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Album: Seattle, Washington 2007
Image: 422 / 545
Date: 2007-09-03 10:09:38
Tags: Seattle

In Seattle

The Great Fire of 1889

On June 6, 1889, a fire started in a cabinet shop at what is now the corner of Madison Street and 1st Avenue. The fire quickly spread through the city's wood-frame buildings. Nearly the entire business district was destroyed. Rebuilding began immediately. Streets were widened and multi-story buildings of brick and stone rose from the ashes. Ironically, the devestating fire helped transform Seattle from a small town to a city.

The Bubble Bursts

Seattle's post-fire building boom came to a sudden halt following the Panic of 1893. Eleven Seattle banks closed and local land values fell by as much as eighty percent. Business closures led to massive job layoffs and unemployment. On the heels of the Great Fire of 1889, the depression hit Seattle especially hard and touched all tiers of society.

Important Links

In 1887, Seattle became the West coast terminus for the Great Northern Railway, creating a rail-link with other agricultural areas. Rail service beyond Puget Sound expanded, and by 1897 three American and one Canadian railroad offered service to Seattle. By the early 1890s, steamship companies helped make Seattle a hub for the shipping of freight and passengers to Alaska. These connections enabled Seattle businesses to ship lumber, coal, fish, and agricultural products easily to other parts of the country.