Construction of the Emerald City
Posted January 7th, 2008 in [hide]A friend of mine loves one of my photos of the city because it shows a crane … a constant fixture in our skyline. Typically the crane would be a minor distraction, but it strikes a chord, at least with recent Seattle residents. Until the 1970s we were a sleepy hamlet in the northwest, a parochial stop between Vancouver and San Francisco. Boeing and Microsoft changed all of this … along with the passing of time in general.
This scene is an example; across the street from the public library, to the south, two sky-scrapers have been under construction seemingly forever. On the other hand, downtown is a big place; I haven’t been at this particular block in months.
Our little city likes to grow in boom and bust cycles. This was true during the Klondike gold rush and the timber boom that proceeded it, and it’s true now … on a much smaller scale than over the span of more than a century. With the notorious weather - rain that could drown an elephant, at least during the nine-month winters - fits and bursts seem a reasonable way to grow a city. Sunlight is a precious thing.
Foreshadowing the end of thousands of years of habitation by the Duwamish People, Arthur Denny settled Alki ( “by and by” ). A year later, realizing this point on the Sound was far too exposed to the elements, the Denny Party moved to what would eventually become downtown. By this point, other intrepid travelers began to appear close-by. San Francisco was a world class hub of the earlier gold rush, and early Seattle thrived sending lumber down south.
Technology has carried us on ever since. The Great Northern Railway reached Seattle in 1884, in an era where our burgeoning town had newspapers, telephones, woman’s suffrage, even street cars, a ferry service, and Pike’s Place, a farmer’s market. A great fire burnt most of Seattle to the ground, but the settlement rose Phoenix-like from the ashes. Boeing became a powerhouse - regionally and world-wide - during World War 2, and a decade later the rise of the airline industry. This continues with software and bio-tech firms like Amgen.
Accordingly, our architecture is mixed, reflecting the character of the times Seattle has been in growth cycles. Pioneer Square is made from brick, heavily influenced by the fire. Much of the apartment buildings throughout the urban look like 1970s Santa Cruz beach houses. The latest wave of sky-scrapers and condos have an unmistakably modern look:
So where did the space needle come from? How’d that come into play?
The Space Needle was built for the 1962 World’s Fair, hosted in Seattle. Boeing was king at the time, and the idea of exploring space was pretty popular. It was among the world’s tallest buildings at the time.
I’ll have to post some photos from the observation deck next time I head up that way. Still, as symbolic as it is of Seattle, it really doesn’t take a pivotal role in our history.
Lizzie and I will have to find a reason to come out to Seattle. We had been to Vancouver several years ago when we were skiing at Whistler and loved it. From what I hear Seattle is a place that you can easily fall in love with for many reasons.
I love your well composed photos of Seattle, especially the first one. It seems to be a very pleasant city to live in.
I moved to Seattle recently from India. Its only after coming here that I realized that so many of the modern day wonders which have transformed our lives ( Airplanes, Computer Software — Windows ) came from just this one city (Seattle).
It has been great touring around the city and seeing the Museum of Flight , Seattle Art Museum.
I have been to other cities in the US but no city impresses me as much as this ( or am I biased because I’m living here now ? ) .
What a lovly city. I think night time photos makes it look more cosmopolitan.