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| Title | Rainier Avenue looking north, Seattle, ca. 1905 |
| Photographer | Unknown |
| Date | ca. 1905 |
| Caption | Columbia City looking north along Rainier from Hudson. This picture was evidently taken after annexation by Seattle. The fire bell is still at the top of the pole on the right. There is a streetlight and a number of wires and poles. On the left the Columbia Fire Department building still stands but the Town Hall sign has been taken off the building to the north. On the right is Columbia Undertaking owned by James Tachell. Next to it is Nick's Confectionery. |
| Notes | Caption on image: Rainier Ave. Columbia City Looking North.
Photographer's reference number: 14.
Handwritten on verso: Columbia City 1900 [?].
1907.
Columbia Undertaking owned by James Tachell, S.E. Grayson, in 1907.
Caption taken from RVHS records.
See transcribed article in "Additional Information" below for more information. |
| Subjects | Business districts--Washington (State)--Seattle
Street railroad tracks--Washington (State)--Seattle
|
| Places | United States--Washington (State)--Seattle
Columbia City (Seattle, Wash.) |
| Digital Collection | Rainier Valley Historical Society Photograph Collection |
| Accession Number | 93.001.077 |
| Ordering Information | To order a copy of this photograph, please email Rvhsoffice@aol.com and mention the Accession Number. |
| Repository | Rainier Valley Historical Society, Seattle |
| Repository Collection | Hall-Summers Collection |
| Physical Description | 1 photographic postcard: b&w; 3 1/2 x 5 1/2 in. |
| Type | Image |
| Digital Reproduction Information | Scanned 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. |
| Additional Information | This photo was taken about 1905 looking North along Rainier Avenue from Hudson Street. The building on the left housed the equipment for the volunteer fire department that included a water pump cart and a hose reel cart.
The adjoining building with the cupola roof is the town hall, one of Columbia City's first buildings. It was built in 1891 just south of Hudson Street and then moved to this site just north of Hudson Street.
The building costs were covered by private subscription from the pioneers that bought the first lots in Columbia. This is where they set up their town government. They incorporated the town in 1893, electing a Mayor, Marshal and the Town Council. One of their first ordinances banned saloons in the town.
The first school classes met in this town hall while Columbia School was being built. The children moved into the first floor of the school while the second floor was still under construction in 1892. A Sunday School was also started in the town hall and almost all the residents participated.
The town of Columbia was annexed by Seattle in 1907 and the Town Hall building then had other uses including the Seattle Public Library in 1911 and the City Light office in the 1920s.
The cement building currently on the site was built for the Seattle police department, precinct 5, in the '30's. When the precinct relocated to have more space, it became a public health facility.
That original town hall building still exists today as a duplex, one block west on the south side of Hudson street. It now has a conventionally shaped roof.
The next building on the left was a pool room and barbershop that exists today as Angie's Tavern. On the right of Rainier Avenue is Guy Dickie's "Columbia Hardware and Tinsmith Shop" and "McKenzie's Plumbing."
By Buzz Anderson, 8/26/98 |
