Context Statement
CONTEXT STATEMENT THE CENTRAL WATERFRONT PREPARED FOR: THE HISTORIC PRESERVATION PROGRAM DEPARTMENT OF NEIGHBORHOODS, CITY OF SEATTLE November 2006 THOMAS STREET HISTORY SERVICES 705 EAST THOMAS STREET, #204 SEATTLE, WA 98102 2 Central Waterfront and Environs - Historic Survey & Inventory - Context Statement - November 2006 –Update 1/2/07 THE CENTRAL WATERFRONT CONTEXT STATEMENT for THE 2006 SURVEY AND INVENTORY Central Waterfront Neighborhood Boundaries and Definitions For this study, the Central Waterfront neighborhood covers the waterfront from Battery Street to Columbia Street, and in the east-west direction, from the waterfront to the west side of First Avenue. In addition, it covers a northern area from Battery Street to Broad Street, and in the east- west direction, from Elliott Bay to the west side of Elliott Avenue. In contrast, in many studies, the Central Waterfront refers only to the actual waterfront, usually from around Clay Street to roughly Pier 48 and only extends to the east side of Alaskan Way. This study therefore includes the western edge of Belltown and the corresponding western edge of Downtown. Since it is already an historic district, the Pike Place Market Historic District was not specifically surveyed. Although Alaskan Way and the present shoreline were only built up beginning in the 1890s, the waterfront’s earliest inhabitants, the Native Americans, have long been familiar with this area, the original shoreline and its vicinity. Native Peoples There had been Duwamish encampments along or near Elliott Bay, long before the arrival of the Pioneers in the early 1850s. In fact, the name “Duwamish” is derived from that people’s original name for themselves, “duwAHBSH,” which means “inside people,” and referred to the protected location of their settlements inside the waters of Elliott Bay.1 The cultural traditions of the Duwamish and other coastal Salish tribes were based on reverence for the natural elements and on the change of seasons.
[Show full text]