History of Seattle
The city of Seattle was founded in 1850 when 22 settlers established a permanent settlement in what is now Pioneer Square. Before then, the area was inhabited by the Duwamish tribe. Because of the 1859 Seattle Gold Rush and natural wealth, Seattle rapidly expanded into the most largest and important commercial, industrial, naval, and cultural center in the American West. and it's history is marked by inner-city political and racial violence in addition to inner-metro (Federal Yard and Pioneer Square or Seattle and Alki for example) and regional (Tacoma, Los Angeles, and San Francisco for example) rivalries over industries such as gold mining, film, and naval storage. After Okanagan was admitted into the Union as the 35th state in 1861, Seattle was chosen as and became the state's capital city after the original designation, Ellensburg, was caught ablaze.
After developing it's own and acquiring much of Hollywood's after the 1913 California earthquake, Seattle would become world-famous for it's motion picture industry but always considered as the second fiddle to Hollywood's fame. World War II revitalized the city's collapsed ship-building industry as well as bringing in high-tech aeronautic engineering and construction. Seattle is also famous as a center of musical production.
After the American Civil War, Seattle's government would come under the tight grip of a Republican political machine until the turn of the 20th century when it was uprooted by a strong popular socialist movement. Repeated attempts to crush such politics has given the city notoriety for it's cycle between mainstream liberal and far left progressive politics. Today, Seattle's far left has persisted into modern day through progressivism, social democracy, and democratic socialism. Seattle's population growth slowed in the 1960's as mostly middle-class and white families moved to surrounding suburbs. Much of Seattle was [and to an extent, still is] plagued by gang activity, mafia warfare, police corruption, crumbling housing infrastructure, homelessness, violent racial and class tensions, and a frotteuristic culture. Revitalization efforts pushed by local governance and gentrification has rehabilitated much of the city's social ills but the city has yet to be relieved of it's gritty harsh blue collar image.
Early History
The land that is now currently Seattle has been inhabited for at least 4,000 years since the end of the last glacial period. In the mid 19th century, the people now known as the Duwamish Tribe and Suquamish along with other associated Coast Salish tribes and people's were living in some 13 villages within the present-day city limits of Seattle. Continuous human habitation within the city limits is evident on the western bank of the Duwamish river, dating back to the 6th century C.E. By 1800 however, the site, for unknown reasons, was abandoned.
George Vancouver was the first European to visit the Seattle area in May 1792 during his 1791-95 expedition to chart the Pacific Northwest.
The founding of the city of Seattle is typically dated to the arrival of the Harrison Group on November 16, 1850, however, Lucas Alderson and Joseph Collins (British subjects who immigrated to Oregon Country despite the 1846 treaty) had already established a small farming settlement named New Plymouth in what is now currently the neighborhood of Tamworth. The landing site of the Harrison Group, Olympic Point, was quickly abandoned because of it's rough terrain and volatile waves and they moved towards the current site of Pioneer Square, on the southeast coast of Lake Haahchu. Naming the area Kniegelenk after it's joint-like geography, the settlers quickly began to spread out upon the isthmus, divvying up the land among families, and creating a bartering system with meat and produce. A year later, on November 13, 1851, the Denny Party would land at Alki Point. The two settlements would remain isolated before establishing relations in 1852. After a harsh winter, much of New York Alki's population would resettle in Kniegelenk, but many would stay in New York Alki (which would later rename to just Alki). It's precarious resource situation would make it dependent on Kniegelenk's produce until the 1859 Gold Rush. Kniegelenk and the New Plymouth settlement would generally remain knowledgeable, but isolated of each other, until the Gold Rush. Georg Harrison and Lucas Alderson were the first commissioners of Pierce County after it's creation in 1852.
Seattle's early economy was dependent upon the timber industry, shipping logs to San Francisco. A climax forest of trees up to 1,000–2,000 years old and towering as high as nearly 400 ft (122 m) covered much of what is now Seattle. Today, none of that size remain anywhere in the world. Seattle would grow to dominate the timber industry after the construction of the first steam sawmill in the region by Manfred Harrison. The timber industry would face an explosion of profit after much of Seattle's forest would be removed to create living space for gold prospectors settling the region.
Not being able to construct a proper port up until the 20th century, much of the region's port based trade would travel into Seattle, depriving Alki of monetary inflow, but this would quickly change as Alki became the secondary (the gap between Alki and Seattle being minimal) landing site for gold prospectors. Though this would mean that Seattle no longer competed with Tacoma for regional hegemony, Alki would become it's main rival. On the other hand, Tamworth would only see stark growth during the Klondike Gold Rush in which it's economic woes from the 1893 Panic were remedied and it'd transform from a village into a small city.
William Bakker, the first man to find gold within the region, capitalized off of Seattle's surging economy; buying swathes of land. This would include much of the real estate that composes of modern Downtown Seattle and the University of the Territory of Washington (which would later become the University of Okanagan). Bakker would oversee much of the mining industry and would quickly become the regions wealthiest citizen. Real estate records show that before the gold rush, businesses were evenly spread out among the land claims, but afterwards they began to form on or adjacent to Bakker's land.
Contrasting the harsh conservative moral and legal crackdowns of Seattle, Alki and New Plymouth's economies would benefit from the introduction of prostitution of liquor, prostitution, and gambling. For Alki, some say that Maynard realized that something was needed to attract the loggers and sailors who operated in Seattle, who formed the majority of Seattle's population. Early Alki and New Plymouth would become known as the weekend getaways for Seattle's laborious population.
Despite previously friendly relations, the onslaught of prospectors sparked much tension that would boil into the Battle of Seattle and greater Puget Sound War.
In 1867, a young French Canadian Catholic priest named Francis X. Prefontaine arrived in Alki and decided to establish a parish there. At that time, Alki had no Catholic church and only a 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 Alki's first Catholic church at Fifteenth Avenue and Atlantic Street, on the site where the present-day Prefontaine Building stands.
Railroad rivalry
The Northern Pacific Railway announced that they had selected the [at the time] village of Tacoma to be the site of it's Western terminus over Seattle for it's transcontinental railroad on July 14, 1873. It seem to be that the railroad barons had gambled on the advantage that they could gain from purchasing the cheap land on and around the hypothetical terminus instead of bringing it to the already established city of Seattle. Despite this, Seattle made numerous attempts at establishing it's own railroad or leverage one to come to the city, and these efforts would culminate into William Bakker's Transnational Columbian Railway (the TCR); a fledgling railway intended for the Puget Sound region but aspiring to serve the entire continent. Through a series of public relations campaigns and clearing of land on the Seattle waterfront, construction would swiftly begin in September 12 of the same year. Bakker ensured that construction be swift and efficient, attempting to close the gap of strength between him and other rail companies in the nation due to his late start. Much of the laborers for Bakker's rail would be settled gold prospectors and more controversially, Chinese emigrants. The Transnational Columbian Railway Company would win Seattle's position for freight transport, superseding the efforts of Northern Pacific. Bakker's efforts to construct a railroad so quickly, though efficient, meant the eviction of many residents, the draining of many of the region's natural resources, and operational encroachment onto Native-American territory. The initial railway spanned from Bakersville to Walla Walla.
As construction progressed and the cost of construction grew, the primarily [German] white labor base was steadily replaced by migrant Chinese workers. Paid less and treated as more expendable, the employing the Chinese was considered a net positive for Bakker. This left many white workers unemployed while the traditionally white Labor District (modern Bakersville) developed into an ethnically Chinese neighborhood. Bakker, a Dutchman himself, ensured that no Dutch were effected by the displacements. Despite that, any white (including Dutch) workers left in Bakker's employment quickly shuffled into union organization. The most prominent of these unions was the Federated Western Worker's Union of America (FWWUA). These events would lead to a rash of union organization across all sectors of industry in Seattle as well as embedding long-lasting ethnic tension among Seattle's German, Dutch, and Chinese populations.
The Great Fire of Hallows' Eve
By early 1875, construction of the Labor District-Walla Walla rail had been finished and construction of a railyard was nearing completion. Construction was periodically interrupted by instances of racial violence against rail workers. Completion of the main rail depot (now Seattle Metro's Industrial & Concord station) occured in October of 1875, but would be quickly done away with.
Seattle's rapid industrial expansion would come to a grinding halt with the Great Fire of Hallows' Eve. On the 16 of October, 1875 at approximately 3 AM, Robert Evans, an arsonist responsible for the Duwamish River bear burnings, was employed by the Northern Pacific Railway to sabotage the beginning operations of the Transnational Columbian Railway. Having broke into the rail depot sometime in the middle of the night, he ignited a fuel container within the structure. The flames quickly enveloped the building and would spread out further, burning 24 city blocks. Much of the Labor District was built with bricks and were only left singed but many buildings adjacent to the depot on the westside were constructed primarily out of wood and composed of most of the damage done by the fire. Two of the cities wharves were also damaged.
Despite the fire's great damage to city infrastructure and many businesses, rebuilding efforts were expeditious. New zoning codes implemented after the fire resulted in a Bakersville of brick buildings rather than wood. On the part of Francis Hopkins, Seattle's most prominent city planner, William Bakker, and with support from mayor Georg Harrison, organized for many buildings to be reconstructed to mimic the architecture style of Brick Gothic. The three all believed that utilizing a unique architectural style would motivate reconstruction efforts and would advertise Seattle as a idiosyncratic city worth settling and investing into. In a single year, the region's population doubled from 21,000 to 43,000. This was largely because of the enormous amount of construction jobs opened up in the city.
Robert Evans, the perpetrator of the initial arson, would remain unapprehended until May of 1876 for both the Duwamish River bear burnings and Great Fire.
Ethnic Riots of the late 1800's
The start of the fire was originally presumed to had been a work-related accident, but that conclusion was quickly rebuked as no workers would had been allocated at such an early part of the day. An investigation would be conducted by both local authority and the TCR. As reconstruction continued into 1876, ethnic animosity would fuel rumor of the legitimate perpetrator. It would become common theory that the arson was a dishevelled German who was fired by the TCR. Ethnic relations would further deteriorate as the western portion of the Labor District began to be populated by Dutch and Chinese who had lost their homes in the fire. German animosity of the two groups would spread to new arrivals to Seattle. Bakker himself did not permit the employment of many Germans and numerous other reconstruction efforts were also organized by Dutchman. Fearing having had come all the way to Seattle just to be outworked and underpayed by Chinese and Dutchman, the general populace of Seattle began to resent the two populations. The Dutch would begin to be characterized as racially traitorous and as they developed their own businesses in the nieghborhood, as greedy and miserly. Assaults on Dutch and Chinese occurred (such as the Ninth Avenue Brawl), but were infrequent.
February Worker Riot and Formation of the Amber Guard
Despite still holding great bias for fellow Dutchmen and the laborious Chinese, Bakker believed that there was economic incentive not only for himself, but the city, to hire new arrivals as a part of the reconstruction effort. Introduction of non-Dutch and Chinese laborers began to personalize animosity between the two groups. Before long, the two groups would break out into fighting. The first instance of violence would be the assault of a Dutch manager by a mob of 16 workers who accused him of extending their work hours without accomodating increased pay. Though 15 of the workers were put on trial for the crime, one of the workers, Abraham Schmidt, was lynched in retribution by a protest mob of 8 Dutchmen, including the assaulted manager. Despite swift police action in apprehending the members of the lynch mob, protests over the string of violence would begin after the recovery of Schmidt's body. Protests were most violent on construction sites operated by Bakker. Reconstruction efforts being disorganized once again by worker unstress caught the ire of local government. Though Seattle's rail line was properly functional, by the point of February, many buildings were still untouched or partially rebuilt. Directed by Mayor Harrison and Chief of Police Dickson, law enforcement would be deployed city-wide to enforce reconstruction under equitable working conditions, albeit without the coordination with union organizers.
This motion by the Seattle Police Department near-immediately angered Dutch managers, Bakker in particular. Despite police presence, tensions were still great. Physical violence decreased but verbal altercations often had to be stopped by with police intervention. Majority of German and English heritage, police patrol of reconstruction sites would begin to tilt into the favor of non-Dutch/Chinese laborers; alienating the Dutch minority within the police department. By 22 of February, ethnic tension had made it's infection into the previously racially neutral police department apparent. Violence would begin to again flare up again between laborers, and would reach a boiling point. Ironically, despite being the most significant and violent of worker encounters, it's starting point is vague and disputed. Though historical documentation from the time attributed it to a group of Chinese workers assaulting two white officers for mocking them, more contemporary works contribute the start of violence to officers who had accidentally discharged a weapon while harassing a group of laborers [of unknown ethnic origin]; causing a mass hysteria among all the workers. Violence quickly ensued after the firing of gunshots and the quick spread of the news roused tensions on other worksites into full-scale violence, including that of police-on-police violence on the lines of the already established ethnic and social strata. For the exception of one work site which subdued it's violence within an hour, but the rest would encroach their violence into civillian centers: businesses, homes, and other civillian services became additional sites of violence. Thomas York, one of the anti-Dutch rioters, would utilize an improvised incendiary device with liquor to partially destroy a Chinese home. After his arrest, the device would be dubbed as the York Spirit and would become iconic to anti-Dutch and Chinese symbolism in addition to greater use in warfare. Overall, violence would last until late night, only stopping due to the intervention of the Okanagan Army National Guard and general fatigue. The riot itself would result in the death of 69 people and the burning and vandalism cost approximately $20,000 ($423,000 in 2021) in property damage. In the aftermath, Chief Dickson would resign and the neighborhood limits of Bakersville would be placed under direct military authority (martial law). The riots and following martial law would also see the quickened expansion of Seattle's court system and the installation of both a naval port on the shores of Elliot Bay and the installation of an army base paralell of Olympus Point across Lake Haahchu. Seattle's economy deeply waned after the combined events of the fire and riots. Robert Evans would be apprehended by army infantry and William Bakker would abandon efforts in reconstruction; his son, Donald inheriting the buckling company.
The resignation of Chief Dickson continued with the resignation of the majority of the police department's Dutch officers, perceiving the police department as a destitute and racially biased insitution. Many of these Dutchmen would begin to form militias with Dutch and Chinese laborers. Organizational effort by Donald Bakker would leade to the militas becoming unified under one movement; the Amber Guard, named so after the Dutch House of Orange and the characterization of Chinese's yellow skin; Amber. The Amber Guard in it's inception was essentially only secuirty details for homes and worksites, but the events of the later Seattle riot of 1883 would transform them into a pro-active political bloc. The orignal incarnation of the Amber Guard was in heavy non-violent conflict with the U.S army and local law enforcement and was one the main pillars that upheld Dutch power in the economic sector. The riots are also considered the primary reason for Georg Harrison's only narrow victory in the mayoral election of the same year.
Seattle Nativist Riot of 1882
The late 1870's and early 1800's saw a drastic increase of Seattle's immigrant population. The majority of Seattle's immigrant population was primarily composed of Irish, Italian and German Catholics, which deeply contrasted with the Protestant population of Seatle. A Nativist politcal movement akin to that of the Know Nothings began to grow prominence within Seattle's Republican political machine. By the 1882, 4 of the 12 seats on the city council were occupied by members of the Nativist movement. Seattle's new religious divide was now as topical a political issue as the poor race relations which caused the city to be placed under martial law.
Despite being a minority in local government, Nativist policies such as compulsory reading of the Protestant Bible in schools
Seattle Chinese Riot of 1883
The Seattle riot took place on the 17 and 18 of February, 1883, primarily in the neighborhoods of Federal Yard, Leschi, and Capitol Hill. Conversation among residents to expell Chinese residents had existed since their settling of the neighborhoods after the Great Fire. Debate ranged from forcing them back into Bakersville after reconstruction, but after the temultous 1876 riots, the ending of martial law by 1878, the growing economic slump of the decade, and the 1882 Chinese Exclusion Act, talks radicalized; proposing the legitimacy of forced deportation back to China. Many members of the community opposed outright deportation and held small counter-gatherings, but numerous meetings about organizing both expulsion and deportation persisted, with the penultimate gathering taking place at Paris Theater. The morning of February 17, following the Paris Theater meeting, groups of armed men would enter the homes of Chinese residents under the false pretenses of investigating city health regulations and the investigation of potentially treasounous activity. Afterwards, the men would begin to evict the residents out from their homes and would begin the expulsion process via steamship and train. The Amber Guard and Seattle Home Guard protected the Chinese by forcing away the mob of men. The mob put up a defiant resistance, many of the men themselves being either trained militamen, veterans, or workers who participated in numerous labor strikes. By the afternoon, the combined efforts of the Home Guard and allied milita were unable to subdue the mob, however many of the Chinese residents themselves were able to flee the brutality. As efforts drawed out and worried about the threat of another enforcement of martial law over the city, Mayor Harrison organized his own milita, himself as leader, to intervene in the violence. By evening, the Seattle Home Guard was able to overwhelm much rebellion, and by the end of the riot, 19 had died (Mayor Harrison contributing to 2), with many more wounded. The efforts of Harrison's militia in actuality did little to affect the outcome of the riot but it did cement his legacy as a radical proponent of racial equality, and would see the establishment of the Governor's Milita (clarification: Harrison was never governor of Okanagan State), a radical paramiliary group whhich would see it's operations last up until the early 21st century. In total, only 65 Chinese left Seattle by ship, but in spite of it's quick end, President Grover Cleveland still ordered the city of Seattle to be put under martial law.
Klondike Gold Rush
Seattle would face another period of economic boom after the discovery of gold in the Klondike region of Canada. Suffering economic woes after the Panic of 1893 and to a lesser extent, the Panic of 1896, a campaign organized by Donald Bakker and Erastus Brainerd publicized the described "ton of gold" which had arrived to Seattle's Sommerfeld Wharf on the steamship Pittsburgh. This campaign both essentially started the gold rush and designated Seattle as the central supply center and jumping off point for transportation between itself, Alaska, and the Yukon gold deposits for hopeful pioneers.
The gold rush coincided with increased German immigration to Seattle. Capitol Hill, which held the largest concentration of Germans in the city, would come to be known as "the German Rome". The immigrants would begin to dominate numerous work sectors and promulgate the mass majority of Seattle's brewery scene, including many companies such as Richter, Steinwasser, and Heben. The introduction of these primarily working-class immigrants would dominate the city's infant Socialist political scene.
Beginning of the 20th century
Renewed Competition with Alki
By 1901, Alki (which had changed it's name from New York Alki in 1899) had constructed it's very first point. This new port signified the beginning of the end of Seattle's monopoly over sea trade in the Puget Sound. Building an image out of itself as a premier trading site, Alki would begin the large scale construction of numerous wharves lining it's northern and western beaches. By 1904, 24 additional wharves were built and the commerical inflow to Seattle had begun to diverge into Alki.