Charles Plummer was one of Seattle’s early residents and businessmen. In 1854, he and a partner opened a general store and bar room with a bowling alley in the basement. Four years later, he opened a new two-story building and sold sold dry goods, groceries, and hardware. The upper floor was used for dances. Plummer also built a wood frame house nearby.
Charles Plummer’s general store at 1st Ave. and Main St., 1860. Includes wharf and man on front porch. Plummer House @ 1st Ave. S. & Main St built 1858, burned 6/6/89. Image courtesy Washington State Digital Archives.
Is that an over head water line? I’m sure someone can explain.
Wow, I’m very impressed that this photo even exists. A great glimpse at really, really early Seattle.
Your timing is interesting with this one, Jess. Just yesterday I was reading P. Dorpat’s column from this weekend, and learned that the bay of mudflats inside the spit was at one time called Plummer’s Bay, named for this guy. I had never even heard the name before.
Is this the oldest photo on this site? Very cool! So this would be near Occidental Park then. Would love to see what an 1854 bowling alley looked like . . .
Just amazes me to see how much fill downtown Seattle has. Look at this and then compare to were it is now in Seattle and it would be inland.
Very vintage indeed! Would that be a flagpole sticking straight up from the building?
Nice view of West Seattle, too. Looks like a lot of forest left over there!
There’s a building of some kind in West Seattle. Is that a house? Perhaps Doc Maynard’s after he traded houses with Terry? Doc’s original house was at 1st & Main also, was it not?
That’s probably a sawmill (the long white-looking roof)
Also, would this have been about the south edge of town? There would have been Duwamish tide flats not far beyond this?
Update: here is an interesting map showing the topography of the area at the time. First time I’ve seen Doc’s Point on a map.
Well, that didn’t happen. Here is the link to the map.
http://pauldorpat.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/05/wa-mont6-blogweb.jpg
Here is a link to a photo from P. Dorpat’s column I mentioned above. It’s from about a quarter century later, so Plummer’s dry goods, bowling emporium and alehouse is probably no longer in this view. The curved trestle becomes King Street. The wide trestle at right is Jackson. The next street over, at the far right, would be Main, and you can see the point on the shore where Plummer’s would have been.
http://pauldorpat.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/Gas-Cove-ca84-fm-Beacon-THEN-MR.jpg
If you look closely, the man on the front porch is obviously passing time diddling with an iPhone or other some such gadget.
Texting: “ARRVD DUWUMPS. NOW WHAT? MISS U”
A comfortable previous age is the reward of a well-spent youth. Instead of its bringing sad and melancholy prospects of decay, it would give us hopes of eternal youth in a better world. Maurice Chevalier