The Passing of a Seattle Pioneer
Samuel Kenney, a merchant tailor who helped shape the city's early commercial landscape, dies at his home on Houghton Street.
At 1 o'clock yesterday morning, Samuel Kenney, one of the city's oldest and most highly respected residents, died at his home, 113 Houghton Street, aged 74 years. Within a year ago, Mr. Kenney was stricken with paralysis of the lower limbs, since which time he has been a great sufferer. Mr. Kenney was born June 2, 1821, in Baileymena, Antrim County, Ireland. In 1852, he moved to California and located at Marysville, then a thriving mining camp. He later moved to San Francisco, and eventually to Seattle, where he opened the first merchant tailoring establishment of any importance in Puget Sound. For more than twenty years, he occupied the old stand on Commercial Street, on the site of the present Northern Hotel. After the destruction of his establishment in the great fire of June 1889, he retired from active business to manage his real estate interests. He was a member of the First Presbyterian Church of Seattle and served as a member of the city council for two terms from July 1888 to July 1890.
“During his entire business career, whenever he saved a little money without crippling his business, he invested in real estate.”
Samuel Kenney's transition from a merchant tailor to a real estate investor mirrors the evolution of many early Seattle pioneers who capitalized on the city's rapid growth. His former business site on Commercial Street (now First Avenue South) sits in the heart of Pioneer Square, a district that continues to grapple with the legacy of its early commercial development and the preservation of its historic footprint.
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