 |
| Water Front, Seattle, Washington. |
Past Post: Seattle’s Open Water
January 16th, 2009 @ 1:55 am by Cliffe | Sorted Past Post |
Todays Past Post shows the Seattle waterfront in the early part of the century. Not the most exciting card ever, but I do like the angle from which it was shot — very near the water line presumably from a small boat. It kind of gives the city a dark and foreboding look. Well, anyway, we can at least play “guess the year” based on the buildings.
I generally use the presence or absence of the Smith Tower as my key. I don’t see it here and I’m pretty sure it would included in this shot, so it’s before 1914. But that’s all I got!
It’s sometime after 1907 since the twin towers of St. James Cathedral can be seen faintly at the top center left of the hill, and probably before 1914 since Smith Tower likely would have been on the far right of the picture (but MIGHT be just out of frame to the right).
Galbraith, Bacon, & Co. whose pier is just right of center on the waterfront was established in 1899 and was apparently still a thriving business in 1916 when Bagley published his “History of Seattle from the Earliest Settlement to the Present Time” that year.
The key is probably one (or both) of the squarish white buildings in the picture, but I can’t really recognize either of them from this picture.
I agree Shannon, the Smith Tower was such a big deal that it would *never* have not been included in the photo. Perhaps the real key is on the opposite side of the postcard and Cliffe is just having fun with us
I also agree with Bryan about the white buildings being the key- they look to be the most modern architecture in this photo.
Barb: No such luck. The back has no date (postcard was never written on or postmarked). I always find myself wishing the copyright on these included a date.
It seems like the same buildings are present in this 1907 photo, doesn’t it?:
http://www.kokogiak.com/projects/seawft/swap_3.html
The big white on the left is the American Bank building, It was built in 1905-6 and imploded in the 1970′s. The big red building in front of it must be the National Grocery Bldg (1905) The building on the right is the Alaska Building. The Hoge building wasn’t built until 1911. It was taller than the Alaska and would have been just to the left of it.
I’d say 1908. (whew!)
The front of the photo (bottom, left corner area) includes the inscription: 211, 223 JV. A little searching around indicates that this was one of the markings for Valentine & Sons of Toronto & Montreal, a prominent postcard company ca. 1907-1923.
And with a little further searching – the photo is actually included on the AYPE.net website – they have a whole section on postcard publishers. Here is the page on Valentine and Sons with the photo (about halfway down the page):
http://www.aype.net/postcardpublishersnz/valentineson.html
So definitely no later than 1909.
Taking Colin’s statement that the white squarish building in the middle of the picture is the American Bank Building, I found the postcard at the link below on eBay that shows the Leary and American Bank Buildings in 1910 and it appears the Leary building would have been visible in the postcard if it existed at the time, so that seems to put it at pre-1910. So would have to agree with Colin that it looks like sometime around 1908, or possibly 1909.
It also appears in the linked postcard that the squarish building to the south that Colin identified as the Alaska Building is visible in this postcard as well as identifiable by the elevator shed on the roof in both pictures.
http://cgi.ebay.com/Post-card-Leary-&-American-Bank-Seattle-Wash-1910_W0QQitemZ270319837099QQcmdZViewItemQQimsxZ20081219?IMSfp=TL081219114004r3248