The Day Seattle Decided Its Own Elevation
A forgotten 1877 municipal ordinance reveals the precise moment the city set its literal foundation, anchoring the downtown grid to a granite step on Commercial Street.
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 does ordain as follows: Section 1. That the base or datum line to which the grades of the city shall be referred, is hereby established at an elevation of nine feet and six tenths of a foot (9.6) below the level of the top of the granite step in the doorway of Dexter Horton & Co.’s stone building on Commercial street, at the corner of Washington street. Section 2. That the grades for the streets of the city shall be at the following elevations above datum: On Mill street, at Commercial street, 8.4 feet; Second street, 15; Third street, 34; Fourth street, 46; Fifth street, 79; Sixth street, 117; Seventh street, 155; Eighth street, 194. [The ordinance continues to list elevations for Washington, Main, Jackson, and other downtown streets.] Section 6. This ordinance to take effect from and after five days after its publication. Published October 15, 1877. G. A. WEED, Mayor. D. T. WHEELER, Clerk.
“That the base or datum line to which the grades of the city shall be referred, is hereby established at an elevation of nine feet and six tenths of a foot (9.6) below the level of the top of the granite step in the doorway of Dexter Horton & Co.’s stone building.”
Today's Seattle is defined by its dramatic topography and the constant battle to manage it, from regrading hills to massive infrastructure projects. This 1877 ordinance marks the early, desperate struggle to create a standardized, civilized grid out of a steep, muddy waterfront, a precursor to the massive engineering feats that would later flatten the city's hills.
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