The Little Yellow Bank That Outlasted the Great Seattle Fire
Dexter Horton’s one-story stone office at Commercial and Washington survived the 1889 conflagration—and became the foundation of a downtown banking landmark.
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.
At a recent reorganization, Hon. A. A. Denny was elected president of the bank, with W. M. Ladd of Portland as vice president and N. H. Latimer as manager.
When the bank was first organized it was a novelty to the people of Puget Sound, but it soon became popular. The institution grew rapidly in favor and in a very short time was doing a fine business. The years rolled by and the town grew into a city, and wooden buildings gave way to brick blocks. New institutions and banks were located in line with it, yet the Dexter Horton Company, solid in the state, still occupied the little yellow one-story stone structure at the corner of Commercial and Washington streets. It was, though small, the first brick house in Seattle and a landmark for the old settlers.
In 1889 the great conflagration which swept away millions of dollars’ worth of property passed all around the little yellow house, only scorching and blackening it in a few places. In a very short time business was resumed at the old stand and continued until the company concluded to erect a better building, and on the site of the old bank now stands the most beautiful block in the city of Seattle. Of all the many handsome buildings in the city the Dexter Horton Company block is the finest. Built of the best steel gray compressed brick, it stands out in relief to the surrounding blocks.
“In 1889 the great conflagration which swept away millions of dollars’ worth of property passed all around the little yellow house, only scorching and blackening it in a few places.”
The Great Seattle Fire of 1889 consumed roughly 25 downtown blocks, but the survival of this small stone bank became a piece of civic lore. The rebuilt Dexter Horton block stood where the old bank had been, a symbol of the boosterism that remade Seattle in brick and steel. Modern Seattle still wrestles with how to preserve older downtown commercial buildings while redeveloping the core.
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