The Unbreakable Vaults of 1885 Seattle
A state-of-the-art fortress of steel and brick arrives in Seattle, promising security for the valuables of a booming frontier town.
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.
On the 7th of April, 1884, a company was incorporated in this city, called the 'Safe Deposit Company of Seattle,' with a capital stock of $50,000, divided into shares of $100 each. The object was to erect a fire-proof building for the safe keeping of the valuables of the community. Mr. Yesler sold a piece of property on Front street, at the foot of Cherry, 60x100 feet in all. By the middle of April, excavation for the foundation was begun. One year, lacking only a few days from the time work was started, the building was ready for occupancy. It is 60x100 feet in size, four stories in height, and constructed of ornamental stone and pressed brick. The vaults occupy the entire basement story, being a spacious, vaulted apartment. Here are erected the immense steel vaults of the company, consisting of solid, fire-proof rooms constructed of burglar-proof metal, consisting of steel and iron, welded and bolted together. The walls are fifteen feet below the street level, and ten feet below the tide.
“The walls are fifteen feet below the street level, and ten feet below the tide.”
In 1885, Seattle’s physical security was defined by heavy iron and welded steel as the city transitioned from a timber town to a commercial hub. Today, while physical vaults are less central to daily life, the 'Safe Deposit' spirit persists in Seattle’s tech-driven obsession with digital security, cybersecurity, and the protection of intellectual property in a rapidly growing economy.
From readers
No comments yet. If you know something about this story — a correction, a family memory, a source — it belongs here.