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Sea wall Construction on Alaskan Way near Colman Dock, Seattle, 1936
Sea wall Construction on Alaskan Way near Colman Dock, Seattle, 1936
TitleSea wall Construction on Alaskan Way near Colman Dock, Seattle, 1936
PhotographerStaff Photographer
Seattle Post-Intelligencer
Date1936
CaptionIn the early 1930s, Seattle' Railroad Avenue was a treacherous waterfront thoroughfare perched above the tides on rotting pilings. The roadway was key to Seattle commerce because it connected wharves, warehouses and railroads. As the road deteriorated, it was harder and harder to move goods in the port. A concrete sea wall, built in 1911-1916 protected the central business district from Washington to Madison Streets. In 1934, work began on the northern stretch of sea wall, between Madison and Broad Streets. Between 1934 and 1936, the newly-protected waterfront was filled in and paved as Alaskan Way.

In this image, a crowd of men inspects the sea wall construction just north of Colman Dock, at the foot of Marion Street. This would have been near the southern end of the new sea wall.
NotesSigns in image include: Puget Sound Freight Lines.
Waterfront Meat Market.

Handwritten on sleeve: SEATTLE, STREETS, Alaskan Way, construction of sea wall.

Date photograph was filed at the Seattle Post-Intelligencer (date of photograph and file date may differ by a month or more): April 30, 1936.
SubjectsSea walls--Washington (State)--Seattle; Construction--Washington (State)--Seattle; Crowds--Washington (State)--Seattle; Hoisting machinery--Washington (State)--Seattle; Waterfronts--Washington (State)--Seattle; Piers & wharves--Washington (State)--Seattle
PlacesUnited States--Washington (State)--Seattle
Digital CollectionMuseum of History & Industry Photograph Collection
Image Number1986.5.12203
Ordering InformationTo order a reproduction or to inquire about permissions contact photos@mohai.org or phone us at 206-324-1126. Please refer to the Image Number and provide a brief description of the photograph.
Credit LineSeattle Post-Intelligencer Collection, Museum of History & Industry, Seattle; All Rights Reserved
RepositoryMuseum of History & Industry, Seattle (MOHAI)
Repository CollectionSeattle Post-Intelligencer Collection
TypeImage
Physical Description1 nitrate negative: b&w; 4 x 5 in.
Digital Reproduction InformationScanned from original negative as a 3000 pixel TIFF image in 8-bit grayscale, resized to 640 pixels in the longest dimension and compressed into JPEG format using Photoshop 6.0 and its JPEG quality measurement 3.
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