Building a Street over the Tidelands
A new ordinance pushes the city street grid out over the Seattle waterfront to reach the dry dock.
The story, cleaned up
A cleaned-up reading of the newspaper page: spelling and layout repaired, one story lifted off a crowded page. It follows the original closely but it is not a transcription. The original page is below; read it if a detail matters.
The City of Seattle has established a new public street, sixty-six feet wide, extending over the tide flats from Commercial Street to the Seattle dry dock. This extension will be a prolongation of Charles Street. The Board of Public Works is authorized to construct a roadway twenty-four feet wide by driving piles and fastening planks, provided that the petitioners—including Moran Brothers Company, the Hart Lumber Company, and the Seattle Dry Dock and Shipbuilding Company—donate the lumber free of cost to the city.
“A roadway twenty-four feet wide shall be constructed on said street from Commercial street to the Seattle dry dock by driving piles and securely fastening planks thereto.”
This infrastructure project captures the era of industrial land-grabs and the ongoing project of 'filling in' the Seattle waterfront, a process that fundamentally altered the city's geography.
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