The Struggle to Flatten Seattle's Hills
Business owners in the North End push to regrade the city’s steep streets, hoping to spur economic growth and bridge the gap between Pike and Blanchard streets.
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 project to cut down the hill on Front Street and Second Street is likely to be renewed, as many of the property owners along the line of the hill are stirring themselves. They realize that a lowering of the grade would result in filling up stores and houses now vacant. The action of the owners on Pike Street, between Eighth and Twelfth, in voluntarily subjecting themselves to assessment in order to improve that thoroughfare, has aroused afresh the residents of the North End. Several property owners have been in consultation with Chairman Van Brocklin of the Board of Public Works, and that gentleman is formulating a plan which may result in these efforts assuming a practical shape. The difficulty has been that the property owners between Pike and Blanchard or Virginia streets have feared that the main burden of the expense would have to be borne by them, while the benefit would be widespread. City Engineer Thomson has prepared the estimates for a 5-percent grade from University Street to Virginia Street, involving the moving of 130,000 yards of earth at a total cost of $52,500.
“If Seattle is ever to be a large city, the water front will be filled up with wharves and warehouses, which should build up a good locality, but if the hill remains traffic will certainly spread out on more accessible lines.”
This early debate over 'regrading' captures the very moment Seattle decided to physically reshape its difficult geography to facilitate commerce. Today, the remnants of these regrades—most notably the Denny Regrade—continue to define the city's topography and its ongoing struggles with density and accessibility.
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