The Great Regrade of Commercial Street
A proposal to drop Commercial Street by ten feet to improve drainage and access.
Commercial street, between Pike street and the waterfront, is at present in a condition of considerable advance above the level of the tide and trade. A petition to lower the street to the grade and conform the sidewalk and sewer, that it be lowered ten feet below the established grade. The plan to take the earth from the street and use it to fill commercial properties the council will allow the petitioners to proceed. The filling of commercial street, if carried out, will result in the benefit of thousands of dollars to the property owners in the improvement of the soil and adjacent property.
“The plan to take the earth from the street and use it to fill commercial properties the council will allow.”
Seattle’s history is defined by its dramatic regrades and efforts to force its rugged terrain into a level urban grid. This 1889 petition shows early residents grappling with the same topographic challenges—and land-value incentives—that led to the massive leveling of Denny Hill and beyond.
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