Seattle's Waterfront

Seattle,s waterfront has served as a central hub for people, transportation, and commerce since time immemorial. A low natural shoreline provided the Duwamish-Suquamish people with excellent canoe access to permanent villages and seasonal fishing camps. High bluffs served as a sacred place for tribal members, final journey to the spirit world. When the first settlers arrived in the 1850s, Seattle,s shoreline began to change drastically. Emerald hills covered with dense forests were logged for timber to make way for the new city. As time passed, Seattle constructed a log seawall, wooden sidewalks, wharfs, buildings, streets, railroad trestles, and eventually, a massive concrete viaduct over the original aquatic lands, changing the natural environment to a built environment. Today, Seattle,s shoreline continues to change as the city demolishes the viaduct, rebuilds the seawall, and creates an inviting new waterfront that all will enjoy for generations to come.

Author Joy Keniston-Longrie's family arrived in Seattle in 1884 and was associated with the Alaska Steamship Company and the Mosquito Fleet. A University of Washington graduate and author of Arcadia's Images of America: Seattle's Pioneer Square, Joy combined her passion for history and environmental change with her extensive experience working on the Alaskan Way Viaduct-Seawall Replacement Project to create this insightful pictorial history of Seattle's waterfront.