Seattle's Underground Tour

A quirky bit of history in Seattle has given birth to an equally quirky walking tour in downtown Seattle. By east coast standards, Washington is a young state, becoming a US territory in 1872 and a state in November 1889. Just before statehood was official, on June 6 of that year, much of the downtown Seattle business district burned down. (Miraculously, no deaths.) When the city was rebuilt, wooden buildings were banned in the district; new buildings were built in brick. Because Seattle was essentially seven hills surrounded by water, there had been many problems with boggy streets, where horses would get stuck and at least one child drowned. The tidal flow wreaked havoc with the sewer system and with water pressures. In rebuilding, the decision was made to raise the city by as much as 22 feet.

In order to allow businesses to open as soon as possible, buildings were rebuilt with plain brick entrances at the current ground level, with more elaborate facades built to be used once the city streets were raised. In between the buildings, the initial streets were raised to the new levels, with the sidewalks next to the buildings at the old street level. So, to enter the buildings, people had to climb down ladders from the new street level and enter the buildings at the old ground level. Eventually, sidewalks at the new level were built, covering up the old sidewalks and entrances. But all of those old sidewalks and entrances are still there....

Enter Bill Speidel in 1954. Bill Speidel, a Seattle publicist, began trying to save Seattle's Pioneer Square, the original business district, from redevelopment. His promotion of the historic nature of the district and the uniqueness of Seattle's hidden city was directly responsible for Pioneer Square being designated a historic district, which encouraged business owners to save the buildings. More on the history here



Our tour guide, in blue, on the left, was knowledgeable, entertaining and loved bad puns. We took the tour on a bright afternoon, making the descent to the underground even more dramatic.



As shown above, access, for us, was from outside down a stairway. Easier than the old ladders! Some of the sidewalks have skylights in them (below, taken from underground), but fortunately, the parts of the underground city we went through (about 3% of the total underground) were well lighted.



Below, some of the former entrances, now bricked up. Others are still usable, and apparently, in parts of the underground that we didn't tour, the underground level is in active use.



A typical passageway on the underground tour.



There were many piles of junk. After the earthquake of 2001, a lot of debris was dumped in the underground passages.



Wall decor in the tunnels.



Definitely one of the more unique city tours we've been on. It reminded us in some ways of the underground tour of Roman ruins we've been on in a couple of cities. However, those tours didn't cover "seamstresses" who didn't sew and underground flush toilets. You'll have to take the tour to learn more!

Next: Pike Place Market....

-- Posted from my iPad!