The Pavement Fight: Seattle’s Battle for a Wider Second Street
A century ago, city leaders warned that Seattle’s narrow streets were choking its growth, sparking a massive petition to widen the thoroughfare before the 'brick building' boom made the change impossible.
Judge Thomas Burke and a number of other property holders on Second Street are circulating a petition, which Judge Burke declares will be endorsed by nine-tenths of the property holders on that thoroughfare, asking the City Council to widen Second Street 12 feet from Depot Street, which is the dividing line between Mercer and Denny’s plots, to Commercial Street, a distance of over four miles. The widening of this street 12 feet on either side would make it 80 feet wide—the present width of Yesler Street. One thing is certain, and that is that if Second Street is ever to be widened, it should be done before the erection thereon of expensive brick buildings which will no doubt be built there in the near future. One of the greatest drawbacks to our beautiful city is her narrow streets, and business men on Front and Mill streets are widening those thoroughfares at their own expense. Any foot street will do well for the residence portions of the city, but in the business portion, streets should be considerably wider than that.
“One of the greatest drawbacks to our beautiful city is her narrow streets... if Second Street is ever to be widened, it should be done before the erection thereon of expensive brick buildings.”
In 1887, Second Street was the site of a frantic race against the city's own development, as property owners realized that if they didn't expand the road before brick buildings rose, they would be stuck with permanent congestion. Today, Seattle continues to struggle with this exact same tension, as modern density pushes against infrastructure designed for a much smaller town.
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