CHAPTER 4:  HISTORY OF QUEEN ANNE AND THE STUDY AREA    

 

This history of settlement and development focuses largely on activity in the study area, broadly defined in today's terms as the area between Mercer Street and West Highland Drive, and from Queen Anne Avenue North to 9th Avenue West.

 

Pioneer Settlement:  1853-1870

Seattle's first white settlers arrived at Alki Point, far across Elliott Bay from Queen Anne, in 1851.  Word of Puget Sound's attractions drew many Oregon Trail pioneers from Portland and the Columbia River, even though the only routes were steamships or primitive wagon trails.  However, migration was not significant until the 1870s.  The 1853 census showed only 170 people in King County and 3,965 in all of the Washington Territory.  By 1860 there were 275 people, with 160 in Seattle.  By 1874 there were 1800 Seattle residents, and the population doubled or tripled frequently thereafter.^[2]2 

 

Queen Anne was several miles from what was then considered Seattle, around Yesler Way.  However, two of the most prominent families quickly claimed large areas to the north and became key to Queen Anne's development.  In 1853, David and Louisa Boren Denny claimed the area from Lake Union to Elliott Bay and from what is now Denny Way to Mercer Street.  This borders the study area on the west.  In the same year, Thomas Mercer laid claim to 320 acres directly north of Mercer Street, between Lake Union and Queen Anne Avenue, now the eastern edge of the study area..  He called his claim "Eden." 

 

The Mercer home was at the present site of Roy Street and Taylor Avenue North.  The Dennys, whose main house was in Seattle near Yesler Way, established a second home in a meadow where the Seattle Opera House now stands.  Much of Seattle's produce was grown in the large gardens on the Denny meadow.  An indication of the type of landscape they found is the tremendous effort needed to blaze a trail the few blocks between the two houses, through dense vegetation and forest.  Most of the hill was heavily forested, with cougar and other game flourishing into the 1860s.  In the drought year of 1868, a forest fire destroyed much of the timber on the south side.  Another indication of the conditions is that settlement slowed in these outlying claims in 1856, when natives burned many settlers' cabins.  After several years, however, settlers returned to the area.^[3]      

 

To the west of the study area, Dr. Henry Smith was the main settler in what was long known as Smith Cove but is now better known as Piers 90-91.  Numerous individuals claimed land in the Interbay area and around the west and north of Queen Anne Hill.   Denny, Mercer and Smith all held important posts in the new city, including judge, school superintendent, territorial legislator and county commissioner.

 

Denny Hill lay just south of what is now the central part of Queen Anne, making it relatively inaccessible.  The first major road, the Military Road (now Dexter Avenue), ran on the east side of Denny Hill and Queen Anne Hill, along Lake Union. 

 

Flourishing Development: 1870 - 1880 

Once the road to Seattle and Elliott Bay opened, the South Lake Union area flourished. Small farms and orchards appeared, as well as a coal port, where coal barged from Renton was transferred to rail for transport to ships on Elliott Bay. 

 

As Seattle's population grew from 400 in 1867 to 3,533 in 1880, it began to outgrow the bounds of downtown, and serious development began around Queen Anne.  The original homesteaders began platting their land and selling to newcomers.  Between 1869 and 1881 nine plats were filed, primarily on the south slope or the top of the hill.  David Denny filed the first plat in 1869 (D.T. Denny's North Seattle Addition), extending from Mercer Street to Denny Way and from Warren Avenue to the bay.  This was a large part of their original claim and covered all the area adjacent to the study area on the south.  Once begun, platting proceeded rapidly, with John Law platting on the top of the hill and Thomas Mercer on the southeast.  During the land boom of the 1870s, Denny subdivided many more acres.  Lots sold rapidly, going for $50 to $100; land for farming sold for $50 to $100 an acre.  However, sales were not rapid enough, and the increased taxes on his large holdings drove Denny into bankruptcy in the tough economic times of the 1890s.^[4]

 

The Denny property and the development process were described in Pitt's 1879 directory for Seattle:

 

Adjoining and occupying the westerly shore of Lake Union is the residence of David T. Denny, a handsome two story building, with fine grounds, outhouses and other improvements, displaying taste as well as competency.  The addition known as Denny's addition borders the lake and contains some of the best land on the lake.  It is divided into small tracts of five acres and more, as well as into lots which sell at fifty dollars and upwards.  Mr. Denny has also a fine tract of land three-fourths of a mile directly west and fronting the sound, which is a very desirable residence location known as North Seattle.^[5]   

North Seattle, later known as Belltown, south of Denny Hill, was the fastest developing part of Seattle in 1876-77.  However, the thick forests of Denny Hill were still a barrier to development, especially for the southwest portion of Queen Anne.  In March of 1875 a massive windstorm blew down thousands of trees, opening up vistas from Seattle to Eden Hill.  This event increased awareness of new neighborhoods and opportunities, and cleared the way for more development.

 

Increasing Status:  1880 - 1890

Queen Anne was still little settled and therefore little mapped during the 1880s.  An 1884 bird's eye view of the city by artist J.J. Stoner shows several groups of five to ten buildings in clearings in the forest north of Denny Way, with another cluster of buildings toward Lake Union.  What is now Mercer Street appears as a trail, with woods beyond.  An 1888 photographic panorama shows only scattered trees covering the clear-cut western half of the hill.  The following year the remainder of the hill was clear cut.

 

The 1880s kicked off Queen Anne's rapid development.  The city's population increased by nearly twelve times, from 3,533 in 1880 to 42,800 in 1890.  During this period, a new land use pattern began to develop.  In Seattle's early years, nearly everyone lived and worked in a relatively small area near Yesler Way and along the waterfront.  With growth, families moved away from the original downtown areas to close-in areas like First Hill, Capitol Hill and Queen Anne.  Land uses became increasingly separated, with industrial land to the south, middle and upper class residences to the east and north.  The wealthy moved to hilltops for the views.  The middle class filled surrounding neighborhoods, where they could live in comfortable detached homes, convenient to their jobs and downtown shopping.  Downtown was increasingly reserved for commerce and boarding houses and modest hotels for transients and laborers.  This development pattern was, and still is, reflected in Queen Anne's land uses--largely residential with a scattering of apartments and local institutions along the car lines, and nodes of neighborhood businesses.

 

By the end of the 1880s most of the hill was subdivided, primarily by developers new to the area rather than by early homesteaders.  Seattle's vitality and the coming of the railroad in 1883 attracted people from throughout the country who were looking for investment opportunities.  The South Slope was particularly popular because of the convenience of two street car lines from downtown, one along West Olympic Place to Kinnear Park and the other up Queen Anne Avenue.  Convenience was further increased by the completion of Mercer Street in 1885, connecting Temperance (Queen Anne) Avenue with Farm Street (now Aurora Avenue). 

 

The southern half of what is now known as Queen Anne was annexed into the city of Seattle in 1883.  About this time developers gave various names to the community.  Originally it was often called Eden or Eden Hill, the name given by Thomas Mercer.  It later came to be called Galer Hill, after the owner of a large home at the crest of the hill, where Galer Street now runs.  In 1885, real estate promoters began mentioning "Queen Anne Town", named for the predominant architectural style at the time.   After 1900 the area became simply Queen Anne or Queen Anne Hill.  Ironically, few of the original Queen Anne-style houses exist any longer.

 

Development occurred primarily through the sale of vacant lots, with the purchaser then arranging to build a house to his or her own taste.  An 1889 flyer describes the Queen Anne Second Addition with 30x120 view lots for $300 each, touting the 16-foot alleys and 74-foot avenues as well as the proximity of electric and cable transit.^[6] 

 

During this period the Mercer and Denny families completed the subdivision of their substantial properties.  Thomas Mercer filed his last two plats in 1882-83, Mercer's Addition and Mercer's Second Addition.  The Dennys continued to acquire and subdivide land, filing 11 more plats until their last plat in 1889; there, in 1892, they built a grand home just south of Mercer Street at 512 Temperance (Queen Anne) Avenue (this home was later converted to apartments).

Most development by the earliest homesteaders, as described above, was adjacent to the study area, not inside it.  The prime mover in development of the study area itself was a relative latecomer to Seattle.  George Kinnear came to Puget Sound from Illinois in 1874, purchasing property on the south side of Eden Hill.  In 1878 he brought his wife, Angie, and their two sons to Seattle permanently.  In 1884 they subdivided their land (Kinnear's Addition), which extended along West Olympic Place.  Their vigorous promotion soon turned it into a major residential district, taking advantage of the spectacular views.  Their elaborate turreted Queen Anne-style mansion was at the foot of the hill at 809 Queen Anne Avenue North.  George's brother John built an even more elaborate mansion nearby at 348 West Olympic Place, and others followed suit.

 

The Kinnears' most lasting imprint was their donation of 14-acre Kinnear Park on West Olympic Place to the city in 1887.  This provided recreation and enjoyment, but also preserved views and enhanced property values throughout their development.  At that time the waterfront came to the edge of the park; this was the city's first waterfront park and its second park of any kind.  It was quickly adopted by the community, who brought plants from their own gardens.  The 1903 Olmsted Brothers plan for Seattle parks saw it as a model: "...pleasing in detail and extremely valuable owing to the fine views which it commands over the Sound, it is a good example of the miles of similar bluff parks which it is hoped the city will eventually have."  The Olmsteds, however, criticized the "miscellaneous assortment" of plantings that made the park resemble the surrounding front gardens; they recommended that it be individualized and planted more like a park.^[7]     

Closer to the Kinnear home was Franklin Playground on West Prospect Street.  Kinnear deeded this parcel to the city in 1904 to protect from development the spring which Kinnear used to supply his home and gardens. 

 

An Improved Neighborhood:  1890 - 1910

During the following decade, Seattle's population nearly doubled to 80,671 in 1900.  The industrial boom was based largely on timber, fishing, shipbuilding and shipping raw materials throughout the country and across the Pacific.  The Great Northern Railway reached Seattle in 1893, making a new link with the East Coast.  Growth slowed temporarily due to the depression of 1893, which halted building activity in the East.  However, the discovery of gold in Alaska in 1897 ushered in a renewed boom and dramatic population growth.  The city tripled in population over the next decade, reaching 237,194 in 1910. 

 

In 1890, according to the Queen Anne News, the hill was primarily a forest of large trees, with a trail up what is now Queen Anne Avenue to Mount Pleasant Cemetery at the top of the hill.  Several areas, such as Prospect Street, were marshes, because of the underground springs.^[8]  The plat map of 1907, depicting conditions in 1900^[9], shows the street layout of the south slope of Queen Anne as being generally similar to that found today.  The area is entirely platted, in lots roughly 50 by 120 feet.  The street car lines extend up Queen Anne Avenue and Olympic Way.  Kinnear Park already has pathways and facilities laid out.  The most notable difference is the street names; most streets have women's names: Anna (5th Avenue), Marion (4th Avenue), and Stacy (8th Avenue).  Numbered streets were just beginning to replace these more historic names.  Houses are scattered throughout the area, but none are labeled as apartments. St. Paul's Episcopal Church was built just east of the Queen Anne Avenue/Roy Street intersection in 1892.

 

Queen Anne began to develop as a community of young families, with many children; the first school on top of the hill opened in 1895.  One out of three families owned their homes.  But single people lived in the area as well.  The 1900 census revealed that, even though many families had four or five children, one of seven Queen Anne households took in boarders.  The city's rapid growth had an impact.  By 1910, home ownership had fallen to 18 percent city wide.  The number taking in boarders had almost doubled, to one quarter, possibly due to an influx of single people and newly married couples.^[10]

 

In the year 1890 alone, 151 new homes were built in Queen Anne, mostly on the lower South Slope.  Most cost less than $2,000; one quarter were between $2,000 and $4,000 and a few cost more than $4,000.  By 1896 the South Slope had been entirely cleared of trees, leaving a bare landscape.  Straight, graded dirt streets, generally ignoring the topography, ran through the vacant land, with houses scattered on small lots.  Land prices increased with demand, with large view lots or corner lots going for as much as $6,000.  While the older established areas of Capitol Hill and First Hill had comparable prices, this was considerably higher than prices in Ballard or Green Lake.^[11]

 

More pronounced commercial areas developed at this time.  Stores to serve community needs clustered along streetcar lines, especially at key intersections such as Queen Anne Avenue and Galer Street, where the large Augustine and Kyer grocery store was located.  Numerous small groceries, meat markets and other shops for daily needs were at the bottom of Queen Anne Avenue near Roy and Mercer streets.^[12]

 

From the earliest days of David Denny and Thomas Mercer, Queen Anne had had a tradition of civic activism, both as city officials and as boosters for their own community.  Residents pushed city government for what they wanted--and generally got it.  Development brought strident demands for city improvements, especially better roads.  By 1898 all the north-south streets from Denny Way to West Highland Drive had been graded, and most of the east-west streets as well.  Roads were unpaved, however, except for wood planking in some places.  Later, clay brick and cobblestones were used.  The famed Counterbalance cable car began running straight up Queen Anne Avenue to the top of the hill in 1905; because of the steepness of the hill, the earlier streetcar had turned on West Highland Drive.

 

In 1891 the community joined together to lobby for improved water and sewer service, fire protection and improvements to Kinnear Park.  Not surprisingly, George Kinnear, primary developer of the South Slope, was leader of the effort.  During the 1890s, most of the South Slope acquired street lights, water, and electricity and home telephones.

 

Another community push for city improvements began in 1906, with the effort to develop a scenic boulevard to take advantage of the hilltop views.  This was accomplished by designating West Highland Drive as a boulevard, even though it did not meet the 150-foot minimum width called for by the Park Department's Olmsted Brothers Plan. 

 

A major event of this era was the Alaska-Yukon-Pacific Exposition, held in 1909 on the University of Washington grounds.  This had a direct impact on Queen Anne, which became a temporary residence for fair visitors wishing to be away from the bustle of the city.  The Chelsea Hotel was built across from Kinnear Park to accommodate visitors.  The Kinnears built their own hotel, the Delamar, for their private guests.

 

The War Years: 1911-1920

The decade from 1910 to 1920 saw rapid changes in the city and on Queen Anne.  Seattle's size, location and natural resources made it a major presence on the West Coast and trade across the Pacific boomed.  World War I diverted both shipping and shipbuilding from the East Coast, leading to rapidly increasing employment in shipyards, airplane manufacturing, and sawmills.  Manufacturing employment ballooned from 12,429 to 40,843 in only five years.^[13]  Population grew by one third, to 315,000.  The population influx affected all neighborhoods, as hotels, boarding houses and other temporary lodgings appeared. 

 

However, a large number of single family homes were built throughout Seattle during this period, and by 1920 home ownership had soared to 50 percent.^[14]  The number of boarders declined, as developers began to meet the demand through apartments.  On Queen Anne, the Carnegie library was constructed on top of the hill in 1914.  Another important addition in 1912 was Redding Hall, later Queen Anne Hall, on West Roy Street.  This building served a variety of functions, including a ballroom, dance studio, union hall, badminton club and newspaper office, until it became the home of a theater company in 1965.^[15]  

 

The Booming Twenties: 1921-1930

Seattle's population growth slowed significantly during the 1920s.  After years of rapid growth, it increased by only 16 percent, to 366,000 in 1930; Queen Anne had 30,000 residents.  The number of manufacturing companies fell slightly, and the number of manufacturing jobs fell dramatically from the wartime boom years.  

 

In spite of this, the built environment changed rapidly, finally catching up with the population growth of previous decades.  Much of what is thought of as the core of downtown Seattle was built in the 1920s.  The same is true of the city's older neighborhoods.  Increasing construction of all kinds, including public works, hospitals, factories and offices, led to higher wages and a growing demand for housing.  Permits for single family houses increased from 1,431 in 1920 to 3,618 in 1925.^[16] 

 

It was during this decade that the business district at the bottom of the hill, at Queen Anne Avenue and Roy Street, reached a form similar to that seen today.  What is now Seattle Center began to develop on the former Denny Meadow, with construction in 1927 of the Civic Auditorium, the Ice Arena, and Civic Field.  One-story brick commercial buildings appeared along Mercer Street, 1st Avenue West, Queen Anne Avenue and West Roy Street.  The Kuay Garage opened in 1920 as one of the largest garages in Seattle, serving surrounding apartments and businesses. 

 

Much of the development discussed here had occurred before 1923, when Seattle's first zoning code was enacted.  Lot coverage and building size had been determined largely by the market, financing and the developer's and designer's tastes.  In some cases, the surrounding community exerted influence as well.  For example, neighbors on West Highland Drive joined together to purchase the block between 1st and 2nd avenues to prevent construction of an unidentified project they did not want; this site, with the existing foundation, later became the Victoria Apartments.^[17]  Across the street, neighbors throughout the area contributed to the purchase of Kerry Park in order to protect the parcel from development.^[18]  It was donated to the city in 1927, and is named for the Albert S. Kerry family, who donated $20,000 toward its purchase.   

 

Initial zoning for the southwest Queen Anne area was predominantly R-2, which allowed apartment houses, boarding houses, hotels and clubs as well as single family dwellings.  Most of the South Slope had a height limit of 40 feet, with a 65 foot limit on some major streets.  This zoning led to a considerable number of two- to four-story apartment buildings scattered among single family homes.  Before zoning regulated business locations, a small number of businesses were also found on residential streets, such as Dukelow's Grocery on West Olympic Place. 

 

The Depression and War:  1931-1945

The Depression struck Seattle even harder than many parts of the country.  The region's reliance on the lumber industry meant that national declines in building activity had severe impacts locally.  Some single family development continued, but commercial and multifamily development generally came to a standstill.  Fred Anhalt, one of the city's most prolific apartment builders, recounted the Depression's drastic impact on his business:

 

When the depression started it wasn't really bad at first.  You just kind of grew into it.  Everybody had a little money saved and they just figured it wouldn't last, that everything would be okay soon.  Of course it wasn't and everything just generally went to hell after a while.  The banks closed and anybody with money saved there lost it, and nobody could afford to pay a person to do any work.  We tried to hold onto the apartment houses as long as we could, but pretty soon we were running them with less than half the units filled, and those didn't pay their rent.  We would have been better off if everybody had left.  At least we could have turned the heat off then.^[19]

 

His experience was shared by many commercial and apartment investors.  After decades of rapid change, Queen Anne's physical environment remained largely unchanged for 15 years.  Construction did not begin again until after World War II.  However, more subtle physical changes occurred, due to the tremendous economic and social impacts of the Depression and the buildup of local industries during the war.  Many large houses sheltered more than one family, either with or without structural modifications; records show numerous homes on Queen Anne Avenue and West Olympic Place housed three to six families at this time.  Queen Anne also benefited from federal projects; the Works Progress Administration built numerous stairways and park improvements, including several within the study area. 

 

Rapid Changes: 1946-1994

The years after World War II were marked by rapid development in the 1950s-70s, instigated by the post-war economic boom and the 1962 Seattle World's Fair at the old Denny Meadow site.  Modern architectural styles and construction technology joined with a new zoning code to change Queen Anne's streetscapes dramatically.  Changes were most notable on the desirable view properties on Queen Anne Avenue and West Olympic Place.   

 

The zoning code enacted in 1955 significantly altered development parameters.  New regulations allowed high-rise buildings in much of the study area, and required off-street parking.  Apartment developers since the 1920s had provided some parking spaces; the new requirements significantly changed the emphasis, making garages, driveways and curbcuts a major element of the streetscape where before they had been present, but hidden.  The landscaped courtyards and attractive entries that had graced many streets were rare in newer buildings.

 

After World War II the International Style came to dominate local apartment architecture.  The emphasis on concrete and glass, without ornament, contrasted sharply with the existing ornamented brick structures.  Even more noticeably, the large scale of newer buildings, a result of zoning changes, economics and technological advances, dwarfed the surrounding human-scaled structures.  Increased development pressure led to a community rebellion against high-rise zoning in the 1960s.  The extended battle culminated in the 1970s with court decisions requiring the city to evaluate the environmental consequences of proposed projects.  While five-to-six story buildings continue to be built, no new high-rises have been added since that time.