Long before the first white settlers founded the city of Seattle, the land was first inhabited by Duwamish Native Americans. Then, in 1851 a group of settlers who called themselves the Denny Party moved on to the land, naming their town New York. Entering a period of prosperity, the new city was moved and renamed Seattle, rapidly expanding into a flourishing metropolis. In the first half of 1889, it was estimated that 500 wood buildings welcoming over 1,000 residents were built each month. But all came crashing down on June 6, 1889, when a devastating fire leveled over a 100 acres of land in the business district. Assisted by the wooden buildings, the fire caused millions of dollars of repair damages. But instead of falling into long-term despair, Seattle used the fire to spark improvements. Reconstructing the wharves, a professional fire department and municipal water works were also created to help prevent future calamities. Now over 160 years later, Seattle has continued to remain a prosperous city, and has become a city on the forefront of innovation, inspiration, and trade.
Further Reading: (Click on each picture for more details)*
Sources:
Seattle Government Website – https://www.seattle.gov
Photos:
Top Left – By Seattle Municipal Archives from Seattle, WA [CC BY 2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons
Top Right – By Ikiwaner (Own work) [GFDL (http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html) or CC-BY-SA-3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/)], via Wikimedia Commons
Bottom Left, Above – The Great Seattle Fire (In the Public Domain, Author Unknown)
Bottom Left, Below – After the Fire (In the Public Domain, Author Unknown)
Featured Image/ Bottom Right – By Seattle Municipal Archives from Seattle, WA [CC BY 2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons
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