A Seattle Foundry Rises From the Great Fire’s Ashes
After the 1889 Great Seattle Fire destroyed Moran Brothers’ Yesler Avenue works, the machinists rebuilt on the tide flats within a week—and soon won a contract for machinery in U.S. naval dry docks.
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.
Seattle in 1882 boasted of but little in the manufacturing line. During the year a company was formed by Moran Brothers, with the small capital of $1,500. The men themselves were practical machinists and foundrymen, and in a short time their business had so increased that they found it necessary to enlarge the old plant on Yesler avenue. In 1889 the works were destroyed by the great fire and $40,000 went up in smoke.
The enterprising proprietors were not daunted, but immediately set to work on their tide-flat property, and one week later had a furnace at work. Over that furnace now stands a magnificent plant, an honor to the city and state. The plant consists of machine shops, boiler works, foundry and shop. The Moran Brothers Company, apart from these, own and operate a machinery depot on West Yesler avenue, and control and manage the Seattle Dry Dock and Ship Building Company. Regardless of hard times the business has been enlarged and now it fills orders from all parts of the Pacific coast. It is the most complete shop of its kind north of San Francisco, and at the present time has the contract for constructing the largest machinery of its class on the Pacific coast. This machinery is to be used in the United States naval dry docks at Charleston. The entire steam plant, including engines, pumps and boilers, will be manufactured in the shops. The three main pumps have a capacity of elevating 1,000,000 gallons of water in five minutes. Moran Brothers make a specialty of marine engines, mill, railroad and mining machinery, and have facilities for constructing any class needed in the Northwest country.
The steam marine railway operated by the company has a capacity to dock all vessels engaged in the sound trade. The company is also prepared to contract for repairs or to build vessels of any description complete.
“The enterprising proprietors were not daunted but immediately set to work on their tide flat property, and one week later had a furnace at work.”
The Great Seattle Fire of 1889 is usually remembered as a downtown rebuilding story. The Moran Brothers profile shows the industrial side: a machine shop destroyed by the fire rebuilt within a week on the tide flats and then won work for U.S. naval dry docks. Seattle’s booms have long been powered by exactly this mix of catastrophe, infrastructure and federal money—and the waterfront industrial land that made it possible is now largely gone.
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