Topic: Infrastructure
The Seattle Steam Heat & Power Company was formed the year after the Great Fire of 1889 destroyed most of the city's commercial core and waterfront. The firm's founder and largest shareholder was Jame...
This condensed chronology traces major milestones in the evolution of public transportation in greater Seattle and was originally published in The Seattle Times on October 20, 2002. Detailed essays on...
The City of West Seattle was annexed to Seattle in 1907, in large measure to improve the community's access to sufficient water and other utilities. Even so, well more than two decades would pass befo...
The Seattle Public Utilities water system provides direct water service to around 630,000 people in and just outside the city of Seattle and sells water wholesale to cities and water districts serving...
Bob Donegan, President of Ivar's, has been a tireless advocate for the interests of businesses along Seattle's waterfront and beyond. In conversation with Dominic Black he recounts his activism around...
The natural harbor of Elliott Bay offered a wealth of resources to the settlers who came to its shores in the 1850s to build Seattle into a city. Its deep waters provided ample space for ships to anch...
The late 1960s and early 1970s saw a profound shift in thinking about Seattle's central waterfront. As the central business district struggled with declining customers and community groups advocated f...
This essay surveys the development of Seattle's South Lake Union and Cascade communities from 1854 to 2003, with emphasis on visions for its future including Virgil Bogue's 1911 Plan of Seattle, the 1...
John D. Spellman was the first King County Executive and later served as governor of Washington. Elected Executive in 1969, shortly after the County's Home Rule Charter created the position, Spellman ...
The long career of John Spellman (1926-2018) in local and state politics began in 1967 when he was elected a King County Commissioner. His term overlapped the controversial Forward Thrust capital impr...
The Spirit of Washington Dinner Train brought the romance of the rails to King County's Eastside for 15 years from 1992 to 2007. For a price guests enjoyed an excursion through the communities east of...
Stanwood is located in northwest Snohomish County at the mouth of the old channel of the Stillaguamish River. Most of the town is on the river delta and in recent years it has begun to grow to the ea...