Pier 54
Pier 54 is one of Seattle’s last remaining transit sheds from the beginning of the twentieth century. The others are Piers 55 to 59.[1] Pier 54 is notable for its association with transportation innovation and commercial development in Seattle. This pier is the current location of the historic Ye Olde Curiosity Shop.
Pier 54, originally called Pier 3, was the second of three adjacent piers built along the Seattle tidelands by the Northern Pacific Railroad in 1900. It was also the second pier constructed parallel to the rail lines in cooperation with a plan by assistant city engineer George Cotterill. Previously, piers worked as extensions of roads and ran perpendicular to the tracks. The new alignment kept long piers from bumping into each other and eased the process of loading and unloading trains at warehouses such as this one.[2]
Pier 54’s first tenant was Gailbraith and Bacon, a business that sold grain, hay, and building materials. Soon, the pier became an important dock for a group of steam vessels that connected Seattle to other towns around the Puget Sound called the Mosquito Fleet between the late nineteenth century and World War II. The pier was especially important as the main port of call for the Kitsap Transportation Company, run by Walter Galbraith, the son of the original tenant. Between 1929 and 1935, Pier 54 served as the headquarters and landing dock of the Gorst Air Transport “air ferry” service, which transported passengers around the Sound via amphibian planes. The Kitsap Transportation Company went out of business in 1938, outcompeted by trucks and cars. That same year, Ivar Haglund opened an aquarium and fish-and-chips stand in the pier’s northeast corner. He closed the aquarium in 1945, but expanded the restaurant, which remains on the pier today.[3]
Aside from modifications to the southeastern corner for the restaurant, Pier 54’s structure remains remarkably similar to its appearance in 1900.[4]
[1] “Summary for 1003 Alaskan WAY / Parcel ID 7666202495,” Seattle.gov (2006), http://web6.seattle.gov/DPD/HistoricalSite/QueryResult.aspx?ID=1165536054.
[2] “Summary for 1003 Alaskan Way”; David B. Williams, Too High and Too Steep: Reshaping Seattle’s Topography (Seattle: University of Washington Press, 2015), 216n51.
[3] “Summary for 1003 Alaskan Way”; Jean Cammon Findlay and Robin Paterson, Mosquito Fleet of South Puget Sound, (Charleston: Arcadia, 2008), 7.
[4] “Summary for 1003 Alaskan Way.”
Credits and Sources:
Description by Madison Heslop on behalf of the American Society for Environmental History.
Findlay, Jean Cammon, and Robin Paterson. Mosquito Fleet of South Puget Sound. Images of America. Charleston, SC: Arcadia, 2008.
“Summary for 1003 Alaskan WAY / Parcel ID 7666202495.” Seattle.gov, 2006.http://web6.seattle.gov/DPD/HistoricalSite/QueryResult.aspx?ID=1165536054.
Williams, David B. Too High and Too Steep: Reshaping Seattle’s Topography. Seattle: University of Washington Press, 2015.
