How to haul goods in the 1800s? By horse, of course.
By 1900, fueled by the Gold Rush, the Seattle Transfer Company employed 79 men and 85 horses.
Now & Then
Paul Dorpat digs into our rich local history, sharing images and stories from Seattle’s past.
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Bolstering a booming city by transforming its landscape
In 1916, the Smith and Sears Roebuck towers took a back seat to Seattle’s rapidly evolving industrial backbone (and one lonely vessel) on the splayed...
Seattle’s Fourth Avenue is still as pretty as a postcard picture
Postcard photographer J. Boyd Ellis captured buildings in 1942 along a downtown block that has hardly changed since.
‘North Bend’s Famous McGrath’s Cafe’ stopped traffic — or maybe that was the stoplight
Jack McGrath marketed his eatery to parents of teens, and to cross-state motorists.
A 1962 fire reduced the Seattle Armory to a pile of bricks, some of them falling on the viaduct
Despite a fight to rebuild the armory, or at least preserve part of it, the 1909 building was demolished in 1968.
New ways of seeing, and appreciating, familiar sights
Yesler Way is a landmark that just keeps on giving.
In the race for Seattle’s tallest tower, the banker came up short
It’s said that Lyman Cornelius Smith and banker-developer James Hoge discussed building skyscrapers while at the 1909 World’s Fair.
The Lumber Exchange was a center for commerce in early 1900s Seattle
The building was demolished in 1990, replaced in 1991 by the 22-floor Second and Seneca Building.
Seattle transit moves through the driven snow, through the years
Trolleys and buses make their way down snowy University Way, in 1937 and 2019.
Time-traveling through Seattle’s Battery Street Tunnel
From a 1954 ventilation test to a 2019 farewell stroll, vehicles and people filled the underground roadway. Now, viaduct rubble will do that.
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