The Boom on the Bay: How Seattle Suburbs Remade the City
Electric streetcars and new transit lines are transforming Seattle’s geography, pushing the city's identity into the outskirts as the 'slow, old horse-car' becomes a relic of the past.
The market appears in every second column of the record. The aggregate of sales during the past week has been heavy. There is a strong demand for inside property, and for outside property the inquiry is very active. It may be noted here that the relations of suburban to city property have undergone a very material change in the minds of the citizens of Seattle and Tacoma during the past few years. The cause is found in the cry for better and more rapid means of transit from business centers to residential districts afforded by suburban motor trains, and by electric cable and electric motor lines. These, which move so swiftly taking the place of the slow, old horse-car, render property seven miles from the city center practically as available for residence as that which is half a mile distant. In this is found one reason for the great appreciation in the value of land on the outskirts of Seattle, and the maintenance of the good prices there.
“These, which move so swiftly taking the place of the slow, old horse-car, render property seven miles from the city center practically as available for residence as that which is half a mile distant.”
In 1889, Seattle was grappling with the radical expansion of its footprint powered by the arrival of the electric streetcar. Today, Seattle faces a modern mirror of this struggle as the city debates how transit-oriented development and light rail connectivity reshape the affordability and desirability of once-remote neighborhoods.
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