Seattle, Washington City Guide
For over 20 years, Pamela Lanier's Seattle, Washington Travel Guide has been your connection to Seattle's tourism community with invaluable details on local attractions, restaurants, shopping, museums, history, outdoor recreation and more.
Seattle History
 Humans have inhabited Seattle for more than 4000 years. When the first European settlers came, they found Duwamish tribal members living in villages surrounding Elliott Bay, the body of water on which Seattle is located. Permanent white settlers, the Denny Party, arrived in November 1851. In 1853, the settlement was named Seattle as a tribute to Chief Sealth, leader of the Suquamish and Dumanish tribes, as he followed a friendly and accommodating path with the settlers.
Seattle’s history is closely related to the economic boom and bust of the industries that shaped the area and supported the population. Each period of decline was followed by a period of reinvention that added to Seattle’s infrastructure while looking to the future.
The building of a steam-powered lumber mill at the bottom of Yesler Way developed the logging industry. Logs cut on the hills behind the town were skidded down Yesler Way to the mill. For many years this road was known as Skid Road. The brothels and bars that evolved and the lifestyle it encouraged is the derivation of today’s meaning of Skid Road. In June of 1889, a devastating fire, caused by glue that boiled over into the gas flame that was heating it, swept through the business district of Seattle. The massive reconstruction project resulted in buildings being constructed of stone and brick and improving fire response measures. The Panic of 1893, a failure of both banks and railways, sent Seattle into hard times.
The Klondike Gold Rush spawned the next Seattle boom. Miners in Alaska and the Yukon used Seattle as their primary supply and transport center. The economic expansion fueled by shipbuilding continued until the Great Depression hit. Labor problems and violence caused Seattle to lose most of its shipping traffic to Los Angeles.
The aircraft and software industries were responsible for much of the post World War II era prosperity. Boeing was headquartered in Seattle until 2001 when it moved to Chicago. Microsoft relocated to nearby Bellevue in 1979. High tech industries in Seattle have performed well even after the end of the dot-com boom.
The innovative spirit of Seattle looks to improve the quality of life by embracing the bad and the good, and continues to challenge the status quo.
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