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{{History of Seattle}}
This is the main article of a series that covers the '''history of [[Seattle]]''', [[Washington (state)|Washington]], a [[city]] in the [[Pacific Northwest]] region of the [[United States|United States of America]].

Seattle is a major port city that has a history of [[business cycle|boom and bust]]. Seattle has on several occasions been sent into severe decline, but has typically used those periods to successfully rebuild infrastructure. There have been at least five such cycles:
* The [[lumber]]-industry boom, followed by the construction of an [[Olmsted Brothers|Olmsted]]-designed park system.
* The [[Klondike gold rush]] started in 1896, but reached Seattle in July 1897. This constituted the largest boom for Seattle proportional to the city's size at the time, and ended the economic woes  Seattle (and the nation) had been suffering since the [[Panic of 1893]].
* The [[shipbuilding]] boom, which peaked during [[World War I]] and crashed immediately thereafter, followed by the unused city development plan of [[Virgil Bogue]].
* The [[Boeing]] boom, followed by general infrastructure building.
* Most recently, the boom based on [[Microsoft]] and other [[software]], [[World Wide Web|web]], and [[telecommunications]] companies, such as [[Amazon.com|Amazon]], [[AT&T Wireless]], and [[RealNetworks]].
[[Image:Bird's-eye View of Seattle, Washington Territory.jpg|thumb|right|250px|Bird's-eye view of Seattle in 1889]]

==Early history of Seattle==
{{refimprove section|date=February 2024}}
[[Image:Seattle, Washington Territory, Harper's New Monthly Magazine, circa September 1870 (cropped).jpg|thumb|400px|Seattle, engraving from ''Harper's New Monthly Magazine'' (September 1870)]]
{{main article|History of Seattle before 1900}}
[[File:Second Ave. and Marion St., Seattle, Wash., July 1889.jpg|thumb|Second Ave. and Marion St., Seattle, Wash., July 1889]]
What is now Seattle has been inhabited since the end of the last [[Ice age#Glaciation in North America|glacial period]] (c. 8,000 B.C.&mdash;10,000 years ago), for at least 4,000 years.  In the mid-1850s the [[Coast Salish people]] of what is now called the [[Duwamish tribe|Duwamish Tribe]] and [[Suquamish tribe|Suquamish]], as well as other associated groups and tribes, were living in some 13 villages within the present-day city limits of Seattle. Evidence of continuous human habitation of a village site within the current city limits of the city of Seattle dating back to the 6th century C.E. exists on the Port of Seattle Terminal 107 site, located on the Western bank of the Duwamish River.<ref name="Jermann et al 1977">{{cite book
  | last = Jermann, Lorenz and Thomas
  | title = Continued Archeological Testing at the Duwamish No. 1 Site
  | publisher = Office of Public Archaeology, Institute for Environmental Studies, university of Washington
  | year = 1977
  | location = Seattle
| ol = 13584841M
 }}</ref>  The site was abandoned in approximately 1800, for unknown reasons. Other notable village sites include the birthplace of [[Chief Seattle]], which was located near the current footprint of the King Street Station.

[[George Vancouver]] was the first [[Europe]]an to visit the Seattle area in May 1792 during his [[Vancouver Expedition|1791-95 expedition]] to chart the [[Pacific Northwest]].<ref name=Vancouver1801>{{cite book
  | last = Vancouver
  | first = George, and John Vancouver
  | title = A voyage of discovery to the North Pacific ocean, and round the world
  | publisher = J. Stockdale
  | year = 1801
  | location = London
| url = https://archive.org/details/avoyagediscover00vancgoog}}</ref>

The founding of Seattle is usually dated from the arrival of the [[Denny Party]] scouts on September 25, 1851. However, Luther Collins, Henry Van Asselt, and the Maple family founded a farming settlement on what is currently the Seattle neighborhood of Georgetown on September 27, 1851.<ref>(1) Jermann et al (1977), pp. 21</ref> The Denny party's original site was an unfinished cabin, without roof, and a camp site, located at Alki Point, in West Seattle. The Collins party settlement was improved with permanent structures, and was soon producing produce and meat for sale and barter. In April, 1852, [[Arthur A. Denny]] abandoned the original site at [[Alki Point, Seattle|Alki]] in favor of a better protected site on [[Elliott Bay]] that is now part of [[Downtown, Seattle, Washington|downtown Seattle]]. [[Arthur A. Denny]] and [[Luther Collins]] were the first commissioners of King County after its creation in 1852. Around the same time, [[David Swinson Maynard|David Swinson "Doc" Maynard]] began settling the land immediately south of Denny's.

Seattle in its early decades relied on the timber industry, shipping logs (and later, milled timber) to [[San Francisco]]. A climax forest of trees up to 1,000&ndash;2,000 years old and towering as high as nearly 400&nbsp;ft (122 m) covered much of what is now Seattle. Today, none of that size remain anywhere in the world.<ref>(1) Dolan & True (2003), pp. 142, 144  <br/>(3) Van Pelt (2001) pp. xxii, 181&ndash;185, 187&ndash;191</ref>

When [[Henry Yesler]] brought the first steam sawmill to the region, he chose a location on the waterfront where Maynard and Denny's plats met. Thereafter Seattle would dominate the lumber industry.

[[Charlie Terry]] sold out Alki (which, after his departure barely held on as a settlement), moved to Seattle and began acquiring land. He either owned or partially owned Seattle's first timber ships. He eventually gave a land grant to the University of the Territory of Washington (later [[University of Washington]]), and was instrumental in the politics to establish an urban infrastructure.

The logging town developed rapidly over decades into a small city. Despite being officially founded by the [[Methodist]]s of the Denny Party, Seattle quickly developed a reputation as a wide-open town, a haven for [[prostitution]], [[liquor]], and [[gambling]]. Some{{Who|date=February 2024}} attribute this, at least in part, to Maynard who realized that something was needed to bring the loggers and sailors, who formed the majority of the surrounding population, to town.

[[Real estate]] records show that nearly all of the city's first 60 businesses were on, or immediately adjacent to, Maynard's plat.

All of this occurred against a background of sometimes rocky relations with the local [[Native Americans in the United States|Native American]] population, including a nominally pitched battle, the [[Battle of Seattle (1856)|Battle of Seattle]], January 25, 1856.

Seattle was incorporated as a town January 14, 1865.  That charter was voided January 18, 1867, in response to questionable activities of the town's elected leaders.  Seattle was re-incorporated December 2, 1869.  At the times of incorporations, the population was approximately 350 and 1,000, respectively.<ref>Clarence B. Bagley, ''History of Seattle from the Earliest Settlement to the Present Time'', Vol. 2 (Chicago: S.J. Publishing Co., 1916), p. 698.  <br/>NB:  Per
{{cite web
 | date =18 February 2003
 | url =http://www.nps.gov/klse/hrs/hrs1a.htm
 | archive-url =https://web.archive.org/web/20030803030525/http://www.nps.gov/klse/hrs/hrs1a.htm
 | url-status =dead
 | archive-date =August 3, 2003
 | title =CHAPTER ONE 'By-and-By': The Early History Of Seattle
 | work =Hard Drive to the Klondike: Promoting Seattle During the Gold Rush
 | publisher =Klondike Gold Rush National Historical Park, Seattle Unit
 | access-date =2006-07-16
}}  <br/>'''Original source not checked'''</ref>

In 1867, a young [[French Canadian]] [[Roman Catholic|Catholic]] priest named [[Francis X. Prefontaine]] arrived in Seattle and decided to establish a [[parish]] there. At that time, Seattle had no Catholic church and few parishioners. Fr. Prefontaine counted only ten Catholics in the town and only three attended the first mass that he conducted. His bishop, [[Augustin-Magloire Blanchet]], whose [[cathedra]] was in [[Vancouver, Washington]], gave Fr. Prefontaine permission to build a church there, as long as the priest could raise the funds himself and it would cost the [[diocese]] nothing. Prefontaine raised the money by holding fairs around the Puget Sound area. During 1868–69 he built the church, doing much of the work himself, and in 1869 he opened Seattle's first Catholic church at Third Avenue and Washington Street, on the site where the present-day Prefontaine Building stands.{{coord|47.601375|-122.329498|format=dms|display=inline|type:landmark}}
<ref name="HistoryLink1">{{cite encyclopedia
 |url         = http://www.historylink.org/index.cfm?DisplayPage=output.cfm&file_id=3633
 |title       = Prefontaine, Father Francis Xavier (1838-1909)
 |access-date  = 2010-02-15
 |encyclopedia        = The Free Online Encyclopedia of Washington State History
 |publisher   = HistoryLink
}}</ref><ref name="CathedralHeroes1">{{cite web
 |url=http://www.stjames-cathedral.org/history/kidsheroes.htm 
 |title=Father Francis X. Prefontaine 
 |access-date=2010-02-15 
 |publisher=St. James Cathedral, Seattle 
 |url-status=dead 
 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100829081644/http://www.stjames-cathedral.org/history/kidsheroes.htm 
 |archive-date=2010-08-29 
}}</ref><ref name="Diocese2">{{Cite web
 |url=http://www.seattlearch.org/ArchdioceseWorking/ArchivesandRecords/History/OurLadyofGoodHelp.htm.htm 
 |title=1867: Our Lady of Good Help Church 
 |access-date=2010-02-15 
 |work=Archives and Records, Archdiocese of Seattle 
 |publisher=Archdiocese of Seattle, Washington 
 |url-status=dead 
 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091208033324/http://www.seattlearch.org/ArchdioceseWorking/ArchivesandRecords/History/OurLadyofGoodHelp.htm.htm 
 |archive-date=2009-12-08 
}}</ref>

===Railroad rivalry and encroaching civilization===
[[Image:1st Ave Seattle 1900.jpg|250px|right|thumb|Looking up 1st Ave. from Pioneer Square, 1900]]

On July 14, 1873, the [[Northern Pacific Railway]] announced that they had chosen the then-village of [[Tacoma, Washington|Tacoma]] over Seattle as the Western terminus of their transcontinental [[railroad]]. The railroad barons appear to have been gambling on the advantage they could gain from being able to buy up the land around their terminus cheaply instead of bringing the railroad into a more established Pacific port town.

Seattle made several attempts to build a railroad of its own or to leverage one to come.  The [[Great Northern Railway (U.S.)|Great Northern Railway]] finally came to Seattle in 1884, winning Seattle a place in competition for freight, though it would be 1906 before Seattle finally acquired a major rail passenger terminal.

Seattle in this era was a freebooting and often relatively lawless town. Although it boasted [[newspaper]]s  and [[telephone]]s, [[lynch law]] often prevailed (there were at least three deaths by [[lynching]] in 1882<ref>{{Cite news |last=Dorpat |first=Paul |date=July 18, 2014 |title=The dark day of mob rule and lynching as sport in Seattle |url=https://www.seattletimes.com/pacific-nw-magazine/the-dark-day-of-mob-rule-and-lynching-as-sport-in-seattle/}}</ref>), [[school]]s barely operated, and indoor [[plumbing]] was a rare novelty.  In the low [[mudflat]]s where much of the city was built, [[sewage]] was almost as likely to come in on the [[tide]] as to flow away. 

[[Trade union|Union]] organizing first arrived in the form of a skilled craft union. In 1882, Seattle printers formed the Seattle Typographical Union Local 202. Dockworkers followed in 1886, [[cigar]]makers in 1887, tailors in 1889, and both brewers and musicians in 1890. Even the newsboys unionized in 1892, followed by more organizing, mostly of craft unions.

The history of labor in the American West in this period is inseparable from the issue of anti-Chinese vigilantism. In 1883 [[Chinese Americans|Chinese]] laborers played a key role in the first effort at digging the [[Montlake Cut]] to connect [[Lake Union]]'s [[Portage Bay]] to [[Lake Washington]]'s [[Union Bay (Seattle, Washington)|Union Bay]]. In 1885–1886, whites—sometimes in combination with Indians—complaining of overly cheap labor competition, drove the Chinese settlers from Seattle, Tacoma, and other Northwest cities.

In an era during which the Washington Territory was one of the first parts of the U.S. to (briefly) allow [[women's suffrage]], women played a significant part in "civilizing" Seattle.

The first bathtub with plumbing was in 1870.  In the 1880s, Seattle got its first [[streetcar]] and [[cable car (railway)|cable car]], [[ferry]] service, a [[YMCA]] gymnasium, and the exclusive [[Rainier Club]], and passed an ordinance requiring attached [[sanitary sewer|sewer]] lines for all new residences. It also began to develop a road system.

The relative fortunes of Seattle and Tacoma clearly show the nature of Seattle's growth. Though both Seattle and Tacoma grew at a rapid rate from 1880 to 1890, based on the strength of their timber industries, Seattle's growth as an exporter of services and manufactured goods continued for another two decades, while Tacoma's growth dropped almost to zero. The reason for this lies in Tacoma's nature as a [[company town]] and Seattle's successful avoidance of that condition.

===The Great Fire===
[[Image:Great seattle fire.jpg|250px|right|thumb|Start of the Great Seattle Fire, looking south on 1st Avenue near Madison Street]]
{{main article|Great Seattle Fire}}
The early Seattle era came to a stunning halt with the Great Seattle Fire of June 6, 1889. Started by a glue pot, the fire burned 29 city blocks (almost entirely wooden buildings; about 10 [[brick]] buildings also burned). It destroyed nearly the entire business district, all of the railroad terminals, and all but four of the [[wharf|wharves]]. Major fires like this were common in Washington that summer: the center of [[Ellensburg, Washington|Ellensburg]] was destroyed by fire on July 4 and downtown [[Spokane, Washington|Spokane]] burned on August 4.

Thanks in part to credit arranged by [[Jacob Furth]], Seattle rebuilt from the ashes with astounding rapidity. A new [[zoning]] code resulted in a downtown of brick and [[Rock (geology)|stone]] buildings, rather than [[wood]]. In the single year after the fire, the city grew from 25,000 to 40,000 inhabitants, largely because of the enormous number of [[construction]] jobs suddenly created.

Still, south of Yesler Way, the open city atmosphere remained.

===The Klondike Gold Rush===
The greatest boom period for Seattle occurred during the [[Klondike gold rush]]. Seattle, as well as the rest of the nation, was suffering from the economic [[panic of 1893]], and to a lesser extent, the [[panic of 1896]]. Gold was discovered in August 1896 in the Klondike region of Canada.  Almost one year later, on July 17, 1897, the steamer ''Portland'' arrived at [[Schwabacher Brothers#Seattle|Schwabacher's Wharf]] in Seattle. A publicity campaign engineered largely by [[Erastus Brainerd]] told the world of the ''Portland's'' "ton of gold," started the Klondike gold rush, and established Seattle as its supply center and the jumping-off point for transportation to and from Alaska and the gold fields of the Yukon. The rush ended the depression overnight for Seattle.<ref>
{{cite web
 | date =18 February 2003
 | url =http://www.nps.gov/klse/hrs/hrs5b.htm
 | archive-url =https://archive.today/20030306004435/http://www.nps.gov/klse/hrs/hrs5b.htm
 | url-status =dead
 | archive-date =March 6, 2003
 | title =Chapter 5: Interpreting the Klondike Gold Rush
 | work =Hard Drive to the Klondike: Promoting Seattle During the Gold Rush
 | publisher =Klondike Gold Rush National Historical Park, Seattle Unit
 | access-date =2006-07-16
}}
</ref>

==Beginning of the 20th century==
{{main article|History of Seattle 1900–1940}}

===Leader of the Northwest: 1900&ndash;1915===
[[Image:Seattle public market 1909.jpg|right|thumb|250px|A corner of Seattle's Public Market in 1909]]
The gold rush led to massive immigration. Many of Seattle's neighborhoods got their start around this time. Downtown Seattle was bustling with activity; as quickly as previous inhabitants moved out to newly created neighborhoods, new immigrants came in to take their place in the city core.

Once the obvious extensions of downtown had been made along the flatlands to the north and south, streetcars began providing transportation to new outlying neighborhoods.

Following the vision of city engineer [[Reginald H. Thomson|R.H. Thomson]], who had already played a key role in the development of municipal utilities, a [[regrading in Seattle|massive effort]] was made to level the steep hills that rose south and north of the bustling city. A [[seawall]] containing spoils ([[Soil|dirt]]) sluiced from the Denny Regrade created the current waterfront. More spoils from the Denny Regrade went to build the industrial [[Harbor Island]] at the mouth of the [[Duwamish River]], south of Downtown.<ref name="historylink 3631">{{cite web|url=https://www.historylink.org/File/3631 | last=Wilma|first=David|title=Harbor Island, at the time the world's largest artificial island, is completed in 1909 |year=2001 |access-date=August 17, 2019 |publisher=HistoryLink}}</ref>

The Denny Regrade wasn't the only radical reshaping of Seattle's topography in this period.  The slightly earlier Jackson Regrade had already reshaped [[Pioneer Square, Seattle, Washington|Pioneer Square]] and the [[International District, Seattle, Washington|International District]].<ref>Dutch (27 December 2005)</ref>  The 1911&ndash;1917 construction of the [[Lake Washington Ship Canal]] included two major "cuts" (the [[Montlake Cut]] and the [[Fremont Cut]]), four [[bascule bridge]]s, and the Government Locks (now [[Hiram M. Chittenden Locks]]). The level of Lake Washington dropped; the [[Black River (Duwamish River)|Black River]], which formerly ran out of the south end of the lake, dried up completely, and Seward Island became the Seward Peninsula, now the site of [[Seward Park (Seattle)|Seward Park]].<ref>(1) Crowley (1 July 1999, Essay 1444)  <br/>(2) Lange (25 August 2000, Essay 2624)</ref>

All of the expansion was happening without zoning, leading to "different land uses and economic classes everywhere [being] mixed."<ref>Sale (1976), p. 62</ref>

At the same time as the city was expanding dramatically, the city planners began to put in parks and boulevards under a plan designed by the [[Frederick Law Olmsted|Olmsted]] Firm, providing numerous parks and about twenty miles of boulevard which link most of the parks and greenbelts within the city limits. Much of the ambiance of Seattle today derives from this project.

Where there had so recently been wilderness, increasingly there was the reality of a major city. The [[Seattle Symphony]] was founded in 1903, and while few, if any, other comparably important arts institutions were established, the story was different in more popular entertainments. [[Vaudeville]] impresarios [[Alexander Pantages]], [[John Considine (Seattle)|John Considine]], and [[John Cort (impresario)|John Cort]] (the last also involved in [[legitimate theater]]) were all based in Seattle in this era.

The progressive school board hired a new superintendent in 1901, [[Frank B. Cooper]], who oversaw a program of building many new schools in Seattle's neighborhoods. The schools expanded their curriculum from the basic core to include music and art, physical education, vocational training, and programs for immigrants and special needs students.<ref name="Nelson1983">
{{Cite journal
| last = Nelson
| first = Bryce E.
| title = Frank B. Cooper: Seattle's Progressive School Superintendent, 1901–22
| journal = The Pacific Northwest Quarterly
| date = October 1983
| volume = 74
| issue = 4
| publisher = University of Washington
| pages = 167–177
| jstor = 40490533
}}
</ref>

As a major port Seattle depended heavily on its waterfront. Before 1911 it was a confused jumble of private rail lines and docks. The progressive reformers rationalized the system by building a port owned and operated by local government. The efficient new system allowed Seattle to expand after 1945 with the Sea-Tac airport, and enabled Seattle to become one of the first Pacific Coast ports to move to containerized shipping and thus expand business with Asia.<ref>{{cite book|author1=Kit Oldham |author2=[[Peter Blecha]]|title=Rising Tides and Tailwinds: The Story of the Port of Seattle, 1911-2011|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=fS_9tgAACAAJ|year=2011|publisher=U. of Washington Press|isbn=9780295991313}}</ref>

Seattle trumpeted and celebrated its rise with the [[Alaska-Yukon-Pacific Exposition]] of 1909, but the city's rapid growth had led to much questioning of the social order. Not only the labor left, but also [[Progressive Movement|progressives]] calling for "good government" challenged the hegemony of the captains of industry. Rail baron [[James J. Hill]], addressing Seattle business leaders in 1909, noted and regretted the change. "Where," he asked, "are the man who used to match your mountains...?"<ref>Bill Speidel, ''Through the Eye of the Needle'', Nettle Creek, 1989, {{ISBN|0-914890-04-2}}, p.78–79</ref>

Religion was less of a force in Seattle than in eastern cities, but the Protestant [[Social Gospel]] movement had a national leader in the Rev. [[Mark A. Matthews]] (1867-1940) of Seattle's First Presbyterian Church. He was a tireless reformer who investigated red light districts and crime scenes, denouncing corrupt politicians, businessmen and saloon keepers. With 10,000 members, his was the largest Presbyterian Church in the country, and he was selected the denomination's national moderator in 1912. He built a model church, with night schools, unemployment bureaus, a kindergarten, Anti-tuberculosis clinics, and America's first church-owned radio station. Matthews was the most influential clergymen in the Pacific Northwest.<ref>C. Allyn Russell, "Mark Allison Matthews: Seattle Fundamentalist and Civic Reformer." ''Journal of Presbyterian History''  (1979): 446-466. [https://www.jstor.org/stable/23328145 in JSTOR]</ref><ref>Dale E. Soden, ''The Reverend Mark Matthews: An Activist in the Progressive Era'' (University of Washington Press, 2001)</ref>

===World War I and after===
{{refimprove section|date=December 2013}}
[[File:Alki Point Lighthouse, July 1944, ca. 1943 - ca. 1953 - NARA - 298181.tif|thumb|250px|[[Alki Point Light]] was completed in 1913, where it marks the southern entrance of [[Elliott Bay]].]]
In 1910, Seattle voters approved a [[referendum]] to create a development plan for the whole city. However, the result, known as the Bogue plan, was never to be implemented. The unused plan had at its heart a grand civic center in [[Belltown, Seattle, Washington|Belltown]] and the [[Denny Triangle, Seattle, Washington|Denny Triangle]] connected to the rest of the city by a rapid transit rail system, with a huge expansion of the park system, crowned by a total conversion of {{convert|4000|acre|adj=on|abbr=off|lk=on}} [[Mercer Island, Washington|Mercer Island]] into parkland. However, the plan was defeated by an alliance of fiscal conservatives who opposed such a purportedly grandiose plan on general principles and populists who argued that the plan would mainly benefit the rich.{{citation needed|date=December 2013}}

Growth during this 1910s was almost all in lumber and maritime industries. With the [[Atlantic Ocean|Atlantic]] a scene of belligerency, [[World War I]] increased [[Pacific Ocean|Pacific]] maritime trade and caused a boom in shipbuilding, there was very little growth in new industries. When the war ended, economic output crashed as the government stopped buying boats, and there were no new industries to pick up the slack. Seattle stopped being the place of explosive growth and opportunity it had been for two consecutive decades.{{citation needed|date=December 2013}}

After the war, Western Washington was a center of radical labor agitation. Most dramatically, in 1919, a dispute over post-war lowering of waterfront wages spread to become the [[Seattle General Strike]]. The [[Industrial Workers of the World]] played a prominent role in the strike. Seattle mayor [[Ole Hanson]] became a prominent figure in the [[First Red Scare]], and made an unsuccessful attempt to ride that backlash to the [[White House]] in an unsuccessful bid for the [[United States Republican Party|Republican]] nomination for the [[1920 United States presidential election|presidential election of 1920]].{{citation needed|date=December 2013}}

On Monday, 5 July 1920, a ''Pageant of Democracy'' was performed in [[Woodland Park (Seattle)|Woodland Park]] as part of [[Independence Day (United States)|Fourth of July]] celebrations and put on by the [[Central Labor Council]].<ref>[[:commons:Category:Pageant of Democracy (Seattle, 1920)]]</ref><ref name="archiveswest/ark:80444/xv29190">{{cite web |title='Pageant of Democracy' photographs |url=https://archiveswest.orbiscascade.org/ark:80444/xv29190 |website=archiveswest.orbiscascade.org - Archives West |access-date=1 August 2025}}</ref><ref name="SUR19200611-02.1.18">{{cite news |title=Page 18 |url=https://washingtondigitalnewspapers.org/?a=d&d=SUR19200611-02.1.18& |access-date=1 August 2025 |work=[[Seattle Union Record]] |publisher=washingtondigitalnewspapers.org — Washington Digital Newspapers |date=11 June 1920 |quote=... pageant of Democracy American Legion officers who protested that their organization should be given the task of ...}}</ref>

Although no longer the economic powerhouse it had been at the turn of the century, Seattle first began seriously to be an arts center in the 1920s. The Frye and Henry families put on public display the collections that would become the core of the [[Frye Art Museum]] and [[Henry Art Gallery]], respectively. [[Australia]]n painter [[Ambrose Patterson]] arrived in 1919; over the next few decades [[Mark Tobey]], [[Morris Graves]], [[Kenneth Callahan]], [[Guy Irving Anderson]], and [[Paul Horiuchi]] would establish themselves as nationally and internationally known artists. Bandleader [[Victor Aloysius Meyers|Vic Meyers]] and others kept the [[speakeasy|speakeasies]] jumping through the [[Prohibition in the United States|Prohibition]] era, and by mid-century the thriving jazz scene in the city's [[Pioneer Square, Seattle, Washington|Skid Road]] district would launch the careers of musicians including [[Ray Charles]] and [[Quincy Jones]].{{citation needed|date=December 2013}}

In 1924, Seattle's Sand Point Airfield was the endpoint of the [[first aerial circumnavigation]] of the world. The historic flight helped convince Congress to develop [[Sand Point, Seattle|Sand Point]] as a Naval Air Station.<ref name=historylink>
{{cite web
  | last=Crowley
 | first=Walt
 | title = HistoryLink: U.S. Army flyers land at Sand Point Airfield to complete first aerial circumnavigation of the globe on September 28, 1924
 | url = http://www.historylink.org/index.cfm?DisplayPage=output.cfm&file_id=364
 | date = 1998-11-22
 | publisher = [[HistoryLink.org]]
 | access-date = 2010-09-01 }}</ref>

The [[Great Depression]] hit Seattle hard. For example, Seattle issued 2,538 permits for housing construction in 1930, but only 361 in 1932.<ref>Florence K. Lentz and Mimi Sheridan, [http://www.seattle.gov/neighborhoods/preservation/ContextQueenAnneStatement2005.pdf Queen Anne Historic Context Statement] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100607192530/http://www.seattle.gov/neighborhoods/preservation/ContextQueenAnneStatement2005.pdf |date=2010-06-07 }}, prepared for the Seattle Department of Neighborhoods, Historic Preservation Program and the Queen Anne Historical Society, October 2005, p. 21. Accessed online 24 July 2008.</ref> During the [[Maritime Strike of 1934]], [[Smith Cove (Washington)|Smith Cove]] was nearly a battle zone; shippers were scared, to the point where Seattle lost most of its Asian trade to [[Los Angeles, California|Los Angeles]].<ref>BOLA Architecture + Planning & Northwest Archaeological Associates, Inc., [http://www.portseattle.org/downloads/business/realestate/development/northbay/Appendix_I_Historic_Cultural.pdf Port of Seattle North Bay Project DEIS: Historic and Cultural Resources] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110723025013/http://www.portseattle.org/downloads/business/realestate/development/northbay/Appendix_I_Historic_Cultural.pdf |date=2011-07-23 }}, Port of Seattle, April 5, 2005. p. 13 of document (p. 15 of PDF).</ref>

==World War II==
[[File:Lake Washington Ship Canal, U.S. Government Locks, Seattle, Washington. B-29 on barge being lowered in the large... - NARA - 298878.jpg|thumb|275px|A newly built [[Boeing B-29 Superfortress]] traveling by barge in the [[Lake Washington Ship Canal]] in 1944.]]
Following Japan's surprise [[attack on Pearl Harbor]], the U.S. entered [[World War II]] and the whole Puget Sound region was full on rolling in the nation's war effort. Among the chief priority was the federal government's sudden desire for tens of thousands of planes a year, and [[Boeing]] was positioned to provide them. Working under fixed-fee contracts, Boeing churned out aircraft and became by far the largest employer in Seattle. During the war, Seattle ranked as one of the top three cities in the nation in contracts per capita, and Washington state ranked as one of the top two in the nation for war contracts per capita. Seattle and [[Renton, Washington|Renton]] produced 8,200 planes, including 6,981 [[Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress|B-17s]] and more than 1,000 [[Boeing B-29 Superfortress|B-29]] bombers. Civilian use of [[Boeing Field]] was greatly curtailed to accommodate the production of thousands of Boeing bombers. To accommodate the war effort, the U.S. military also annexed [[McChord Field]] in [[Tacoma, Washington|Tacoma]], prompting that city to plead with the [[Port of Seattle]] to develop [[Seattle-Tacoma International Airport]] at Bow Lake -- midway between the Sound's two major cities.<ref name="GYG">{{cite web | title=World War II Home Front on Puget Sound |publisher=Historylink.org | author=James R. Warren |date=September 3, 1999 |url=http://www.historylink.org/File/1664}}</ref>
 
Puget Sound-area shipyards constructed a large number of war vessels. At the combined Todd Shipyards/Seattle-Tacoma Shipbuilding operation, 33,000 men and women worked in Tacoma to build five freighters, two transports, 37 escort carriers, five gasoline tankers, and three destroyer tenders. At the Seattle yards, 22,000 employees built 46 destroyers and three tenders for the [[United States Navy]], plus other vessels. The [[Lake Washington Shipyard]] at [[Houghton, Washington|Houghton]], now annexed to [[Kirkland, Washington|Kirkland]], employed 6,000 workers to repair dozens of merchant vessels and ferries during the war and to turn out ships for the Navy. The shipyard site is now the location of Carillon Point, a residential-commercial development. 15 smaller shipyards in Seattle and other cities in the Puget Sound area also produced vessels for the war effort.<ref name="GYG"/>

The war also attracted tens of thousands of workers from across the country, as the greatly expanded wartime production quickly exhausted local labor pools. Of the five million rural southern African-Americans migrating to the industrial North and West during the [[Second Great Migration (African American)|second wave]] of the [[Great Migration (African American)|Great Migration]], an estimated 45,000 went to the Pacific Northwest, of which 10,000 moved to Seattle. Most African American workers came to Seattle as shipyard employees, and by summer 1942, the [[National Youth Administration]] brought to the city the first group of blacks to work for Boeing. By war's end, 4,078 (7 percent) of the 60,328 shipyard workers in Seattle were African Americans. AA's also found work as non-military government employees. Of 18,862 federal employees in Seattle in 1945, 1,019 (5 percent) were black. Moreover, the 4,000 black soldiers and sailors stationed at [[Fort Lawton]] in Seattle and other military installations nearby contributed to the new employment diversity of the African American population.<ref>{{cite web |title=Swing the Door Wide: World War II Wrought a Profound Transformation in Seattle's Black Community |publisher=Washington State Historical Society|author1-link=Quintard Taylor |author=Quintard Taylor |url=http://www.washingtonhistory.org/files/library/swing-door-wide.pdf}}</ref> As a result, between 1940 and 1950, Seattle's black population grew 413 percent, from 3,789 to 15,666.<ref>{{cite web |title=Battle at Boeing African Americans and the Campaign for Jobs 1939-1942 |publisher=The Seattle Civil Rights & Labor History Project |url=http://depts.washington.edu/civilr/boeing_battle.htm}}</ref>   The newcomers became permanent residents, building up black political influence, strengthening civil rights organizations such as the NAACP, and calling for antidiscrimination legislation. On the negative side, racial tensions increased, both black and white residential areas deteriorated from overcrowding, and inside the black community there were angry words between "old settlers" and recent arrivals for leadership in the black communities.<ref>Quintard Taylor, "The great migration: The Afro-American communities of Seattle and Portland during the 1940s." ''Arizona and the West'' 23.2 (1981): 109-126. [https://www.jstor.org/stable/40169136 Online]</ref>

===Japanese American community===
{{See also|History of the Japanese in Seattle}}
Japanese-Americans living in the Pacific Northwest were heavily affected by the war; President [[Franklin D. Roosevelt]] authorized the removal of 110,000 Japanese immigrants and ethnic Japanese citizens from the [[West Coast of the United States|West Coast]] to [[Internment of Japanese Americans|internment camps]] inland, relocating 7,000 people from the Seattle area alone.<ref>{{cite web |title=Cracks in the Consensus: World War II |publisher=Antiwar and Radical History Project – Pacific Northwest | author=Jessie Kindig |year=2008 |url=http://depts.washington.edu/antiwar/pnwhistory_wwii.shtml}}</ref> Seattle's Japantown, once the 2nd largest in the nation, was emptied. Local grocers and the [[Pike Place Market]] lost the bounty of hundreds of Japanese American truck farms, including the 55 families who had produced famed strawberries in [[Bellevue, Washington|Bellevue]]. Although most of their neighbors acquiesced to the internment of Japanese Americans, a few community leaders questioned its validity or necessity. Tacoma Mayor Harry P. Cain said, "America has always been interested in selection, and I feel it would be preferable to make careful selection of those who are evacuated then just to say, 'Let's get rid of our problem by the easiest, most obvious way, by moving everybody out'".<ref name="GYG"/>

==Post-war boom 1945–1970==
{{refimprove section|date=February 2024}}
[[File:Seattle - Alaskan Way Viaduct under construction - 1952.gif|thumb|Building the [[Alaskan Way Viaduct]], 1952.]]
After the war ended, the military canceled its bomber orders; Boeing factories shut down and 70,000 people lost their jobs,<ref name=Boeing_growing>
{{cite web
 | date = n.d.
 | url =http://www.boeing.com/companyoffices/history/boeing/growing.html
 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20030202065217/http://www.boeing.com/companyoffices/history/boeing/growing.html
 | archive-date= 2 February 2003
 | title =The Boeing Company, Boeing: History -- Beginnings - Growing Pains
 | publisher =Boeing
 | access-date = March 18, 2007
}}</ref> and initially it appeared that Seattle had little to show for the wartime Boeing boom. However, this period of stagnation soon ended with the rise of the [[jet aircraft]] and Boeing's reincarnation as the world's leading producer of commercial passenger planes.

With all the post-war growth came growing pollution of the lakes and rivers that provided much of beauty that had been Seattle's appeal to its recent immigrants. Also, the sprawl constantly demanded more roads, since the ones already built had terrible traffic. Jim Ellis and other Seattle natives, anxious to preserve the city in which they grew up, came together to institute the Metropolitan Problems Committee, or METRO, intended to manage and plan the metropolitan area. The original, comprehensive METRO regional plan was defeated in a vote by the suburbanites;
METRO came back, scaled down to a sewage treatment and transport organization; METRO was eventually merged into the King County government.

During this period, Seattle attempted to counter the decline of its downtown and the area immediately to the north by hosting the [[Century 21 Exposition]], the 1962 [[World's Fair]]. The fair, given a futuristic science theme, was designed to leave behind a civic center, now known as [[Seattle Center]], including arts buildings, the [[Pacific Science Center]] and the [[Space Needle]], and serving also as a fairground. In addition, freeways were built to compensate for all this new growth for people to commute. Most of the [[Eastside (King County, Washington)|Eastside]] (east of [[Lake Washington]]) and northern suburbs came into being during the Boeing boom, as did [[Interstate Highway]]s ([[Interstate 5|I-5]] and [[Interstate 90|I-90]]). I-5 cut off Downtown Seattle from [[Capitol Hill, Seattle, Washington|Capitol Hill]] and [[First Hill, Seattle, Washington|First Hill]].

In conjunction with the fair, a demonstration [[monorail]] line was constructed at no cost to the city and was paid for out of ticket sales, and then turned over to the city for $600,000. ''(See [[Seattle Center Monorail]].)'' It is now mostly a tourist attraction. The World's Fair arguably reenergized the downtown of Seattle, and was generally a smashing success, even finishing with a profit.

After the war, the University of Washington also took a step forward, finally fulfilling the promise of its name under university president [[Charles Odegaard]]. Starting in the late 1950s, Seattle was one of the centers of the emergence of the American [[counter-culture]] and culture of protest. Before [[grunge]] there were [[Beat Generation|beats]], fringies (a local Seattle term), [[hippie]]s, and [[Goth subculture|batcavers]].

===The Boeing Bust===
Due to the simultaneous decline in [[Vietnam War]] military spending, the slowing of the space program as [[Project Apollo]] neared completion, the [[recession of 1969-1970]],{{r|heppenheimer1998}}{{rp|291}} the cancellation of the [[supersonic transport]] (SST),<ref name=ergfden>{{cite news |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=LDNWAAAAIBAJ&pg=6299%2C4861409 |work=Eugene Register-Guard |location=Oregon |agency=Associated Press |title=SST funds denied |date=March 24, 1971 |page=1}}</ref><ref name=srbwlof>{{cite news |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=SvkRAAAAIBAJ&pg=6507%2C2890808 |work=Spokesman-Review |location=Spokane, Washington|agency=Associated Press |title=Boeing will lay off 7,000 workers with disbandment of SST program |date=March 26, 1971 |page=1}}</ref><ref name=stsuplch>{{cite news |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=LTNWAAAAIBAJ&pg=6561%2C5246912 |work=Eugene Register-Guard |location=Oregon |agency=Associated Press |title=SST supporters see little chance of reviving plan |date=March 25, 1971 |page=1}}</ref> and Boeing's $2 billion in debt as it built the [[Boeing 747|747]] airliner,{{r|heppenheimer1998}}{{rp|303}} the company and the Seattle area greatly suffered. [[Boeing Commercial Airplanes|Commercial Airplane Group]], by far the largest unit of Boeing, went from 83,700 employees in 1968 to 20,750 in 1971. Each unemployed Boeing employee cost at least one other job, and unemployment rose to 14%, the highest in the United States. Housing vacancy rates rose to 16% from 1% in 1967. [[U-Haul]] dealerships ran out of trailers because so many people moved out. A billboard appeared near the airport:<ref name="heppenheimer1998">{{cite book | title=The Space Shuttle Decision | publisher=NASA | author=Heppenheimer, T. A. | year=1998 | url=https://history.nasa.gov/SP-4221/contents.htm}}</ref>{{rp|303–304}}

{{quote|Will the last person
leaving SEATTLE-
Turn out the lights{{r|heppenheimer1998}}{{rp|303}}}}

After 1973, Seattle was in good company for its recession, since the rest of the country was also experiencing the [[1973 energy crisis|energy crisis]].

[[File:Pike Place Market - rehabilitating Corner Market - 1975.jpg|thumb|upright|Rehabilitating [[Pike Place Market]], 1975.]]
[[Pike Place Market]], arguably Seattle's most important tourist attraction, gained its modern form in the aftermath of the Boeing crash. The internment of Seattle's Japanese-Americans during World War II had hit the market particularly hard, since 80% of its "wet stall" vendors had been ethnically [[Japanese-Americans|Japanese]]. A "Keep the Market" initiative led by architect [[Victor Steinbrueck]], passed in 1971, pushing for [[adaptive reuse]]. The initiative passed by a 3-2 margin, and created a seven acre historic district with management dedicated to preserving the market.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Public Market Center |url=https://www.pikeplacemarket.org/market-history/}}</ref>  The market now draws over 10 million visitors per year.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Project for Public Spaces |url=https://www.pps.org/places/pike-place-market}}</ref>

A similar story occurred with Pioneer Square. An old neighborhood, largely built after the Fire of 1889, it had fallen into derelict status after the war. However, with a reenergized downtown, businesses started to look for buildings that could be acquired cheaply. When offices moved into renovated buildings, suddenly there was a market for facilities to service them, leading to a "flood of other restaurants, galleries, boutiques."<ref>Sale (1976), p. 239</ref>  Seattle was definitely recovering from the blow dealt by the Boeing recession, refilling areas that had threatened to become slums.

==High tech: 1970 onwards==
In 1979, [[Bill Gates]] (1955–) and [[Paul Allen]] (1953–2018), founders of [[Microsoft]], moved their small company from New Mexico to the suburbs of their native Seattle.<ref>Amanda Davis, "How These Three Startups Became Household Names: Microsoft, Sony, and Tata Consultancy Services found success through intrapreneurship, risk taking, and a bit of luck," [https://web.archive.org/web/20150905143404/http://theinstitute.ieee.org/technology-focus/technology-history/how-these-three-startups-became-household-names ''Theinstitute'' 4 Sept 2015]</ref>  By 1985, sales were over $140 million, by 1990, $1.18 billion, and by 1995, Microsoft was the world's most profitable corporation, Allen and Gates were billionaires, and thousands of their past and present employees were millionaires.  Microsoft spawned a host of other companies in the Seattle area: millionaire employees often left to found their own companies, and Allen, after his own departure from Microsoft, became a major investor in new companies. Seattle-area companies that owe their origins at least indirectly to Microsoft include [[RealNetworks]], [[AttachmateWRQ]], [[InfoSpace]], and a host of others. Quite unlike Boeing, Microsoft has served as a catalyst for the creation of a whole realm of industry. Microsoft has also taken a much more active hand than Boeing in public works in the area, donating software to many schools (including the University of Washington).

Seattle has also been experiencing quite good growth in the [[biotechnology]] and coffee sectors, with international coffeeshop chain [[Starbucks]] originating from Seattle, and Seattle-based [[Nordstrom]] now a national brand.

Paul Allen, whose fortune was made through Microsoft though he had long since ceased to be an active participant in the company, was a major force in Seattle politics. He attempted a voter initiative to build the [[Seattle Commons]], a huge park in South Lake Union and the Cascade District, and even offered to put up his own money to endow a security force for the park, but it was defeated at the polls. (Allen then became the leader of the movement to redevelop this same area as a biotech center.) He did get a football stadium for the [[Seattle Seahawks]] through a successful statewide ballot initiative, and founded the [[Experience Music Project]] (originally intended as a [[Jimi Hendrix]] museum) on the grounds of Seattle Center.<ref>"Paul Allen Biography" [http://www.biography.com/people/paul-allen-9542239 ''BIO.'' (A&E Television Networks) 2016]</ref>

Seattle's bid for the world stage by hosting the [[World Trade Organization Ministerial Conference of 1999]] did not play out as planned. Instead, the city became the site of the [[World Trade Organization Ministerial Conference of 1999 protest activity|first great street confrontation]] between the [[anti-globalization movement]] and the [[World Trade Organization]] on November 30, 1999.<ref>{{Cite web |title=World Trade Organization Protests in Seattle |url=https://www.seattle.gov/cityarchives/exhibits-and-education/digital-document-libraries/world-trade-organization-protests-in-seattle}}</ref> While many of those in the streets, and most of those in the suites, were from out of town or even out of country, much of the groundwork of Seattle hosting both the event and the protests against it can be attributed to local forces. In 2001 the central city was the site of rioting, mixed with partying and racially motivated violence against European Americans in the [[Seattle Mardi Gras riot]]. Seattle along with other west coast cities experienced politically inspired confrontations and violence during the May Day marches in 2015.<ref>Victoria Cavaliere et al. (May 2, 2015). "Clashes erupt in U.S. West Coast cities during May Day marches" Reuters. Retrieved May 2, 2015. https://news.yahoo.com/may-day-march-seattle-turns-violent-three-police-034406128.html;_ylt=AwrC1C3t2kRVCzkAKwPQtDMD;_ylu=X3oDMTBydDI5cXVuBGNvbG8DYmYxBHBvcwM2BHZ0aWQDBHNlYwNzcg--</ref>

Seattle today is physically similar to the Seattle of the 1960s, while the demographics have begun to shift over time. It is still filled with single-family households, with whites making up 64.9% of the population (down from a high of 91.6% in 1960), Asians 16.3%, two or more races 8.8%, Black 6.8%, and Hispanic 7.2%.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |title=U.S. Census Bureau QuickFacts: Seattle city, Washington |url=https://www.historylink.org/File/9341 |access-date=July 31, 2023 |website=U.S. Census Bureau}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=1960 census: First census to show full effects of post-World War II b |url=https://www.historylink.org/File/9341 |access-date=July 31, 2023 |website=HistoryLink.org}}</ref> The city is politically still largely progressive, with about three quarters of a million people.<ref name=":0" />

In 2023, Seattle became the first city in the United States to ban discrimination based on [[caste]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.foxnews.com/us/seattle-becomes-first-us-city-ban-discrimination-based-caste|title=Seattle becomes first US city to ban discrimination based on caste|first=Paul|last=Best|date=21 February 2023|website=Fox News}}</ref>

==See also==
* [[Timeline of Seattle]]
* [[Seattle Police Department]]

==References==
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Much of the content of this page is from [[wikisource:Seattle: Booms and Busts|"Seattle: Booms and Busts"]], by Emmett Shear, who has granted blanket permission for material from that paper to be reused in Wikipedia.

==Bibliography==
{{see also|Timeline of Seattle#Bibliography}}
* Blackford, Mansel G. "Reform Politics in Seattle During the Progressive Era, 1902-1916." ''Pacific Northwest Quarterly'' 59.4 (1968): 177-185 [https://www.jstor.org/stable/40488542 online]
* Brown, Frederick L.  "Cows in the Commons, Dogs on the Lawn: A History of Animals in Seattle" (PhD dissertation, University of Washington ProQuest Dissertations Publishing,  2010. 3431517).
* Cockburn, Alexander, and Jeffrey St Clair. ''Five days that shook the world: Seattle and beyond'' (Verso, 2000). in 1999
* {{cite web
 | last =Crowley
 | first =Walt
 | date =1999-07-01
 | url =http://www.historylink.org/output.cfm?file_id=1444
 | title =Lake Washington Ship Canal -- A Snapshot History
 | work =HistoryLink Essay 1444
 | access-date =2006-03-11
}}
* {{cite book | last=Dolan | first=Maria |author2=True, Kathryn | year=2003 | title=Nature in the city: Seattle| publisher=Mountaineers Books | location=Seattle | isbn=0-89886-879-3<!-- (paperback)--> }}
* {{cite web
 |last=Dutch 
 |first=Steven, professor 
 |date=November 15, 2005 
 |url=http://www.uwsp.edu/geo/projects/geoweb/participants/dutch/VTrips/SeattleUGrd.HTM 
 |title=Seattle Underground 
 |work=Natural and Applied Sciences 
 |publisher=University of Wisconsin - Green Bay 
 |access-date=2007-03-18 
 |url-status=dead 
 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070514031151/http://www.uwsp.edu/geo/projects/geoweb/participants/dutch/VTrips/SeattleUGrd.HTM 
 |archive-date=May 14, 2007 
}}  
* Friedheim, Robert L. ''The Seattle general strike'' (University of Washington Press, 2018.) on 1919
* {{cite book
 | last =Jones
 | first =Nard
 | year =1972
 | title =Seattle| publisher =Doubleday
 | location =New York City
 | isbn =978-0-385-01875-3
}}
* Kim, Jae Yeon. "Racism is not enough: Minority coalition building in San Francisco, Seattle, and Vancouver." ''Studies in American Political Development'' 34.2 (2020): 195-215. [https://scholar.archive.org/work/hvp2mzqpn5exnl53e445z7z2pe/access/wayback/https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/7557642023E744D2E0FA68D800C8E08E/S0898588X20000115a.pdf/div-class-title-racism-is-not-enough-minority-coalition-building-in-san-francisco-seattle-and-vancouver-div.pdf online]
* Klingle, Matthew W. ''Emerald City: an Environmental History of Seattle'' (Yale University Press, 2008).
* {{cite web
 | last =Lange
 | first =Greg
 | date =2000-08-25
 | url =http://www.historylink.org/essays/output.cfm?file_id=2624
 | title =Black River disappears in July 1916
 | work =HistoryLink Essay 2624
 | access-date =2006-03-11
}}
* Levi, Margaret, and David Olson. "The battles in Seattle." ''Politics & Society'' 28.3 (2000): 309-329. In 1999.
* MacDonald, Norbert. "Population Growth and Change in Seattle and Vancouver, 1880-1960." ''Pacific Historical Review'' 39.3 (1970): 297-321. [https://www.jstor.org/stable/3637654 online]
* Mullins, William H. ''The Depression and the Urban West Coast, 1929-1933: Los Angeles, San Francisco, Seattle, and Portland'' (2000)
* Ochsner, Jeffrey Karl, ed. ''Shaping Seattle architecture: a historical guide to the architects'' (University of Washington Press, 2017).
* {{cite book|author1=Oldham, Kit|author2=[[Peter Blecha]]|title=Rising Tides and Tailwinds: The Story of the Port of Seattle, 1911-2011|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=fS_9tgAACAAJ|year=2011|publisher=U. of Washington Press|isbn=978-0-295-99131-3}}
* Ott, Jennifer. ''Olmsted in Seattle: Creating a Park System for a  Modern City'' ( Seattle: History Link and Documentary Media, 2019) [http://www.h-net.org/reviews/showrev.php?id=55529 online review]
* Reiff, Janice L. "Urbanization and the Social Structure: Seattle, Washington, 1852-1910" (PhD dissertation, University of Washington; ProQuest Dissertations & Theses,  1981. 8113474).
* Rony, Dorothy B. Fujita. ''American workers, colonial power: Philippine Seattle and the Transpacific West, 1919-1941'' (Univ of California Press, 2003).
* {{cite book
 | last =Sale
 | first =Roger
 | year =1976
 | title =Seattle: Past To Present
 | publisher =University of Washington Press
 | location =Seattle and London
 | isbn =978-0-295-95521-6
 | url =https://archive.org/details/seattlepasttopre00sale
 }}; a standard scholarly history
* Sell, Terry M . ''Wings of Power: Boeing and the Politics of Growth in the Northwest'' (U  of Washington Press, 2015) {{ISBN|9780295996257}}
* Smith, Jackie. "Globalizing resistance: The battle of Seattle and the future of social movements." ''Mobilization: An International Quarterly'' 6.1 (2001): 1-19. On 1999 [http://d-scholarship.pitt.edu/20593/1/Battle_in_Seattle_Smith_Mobilization_2000.pdf online]
* {{cite book | last=Speidel | first=William C. | author-link=Bill Speidel | title=Doc Maynard: the man who invented Seattle | year=1978 | publisher=Nettle Creek Publishing Company | location=Seattle | isbn=978-0-914890-02-7 | pages=[https://archive.org/details/docmaynardmanwho00spei/page/196 196&ndash;197, 200] | url=https://archive.org/details/docmaynardmanwho00spei/page/196 }} <br/>Speidel provides a substantial bibliography with extensive primary sources.
* {{cite book | last=Speidel | first=William C. | author-link=Bill Speidel | title=Sons of the profits; or, There's no business like grow business: the Seattle story, 1851-1901 | year=1967 | publisher=Nettle Creek Publishing Company | location=Seattle | isbn=9780914890003 | pages=[https://archive.org/details/sonsofprofitsort00spei/page/196 196&ndash;197, 200] | url=https://archive.org/details/sonsofprofitsort00spei/page/196 }} <br/>Speidel provides a substantial bibliography with extensive primary sources.
* Taylor, Quintard. "Blacks and Asians in a white city: Japanese Americans and African Americans in Seattle, 1890-1940." ''Western Historical Quarterly'' (1991): 401–429. [https://www.jstor.org/stable/970984 in JSTOR]
* Taylor, Quintard. "Black Urban Development: Another View: Seattle's Central District, 1910-1940." ''Pacific Historical Review'' (1989): 429-448 [https://www.jstor.org/stable/3640173 in JSTOR]
* Taylor, Quintard. "The Civil Rights Movement in the American West: Black Protest in Seattle, 1960-1970." ''Journal of Negro History'' (1995): 1-14. [https://www.jstor.org/stable/2717703 in JSTOR]
* {{cite book | last =Van Pelt | first =Robert | year =2001 | title =Forest giants of the Pacific Coast| url =https://archive.org/details/forestgiantsofpa0000vanp | url-access =registration | publisher =Global Forest Society in association with University of Washington Press | location =Vancouver and San Francisco | isbn =0-295-98140-7 <!--(pbk. : alk. paper)--> | pages =xxii, 181&ndash;185, 187&ndash;191 }}
* Webster, Janice Reiff. "Domestication and Americanization: Scandinavian women in Seattle, 1888 to 1900." ''Journal of Urban History'' 4.3 (1978): 275-290.

==External links==
* [http://www.historylink.org HistoryLink.org] ''Encyclopedia of Washington State History'' provides a collection of articles on Seattle and Washington State history, unparalleled in its niche.
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20080609021534/http://www.smithtower.com/History.html History of the Smith Tower]
* Seattle [https://web.archive.org/web/20060909033642/http://www.seattlehistory.org/ Museum of History and Industry].  With the Seattle Room at the [[Seattle Public Library]], hosts the most extensive archives about Seattle. Both have references to other archives.
* [http://www.washingtonhistory.org Washington State History Museum],  Washington State Historical Society
* {{cite EB1911 |wstitle=Seattle |volume=26 |pages=563–564}}
* [http://depts.washington.edu/civilr/index.htm Seattle Civil Rights and Labor History]. An extensive project directed by [[University of Washington]] professor James Gregory
*[http://content.lib.washington.edu/ University of Washington Libraries: Digital Collections]:
** [https://web.archive.org/web/20061006054921/http://content.lib.washington.edu/collections-by-subject.html Photographic collections grouped by subject]
*[http://www.vintageseattle.org/ Vintage Seattle]: Blog featuring collections of high resolution images from Seattle's past.
*[http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/news/local/seattle_history/ ''The Seattle Times'': Seattle History], a collection of articles and resources commemorating the 150th anniversary of the Denny Party's arrival

{{SeattleWA}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:History Of Seattle}}
[[Category:History of Seattle| ]]