From Tideflats to Tunnels: The Transformation of Seattle’s Central Waterfront

Seattle’s central waterfront is about to undergo some major transformations. The Alaskan Way Viaduct will soon be a memory. We’ll be voting on a tunnel referendum in August.  And a new design aims to transform the waterfront into a “civic heart for the City.” No matter what happens, the waterfront is going to change significantly in the coming years. But this is only the latest chapter in a long history of makeovers to the city’s shoreline.  On June 14 at the Central Library, historian Jennifer Ott and architect and former City Council member Peter Steinbrueck will be giving a visual tour of the waterfront’s history of transformation.

The waterfront of 150 years ago would be unrecognizable to most modern Seattleites. We’ve gotten where we are now through a series of major upheavals. Prior to the arrival of Euro-American pioneers in the 1850s, the native Salish people harvested shellfish from the tideflats. In 1852, Henry Yesler began harvesting the lumber from Seattle’s abundant forests, and soon the waterfront was lined with wharves, stretching ever further into Elliott Bay. The tideflats, which once reached nearly to Beacon Hill, were “reclaimed” with detritus from ships and sawmills and fill from Seattle’s many regrades; a seawall was constructed in the 1930s to hold everything in place. And of course, the viaduct was constructed in the 1950s to cope with ever-increasing automobile traffic.

It’s important to keep the waterfront’s history in mind as we plan for its future. Learn more about the history, and join in the discussion at the Central Library’s Microsoft Auditorium on Level 1 on Tuesday, June 14, 2011 at 6:30 p.m.

Library events and programs are free and everyone is welcome. Registration is not required. For more information, visit the Library’s Events Calendar.