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Columbia City, Seattle
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Columbia City, Seattle
Columbia City is a neighborhood in southeastern Seattle, Washington, within the city's Rainier Valley district. It has a landmark-protected historic business district and is one of the few Seattle neighborhoods with a long history of ethnic and income diversity.
The neighborhood's main thoroughfares running north–south are Rainier Avenue S. and Martin Luther King Jr. Way S. The principal east–west thoroughfares are S. Alaska Street, S Orcas Street, and S. Genesee Street. Mass transit includes Sound Transit's Central Link light rail service from the Columbia City station (approx. 15 minutes to downtown Seattle and 20 minutes to SeaTac airport).
The area was once dense conifer forest, primarily inhabited by Coast Salish peoples, until the arrival of the Rainier Valley Electric Railway from Downtown Seattle in 1891. Owners of the electric railway bought forty acres, built a lumber mill, cleared the area for settlement, and promoted their town development under the name "Columbia" – named after Christopher Columbus. Three streets in the neighborhood have names of other famous explorers (a Columbia Street already existed Downtown): Ferdinand Street after Magellan, Hudson Street after Henry Hudson, and Americus Street after Amerigo Vespucci. Lots in 1891 were sold under a canvas tent with the slogan "Columbia, Watch It Grow!" attached to the railway cars.
Columbia incorporated as "Columbia City" in January 1893. Annexation to the City of Seattle came May 3, 1907 following a petition by citizens to the City Council to hold a special election on the matter. Although opposition to annexation had initially been strong due to citizens' desire for local control, the March 5 vote was overwhelming: 109-3 in favor of annexation to Seattle.
In 1905, the newly renamed Seattle Renton & Southern Railway extended south to Renton. In 1912 the streetcar line went bankrupt and was reorganized as the Seattle & Rainier Valley Railway. Its last run was just after midnight on January 1, 1937. Meanwhile, Columbia City's ambitions to become a seaport were thwarted with the completion of the Lake Washington Ship Canal in 1917, which lowered Lake Washington by nine feet and caused Wetmore Slough to dry up. The former slough was used as a dump from 1941 to 1963, and is now Genesee Park.
A major early employer was the Hitt Fireworks Company (1905–1960s) located at what is now Hitt's Hill Park. It employed 200 workers in the 1930s and was credited for firework displays at several world's fairs and Fourth of July celebrations. During World War II it produced smoke screens and parachute flares. The Hitt Fireworks Company also provided pyrotechnic effects for some major release films including Gone with the Wind.
As African Americans moved to Seattle to be part of the wartime industrial boom, many settled in the area, and in the 1960s the area began to suffer the effects of redlining and racism. By the 1970s, the neighborhood had fallen victim to poverty, housing stock had deteriorated, and many storefronts along Rainier Avenue S. were vacant.
The Columbia City business district was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1980 as the Columbia City Historic District, extending north to S. Alaska Street, south to the intersection of 39th Ave S and Rainier Ave S, east to 39th Ave S., and west to the alley east of 35th Ave S.
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Columbia City, Seattle
Columbia City is a neighborhood in southeastern Seattle, Washington, within the city's Rainier Valley district. It has a landmark-protected historic business district and is one of the few Seattle neighborhoods with a long history of ethnic and income diversity.
The neighborhood's main thoroughfares running north–south are Rainier Avenue S. and Martin Luther King Jr. Way S. The principal east–west thoroughfares are S. Alaska Street, S Orcas Street, and S. Genesee Street. Mass transit includes Sound Transit's Central Link light rail service from the Columbia City station (approx. 15 minutes to downtown Seattle and 20 minutes to SeaTac airport).
The area was once dense conifer forest, primarily inhabited by Coast Salish peoples, until the arrival of the Rainier Valley Electric Railway from Downtown Seattle in 1891. Owners of the electric railway bought forty acres, built a lumber mill, cleared the area for settlement, and promoted their town development under the name "Columbia" – named after Christopher Columbus. Three streets in the neighborhood have names of other famous explorers (a Columbia Street already existed Downtown): Ferdinand Street after Magellan, Hudson Street after Henry Hudson, and Americus Street after Amerigo Vespucci. Lots in 1891 were sold under a canvas tent with the slogan "Columbia, Watch It Grow!" attached to the railway cars.
Columbia incorporated as "Columbia City" in January 1893. Annexation to the City of Seattle came May 3, 1907 following a petition by citizens to the City Council to hold a special election on the matter. Although opposition to annexation had initially been strong due to citizens' desire for local control, the March 5 vote was overwhelming: 109-3 in favor of annexation to Seattle.
In 1905, the newly renamed Seattle Renton & Southern Railway extended south to Renton. In 1912 the streetcar line went bankrupt and was reorganized as the Seattle & Rainier Valley Railway. Its last run was just after midnight on January 1, 1937. Meanwhile, Columbia City's ambitions to become a seaport were thwarted with the completion of the Lake Washington Ship Canal in 1917, which lowered Lake Washington by nine feet and caused Wetmore Slough to dry up. The former slough was used as a dump from 1941 to 1963, and is now Genesee Park.
A major early employer was the Hitt Fireworks Company (1905–1960s) located at what is now Hitt's Hill Park. It employed 200 workers in the 1930s and was credited for firework displays at several world's fairs and Fourth of July celebrations. During World War II it produced smoke screens and parachute flares. The Hitt Fireworks Company also provided pyrotechnic effects for some major release films including Gone with the Wind.
As African Americans moved to Seattle to be part of the wartime industrial boom, many settled in the area, and in the 1960s the area began to suffer the effects of redlining and racism. By the 1970s, the neighborhood had fallen victim to poverty, housing stock had deteriorated, and many storefronts along Rainier Avenue S. were vacant.
The Columbia City business district was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1980 as the Columbia City Historic District, extending north to S. Alaska Street, south to the intersection of 39th Ave S and Rainier Ave S, east to 39th Ave S., and west to the alley east of 35th Ave S.
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