Map showing territorial growth of the city of Seattle (1891) |
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| Date: | 1891 |
| Author: | City Engineer, Seattle |
| Dwnld: | Full Size (24.34mb) |
| Source: | WSU |
| Print Availability: | |
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| See our Prints Page for more details | |
A curious and exciting map of Seattle, Washington that wouldn't look out of place on the back of the greatest box of cereal that you had ever eaten.
This map originally accompanied the 1891 annual report of Albro Gardner, Seattle's city engineer, and tasks itself with showing the growth of the city of Seattle. How well it does this, I'll leave to people more familiar with Seattle's history. But as for aesthetics, it gets a big thumbs up from me.
A note of thanks:
This image is from the Washington State University Libraries, who are to be commended for doing the right thing and sharing their maps. It is my hope that other universities will come to share this progressive vision for the constructive stewardship of their collections. If you'd like to show your support for their level-headed and forward-thinking policies, one thing that I know would be apreciated would be to donate to their cause.
For more map resources and imagery from this period in Seattle's history, check out the Washington State Historical Society's website.
Yeah, this really shows how much the layout of Seattle was changed by our ancestors. Look at the Duwamish, the unfilled tide flats south of “downtown,” and no Harbor Island, not to mention again the Ship Canal. Our home in West Seattle was build in 1911 (happy 100th anniversary), but that neighborhood does not even show up on this map, which ends well north of our current location. Very interesting. Thanks for posting!
Would be cool if someone smart in this kind of thing could overlay the current road network.
It took me a minute to recognize the map, since the Lake Washington Ship Canal now connects Elliot Bay to Lake Washington.