish sepia postcard. (Courtesy Bob Carney)
Post-1949, fireboat Duwamish wheelhouse. (Courtesy Bob Carney)
Post-1949, fireboat Duwamish fights fire near Ballard Bridge. (Courtesy Bob Carney)
Post-1949, fireboat Duwamish in Elliott Bay. (Courtesy Bob Carney)
Post-1949, fireboat Duwamish, spray color postcard. (Noell & Rognon, courtesy Bob Carney)
Post-1949, fireboat Duwamish at Pier 54. (Courtesy Bob Carney)
1949, fireboat Duwamish being converted to diesel. (Duwamish collection, courtesy Bob Carney)
1949, fireboat Duwamish being converted to diesel. (Duwamish collection, courtesy Bob Carney)
1948, fireboat Duwamish at station #5, foot of Madison Street. (Courtesy Bob Carney)
1947 or 1948, fireboat Duwamish at station #5 prior to diesel conversion. (Bob Carney collection)
Between April 1, 1943, and Sept. 30, 1945, fireboat Duwamish, under Coast Guard command. (Wikipedia Commons, courtesy Bob Carney)
1930s, fireboat Duwamish, view of stern. (Courtesy Bob Carney)
1930s, fireboat Duwamish at station #40, foot of Charles St. (Bob Carney collection)
1920, fireboat Duwamish near Pier 5. (Courtesy Bob Carney)
Circa 1920, fireboat Duwamish at station #5, foot of Madison Street. (Courtesy Bob Carney)
Circa 1920, fireboat Duwamish in Elliott Bay (Bob Carney collection)
Circa 1920, fireboat Duwamish in Elliott Bay downtown. (Bob Carney collection)
Circa 1920, fireboat Duwamish at fuel dock. (Bob Carney collection)
Circa 1920, fireboat Duwamish at fuel dock. (Bob Carney collection)
Pre-1917, fireboat Duwamish. (Bob Carney collection)
Post-1917, fireboat Duwamish at station #5. The Reliance is at left (Bob Carney collection)
Post-1917, fireboat Duwamish at station #5. (Bob Carney collection)
July 30, 1914, fireboat Snoqualmie at Grand Trunk Pacific dock fire (Bob Carney collection)
July 30, 1914, fireboat Duwamish at Grand Trunk Pacific dock fire. (Paul Dorpat collection, courtesy Bob Carney)
March 17, 1912, fireboat Duwamish at station #5, Madison Street. (Courtesy Bob Carney)
Between 1911 and July 30, 1914, fireboat Duwamish, station #5 at Madison Street. (Paul Dorpat collection, courtesy Bob Carney)
1910, fireboat Duwamish at the downtown waterfront (Wikipedia Commons, courtesy Bob Carney)
1910, fireboats Duwamish and Snoqualmie, station #5, Madison Street, Grand Trunk pier under Construction (University of Washington Special Collections, courtesy Bob Carney)
1909, the fireboat Duwamish at Richmond Beach. (Windy City Photos, courtesy Bob Carney)
July 3, 1909, the fireboat Duwamish hull is launched at Richmond Beach. (Courtesy Bob Carney)
July 3, 1909, the fireboat Duwamish at Richmond Beach. (Courtesy Bob Carney)
June 28, 2023, the 2007 Seattle fireboat Leschi displays spray from its water cannons in Elliott Bay with downtown in the background. (Clay Eals)
May 18, 1909, Seattle Times, p9.
May 20, 1909, Seattle Times, p2.
July 2, 1909, Seattle Times, p11.
Oct. 27, 1909, Seattle Times, p16.
July 31, 1914, Seattle Times, p1.
July 31, 1914, Seattle Times, p3.

Seattle Now & Then: Woodland Park Zoo Locomotive #1246, 1953

(Click and click again to enlarge photos)

THEN1: At 15 feet, 4 inches tall, Great Northern steam locomotive #1246 was a draw at Woodland Park Zoo for 27 years starting in 1953. A companion miniature train, not shown, served as a kiddie ride during the same era. This postcard view, taken prior to a needed, periodic repainting, is circa 1969. (Seattle Municipal Archives)
NOW1: Standing before Great Northern locomotive #1246 at Snoqualmie’s Northwest Railway Museum are (from left) Richard Anderson, executive director; Saxon Bisbee, collection care project manager; Emily Boersma, volunteer and program coordinator; Selena AllenShipman, visitor services assistant; Kiley Neil, visitor services and collections assistant; Kacy Hardin, retail and visitor services manager; Cole Van Gerpen, trustee; Cristy Lake, deputy director; and volunteers Steve Olson and Robert Stivers. The steamer arrived at the museum April 27. At rear is the museum’s restored Northern Pacific switcher locomotive #924. For more info, visit TrainMuseum.org. (Clay Eals)

Published in The Seattle Times online on July 27, 2023
and in PacificNW Magazine of the printed Times on July 30, 2023

An overdue return trip for railway workhorse and zoo touchstone
By Clay Eals

We at “Now & Then” usually take our “Now” photos at, or near, the same spot as the “Then” images, but this week, the spatial spread is greater. We’re talking 35 miles.

At least the locales are in King County, and you may abide the distant pairing because the fundamental function of our subject is to move people and things from one place to another.

THEN3 (online only): A Seattle Transfer Co. crew moves locomotive #1246 to Woodland Park Zoo prior to a July 18, 1953, dedication ceremony that drew 500 people and Koondi, a zoo chimp. (Walter Ainsworth Collection, Great Northern Railway Historical Society)

Those who lived here as children between 1953 and 1980 (or as adults with kid-like awe) likely recall with warmth and admiration, if not worship, the colorful locomotive #1246 that greeted visitors inside the south entrance of Woodland Park Zoo. The Great Northern Railway gifted the steamer to the city on the cusp of dieselizing its locomotive fleet.

THEN2: Locomotive #1246 rolls south across the Ballard railroad bridge circa 1940. (James Turner, Great Northern Railway Historical Society)

Built in 1907, it had what today would be called a “wow” factor. To fully appreciate the gleaming engine, more than 15 feet tall, you had to look way up. In person, it demanded honor and deference — more than could be conveyed by mere visual or verbal depiction.

Of course, #1246 possessed a mobile past that long predated its stationary role as a zoo touchstone. For decades, it toiled on rails from Portland to Vancouver, B.C., and over the Cascades to and from Wenatchee.

THEN4: Interpretive text on locomotive #1246 explains its historical significance. (Cordell Newby)

For a time during the locomotive’s zoo stint, a placard heralded #1246’s historic status as a consolidation-style engine, featuring two small pilot wheels followed by eight 55-inch-diameter drive wheels:

“They were slower and less spectacular than earlier, lighter types, but their initial (starting) tractive effort was superior, and they could start and pull longer trains. For more than 75 years, they were the workhorses of American railroads, and their performance in mountainous terrain played a significant part in the development of the west.”

NOW3: Richard Anderson, executive director, Northwest Railway Museum. (Clay Eals)

The narrative fits “The Railroad Changed Everything” tagline of Snoqualmie’s Northwest Railway Museum, which brought #1246 back to King County in late April after nearly 30 years of negotiations with owners in desert-like southern Oregon. Though looking “like it was pulled up from the bottom of a lake,” says Richard Anderson, executive director, it is reassuringly intact, complete with “grime and grease” from when it last operated 70 years ago.

Restoration will take years, but Anderson says #1246 already stands as a “massive and powerful” asset among the organization’s 75 rail vehicles. “You can walk right up to it and touch it,” he says, and the steam legacy adds “a sense of life.”

Eventually it will bolster an anticipated 35,000 square-foot addition to the museum’s current 24,000 square feet — just in time to awe the senses of a new generation of children.

NOW2: Cole Van Gerpen, who grew up in the Snoqualmie Valley, was a Northwest Railway Museum volunteer from age 8 to 15, then became a ticket agent and administrative assistant before joining the board as a trustee. Locomotive #1246 represents, for him, “very much an industry and a history behind American culture — and the culture of the world as a whole — that’s very human-driven more so than I think any other industrial or mechanical thing that we have.” (Clay Eals)

WEB EXTRAS

Thanks to Kevin Weiderstrom, Bob Kelly, Richard Anderson and Dan Kerlee for their invaluable help with this installment!

To see Clay Eals‘ 360-degree video of the “Now” prospect and compare it with the “Then” photos, and to hear this column read aloud by Clay, check out our Seattle Now & Then 360 version of the column.

Below are 34 additional photos  and, in chronological order, 31 historical clips from The Seattle Times and Seattle Post-Intelligencer online archive (available via Seattle Public Library) and Washington Digital Newspapers, that were helpful in the preparation of this column.

Locomotive #1246, working in Everett prior to 1953. (Courtesy Kevin Weiderstrom)
Locomotive #1246 in place at Woodland Park Zoo, 1953-1980. (Great Northern Railway Historical Society)
Locomotive #1246 in place at Woodland Park Zoo, 1953-1980. (Great Northern Railway Historical Society)
Locomotive #1246 in the process of being moved to Northwest Railway Museum in Snoqualmie. (Northwest Railway Museum)
Locomotive #1246 in the process of being moved to Northwest Railway Museum in Snoqualmie. (Northwest Railway Museum)
Locomotive #1246 in the process of being moved to Northwest Railway Museum in Snoqualmie. (Northwest Railway Museum)
Locomotive #1246 in the process of being moved to Northwest Railway Museum in Snoqualmie. (Northwest Railway Museum)
Locomotive #1246 in the process of being moved to Northwest Railway Museum in Snoqualmie. (Northwest Railway Museum)
Locomotive #1246 in the process of being moved to Northwest Railway Museum in Snoqualmie. (Northwest Railway Museum)
Locomotive #1246 in 1953, in Interbay prior to being moved to Woodland Park Zoo. (Great Northern Railway Historical Society)
Locomotive #1246 in 1953, in Interbay prior to being moved to Woodland Park Zoo. (Great Northern Railway Historical Society)
Locomotive #1246 in 1953, when it was moved to Woodland Park Zoo. (Great Northern Railway Historical Society)
Locomotive #1246 in 1953, when it was moved to Woodland Park Zoo. (Great Northern Railway Historical Society)
Locomotive #1246 in 1953, when it was moved to Woodland Park Zoo. (Great Northern Railway Historical Society)
Locomotive #1246 in 1953, when it was moved to Woodland Park Zoo. (Great Northern Railway Historical Society)
Locomotive #1246 in 1953, when it was moved to Woodland Park Zoo. (Great Northern Railway Historical Society)
Wreck of locomotive #1246 in Wenatchee, 1943 or 1947. (Courtesy Kevin Weiderstrom)
Wreck of locomotive #1246 in Wenatchee, 1943 or 1947. (Courtesy Kevin Weiderstrom)
Wreck of locomotive #1246 in Wenatchee, 1943 or 1947. (Courtesy Kevin Weiderstrom)
Wreck of locomotive #1246 in Wenatchee, 1943 or 1947. (Courtesy Kevin Weiderstrom)
Wreck of locomotive #1246 in Wenatchee, 1943 or 1947. (Courtesy Kevin Weiderstrom)
Wreck of locomotive #1246 in Wenatchee, 1943 or 1947. (Courtesy Kevin Weiderstrom)
Wreck of locomotive #1246 in Wenatchee, 1943 or 1947. (Courtesy Kevin Weiderstrom)
Wreck of locomotive #1246 in Wenatchee, 1943 or 1947. (Courtesy Kevin Weiderstrom)
Wreck of locomotive #1246 in Wenatchee, 1943 or 1947. (Courtesy Kevin Weiderstrom)
Wreck of locomotive #1246 in Wenatchee, 1943 or 1947. (Courtesy Kevin Weiderstrom)
Wreck of locomotive #1246 in Wenatchee, 1943 or 1947. (Courtesy Kevin Weiderstrom)
Wreck of locomotive #1246 in Wenatchee, 1943 or 1947. (Courtesy Kevin Weiderstrom)
Wreck of locomotive #1246 in Wenatchee, 1943 or 1947. (Courtesy Kevin Weiderstrom)
Wreck of locomotive #1246 in Wenatchee, 1943 or 1947. (Courtesy Kevin Weiderstrom)
Wreck of locomotive #1246 in Wenatchee, 1943 or 1947. (Courtesy Kevin Weiderstrom)
Wreck of locomotive #1246 in Wenatchee, 1943 or 1947. (Courtesy Kevin Weiderstrom)
Wreck of locomotive #1246 in Wenatchee, 1943 or 1947. (Courtesy Kevin Weiderstrom)
Wreck of locomotive #1246 in Wenatchee, 1943 or 1947. (Courtesy Kevin Weiderstrom)
March 8, 1943, Seattle Times, p5.
Oct. 21, 1947, Seattle Post-Intelligencer, p12.
May 1, 1953, Seattle Post-Intelligencer, p1.
May 1, 1953, Seattle Post-Intelligencer, p6.
May 14, 1953, Seattle Times, p25.
June 4, 1953, Seattle Post-Intelligencer, p6.
June 4, 1953, Seattle Times, p16.
June 17, 1953, Seattle Times, p31.
June 18, 1953, Seattle Post-Intelligencer, p9.
June 19, 1953, Seattle Post-Intelligencer, p26.
June 19, 1953, Seattle Times, p1.
June 20, 1953, Seattle Post-Intelligencer, p11.
June 23, 1953, Seattle Post-Intelligencer, p1.
June 24, 1953, Seattle Post-Intelligencer, p16.
July 15, 1953, Seattle Times, p42.
July 18, 1953, Seattle Post-Intelligencer, p4.
July 19, 1953, Seattle Post-Intelligencer, p1.
July 19, 1953, Seattle Post-Intelligencer, p29.
July 24, 1953, Seattle Post-Intelligencer, p3.
Sept. 19, 1955, Seattle Times, p6.
Nov. 8, 1959, Seattle Times, p156.
Nov. 8, 1959, Seattle Times, p157.
Sept. 24, 1967, Seattle Times, p46.
Oct. 1, 1967, Seattle Times, p3.
Oct. 1, 1967, Seattle Times, p4.
Oct. 14, 1970, Seattle Times, p14.
Jan. 2, 1980, Seattle Times, p13.
Jan. 7, 1980, Seattle Post-Intelligencer, p13.
March 13, 1980, Seattle Post-Intelligencer, p43.
June 26, 1980, Seattle Post-Intelligencer, p1.
Dec. 20, 1982, Seattle Times, p30.

Seattle Now & Then: Gas Works Park, 1910

(click to enlarge photos)

THEN1: Taken from northeast Queen Anne Hill, this 1910 view shows the coal gasification plant fully operational. Just behind it, across Portage Bay, stands the University of Washington, site of the previous year’s Alaska-Yukon-Pacific Exposition. Virgin timber on the horizon lines what are known today as the View Ridge and Hawthorne Hills neighborhoods.
NOW: On a balmy June evening, park visitors dot Kite Hill. The preserved cracking towers, sometimes called Seattle’s iron Stonehenge, are the sole survivors among what were more than 1,400 U.S. gasification plants.

Published in The Seattle Times online on July 20, 2023
and in PacificNW Magazine of the printed Times on July 23, 2023

Gas Works: a belching hellscape turns post-industrial paradise
By Jean Sherrard

There was a time when gas lighting had no ulterior motives. The steady golden flame was an assurance of illumination on demand and a promise of innovations to come.

When the Seattle Gas Lighting Company lit up 5 city streets and 42 private homes on New Year’s Eve 1873, the sound of corks popping must have been accompanied by sighs of envy from denizens of darker Seattle.

For the fortunate few early adopters, the first gas, converted from Eastside coal, was delivered through hollowed-out cedar logs.

The nascent utility of settlers Arthur Denny and Dexter Horton grew rapidly to match increased demand, supplying more than 1,200 customers by 1892. By then, gas increasingly provided both light and heat for home appliances.

Eastern investors further expanded the utility, moving its production facilities to Brown’s Point on north Lake Union in 1906. Coal gasification was an immensely filthy process, requiring vast quantities of water that the then-undeveloped 20-acre lakeside tract could accommodate.

Over the next 50 years, belching out smoke, flames and fumes while contaminating soil, groundwater and sediment, the plant was an unwelcome neighbor, even after converting to marginally cleaner oil gasification in 1937. Many Wallingford houses were built to avoid the hellish view of tower effluvia. Complaints about the facility poured in throughout its half-century tenure.

: Spewing smoke and flames is the Seattle Gas Lighting Company’s facility, in a dramatic nighttime photo from 1947. For gasping, soot-covered Wallingford, it was a nightmare.

Relief greeted the plant’s closure in 1956 when the Trans Mountain Gas Pipeline opened, bringing natural gas from Canada to Washington state. The utility, renamed Washington Natural Gas, left 20 noxious acres behind. Given the view location, however, calls soon mounted to convert it into a city park.

Enter noted landscape architect and University of Washington professor Richard Haag (1923-2018). His 1962 proposal for adaptive reuse was revolutionary — and initially controversial. Following cleanup of the polluted site, Haag advocated preserving the 5-story cracking towers while converting the plant’s boiler house to a picnic shelter and its exhauster-compressor building into a brightly painted children’s play barn.

Richard Haag visits Gas Works Park in 2015 with colleague Thaisa Way, University of Washington professor of landscape architecture and author of “The Landscape Architecture of Richard Haag.” The concrete pillars once supported tracks for coal trains supplying the gasification plant.

A 45-foot high Great Mound (aka Kite Hill), made of construction fill, would cover polluted soil while providing breathtaking vistas from what had been a choking hellscape.

In October 1973, Gas Works Park began opening in stages, and was immediately acclaimed as one of Seattle’s favorite parks. Designated a Seattle landmark in 1999, it was listed in the National Register of Historic Places in 2013.

Today, park cleanup is ongoing. Reducing toxic lake sediment is next in a series of environmental remediations. But this rough diamond in the crown of Seattle parks is worth the effort — no gas lighting required.

WEB EXTRAS

For Paul Dorpat’s original 2015 column featuring an interview with landscape architect Richard Haag, click here!

Seattle Now & Then: Harding, big crowds at Woodland Park & UW, 1923

(Click and click again to enlarge photos)

THEN1: As far as the eye can see, a crowd of 30,000, including many Boy Scouts, assembles at an Elks-sponsored picnic at Woodland Park on July 27, 1923, to hear an address by President Warren G. Harding. (Museum of History & Industry)
NOW1: Giraffes patrol the stretch of Woodland Park where Harding spoke in 1923. Today it constitutes the African Savannah of Woodland Park Zoo. At right is presidential historian Mike Purdy, who notes that Harding’s speeches were both alliterative and elliptical. Purdy cites William Gibbs McAdoo, ex-secretary of the treasury and future U.S. senator, who called Harding’s rhetoric “an army of pompous phrases moving across the landscape in search of an idea.” To see Purdy’s books and writings, visit his website. (Clay Eals)

Published in The Seattle Times online on July 13, 2023
and in PacificNW Magazine of the printed Times on July 16, 2023

A century ago, a Seattle speech foreshadowed a president’s death
 By Clay Eals

Today we ruminate over presidents of advanced age. But a century ago, the U.S. president was Warren G. Harding, then just 57.

THEN3: President Warren G. Harding, 1923. (Museum of History & Industry)

In 1923, his third presidential year, Harding mounted a grueling, two-month journey through the American West, with final stops planned in Washington, Oregon and California. Before sailing north to Alaska (then a territory), he addressed 25,000 on July 5 in Tacoma. Back south in Seattle on July 27, he spoke to 30,000, including many Boy Scouts, at Woodland Park and 30,000 at filled-to-capacity University of Washington (now Husky) Stadium.

Six days later … he died.

His Seattle speeches were the last for a president who — despite affability, enthusiasm and a statesman’s countenance — left professional and personal scandals in his wake. Today, historians rate him among America’s worst presidents.

A rural Ohio newspaperman who had risen to U.S. senator, Harding was a reluctant compromise candidate during the 1920 Republican convention in Chicago, emerging from a proverbially smoke-filled room.

Three years after his election, his 5 hours in Seattle played an unintentional role in his demise. He had traveled 5,246 miles via rail, car and steamship in just 22 days. After his Woodland Park appearance, plus a downtown parade and reception at Volunteer Park, his major speechifying ended at the UW.

THEN2: Some 30,000 gather for a speech by President Warren G. Harding on the afternoon of July 27, 1923, at University of Washington (now Husky) Stadium. (Courtesy Ron Edge)

There, wrote biographer Francis Russell, Harding’s cheeks looked green, and his jaws were “set in pain.” While speaking, the president “hesitated, slurred his words [and] called Alaska ‘Nebraska.’ ”

Midway, Harding “began to falter, dropped the manuscript and grasped the desk,” recounted Herbert Hoover, secretary of commerce (and later president), who sat behind Harding, picked up the scattered sheafs and quickly organized and fed Harding the remaining pages. Harding, Hoover wrote, “managed to get through the speech.”

NOW2: Graduates, family and friends assemble June 10 at Husky Stadium for University of Washington commencement. (Jean Sherrard)

“PRESIDENT ILL!” screamed a Seattle Times banner the next day. Reportedly contracting ptomaine from poisonous crabmeat en route from Alaska, Harding was ordered to bed rest on his train. His tour abruptly ended.

“PRESIDENT IS DEAD” shouted the Seattle Post-Intelligencer front page on Aug. 3. His evening passing, in a San Francisco hotel, came from a heart attack. Five hours later, in Vermont, his vice-president, Calvin Coolidge, was sworn in as his successor.

“He had no business being president, but strange things happen,” says Mike Purdy, presidential historian, of West Seattle, who says Harding lacked the wisdom and vision for the role.

Harding himself offered confirmation: “The presidency is hell. There is no other word to describe it,” he once said. “I knew this job would be too much for me. I am not fit for this office and should never have been here.”

THEN4: Harding waves to the crowd as his car circles Husky Stadium prior to his speech.(Museum of History & Industry)
NOW4: Graduates bear colorful attire June 10 at UW commencement. (Jean Sherrard)

WEB EXTRAS

Thanks to Ron Edge, Greg Lange, Wendy Malloy, Gigi Allianic and Craig Newberry of Woodland Park Zoo, the PBS series “The American President” and especially Mike Purdy for their invaluable help with this installment!

To see Clay Eals‘ 360-degree video of the “Now” prospect and compare it with the “Then” photos, and to hear this column read aloud by Clay, check out our Seattle Now & Then 360 version of the column.

Below are 2 additional photos  and, in chronological order, 60 historical clips from The Seattle Times and Seattle Post-Intelligencer online archive (available via Seattle Public Library) and Washington Digital Newspapers, that were helpful in the preparation of this column.

“The Memoirs of Herbert Hoover: The Cabinet and the Presidence, 1920-1933,” p50. (Courtesy Mike Purdy)
“The Shadow of Blooming Grove: Warren G. Harding in His Times” by Francis Russell, p58. (Courtesy Mike Purdy)
June 1, 1923, Seattle Times, p12.
June 6, 1923, Seattle Times, p1.
June 6, 1923, Seattle Times, p3.
June 7, 1923, Seattle Times, p2.
June 8, 1923, Seattle Times, p2.
June 8, 1923, Seattle Times, p13.
June 8, 1923, Seattle Times, p21.
June 17, 1923, Seattle Post-Intelligencer, p69.
June 18, 1923, Seattle Post-Intelligencer, p9.
June 20, 1923, Seattle Times, p6.
June 22, 1923, Seattle Times, p1.
June 22, 1923, Seattle Times, p5.
June 22, 1923, Seattle Times p21.
June 23, 1923, Seattle Times, p2.
June 24, 1923, Seattle Times, p3.
June 24, 1923, Seattle Times, p13.
June 24, 1923, Seattle Times p15.
July 1, 1923, Seattle Post-Intelligencer, p73.
July 2, 1923, Seattle Post-Intelligencer, p2.
July 4, 1923, Seattle Times, p8.
July 5, 1923, Seattle Post-Intelligencer, p3.
July 5, 1923, Seattle Times, p1.
July 6, 1923, Seattle Post-Intelligencer, p12.
July 6, 1923, Seattle Post-Intelligencer, p17.
July 6, 1923, Seattle Times, p4.
July 6, 1923, Seattle Times, p22.
July 8, 1923, Seattle Post-Intelligencer, p66.
July 8, 1923, Seattle Times, p1.
July 8, 1923, Seattle Times, p11.
July 10, 1923, Seattle Times, p3.
July 12, 1923, Seattle Times, p10.
July 13, 1923, Seattle Post-Intelligencer, p15.
July 14, 1923, Seattle Post-Intelligencer, p9.
July 15, 1923, Seattle Times, p5.
July 15, 1923, Seattle Times, p10.
July 17, 1923, Seattle Times, p4.
July 18, 1923, Seattle Post-Intelligencer, p3.
July 18, 1923, Seattle Times, p10.
July 22, 1923, Seattle Post-Intelligencer, p65.
July 22, 1923, Seattle Times p8.
July 26, 1923, Seattle Post-Intelligencer, p5.
July 26, 1923, Seattle Times, p1.
July 26, 1923, Seattle Times, p5.
July 27, 1923, Seattle Post-Intelligencer, p1.
July 27, 1923, Seattle Post-Intelligencer, p3.
July 27m 1923, Seattle Post-Intelligencer, p1.
July 27m 1923, Seattle Times, p12.
July 28, 1923, Seattle Post-Intelligencer, p2.
July 28, 1923, Seattle Post-Intelligencer, p6.
July 28, 1923, Seattle Times, p1.
July 28, 1923, Seattle Times, p3.
July 28, 1923, Seattle Times, p4.
July 29, 1923, Seattle Times p1.
July 30, 1923, Seattle Post-Intelligencer, p1.
July 30, 1923, Seattle Post-Intelligencer, p2.
Aug. 3, 1923, Seattle Post-Intelligencer, p1.
Aug. 3, 1923, Seattle Post-Intelligencer, p2.